Alice Munro Selected Stories Pdf

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Alice Munro Selected Stories Pdf 3,7/5 690 votes

Description of the book 'Selected Stories': This generous selection of stories drawn from Alice Munro's seven collections - the work of almost thirty years - is a literary event of the highest order, one that confirms Munro's place in the very front ranks of today's writers of fiction. Spanning her last five collections and bringing together her finest work from the past fifteen years, this new selection of Alice Munro’s stories infuses everyday lives with a wealth of nuance and insight. Written with emotion and empathy, beautifully observed and remarkably crafted, these stories are nothing short of perfection.

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Alice munro criticism
In her lengthy and fascinating introduction Margaret Atwood says “Alice Munro is among the major writers of English fiction of our time. . . . Among writers themselves, her name is spoken in hushed tones.”
This splendid gift edition is sure to delight Alice Munro’s growing body of admirers, what Atwood calls her “devoted international readership.” Long-time fans of her st...more
Published March 19th 2015 (first published 2006)
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Rating details

Jun 23, 2016Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: short-stories, canadian, 21th-century, fiction, collection, literature
My best stories, Alice Munro
My Best Stories is a dazzling selection of stories--seventeen favourites chosen by the author from across her distinguished career. The stories are arranged in the order in which they were written, allowing even the most devoted Munro admirer to discover how her work developed. 'Royal Beatings' shows us right away how far we are from the romantic world of happy endings. 'The Albanian Virgin' smashes the idea that all of her stories are set in B.C. or in Ontario's 'Al...more
Jun 14, 2015Glenn Sumi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Shelves: contemp-classics, canadian, nobel-winners, short-stories
A superb introduction to one of the best writers in the English language. (If you can get a copy of 1996's Selected Stories you'll be able to sample even more of her early work - since this collection starts with her fourth book.)
I've read some of these multiple times, studied them, quoted them, laughed over them and recognized myself and people I know in them.
What she does with the short story form is astonishing. And while she's known for her stories set in a particular area of Southwestern On...more
Oct 30, 2017Dolors rated it liked it · review of another edition
WWI. A young librarian receives a letter from a soldier who used to come to the Library to read, unbeknown to her. He declares his love for her and she falls in love with a stranger. When the war is over and the man returns home, the librarian finds out that he was previously engaged to another woman. She never sees his face or talks to him, but his words leave track on her heart forever.
Years pass. A tragic accident in the piano factory where the soldier used to work. The widowed owner of the b...more
Aug 17, 2017Julie rated it liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: canada, nobel, 21st-century, short-stories
Reading Munro is like having tea and conversation with a favourite, elderly aunt ... you enjoy the journey down memory lane up to a point, but after a while, the stories become tepid, much like the tea that's been sitting too long in its pot. She's a cosy read, and if you dip into her works only occasionally, you are rewarded with little gems. A sustained reading renders you senseless with frustration as she ambles and meanders quite pointlessly at times. Good to take to the cottage, or on a tra...more
Nov 22, 2009Bruce rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
In this collection of seventeen short stories, Alice Munro, the incomparable Canadian author, has woven her usual magic. Each narrative can be read in no more than an hour, yet each story lingers in the reader’s mind for days afterward. The last story in the collection, “The Bear Came Over the Mountain,” was the basis for the recent critically acclaimed Julie Christie movie, “Away From Her.”
Many, perhaps most, of the stories revolve around a woman somewhat at the margins of her society, a woman...more
Feb 28, 2014Krista rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Shelves: 2014, favourites, can-con, short-stories
I've read most of My Best Stories from the collections they originally appeared in, but this was a welcome re-acquaintance; a reunion with the nearly forgotten. Here's a longish passage from 'Miles City, Montana' that demonstrates why Alice Munro is the master, my guru:
Disappeared.
But she swam. She held her breath and came up swimming.
What a chain of lucky links.
That was all we spoke about - luck. But I was compelled to picture the opposite. At this moment, we could have been filling out forms.
...more
Apr 20, 2012JBedient rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
The copy before me is from the library, such a pristine copy too, sad, since anything by Munro from any library should be tattered and dog-eared from the wear and tear of readers...
But maybe the past patrons did the same thing I plan to do: I read five stories out of this collection and I decided, firmly and with conviction, to set this copy aside and purchase my own copy. This is a collection of stories to be savored for a lifetime.
I could not believe the quality of the writing.
The title stor...more

