Some stories make you feel their weather while you read them. A crisp breeze off the sea, the scorching sun on a desolate road, the closeness of the air in an old forest. These feelings/environments all make appearances in this wonderful collection of 8 short stories. This was Doerr’s debut and can be read again and again. Released in 2002, it’s a new old classic.

If Of Mice and Men’s “Lenny” were asked to narrate the tale of young man traveling across Kansas in search of work in George W’s America Callisto would be the result. Odell Deefus is generation now’s “Lenny” and his story of mistaken identity, the state of things in the U.S. and his affinity for The Yearling (Deefus’ favorite novel) will leave you shaking your head at his thought processes when you’re not laughing out loud at this black comedy.