At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom

As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm finally devouring the collected works of Amy Hempel, an author who has the rare feat of being a writer who focuses soley on short fiction and is well known for it.  This is the volume of her work that I was most looking forward to, mostly because outside of a few of the stories I had a hard time finding this book on it's own.
The story that I was most familiar with prior to this is The Harvest.  It's one that Chuck Palahniuk discusses over and over as being pure brilliance, and I can see exactly why that is.  Aside from just being well written, the story in and of itself, is practically a deconstruction of storytelling itself.  And it catches us off guard in such a wonderful way.
There is another story here, The Most Girl Part of You, that I read this morning while on the streetcar and it did one of those rare things where I was transported.  Time didn't exist.  I was in the story, living breathing it - this was easily my favorite of the collection for that reason alone.
I find it a little frustrating to read a collection of short stories.  Every few pages you're asked to 'reset' and start again, and depending what you're coming out of - that's difficult.  I'll put the book down until the end of the long weekend and then continue on.  Should cleanse the palette nicely.  I described Amy to a friend of mine today as a writer whose stories I didn't always get into, but whose writing I almost always did.  It's a bizarre thing - she has this tendency to be telling a story, but then drift into a tangent - sometimes never to return.  I'm sure that's exactly what some people love about her - but for me it's a slight pet peeve.
Halfway through Amy's collection - looking forward to the remaining volumes.  If you're looking to getting into writing in any capacity you could do a lot worse than study this woman.
At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom 1st Edition Inscribed  At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom: Stories  The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel