Sing to It

Amy Hempel is one of the modern masters of the short story—really, as many of her admirers would say, of the sentence. Her stories are spare, and mostly short, as are her books, which are a once-a-decade treat. Some of the stories here are just half a page, but a couple are surprisingly garrulous, including "Cloudland," the novella-length ramble that closes the book, and the gem for me, "A Full-Service Shelter," which bears Hempel's other great passion (besides sentences), for dogs and those who care for them. The audiobook, available from our partners at Libro.fm, brings another treat: Hempel's wry reading voice, a perfect match for her terse declarations.