Alice Munro Selected Stories Pdf Book

Feb 07, 2015Richard Newton rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: fiction-and-literature, thinking-about-life
I have to admit to ignorance - I had not heard of Alice Munro until she was awarded the Nobel prize for literature. But having heard of her, I am glad I did as these are excellent short stories. It's difficult to decide whether to judge a book like this according to the best stories or the average. The average standard is very high, but inconsistent. Not everything is brilliant, although all are good. And amongst the stories are some truly 5 start gems such as The Bear Came Over the Mountain. Yo...more
Aug 21, 2017Barbara McEwen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
4.5 stars - The writing and characters are superb. Maybe I read too many sci-fi and thrillers but I kept anticipating crazy things were going to happen in some of the stories and they didn't. Great stuff even if you aren't getting a lot of action.
Oct 11, 2013Julian Meynell rated it liked it · review of another edition
I finally read Munro consumed by guilt at not having read the only Canadian author to ever win a Nobel Prize for literature. This is a collection of short stories covering her whole career. I was a bit leery of Munro because I thought that it would be all icy glances over the dishes. The stories are actually pretty much that kind of thing, but they are quite good.
She writes well, although not really well. The third person pieces are more effective because she always writes in the same voice and...more
Oct 18, 2015Oli Yerovi rated it really liked it · review of another edition
I admire the fact that the apparent ordinary existence can be intriguing in her stories and that I did picture the small town Canada living and feeling. But around 500 pages of short stories portraying females in some kind of distress was maybe too much to read all along. I suggest savour each story giving some time from one to another. There were some brilliant stories, which moved me deeply.
Jul 25, 2014Thebruce1314 rated it liked it · review of another edition
I admit to jumping on the bandwagon with this one. Munro won the Nobel prize and I - being Canadian, a fellow alumna of Western and a lover of literature - was embarrassed to say that I'd never read anything by her. At least that I could recall.
I really enjoyed the first couple of stories in this collection, which followed the same characters. They were relatable, they lived in southwestern Ontario and inhabited the world of higher education. I liked that I could picture the setting, and it brou...more
Oct 10, 2012Penguin Random House Canada rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Alice! Is there anyone better? She was my introduction to short stories, and to Canadian literature. Her writing makes me pause on nearly every page and wonder how she can capture a relationship or an emotion as brilliantly as she does...and then I quickly devour the next page and am astounded all over again. Time, after time, after time…and oh, I’ve read these stories many times. I think this is my most-crinkle-paged book on the shelf, and maybe my most gifted book too (in fact, I handed it ove...more
Jul 14, 2015Peter Mendrela rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Prosaic Perfection!
If I were given only two words to describe Alice Munro achievement “prosaic perfection” would have to be it.
I admit it was thoroughly snobbish of me. It took my own citizenship, an eminent literature professor’s laudatory (and hortatory) analysis, and – as though these were not enough – a Nobel Prize to get to know and instantly becomeIf I were given only two words to describe Alice Munro achievement 'prosaic perfection' would have to be it.
I admit it was thoroughly snobbish o...more
Feb 13, 2017Ilse Wouters rated it really liked it · review of another edition
I was already a fan of Alice Munros excellent short stories and this collection is a wonderful way to enjoy them one by one... I had the collection at my bed side waiting for the right moment to read it. It has finally come!
While reading a quite complex historical novel in Spanish, I felt I could 'digest' it better when reading a short story from this collection between every two chapters of the Spanish book.
Its amazing what AM can say in a single short story, and maybe even more amazing is th...more
Apr 23, 2014Gail Amendt rated it really liked it · review of another edition
I first read Alice Munro for a university English course when I was eighteen, and I can't say that I cared for her writing very much. It seemed to be just a series of stories about nothing. When my book club decided to read this collection of her short stories, I wondered if 25+ years of maturity would increase my appreciation for her writing, and I'm happy to say that it has. Her stories are still about nothing...just about people living mundane lives going through fairly ordinary events. Her g...more
Jul 03, 2012Ben Winch rated it really liked it · review of another edition
I'm ashamed to say I didn't get to read all of these stories before I had to return them to the library (short stories, especially of 20 pages and up, being in a way harder to 'make time' for than novels because they should/must be read in one sitting), but from what I read they were excellent, especially 'The Moons of Jupiter'. That story has everything! Small-scale yet cosmic - by the end it just opens out like the roof peeling back from the observatory and leaves you gazing out at the 'shorel...more
Aug 17, 2014Cid Medeiros rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
By beautifully and insightfully telling displaced short stories, Munro ended up composing bigger ones. It felt like an old brain remembering its own existence through the recollection of scattered memories while her owner is drinking some hot beverage during some Canadian winter. Just like that: someone, somewhere in Canada, sometime...
That lack of rigidness, while deconstructing the traditional line of time of reading novels, creates an organic and more natural telling stories experience: she...more
Jun 19, 2010Lillian rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Alice Munro the very gifted writer of short stories has chosen eighteen of her favorites and compiled them into this astounding collection. My favorite of course is the title selection about the World War I soldier whose letters from the front to a small-town librarian change her life forever. Munro’s skill has her characters being surprised at their own predicaments. She is insightful, compassionate and tender with all of our human frailties.
Language, language, language! (50%)
Character 40%
Plot...more

