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Open Secrets
Open Secrets | Alice Munro
12 posts | 12 read | 7 to read
Open Secrets, Alice Munros eighth book, consists of eight matchless stories, each one as rich as a full novel. All of them provide compulsive reading and rewarding re-reading. Perhaps you will be surprised to hear from a person you dont know and that doesnt remember your name. These intriguing words begin a letter dated 1917 to the Librarian in Carstairs, Ontario (the heart of Alice Munro Country). The letter sweeps us away into a world of secrets and revelations where nothing not even a courtship by letter that leads, over time, to a solid marriage is as it originally seems. The Ontario stories range from A Wilderness Station, which gives an account of an 1852 tree-felling accident and sheds light on the harsh life of the pioneers, all the way to the present, where family names known to us appear again in a world of TV shows and snowmobiles. Just as the stories range back and forth in time, they also travel far to distant settings. Much of The Albanian Virgin is set in a remote mountain area where a Canadian tourist in the 1920s is captured by bandits; her tale of escape is comforting to a Victoria bookseller escaping from her own former life. The Jack Randa Hotel brings a deserted wife in cold pursuit to Australia, which leads to another intriguing letter. Dear Mrs. Thornaby, It has come to my attention that you are dead Things that cannot be explained happen here. In the title story a lawyers wife has a flash of insight illogical, unprovable and terrifying into the fate of a missing teenager; in another, the appearance of a long-dead visitor reveals the grip of a former love. Yet the true magic lies in the way that Alice Munro makes everything here unexpected marriages, elopements, acts of sudden vengeance unfold with the ease of the inevitable. This is the mark of a great writer, and it is stamped on every page of this book.
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Michael_Gee
Open Secrets | Alice Munro

In her big, neglected house in Carstairs, she had entered a period of musing and drinking, of what looked to everybody else like a slow decline, but to her seemed, after all, sadly pleasurable, like a convalescence.

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Cathythoughts
Open Secrets | Alice Munro
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1. I‘ve only just read tagged book & loved it.
2. Can I say Leonard Cohen ( and I have to add Joni Mitchell .... beautiful beautiful words ✨✨✨
3. I dont really know Canadian food , but I was sent a bar of delicious Maple Syrup chocolate by a lovely litten ..... to die for

Thanyou @LeahBergen for the tag
Thankyou @KVanRead for this lovely giveaway
I tag @erzascarletbookgasm

KVanRead Thanks for playing. ❤️ Alice Munro 4y
erzascarletbookgasm Thanks, Cathy! 😘 I‘ll have a think. 4y
LeahBergen Yes! Cohen and Mitchell ... amazing poets. ❤️ 4y
Cathythoughts @LeahBergen I think so , they are brilliant ✨ 4y
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review
Cathythoughts
Open Secrets | Alice Munro
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Pickpick

I thought I would just read one story , but I finished them all & have started another selection. I‘m not sure I understand what the stories really mean , I‘ve missed something & I‘m left with a feeling of wonder I can‘t shake off ... I really loved these stories... set often in Ontario , deceptively simple tales with a nice bit of thriller thrown in , unnerving. #ReadCanada

Cathythoughts @Billypar thanks for the recommendation ❤️👍🏻 4y
TrishB Good when something gets you like that! 4y
Cathythoughts @TrishB Yes ! It‘s so good 4y
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Tanisha_A I am intrigued by your wondering. Stacked. ☺️ 4y
Cathythoughts @Tanisha_A I‘ll look forward to your thoughts whenever you may get there 👍🏻❤️ 4y
batsy The Munro experiment went well 😁👍🏽 4y
Cathythoughts @batsy oh yes ! It went very well , love her 4y
Cathythoughts @batsy And Thankyou! I‘ve been referring back to your post to remember the recommendations 😁 4y
Billypar Glad you liked them! I definitely need to try another collection of hers. 4y
SamAnne I‘ve been meaning to get back and read/reread her. 4y
Cathythoughts @Billypar I did love them ! I‘m on to another set now 4y
Cathythoughts @SamAnne It‘s my first time reading her ❤️👍🏻 4y
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Gissy
Open Secrets | Alice Munro
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It's here! I came from work so late and what was waiting for me?🤔Yes! The #HappyEverAfter box from @ferskner Thank you so much! I think I have to hide this box too, until February 14! Too much temptation! 😳What should I do?😱 @Chrissyreadit

ferskner Woohoo!!! 6y
Chrissyreadit Awesome!!! 6y
38 likes2 comments
review
Billypar
Open Secrets | Alice Munro
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Pickpick

My first Munro, and I agree w/her reputation as short story master- I liked every single one in this collection, and 'The Albanian Virgin' & 'The Jack Randa Hotel' rank among the best stories I've ever read. The latter is perfect for today's #IfYouLeaveMeCanIComeToo prompt (I love this song title @Lizpixie !) and for the #MarchintoOz theme also. I loved how the story MC's act boldly to follow their desires, regardless of small town conventions.

