Welcome to Litsy!

My pick for March, a collection of linked stories by my all-time favourite writer. Called The Beggar Maid outside of Canada.
#12daysof2023 @Andrew65

It's Pokemon tournament day and so am stuck reading some Alice Munro at the gaming store. I can't stand Pokemon 😑 but I really do love Munro.

My first Munro, I liked the writing very much.
A series of small stories about Rose and her upbringing, in no particular chronological order.
Interesting social views.

Here is my #bookspin stack for June. It took me forever to decide. I wanted to do something thematic and considered children's lit, Canlit, hardbacks, ebooks, etc. Finally I landed on short story collections and voila! Excited to finally read some of these!
@TheAromaofBooks

Alice Munro is the type of author to cozy up and read on a cool, rainy day, so it turned out to be perfect reading material for Iceland! 😂 Straddling the line between a novel and short stories, it loosely follows the life of Rose, a young woman who escapes her rural town to find her place in the world.

Works for #pop19 #questionintitle, but I think I filled that prompt already!

I think this may also be 8/8 for #bfcr2. 🎉🎉

Hubby is chomping at the bit to get going at breakfast, while I‘m trying to enjoy a cup of tea and a chapter of my book first. 😂😂😂

We had a beautiful first day in Hveragerdi, hiking the Hot Springs Trail!

#booksandbreakfast

The joys of travelling: stuck in Newark with a delayed connection that won‘t depart until 1am now. This airport never treats me well! 😴 Alice Munro is keeping me company.

My small reading stack for Iceland! My criteria for international trips:

1. I‘m okay with leaving it behind when I‘m finished.
2. Not too big or bulky.
3. Not horror. I want to be able to sleep on the plane!

I dug into the recesses of my shelves to pull out a few I‘ve had for years! I may have read Water Witches before, but if so, it was pre-Goodreads. Unless there is another novel about New England dowsers I‘m thinking of?

These interconnected short stories were my first serious exposure to literary legend Alice Munro, and I now stand in awe of her talent. Each sentence is lucid, cutting, familiar, and keenly observed. She's excellent.

She's also depressing as all hell. These stories illuminate the pettiest, least pleasant corners of an ordinary, extraordinary life. Nobody is particularly nice. Nobody is happy. Everyone spouts racist, classist, and ableist crap, ⬇️

Spicy eggs + my daily story.

I think I might be shooting myself in the foot with all the CanLit I'm reading right now. The basic CanLit trajectory is, "Things are awful; they get worse; the book ends." Hello, depressing material. I've compensated by squeezing some non-Canadian SFF in around the edges.

I've decided I need corn muffins for breakfast-at-lunchtime on this write off of a day.

On the plus side, Casey's doing WAY better now the anesthetic's worn off. My dad turned a travel pillow into a comfortable cone alternative, too, so that's a big stressor gone. And I'm loving my first dip into Alice Munro, even though she's quintessentially CanLit (ie, depressing as all get out).

This book is described as “stories” but to me reads like a novel, with a focus on protagonist Rose - each chapter or story jumping forward in time to show a moment, a realisation, a humbling or an escape for Rose as years pass. Rose moves on from her working class, hard knuckle, home in Hanratty but what is it to make a new life for yourself? Can you choose to be different? Do you get what you choose? ⬇️

This book is blowing my mind in a good way 🤯

“Learning to survive, no matter with what cravenness and caution, what shocks and forebodings, is not the same as being miserable. It is too interesting. “

Holy small type, Batman. This has gotta be 6pt font.

The rest of Friday's used bookshop splurge. The top two are blame it on @Leftcoastzen. I didn't go in searching for the Alexandria Quartet, but then couldn't resist once I saw two of them. (Now I will need to complete the set...🤔😛)

I am impressed by the way Munro observes ordinary things, deeds, conversations and is able to write them down in a way they make me very conscious of myself. It's as if she knows me. I reckon that's what makes her this great writer: I guess everyone will recognize himself or herself in Munro's words.
This is the story of Rose, finding her way in the world, and her stepmother Flo. #1001books

This book has many stories in it that all connect to a character name Rose. Originally, the author put this collection together and decided to change the characters in each story to a single character named Rose. The book is interesting. Interestingly and swiftly told and written. Definitely read it if you're from Ontario/Toronto.