Alice Munro Selected Stories Pdf Free

Dec 08, 2011Rachelheavers rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Wow.
Margaret Atwood told me to read this book, in the introduction to this book, but it certainly didn't prepare me to like this book as much as I do.
Alice Munro is the perfect women's author. There are people in my real life that I understand better because of the people she creates, dissects and explains in the not-real world of her stories.
Wander through my day thinking about things I read the night before, the best possible endorsement.
Aug 22, 2007Shannon rated it really liked it · review of another edition
I've always been a little skeptical of some people's passionate adoration of all things Munro, because I thought they might like the idea of her better than the actual stories. But after committing to this big ol' anthology of some of her best, I have to admit that I was wrong. She gets it so right sometimes that she made me feel a little exposed. Some of my favorites--The Beggar Maid, Vandals, Runaway.
Jan 16, 2013Jill rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Alice Munro is simply the best contemporary short story writer. Each story is compelling and the characters fascinating. Plus many are set in 20th Century Ontario - a nice change from American settings.
Jan 07, 2012Shannon Coates rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Jan 18, 2014Antonia rated it it was ok · review of another edition
This type of literature is the opposite of my taste - I found Munro's writing too conservative and ordinary.
Mar 31, 2014Shuriu rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
'It did not occur to me then that one day I would be so greed for Jubilee. Voracious and misguided as Uncle Craig out at Jenkin's Bend, writing his history, I would want to write things down.
I would try to make lists. A list of all the stores and businesses going up and down the main street and who owned them, a list of family names, names on the tombstones in the cemetery and any inscriptions underneath…
The hope of accuracy we bring to such tasks is crazy, heartbreaking.
And no list could ev...more
Oct 29, 2017Brynn rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
The collection I read is called 'My Best Stories', a Penguin edition published in 2006. It doesn't seem to exist under that title here and I'm confused as to if it's actually just this one. It seems like it is, in which case I don't know why mine isn't called it. Either way, this review is for 17 of Alice Munro's short stories.
This. Writing. Is. Fucking. Extraordinary.
Usually when you see the reviews included in the first few pages of a book you can be reasonably sure that there's at least a lit...more
Jan 17, 2014Ci rated it really liked it · review of another edition
In this collected stories, one learns not to trust one’s observation and analysis of self and others. Nothing is what it seems to be nor should be, while self and others morphs over time and condition. And no amount of religion, family value, or social success can fill the pool of muddy waters hiding and revealing the hints of our psychological damage and detritus. We are forever coping the moment when the milk of human kindness receded into something snarly and snarky. This irreducibility of hu...more
Jul 15, 2017Lyle Nicholson rated it liked it · review of another edition
Here's my confession. I'm Canadian and have never read Alice Munro. I was never introduced to her in my English classes in Univerisity and became somewhat aware of her after visiting the amazing bookstore that bears her husbands name in Victoria.
I picked up this book at the local library and read over 50% of it. I found I loved the first several stories, wondered how I'd missed this treasured writer all my life, and then, as I kept reading, I found it was more of the same. I grew tired of the ch...more
Oct 19, 2017Jamie Sigal rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Some really great and sometimes soul-quaking story-telling in this collection and it's easy to see why Munro won the Nobel Prize for Literature a couple of years ago - She doesn't just have her finger on the pulse of the human condition; she has her hands shoved right up through the guts of it and squeezing the heart. While most of the stories rang out with harsh honesty and emotion, there were a couple in this collection that I felt were written less out of a need to share and more out of the w...more
Jun 12, 2018Blair Conrad rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: short-stories, used, author-bigger-than-title, fiction, bought
Read in chunks, between other books, which I think is a good thing, since the stories ended up having a feeling of sameness that I think would only have been exacerbated by back to back to back reading.
Many of the individual stories were gems, but a few left me flat. That's the nature of an anthology, though. In some cases, I found the protagonist's motivations or actions to be a little inconsistent, and that threw me out of the stories a little bit.
Overall, though, the Munro writes beautifully,...more
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Alice Ann Munro, née Laidlaw, is a Canadian short-story writer who is widely considered one of the world's premier fiction writers. Munro is a three-time winner of Canada's Governor General's Award for fiction. Her stories focus on human relationships looked at through the lens of daily life. She has thus been referred to as 'the Canadian Chekhov.'
She is the winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Liter...more
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“People open shops in order to sell things, they hope to become busy so that they will have to enlarge the shop, then to sell more things, and grow rich, and eventually not have to come into the shop at all. Isn't that true? But are there other people who open a shop with the hope of being sheltered there, among such things as they most value - the yarn or the teacups or the books - and with the idea only of making a comfortable assertion? They will become a part of the block, a part of the street, part of everybody's map of the town, and eventually of everybody's memories. They will sit and drink coffee in the middle of the morning, they will get out the familiar bits of tinsel at Christmas, they will wash the windows in spring before spreading out the new stock. Shops, to these people, are what a cabin in the woods might be to somebody else - a refuge and a justification.” — 9 likes
“For later generations of women—post Sexual Revolution—enjoying sex was to become simply a duty, the perfect orgasm yet another thing to add to the list of required accomplishments; and when enjoyment becomes a duty, we’re back in the land of “dreariness of spirit.” — 2 likes
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