The National Book Awards quest to find their finest ever winner has reached the shortlist stage after 140 writers selected six books that “represent the best of the National Book Awards for Fiction.” It’s an interesting list and shows the power of collected stories.

The Stories of John Cheever
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
The Collected Stories of William Faulkner
The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor
Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty

That’s six heavyweight writers on the shortlist. Who’d question the result if any of them won?

Anyone can now vote for the overall winner (click here to vote) plus there is a contest to win two tickets to the 60th National Book Awards on November 18, 2009 with hotel accommodation.