''The Collected Stories of
Amy Hempel
Amy Hempel (born December 14, 1951) is an American short story writer and journalist. She teaches creative writing at the Michener Center for Writers.
Life
Hempel was born in Chicago, Illinois. She moved to California at age 16, which is wher ...
'' is a compilation of all Hempel's short stories published between 1985 and 2005. The collection was published by
Scribner in 2006 with an introduction by
Rick Moody
Hiram Frederick Moody III (born October 18, 1961) is an American novelist and short story writer best known for the 1994 novel ''The Ice Storm'', a chronicle of the dissolution of two suburban Connecticut families over Thanksgiving weekend in 19 ...
. The book was a finalist for the 2006
PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to the authors of the year's best works of fiction by living American citizens. The winner receives US$15,000 and each of four runners-up receives US$5000. Fi ...
and was selected by
The New York Times Book Review
''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...
as one of the 10 best books of 2006.
The collection includes Hempel's four previous collections: ''Reasons to Live'' (1985), ''At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom'' (1990), ''Tumble Home'' (1997), and ''The Dog of the Marriage'' (2005).
Contents
Foreword by Rick Moody: "On Amy Hempel"
''Reasons to Live''
* "In a Tub"
* "Tonight Is a Favor to Holly"
* "Celia Is Back"
* "Nashville Gone to Ashes"
* "San Francisco"
* "In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried"
* "Beg, Sl Tog, Inc, Cont, Rep"
* "Going"
* "Pool Night"
* "Three Popes Walk into a Bar"
* "The Man in Bogotá"
* "When It's Human Instead of When It's Dog"
* "Why I'm Here"
* "Breathing Jesus"
* "Today Will Be a Quiet Day"
''At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom''
* "Daylight Come"
* "The Harvest"
* "The Most Girl Part of You"
* "Rapture of the Deep"
* "Du Jour"
* "Murder"
* "The Day I Had Everything"
* "To Those of You Who Missed Your Connecting Flights Out of O'Hare"
* "And Lead Us Not into Penn Station"
* "In the Animal Shelter"
* "At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom"
* "The Lady Will Have the Slug Louie"
* "Under No Moon"
* "The Center"
* "Tom-Rock Through the Eels"
* "The Rest of God"
''Tumble Home''
* "Weekend"
* "Church Cancels Cow"
* "The Children's Party"
* "Sportsman"
* "Housewife"
* "The Annex"
* "The New Lodger"
* "Tumble Home"
* "Notes"
''The Dog of the Marriage''
* "Beach Town"
* "Jesus Is Waiting"
* "The Uninvited"
* "Reference #388475848-5"
* "What Were the White Things?"
* "The Dog of the Marriage"
* "The Afterlife"
* "Memoir"
* "Offertory"
* "Notes"
References
American short story collections
2006 short story collections
PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction-winning works
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