Synopses & Reviews
In making her selections for this year's volume of The Best American Short Stories, Amy Tan was drawn to stories that satisfied her appetite for the magic and mystery she loved as a child. In this vibrant audio collection, fantasy and truth coexist brilliantly in works by veteran writers as well as by accomplished new voices. Each tale, read here by its author, offers a rich journey into a different world.
About the Author
RICK BASS is the author of twenty-two books. His first short storycollection, The Watch, set in Texas, won the PEN/Nelson AlgrenAward, and his 2002 collection, The Hermit's Story, was a LosAngeles Times Best Book of the Year. Bass's stories have also beenawarded the Pushcart Prize and the O. Henry Award and havebeen collected in The Best American Short Stories.Amy Tan won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for her first novel, THE JOY LUCK CLUB, which was made into a successful film in 1993. Her other books include THE KITCHEN GOD'S WIFE and THE HUNDRED SECRET SENSES.Jhumpa Lahiri was born 1967 in London, England, and raised in Rhode Island. She is a graduate of Barnard College, where she received a B.A. in English literature, and of Boston University, where she received an M.A. in English, M.A. in Creative Writing and M.A. in Comparative Studies in Literature and the Arts, and a Ph.D. in Renaissance Studies. She has taught creative writing at Boston University and the Rhode Island School of Design. Her debut collection, Interpreter of Maladies, won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. It was translated into twenty-nine languages and became a bestseller both in the United States and abroad. In addition to the Pulitzer, it received the PEN/Hemingway Award, the New Yorker Debut of the Year award, an American Academy of Arts and Letters Addison Metcalf Award, and a nomination for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Lahiri was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2002. The Namesake is Jhumpa Lahiri's first novel. She lives in New York with her husband and son.George Harrar is the author of several novels and numerous short stories, one of which was chosen for the 1999 edition of The Best American Short Stories. Harrar lives in Wayland, Massachusetts, with his wife, Linda, a documentary filmmaker.
Table of Contents
Introduction Read by Amy Tan
The Hermit's Story by Rick Bass Read by Rick Bass
The Sun, the Moon, the Stars by Junot Diaz Read by Junot Diaz
Mrs. Dutta Writes a Letter by Chitra Divakaruni Read by Chitra Divakaruni
Kansas by Stephen Dobyns Read by Stephen Dobyns
The 5:22 by George Harrar Read by George Harrar
The Best Girlfriend You Never Had by Pam Houston Read by Pam Houston
Africans by Sheila Kohler Read by Sheila Kohler
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri Read by Jhumpa Lahiri