saresmoore I like your photo creativity! I find myself running low on ideas of clever ways to photograph books... Oh, hey, @ReadingEnvy, have you read this collection, including “The Jack Randa Hotel”? 7y
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erzascarletbookgasm Yup, creative pic! 7y
Cinfhen Well done😃🙌🏻❤️ 7y
merelybookish Alice Munro ❤❤❤❤ 7y
Billypar Thanks @saresmoore @erzascarletbookgasm @Cinfhen ☺️ @saresmoore That's so funny because I was thinking sending word out about the jacaranda reference- @ReadingEnvy have those tapered off or does the word still haunt you? You should at least be safe in TTBEOTW - I don't think it grows in Alaska 😂 7y
Billypar @merelybookish Do you have a Munro recommendation ? I want to plan my next one, and I only chose this one because of the title. 7y
merelybookish @Billypar Honestly I don't think there's a dud. Lives of Girls and Women and A View from Castle Rock have linked stories and are more autobiographical. The others are filled with wise beautiful heartbreaking stories about the rich, complicated lives of ordinary people. 🙂 7y
saresmoore @merelybookish I‘m going to piggyback on those recommendations—they sound wonderful! 7y
Billypar @merelybookish Thanks for that info- I love linked stories in collections. And glad to hear she's one of those rare authors that you can't go wrong in whatever you choose: before I selected Open Secrets I was standing in front of the Alice Munro section for a long time scratching my head and trying to find some basis for choosing one over another 😋 7y
merelybookish @Billypar @saresmoore I haven't read all her work yet. I like time with her and need to be in a certain mood. But I think each of her collections are good. And within each one is at least one story that is exquisite. But Munro is my favourite writer. She speaks to me in ways no other writer ever has. So I'm totally biased 😀 7y
saresmoore @merelybookish I love a good, biased book opinion! 7y
ReadingEnvy @saresmoore @Billypar omgahhhhhhh there it is again 7y
Billypar @saresmoore @merelybookish Book recommendations follow a weird reverse logic for me where, I think I only trust the most biased of opinions ☺️ 7y
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Gissy
Open Secrets | Alice Munro
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@CSeydel my open secrets 🤗1.Blue/Combination of blue & Green/yellow/sand 2.Season: in PR is almost hot & hotter, now its unusually windy. But favorite season is autumn. 3.Mystery-thrillers, paranormal, fantasy,😱so many 4.Read, scrapbook, run and now learning to swim 5.Crunchy chips, pop corn, dark chocolate 6.Coffee, but also tea and cocoa 7.I love almost everything, bookmarks, candles, totes, mugs, art prints, items to wear or put in my shelf

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kspenmoll
Open Secrets | Alice Munro
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#Hallowhoareyou
thanks for tag @bookish_wookish & @Centique

1. Too aged to count!
2. 3 sisters, 4 brothers
3. A son, age 23
4. Burning Girl, Killers of the Flower Moon, Ruth Hall; 🎧 A Death in the Small Hours
5. To Kill a Mocking Bird
6. 📚❤️😍
7. Zip-a-dee-do-dah
8. Wild thing in my youth; got kicked out of Girl Scouts for swearing
9. Love both, but have 2 cats😻
10. Like all, but coffee fuels my day ☕️
11. The Friend
12. @merelybookish

readordierachel Love your no. 8 😂 Which swear word pushed them over the edge? 7y
TheBookHippie Number one 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻 7y
ReviewsbytheMrs Number 8 👍🏻 Yes, which word?!?! 7y
kspenmoll @ReadOrDieRachel @ReviewsbytheMrs Ha! “Holy sh*t” 🤫 7y
ReviewsbytheMrs 😂😂😂 7y
59 likes5 comments
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Gissy
Open Secrets | Alice Munro
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1. I born in the same world as @BookBabe more than 1 less than 100😜 2. one sister 3. One 4. I will start Wicked Like A Wildfire b/c is the book chosen for my reading club 5. Various but I can say Crime & Punishment, Count of Montecristo, Shadow of the Wind, King Lear etc 6. 😜🤣7. Mindfulness 8. I can dance (sometimes) 9. Dog but I don't have any 10. All three but love coffee 11. Complicated 🤣 12. @BookishMarginalia @WanderingBookaneer @Euri

BookBabe #1! 😆🙌🏻 7y
39 likes1 comment
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VanChocStrawberry
Open Secrets | Alice Munro
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💫43 (for 1.3 more months 😂)
💫3 younger brothers, 1 younger sister
💫3 (12, 13, 14 years old.)
💫a Courtney Milan Book, Alice in Wonderland, Young Jane Young
💫some in my top ten: Fangirl, A Live Coal in the Sea, Anne if Green Gables
💫😂
💫 something that means rest with no niggling worries?
💫I‘m less and less excited about YA novels. Sigh.
💫cats (sorry, Molly.)
@Gyldholm #hallowhoareyou
💫coffee (and tea)
💫fangirl 😂😂
💫 @JenaJenkins

ooomeooo Wow... 12, 13, 14 - nicely done 🤟👌. 7y
JenaJenkins A Live Coal in the Sea ❤️ I might be due to reread that one soon. 7y
monalyisha I love Fangirl & Anne! 7y
hermyknee I‘m so grateful you sent me Fangirl in my Summer Santa box! I recommend it to my students all the time! And it‘s just so sweet and close to my heart 💗 7y
VanChocStrawberry @hermyknee that makes me so happy! I read it at a point when my anxiety was through the roof and I couldn‘t read anything. It was such a sweet story, and yet dealt with some tough stuff. 7y
22 likes5 comments
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Billypar
Open Secrets | Alice Munro
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I'm going to steal @BarbaraBB 's idea and showcase my very stylish TBR for the #OhYouPrettyThings prompt.
Sidenote: I love this song! It gets stuck in my head so easily (all day today) and I am just fine with it as my inner soundtrack. #septembowie @Marchpane @Cinfhen

BarbaraBB Very attractive! The books as well! 7y
26 likes1 comment
review
shelbyy
Open Secrets | Alice Munro
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Pickpick

This short story definitely makes you think. It is a complex story that leaves one wondering what happened and what the meaning is.

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shelbyy
Open Secrets | Alice Munro
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Coffee and a short story for my Saturday night ☕️📖🤓