In Our Time

Hemingway released three different editions of this iconic short story collection, which also includes his famous Nick Adams stories. The stories alternate between northern Michigan and WWI and explore grief, separation, and alienation. My first introduction to these stories was in a summer literature program where a professor incited a fiery discussion by asserting a line from "Soldiers Home" was the best ever written in the English language: "Krebs looked at the bacon fat hardening on his plate." I may have other ideas for superlatives, but I've never forgotten In Our Time.