In the past, I’ve not been a fan of Short Stories. The ones I’ve read have left me unsatisfied with their brevity and made me yearn for more character development. When I found out my friend, Sally, was the editor, as well as author of one of the stories, of Strong Currents ~ a collection of short stories by writers from Hawaii, I just had to read the book. Since it was a collection of different writers, I found some stories a lot more enjoyable than others.
My pleasant reading experience with Strong Currents led me to seek out another collection of short stories. While browsing through Borders, I found The Collected Stories by Amy Hempel. Admittedly shallow, I was first attracted to the book cover. It had a photo of the author and a gorgeous golden retriever. How could I resist? I read the back cover where one of the lines said “No reader of great writing should be without it.” Sounded like a challenge to me. And because I’m too busy (lazy?) to take a photo of the book and upload it right now, click here for a view of the cover.
I’ve been carrying the book with me to numerous appointments these past couple of weeks and have really enjoyed the stories. It’s nice to finish a story or two in one sitting. Sometimes with novels, I have a bad tendency to skim when I get disinterested in the plot or can tell where the author is going but not with this book. Miss a sentence, miss a whole lot of the story. Every sentence is meticulously written without a stray word to be read. No skimming in this book, not that I’d want to since her topics are very interesting and so well written.
The collection of stories spans all her writings for the past 20 years. They are wonderfully told but that’s not to say the stories are happy ones. Mostly they are sad but always intriguing. The characters and animals (dogs) go through a lot of ordeals but they endure and survive. Sometimes. I’m so enthralled with this book, I think I’ll keep it with me for awhile so I can re-read some of the stories when ever I have some free time.
Since I enjoyed the book so much, I researched the author who is as fascinating as her stories. Or perhaps she IS the stories. Turns out the dog on the cover was her dog and was a Great Pyrenees/Golden Retriever mix. What a beauty of a dog. As a dog lover, one of my favorite passages in her story entitled “The Dog of The Marriage” is when she talks about Goodman the guide-dog, who after a year away from her, still remembers her:
Then I got a letter from Alice’s husband, Paul. He said they had been weeding in the garden, Goodman off-duty and retrieving a tossed ball. When Goodman found himself in the tomato patch, Paul wrote, he picked something up in his mouth and began yipping with excitement, tossing the thing into the air and running in circles to retrieve it. Paul told me Goodman had found one of the sachets I had made to keep away the deer; it was a packet of cheesecloth stuffed with my hair.
That is how I like to be known.
Now I’m at a bit of a loss as to what to read next so I’ll head over to Books on the Brain to get some ideas.
Displaced Beachbums 
lisamm: That’s great your daughter is starting up a book club! I look forward to reading her entry on your “In Praise of Bookclubs” once she’s got it running. 🙂
FG’s club is still going strong except they are on the look-out for another member since one is moving next week. She’s intent on keeping it at 6 girls.
Speaking of which, do bookclubs usually try to keep members to a certain number of people?
I’ve read some reviews about “Last Night at the Lobster” and it sounds like something I’ll enjoy. Thanks for the recommendation.
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Hey Patti, I have a recommendation for you! Last Night at the Lobster was really good! It’s under 200 pages and for whatever reason I couldn’t put it down. You might like it too.
My daughter and her friend are starting a book club just like FG! In fact I sent them a link to your post about her club, and they were inspired! They’re busy putting together invitations to invite other girls and they are poring over several books to decide which one to read first. I think they’ve narrowed it down to two:
Granny Torelli Makes Soup
http://www.amazon.com/Granny-Torrelli-Makes-Sharon-Creech/dp/0060292903
and Stargirl
http://www.amazon.com/Stargirl-Readers-Circle-Jerry-Spinelli/dp/0440416779/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211151650&sr=1-1
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Patti, Have you read The Alchemist? That was our first book club book – excellent topic and very thoughtful – The general idea of the book is finding your personal legend – I am still looking =)
John Grisham, Innocent Man is the current book for the club and I am struggling with it because its a true story with all the inadequacies of our mental health system glaringly showcased and law enforcement doesnt look real good either. For me, its not been a fast read, but I am determined to finish it.
Its been a busy month and I havent had a chance to spend alot of time reading it, maybe others have had an easier time with it =)
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Life of Pi~wow! That was a rough read for me. Apparently I’m not a deep enough thinker for that one. Nate has absolutely LOVED the Warriors series. He read through the first series of 6 or so books very quickly. I see there is another set in the same series but unfortunately Guam has not been a good source to find them.
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KBG: I haven’t read Life of Pi yet but I’m heading to Borders today so maybe I’ll pick it up. Normally, I would check out the library but I plan on having a book swap with friends and/or sending the books to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Thanks for the recommendation for FG. She’s become a voracious reader. She’s the type of reader who can have more than one book going at a time. I’ll look for the series at Borders as well. And she LOVES cats.
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I’m with you – not generally a fan of short stories. I’m glad you found some that you like. Did you ever read Life of Pi? I’m interested to know if you liked it…
Also, a recommendation for your smaller reader –
http://www.amazon.com/Warriors-Box-Set-Volumes/dp/0061477931/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211267739&sr=8-1
My boy is loving these, he’s already on book 3 and he’s only had the series for a week and a half. We heard about these from the mother of a girl, so I think that it is equally liked by all. And it’s about cats! Even better!
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