Alice by way of Margaret

Of course this piece of news didn’t make the headlines over here. We’ve got enough inner and international conflicts to fill the headlines already. The news reached me through Instagram, of all things. I follow Margaret Atwood’s account, and that’s how I learnt of the passing of Alice Munro, one of my favorite authors: “My piece about very old friend Alice Munro ( who just died, aged 92) is now up on my Substack”. That’s a shocking way to learn of someone’s death, but anyway, there’s never a good way. I was quite sad, especially when it transpired that she had been suffering from dementia for a decade.

The piece about Alice Munro by Margaret Atwood starts great, but then there’s a paywall. I also read tributes here and there. Alice Munro is one of those few authors I have read extensively, and own a lot of books of. I tend to be very selective on the books I keep, as we have limited shelves, and Alice Munro’s books have survived countless rounds of weeding. There was a period when I covered my favorite books with Japanese paper, and so that’s how I found them today as I tried to put them all together in one place.

My admiration for Alice Munro predates the creation of this blog, but over the years I have posted about:

• Friend of my youth, read in 2007
• The View from Castle Rock, read in 2009
• Too much happiness, read in 2011
• Dear Life, read in 2015

I’m not much of a re-reader, but surely for Alice I can make an exception, especially if I haven’t read them for 2 decades. I will probably choose one of the books I own as part of my 20 Books of the Summer challenge held by Cathy at 746 Books. What’s your favorite story or collection by Alice Munro?