is that the one with "The Albanian Virgin"? Good stuff.
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 27 June 2011 12:49 (thirteen years ago) link
yes it is!
― just sayin, Monday, 27 June 2011 12:50 (thirteen years ago) link
Get your hands on this immediately. It's cheap too!
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 27 June 2011 12:52 (thirteen years ago) link
i would but i've already got most of her other stuff :)
― just sayin, Monday, 27 June 2011 12:59 (thirteen years ago) link
carried away is absolutely devastating. it was the first story i ever read of hers and, as much as i love her, i don't think i've read anything that has topped it.
― jed_, Monday, 27 June 2011 13:51 (thirteen years ago) link
i know right! i would agree w/ you that its definitely right near the top, amazes me how much she crams into that story
― just sayin, Monday, 27 June 2011 13:53 (thirteen years ago) link
Having read everything else by her, I'm still holding off on Castle Rock. I fear she will die and I'll have nothing left to read of hers.
― I knew that the Russian people mercilessly ograblyali ograblyay (James Morrison), Monday, 27 June 2011 23:58 (thirteen years ago) link
Reread "Carried Away," inspired by this thread. I didn't sort out the relationships, but I retained the memory of the letters Louisa received, and how the quiet authority of the last paragraph carries as much emotional weight as the conclusion to any novel.
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 28 June 2011 17:38 (thirteen years ago) link
A few of my favorite Munro stories:
Floating BridgeMiles City, MontanaThe Albanian VirginSave the ReaperTurkey SeasonDimenions
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 28 June 2011 17:40 (thirteen years ago) link
'miles city, montana' is so so good. so is 'carried away'.
i think my favorite story of hers is 'nettles' from i think 'hateship...' which is just so perfect and real i can mistake it for my own memories
― Lamp, Tuesday, 28 June 2011 20:25 (thirteen years ago) link
She had a new one in last week's New Yorker--haven't read it.
― Let me tell you something about that song. (Eazy), Tuesday, 28 June 2011 20:41 (thirteen years ago) link
It's called "Gravel" and it's average.
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 29 June 2011 23:12 (thirteen years ago) link
Average for Munro (ie, still ace), or average for the rest of us (ie, just average)?
― I knew that the Russian people mercilessly ograblyali ograblyay (James Morrison), Wednesday, 29 June 2011 23:14 (thirteen years ago) link
I thought it was better than basically every fiction story they published this year, but I'm a sucker for her stuff. Just bought the selected short stories.
― Moreno, Friday, 1 July 2011 03:44 (thirteen years ago) link
I would never associate Alice Munro with romance or romanticism, but sometimes she so perfectly describes longing:
From carried away: He could no more describe the feeling he got from her than you can describe a smell. It’s like the scorch of electricity. It’s like burnt kernels of wheat. No, it’s like a bitter orange. I give up.
From comfort: Her memory of Ed Shore’s kiss outside the kitchen door did, however, become a treasure. When Ed sang the tenor solos in the Choral Society’s performance of the Messiah every Christmas, that moment would return to her. “Comfort Ye My People” pierced her throat with starry needles. As if everything about her was recognized then, and honored and set alight.
<3
― rayuela, Thursday, 26 January 2012 16:00 (twelve years ago) link
She's got a story in the new Granta.
― Burritos are one of the things I'm nostalgic about!!! (Eazy), Sunday, 29 January 2012 14:12 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.themillions.com/2012/07/a-beginners-guide-to-alice-munro.html#comments
― just sayin, Friday, 6 July 2012 23:13 (twelve years ago) link
ignore that. there are abt a million other websites that will give you a better intro
― just sayin, Friday, 6 July 2012 23:15 (twelve years ago) link
This woman should have won three Nobles by now.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 6 July 2012 23:32 (twelve years ago) link
Read Dolnick's essay about Munro that he published as a short ebook--it's OK, but mainly seems to consist of arguments about why short stories aren't as dumb as you think, which for someone like me who doesn't even think that made the whole enterprise a bit of a waste of time
― an inevitable disappointment (James Morrison), Saturday, 7 July 2012 05:39 (twelve years ago) link
r.i.p. lit crit
― scott seward, Saturday, 7 July 2012 20:38 (twelve years ago) link
happy birthday, cutey.
https://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/431093_10150638970355665_1200768662_n.jpg
― scott seward, Wednesday, 11 July 2012 02:25 (twelve years ago) link
Thanks for that pic, Scott--I was reading 'The View from castle Rock' over the weekend, and with its overt autobiographical stuff I was wondering what she looked like when young
It's the only one of hers I hadn't read yet--with her being quite old I 'd been holding off in case she died and there was nothing else new by her to read, but now I see there's a new book scheduled for later this year, so I can relax a bit
― an inevitable disappointment (James Morrison), Wednesday, 11 July 2012 23:17 (twelve years ago) link
this is fun!
http://www.themillions.com/2012/07/a-beginners-guide-to-alice-munro.html
― scott seward, Saturday, 21 July 2012 00:22 (twelve years ago) link
http://m.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hateship-friendship-wiig-steinfeld-pearce-379743
― just1n3, Thursday, 18 October 2012 14:18 (eleven years ago) link
https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/523488_10151148349010665_222119545_n.jpg
― scott seward, Monday, 5 November 2012 21:23 (eleven years ago) link
Pretty excited to read this!
