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260th out of 1,186 books
—
879 voters
Carried Away: A Selection of Stories (Everyman's Library)
by
Alice Munro,
Margaret Atwood (Goodreads Author)
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)
Carried Away is a dazzling selection of stories–seventeen favorites chosen by the author from across her distinguished career.
Alice Munro has been repeatedly hailed as one of our greatest living writers, a reputation that has been growing for years. The stories brought together here span a quarter century, drawn from some of her earliest books...more
Carried Away is a dazzling selection of stories–seventeen favorites chosen by the author from across her distinguished career.
Alice Munro has been repeatedly hailed as one of our greatest living writers, a reputation that has been growing for years. The stories brought together here span a quarter century, drawn from some of her earliest books...more
Hardcover, 600 pages
Published
September 26th 2006
by Everyman's Library
(first published 2006)
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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
I picked this up after having developed a passing familiarity with this author’s work in various anthologies and her contributions to the New Yorker magazine, so perhaps I already had an idea of what to expect; but there’s always something different about reading a writer of short stories in a collection rather than in isolation. Perhaps encountering them with no prior knowledge elsewhere is preferable in some ways for the thrill of that initial encounter, but it’s in a collection like this that...more
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
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
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
Many, perhaps most, of the stories revolve around a woman somewhat at the margins of her society, a woman...more
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Munro writes marvelously complex stories. The stories that can be read over and over again without getting bored because there is always something more. I'm fascinated by the way she can weave together so many disparate threads without deviating from the story at all. Rather than jumping around, the story drives forward. Very emotionally complex as well. Munro really gets inside her characters heads, but is in absolute control as to what goes on in there. The stories are completely packed with d...more
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
Language, language, language! (50%)
Character 40%
Plot...more
To read an Alice Munro short story is to allow yourself to be totally transported to an elevated awareness of human nature and go "I know how that feels". The amazing thing about Munro is her ability to put into words (that are both precise and concise) emotions and demeanours that we are familiar with, but which we have not been able to articulate (at least for this reader).
Because of its compact nature, I find myself thrown headlong into a Munro story from the very first sentence and there's...more
Because of its compact nature, I find myself thrown headlong into a Munro story from the very first sentence and there's...more
I should have known from the beginning I wouldn't like this collection as the foreword was written by Margaret Atwood and I don't like Atwood. But, I gave it a try and found it to be rather boring. Most of the stories are pretty similar in tone and feel and in the fact that nothing much ever seems to happen. They're more "slices of life" vignettes than stories, which gets tedious. The last story in the collection was the best one, so at least the collection ended on a good note.
What a book. Munro's short stories are powerful: that perfect balance of resonant emotional truth and a stoic, dry succinctness. She's got a knack for letting you really inhabit a distinct emotional tableau just long enough to get attached to the characters and be slaughtered by what then happens in the story. Many of the stories featured in this book required a few minutes of closed-eyed, slow-breathing reflection in order to turn the page to the next story. She's Canadian, and I can't really f...more
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.
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.
Alice Munro is amazing and I say this even after I've been assigned to use her stories for my English final. She has an extremely wonderful way with poignancy and all of her stories are an absolute pleasure to read.
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.
My first time reading Munro's work. The rating should really be 3.5. I love her stories and style (love her female characters). Will be reading her other writings.
"'The Bear Came Over the Mountain' entered my life when I was twenty-one years old. It crept right into me, had its way with me, and shifted my direction in ways I didn't understand until years later. I am not an academic, nor am I a writer. (I don't consider the adaptation of other people's stories serious writing.) So I feel ill equipped to complete the task of writing this preface from any but a purely personal point of view. However, I believe that, without risking overstatement, I have had...more
A short story collection that makes me oh-so-grateful for my new book club and yearning for a college literature class.
alice munro is a godd*mn ninja. didn't read everything in this best-of, but favorites included "the beggar maid," "carried away," and "save the reaper."
Beautiful poems. She writes about VERY emotional topics without emotion.
Munro writes marvelously complex stories. The stories that can be read over and over again without getting bored because there is always something more. I'm fascinated by the way she can weave together so many disparate threads without deviating from the story at all. Rather than jumping around, the story drives forward. Very emotionally complex as well. Munro really gets inside her characters heads, but is in absolute control as to what goes on in there. The stories are completely packed with d...more
I adore Alice Munro.
Aug 01, 2009
Andrea
added it
this is my book club's selection for october! i will start to read it tonite!
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.
I had heard that Alice Munro was an exceptional writer, and being in the mood for short stories (for which she is especially acclaimed) I decided to read some of her works.
I only read three stories from this collection: "Carried Away", "Friend of My Youth", and "Moons of Jupiter." All were well written and pleasures to read. The title story, Carried Away, was especially good.
I only read three stories from this collection: "Carried Away", "Friend of My Youth", and "Moons of Jupiter." All were well written and pleasures to read. The title story, Carried Away, was especially good.
Sep 23, 2010
Diana
added it
Can hardly put it down...
I guess I was spoiled by Runaway, which is a perfectly concise collection, so that this one felt a little sprawling to me. But of course it's gorgeous. Great for fans of Munro who want to take everything she's ever written on a trip to tahiti but who are you kidding, you can only fit one book. It's something of a greatest hits.
The book was a little long. I enjoyed a majority of the stories, but found a lot of them to be repeating some similar characters and story lines.
Alice Munro has been called"The Canadian Chekov", and after reading this exquisite collection of stories, I understand why. The mysteries of the human heart are observed and illuminated by Munro's encyclopedic knowledge and imagination. If you like short stories, don't miss this these.
The utterly precise nature of Munro's language and characterizations were off-putting to me at first, leaving me feeling cold and detached. As I acclimated to her style, however, her stories began to reveal themselves to me as they really are: exact, intentional, subtle, and perfect.
Munro is a short story master, I am very impressed with her abilty to create a realistic, surprising world, a world like the one I live in. I care about the characters and am not sure what they will do in all their delightful humanity.
I read "The Bear Came Over the Mountain" as part of my Oscar run this year and decided to just keep plugging away. So far I've read "Royal Beatings" and "The Beggar Maid." Both short stories are fantastic.
I realized halfway through that I'd read the book before and that's why it was so familiar. I liked it very much the first time around, and the second I thought it was just okay.
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Alice Ann Munro, née Laidlaw (born 10 July 1931) 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."
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