Rough Country

I am reading--ok, listening to a cd--of the Annie Proulx collection of short stories called Rough Country, and every story is achingly good. I know she's been dissed in the past for her "literary" style, but I don't find it that way at all. Her characters are unique, her images are startling, and her story construction is slow and idiosyncratic, but boy does she gets there, and in a most original way. I am surprised I missed her work somehow--I love the fact that she didn't publish her first novel until she was 58 (gives me hope). I highly recommend this collection to anyone who likes good short fiction.