In-Flight Entertainment, by Helen Simpson

Wonderful and heartfelt collection of short stories.
My favorite is the title story, but there were many stong ones among the 13 stories.
Each story is a snapshot of how removed we are in the western world from what is changing the planet, even as they soar above it. Turbulence ahead.

I'm With The Bears: Short Stories From a Damaged Planet, by various authors

Devastating and necessary.This collection of short stories, each addressing climate change in some way, is depressing, as another reviewer said. I can't imagine what that reader was hoping for, but yes, the devastation of our environment and our relationship with the natural world is a bit of a bummer, yes.
That said, these stories ranged from the utterly bleak ( T.C. Boyle's The Siskiyou was very disturbing) to the absolutely haunting (Lydia Millet's Zoogoing- I've read it 3 times, and it is still echoing in my mind) to looks at what water deals taking place now might mean for the American Southwest (in Paolo Bacigalupi's stunning The Tamarisk Hunter).
These stories all have a common theme, but the incredible slate of authors each use their own inimitable voices, and the chorus of them together is powerful.
Wonderful.

English Country House Murders, edited by Thomas Godfrey

This was a fantastic collection of short stories spanning the decades of the great English Country House Mystery genre, with contributions from just about all of the greats. So well edited, the choices from the obvious authors were unusual ones, and real treats, but for me ther great finds were the authors I was unfamiliar with. Country House Mysteries are one of my greatest escapist treats, so this whole book was for me like having a wonderful box of chocolates.

My favorite stories are starred below.

420 Characters, by Lou Beach

Microfictions, in the rather limiting format of 420 characters, the length of a facebook update. Interesting concept, but not as successful in execution as I had hoped. I wish the stories had been more linked, more... something. In terms of experimental fiction, I think there will be a lot more published in this style, but I still doubt anyone working in tiny formats will ever achieve the devastating poignancy of Hemingway's 6 word heartbreaker- "Baby shoes for sale, never worn."
 

Blueprints for Building Better Girls, by Elissa Schappell

Excellent short story collection, exploring the worlds of women, as lovers and 'sluts', daughters and mothers, wives and mistresses- the interconnections between the stories made it almost novel-like, as each story really built upon previous stories, to create a very vivid and powerful collection.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, by Raymond Carver

Still one of the best titles ever, and the stories are just harrowing. "Why don't you dance?" is, I think, my favorite from the collection, or maybe "So much water so close to home", but they are all shattering little things. Reading them, I was very much aware that Bonnie Jo Campbell's 2009 National Book Award finalist collection , American Salvage, seems to inhabit the same the raggedy vinyl-sided America as Carver's characters.

The View From The Top, by Hilary Frank

Interesting, well-done YA. Told in a rotation of voices, this linked short story collection covers the summer after high school in a small Maine holiday town. Townies vs. tourists, college-bound vs. town-bound, and everyone is in love with a girl named Annabel. Well developed characters and excellent writing distinguished this book (and there was a character named Lexi, which always gives me a kick), but Annabel herself remained a bit of a blank for me.

Nine Stories, by J.D. Salinger

Perfection.

"You wrote down that you were a writer by profession. It sounded to me like the loveliest euphemism I had ever heard. When was writing ever your profession? It's never been anything but your religion. Never. I'm a little over-excited now. Since it is your religion, do you know what you will be asked when you die? But let me tell you first what you won't be asked. You won't be asked if you were working on a wonderful, moving piece of writing when you died. You won't be asked if it was long or short, sad or funny, published or unpublished. You won't be asked if you were in good form or bad form while you were working on it. You won't even be asked if it was the one piece of writing you would have been working on if you had known your time would be up when it was finished—I think only poor Sören K. will get asked that. I'm so sure you'll get asked only two questions. Were most of your stars out? Were you busy writing your heart out? If only you knew how easy it would be for you to say yes to both questions."

From Seymour: An Introduction.

Death of a Romance Writer and Other Stories, by Joan Hess

Well, I am so eager for Joan Hess's 2010 Maggody book that I came across all sorts of things in the catalogue that I hadn't read by her, including this oddly imbalanced book, which, as it's redeeming grace, had short stories in it that introduced Arly Hanks, Ruby Bee and Estelle. It also had the bizarre novella The Night Blooming Cereus, with an introduction that was a bit of a relief, in which she talks about how in 1985, at least to her, Israeli/Palestinian relations seemed like a good topic for a light-hearted humourous mystery, and about how that no longer seems like a ha-ha situation, so that was nice.

Holidays on Ice, by David Sedaris

Well, I never really get why people think he's so funny, he always vaguely depresses me, and this book was no exception. Short little bittersweet or just bitter stories about the holidays.

How It Ended: New and Collected Stories, by Jay McInerney

Superb collection of short stories from one of my favorite writers. Revisiting much of the same ground (NYC, Tennessee) as his novels, and in some cases revisiting familiar characters like Russell and Corrinne from Brightness Falls, and of course, inevitably, Alison Poole from Story of My Life (who was also used as a character in Ellis's American Psycho), McInerney brings his stories and characters to life, thwarted as some of them may be. Some find some wisdom, 9/11 has happened, there are wars and protests and middle age and past middle age- new territory for a writer who wrote so incandescently about being young in New York, before some buildings blew up and everything got different. Favorite stories: My Public Service, How It Ended, Getting In Touch With Lonnie, I Love You, Honey, Penelope on the Pond (the Allison Poole/Rielle Hunter/John Edward's mistress character), and The Last Bachelor.

American Salvage, by Bonnie Jo Campbell

Phenomenal collection of short stories. Nominated for the National Book Award, each story in this collection was set in rural Michigan, which, to be honest, sounds a bit of a depressing place, but the stories themselves were incredibly powerful. My "favorite", if you could call it that, was The Solutions to Brian's Problem- the title alone hints that Brian has a hell of a problem.
Rough and inspiring.

Tales from Outer Suburbia, by Shaun Tan

Haunting and strange short story collection/graphic novel. This was a surreal and beautiful book, but I don't see who it's aimed at- maybe the point of art isn't to aim it but to make it because you have to, and it was so very gorgeous and wierd.

Spoiled, by Caitlin Macy

Pretty amazing collection of short stories. Mostly focused on class tension among privileged New Yorkers and each other or with the help (nannies, cleaning help) that they employ. It wasn't that this whole thing hasn't been done before, but it was the knifelike precision of the writing that really knocked me out. The Red Coat, about Trish and her cleaning lady, Evgenia, was wonderful, the title story Spoiled, about teenage Leigh and her riding instructor was great, but I think my favorite might have been the first story, Christie.

The Frozen Thames, by Helen Humphreys

Strange and lovely little book. 40 very short vignettes, each set about one of the times the Thames was known to have frozen over- each vaguely, tenuously linked to each other, but each very much a meditative quiet little glimpse into the London of that day. Made me very curious about late medieval bridge construction, which isn't something you get to think about every day.
Apparently after 1831, when Old London Bridge (built 1209), was destroyed, the dredging and shape of the new construction changed the flow of the river enough that it is unlikely to freeze over again (unless that whole Gulf Stream thing thing happens.)

The Afterlife, by John Updike

This was absolutely stunningly good. God, the precision, the delicacy, the impeccable eye and ear.
Updike's writing is so subtle and undramatic that it is a shock how powerful it is- like getting knocked over by a falling maple leaf.
A Sandstone Farmhouse, was, I thought, the best story of the collection, but god, that's like choosing a favorite star. Impossible.