There are people who belong on this earth, and there are others who wade through it — ill-equipped, isolated, occasionally making connections, but usually flailing. Such quietly endearing characters populate Jhumpa Lahiri's hypnotic, resonant stories. Her writing will unmask you, giving you pause to reconsider your deeper purpose.

-RHH

Our Story Begins, Tobias Wolff's tales of stunted people making breakthroughs, includes classics from his canon as well as new stories, all of which explore characters on the brink. It almost makes one want to get off the hammock and make a change — or at least apply more sunblock.

-DM

In this collection's opening title story, God comes to Darfur in the form of a starving woman fleeing the Janjaweed militia. Killed, she's eventually eaten by dogs, who are then imparted with divine omniscience. The rest of the world goes to hell, so to speak, in these dispatches from desperate humans in an increasingly inhuman world.

-CPL