The Best Australian Stories 2007
Edited by Robert Drewe, Black Inc, $27.95

This bright green book jostled for summer time reading with another weightier tome: the recently-published Penguin Book of Canadian Short Stories , edited by Jane Urquhart.

The Canadian book had quite a few stories I’ll be reading again and again for their carved-in-stone qualities. However, a more playful spirit seemed to dance through Drewe’s Aussie choices, making it perfect to read during hazy holidays and in short snatches.

Stand-out pieces were David Malouf’s Mrs Porter and the Rock and Nam Le’s Love and Honour and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice which tells the story of a survivor of the My Lai massacre.

Others like Cate Kennedy’s Tender, which tells the story of a mother about to undergo a lumpectomy, Lee Koffman’s Floating above the Village, and Peter Goldsworthy’s Slowly Last Summer also made their impression.

There’s plenty to dip into here from old favourites like Carmel Bird, John Kinsella, Michael Wilding and Frank Moorhouse, though newer discoveries like Paddy O’Reilly, Amy T. Matthews and Isabelle Li strut pretty convincing stuff.

From MySpace suicide pacts to identity crises in supermarkets there’s a smorgasbord of whimsy, depth and disaster in these 47 stories.

Grab a copy and head to the beach of your mind like I did. Listen to the sound of waves breaking, “fish dolphins” taking their last silvery breaths, and aliens being stowed in an underwear drawer then a refrigerator.

Drink it like cordial in cool, green sips and be glad that Australian stories and collections like these exist.

Marjorie Lewis-Jones