Book Review: "Selected Stories" and "The Bone People"

#annareadsbooks2017, the Summer edition Part 1! We're playing catch-up here... Both of these books were loaned to me by the gorgeous and wonderful @sari_choucair , aka my obliging book model aka somebody I could never do without. Thank you S! #16, "Selected Stories", by Alice Munro When she loaned this to me, she warned "every story in some way deals with the same theme, but don't worry, it somehow never feels repetitive". Bang on. The short stories in this collection are almost exclusively about unhappy or unsettled women and their relationships to themselves, love and the landscape (mostly Canadian)... yet feels like it's about EVERYTHING. This is my first time reading Alice Munro and I'll definitely be reading her again. Reading work like this inspires me to be a better writer, kind of in the same way that a kid playing chopsticks might look at Mozart and feel inspired. Not in anything like the same league, but excited to be in the same medium. #17, "The Bone People" by Kerri Humes. This is one of the most unusual and beautiful works of literature I've read in a really long time. This New Zealand classic from 1983 deals with the clash of white European and Maori cultures not only in plot, but in style. It feels like a translation but not just from another language, but from another culture and way of living altogether. English, and the printed book, and the more-or-less chronological narrative are poor, diluted mediums but the story is so rich and heartbreaking and swelling and powerful that it renders these awkward mediums absolutely sublime. Sublime. I highly recommended it. #readingchallenge #books #readstuff #bookworm #booklover #kerrihumes #alicemunro

20 Likes, 5 Comments - 🇦🇺 Cat 🇫🇷 (@its_annahartley) on Instagram: "#annareadsbooks2017, the Summer edition Part 1! We're playing catch-up here... Both of these books..."