Selected Shorts—A Celebration of the Short Story

Recorded live at Peter Norton Symphony Space in New York City and on tour around the U.S., this collection features works from a wide swath of genres and masters of the genre including Eudora Welty and Edgar Allan Poe and such inspired writer-reader pairings as John Cheever and Malachy McCourt. David Strathairn’s tone and pacing produce a standout rendition of Donald Barthelme’s “Game”; Christine Baranski delivers a chilling performance of the Joyce Carol Oates classic “Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?” and Jerry Stiller’s hammy rendition of John Sayles’s “At the Anarchists’ Convention” brings down the house and is worth the price of the collection alone. (Apr.)