― just1n3, Monday, 5 November 2012 22:02 (eleven years ago) link
oh word
― Tome Cruise (Matt P), Monday, 5 November 2012 22:06 (eleven years ago) link
review by michael robbins, one of america's best-selling poets:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/books/ct-prj-1118-alice-munro-dear-life-20121116,0,1117418.story
― scott seward, Saturday, 17 November 2012 13:33 (eleven years ago) link
TNR's review.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 17 November 2012 20:58 (eleven years ago) link
>:O http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n11/christian-lorentzen/poor-rose
― just sayin, Tuesday, 28 May 2013 15:09 (eleven years ago) link
haha, this is great
― the bitcoin comic (thomp), Tuesday, 28 May 2013 23:03 (eleven years ago) link
Reading ten of her collections in a row has induced in me not a glow of admiration but a state of mental torpor that spread into the rest of my life. I became sad, like her characters, and like them I got sadder. I grew attuned to the ways life is shabby or grubby, words that come up all the time in her stories, as well as to people’s residential and familial histories, details she never leaves out. How many rooms are in the house, and what sort of furniture and who used to own it and what is everybody wearing? To ask these questions is to live your life like a work of realism.
― the bitcoin comic (thomp), Tuesday, 28 May 2013 23:04 (eleven years ago) link
feel like a lot of specific readings are questionable, and it's, i think, something like: one part stuff actually not-great about alice munro's fictional project to one part author of the article's lack of sympathy with the not-necessarily-in-their-own-terms-objectionable aspects of that project to one part the burnout inevitable if you read ten collections in a row (!) to one part munro's own slight decline over recent years
but still fun to see i guess
― the bitcoin comic (thomp), Tuesday, 28 May 2013 23:10 (eleven years ago) link
i like how mental torpor = being hyper-aware of your surroundings and asking lots of questions. he admits that he feels differently and sees the world differently after reading her work! she has an effect! and yeah you probably WOULD get really bummed out if you read ten collections in a row.
i don't think it would be any great shame for someone to just admit that they got bored of reading about small-town shabbiness in provincial Canada.
i don't think i actually read munro for the realism. i mean it feels real detail-wise, but what the hell do i know about canada in the 50's and 60's? not a whole hell of a lot. and i don't seek out tons of other writers who write about small town canadian life in the early and mid 20th century. that's not what i'm in it for. there are hundreds of decent regional writers. but i don't think people rave about her because of her expert eye for period detail.
― scott seward, Wednesday, 29 May 2013 04:09 (eleven years ago) link
that's not the same thing as reading her 'for the realism' tho
― the bitcoin comic (thomp), Wednesday, 29 May 2013 17:05 (eleven years ago) link
i don't even know what i was going on about. just wish that guy would look up the word torpor. as far as realism goes, i actually think part of munro's appeal for me is escapism. reading her is like following someone else's dream. but someone with interesting/entertaining dreams. most dreams are boring. and not worth following. i'm not a fan of dream novels. but i do like people who put me in another place that i would never be without them. and i don't care if that place is real or not. i guess that's the appeal of most writing. for me anyway. i mostly read sci-fi now for that reason.
in any case, a trained eye for detail is very much a part of what makes realism work but that is not what makes her stories work for me. a large part of what does make them work for me is going from point a to point b and being kinda blissfully unaware of how i got there. in the best cases. not everyone bats a thousand. you have to go with the flow of the river though. there is trust involved. if you don't like where she is taking you there are always chances to close the book.
― scott seward, Wednesday, 29 May 2013 18:32 (eleven years ago) link
mb this guy was forced to read all ten collections in some kind of clockwork orange style scenario
― the bitcoin comic (thomp), Wednesday, 29 May 2013 21:55 (eleven years ago) link
the stories blur if you read too many of'em at once but that's normal -- it happens every time I read a story collecction
― A deeper shade of lol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 29 May 2013 22:00 (eleven years ago) link
^^^^^^^^
I gobble collections too quickly and I'm left with just an oconnorness or a carverness or a xueness or a barthelmeness or w/e, but how the hell else am I supposed to read?
― too busy s1ockin' on my 乒乓 (wins), Wednesday, 29 May 2013 22:08 (eleven years ago) link
Bum. She has announced she is retiring from writing.
― ornamental cabbage (James Morrison), Sunday, 23 June 2013 22:57 (eleven years ago) link
i think its fine. she's 81. plus, i can imagine she'll write some more stuff anyway. kinda hard to stop if you've been doing it as long as she has.
― scott seward, Sunday, 23 June 2013 23:11 (eleven years ago) link
the last collection seemed to imply this was the case, maybe, a little
― the bitcoin comic (thomp), Sunday, 23 June 2013 23:24 (eleven years ago) link
but, yeah, i mean, good on her, i think?
― the bitcoin comic (thomp), Sunday, 23 June 2013 23:25 (eleven years ago) link
I'm all in favour of people quitting while they're ahead--see E M Forster--I just want more good stuff because I'm greedy
― ornamental cabbage (James Morrison), Monday, 24 June 2013 01:39 (eleven years ago) link
Good for her. I've got enough Munro to reread the rest of my life.
― A deeper shade of lol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 June 2013 01:42 (eleven years ago) link
not why forster quit iirc
― the bitcoin comic (thomp), Monday, 24 June 2013 16:19 (eleven years ago) link
only just saw this! sad news
― just sayin, Tuesday, 2 July 2013 10:38 (eleven years ago) link
Great profile in today's NY Times. Amazing that she published her first stories at age 37, in 1968.
― lols lane (Eazy), Tuesday, 2 July 2013 14:53 (eleven years ago) link
Yep. She gives me hope. Prodigies are rare.
― A deeper shade of lol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 2 July 2013 14:55 (eleven years ago) link