Here is my Deal Me In 2016 list of short stories:
ON MY SHELF ♠
| A | Spades | Christmas Gift | Robert Penn Warren | |
| K | Spades | Big Two-Hearted River | Ernest Hemingway | |
| Q | Spades | Crazy Sunday | F. Scott Fitzgerald | |
| J | Spades | Double Birthday | Willa Cather | |
| 10 | Spades | Filthy With Things | T. C. Boyle | |
| 9 | Spades | Hunters in the Snow | Tobias Wolff | |
| 8 | Spades | Defender of the Faith | Philip Roth | |
| 7 | Spades | Rappaccini’s Daughter | Nathaniel Hawthorne | |
| 6 | Spades | Thicker Than Liquor | Wendell Berry | |
| 5 | Spades | The Things They Carried | Tim O’Brien | |
| 4 | Spades | The Diary of Adam and Eve | Mark Twain | |
| 3 | Spades | Old Red | Caroline Gordon | |
| 2 | Spades | WILD Slight Rebellion Off Madison | J. D. Salinger | |
CATHOLICISM ♣
| A | Clubs | The Peach Stone | Paul Horgan | |
| K | Clubs | Cheap in August | Graham Greene | |
| Q | Clubs | The Hammer of God | G. K. Chesterton | |
| J | Clubs | The Devil and Irv Cherniske | T. C. Boyle | |
| 10 | Clubs | Emanuelle! Emanuelle! | Caroline Gordon | |
| 9 | Clubs | Dawn | J. F. Powers | |
| 8 | Clubs | Revelation | Flannery O’Connor | |
| 7 | Clubs | Mrs. Cassidy’s Last Year | Mary Gordon | |
| 6 | Clubs | The Whore’s Child | Richard Russo | |
| 5 | Clubs | A Father’s Story | Andre Dubus | |
| 4 | Clubs | Died and Gone to Vegas | Tim Gautreaux | |
| 3 | Clubs | The Rich Brother | Tobias Wolff | |
| 2 | Clubs | WILD: The Life You Save May Be Your Own | Flannery O’Connor | |
BASEBALL ♦
| A | Diamonds | The Hector Quesadilla Story | T. C. Boyle | |
| K | Diamonds | Goodwood Comes Back | Robert Penn Warren | |
| Q | Diamonds | You Could Look It Up | James Thurber | |
| J | Diamonds | What Did We Do Wrong? | Garrison Keillor | |
| 10 | Diamonds | Jamesie | J. F. Powers | |
| 9 | Diamonds | Horseshoes | Ring Lardner | |
| 8 | Diamonds | Home Run | Steven Millhauser | |
| 7 | Diamonds | The Master’s Touch | Herbert Warren Wind | |
| 6 | Diamonds | Smoke | Michael Chabon | |
| 5 | Diamonds | Brooklyns Lose | William Heuman | |
| 4 | Diamonds | Baseball Hattie | Damon Runyon | |
| 3 | Diamonds | The Pitcher and the Plutocrat | P. G. Wodehouse | |
| 2 | Diamonds | WILD The National Pastime | John Cheever | |
KENTUCKY ♥
| A | Hearts | That Distant Land | Wendell Berry | |
| K | Hearts | Blackberry Winter | Robert Penn Warren | |
| Q | Hearts | Homeland | Barbara Kingsolver | |
| J | Hearts | Residents and Transients | Bobbie Ann Mason | |
| 10 | Hearts | Humming Back Yesterday | Crystal E. Wilkinson | |
| 9 | Hearts | The Petrified Woman | Caroline Gordon | |
| 8 | Hearts | Barred Owl | Chris Offutt | |
| 7 | Hearts | The Vireo’s Nest | Hollis Summers | |
| 6 | Hearts | The Perfecting of the Chopin Valse No. 14 in E Minor | Sena Jeter Naslund | |
| 5 | Hearts | Anthem of the Locusts | Dean Cadle | |
| 4 | Hearts | Dr. Livingston’s Grotto | Normandi Ellis | |
| 3 | Hearts | The Idea of It | Chris Holbrook | |
| 2 | Hearts | WILD: The Legend of Potato Creek | Maurice Thompson | |
Great list Dale! I always check peoples lists to see how many stories & authors I’ve read, and the results are: only 6 stories, but 14 authors.
I read Barbara Kingsolver’s “Flight Behavior” a while back and am curious to hear about her short story. The Vireo’s Nest sounds intriguing to me to as I often see Red-Eyed Vireos when I’m out walking/birdwatching. It may not come as a surprise that I’ve read none of your Baseball or Catholicism stories, but I love that you have those as categories.
Another note is that all but one of your six stories that I’ve read have come to me via previous iterations of my own Deal Me In projects.
You’ve now got me thinking about my 2016 list. I can’t decide whether or not to go “All IN” with Indiana stories and authors in honor of the state’s 2016 Bicentennial or not. Hmm….
An All IN list would be awesome! I look forward to seeing your list. I’ve never read anything by Barbara Kingsolver although I hear a lot about her novel “The Poisonwood Bible”.
The idea for the Catholicism topic came from reading a little in Daniel J. Boorstin’s “The Creators” which you had recommended to me a while back. I’ve only read a small part of the book and I have tended to use it more like a research book when I want to find out about certain time periods for art and literature. Anyway, you have more of a connection to that topic than you probably thought you did.
I honestly didn’t know what a Vireo was but based on the title I figured it was either a bird or some sort of wasp or hornet. Glad to find out it’s a bird!