Nicole Krauss on her selection: I recently finished a collection of short stories, and while writing it I sometimes turned to Leonard Michaels to remember what's possible in the form, and to rest in his fluency. “Isaac” is from Michaels’s first collection, Going Places, published in 1969. I chose it because… why did I choose it? Because it’s New York City. A hospital. Incomprehension in the face of the things that befall us. And because its language—bright, sharp, funny—is live-wire alive in the face of it all.  The Collected Stories at Indiebound This story contains language which may not be suitable for children.