For my inaugural July Exploration, I jumped into Alice Munro’s Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage which I found to be fitting for a day that I didn’t have the attention span for a longform story (I’m looking at you, Wolf Hall). This was the first time I’ve sampled Alice Munro and was delighted. The stories are a bit sad, but how else would we know joy?

I am hard pressed to pick my favorite story from the collection.It’s often said we can easily remember the beginnings of things and the ends, but the middle is a bit hazy. I find that pretty appropriate here. The first story, from which the collection takes its title was sad, but rewarding at the end. How a teenager’s prank could have gone horrible wrong, but ended up working out for the parties involved. The last story The Bear Came Over the Mountain about a man and his wife who has Alzheimer’s was the same. Sad, but there was some compassion there.

Next I think I’m finishing Gaiman’s Smoke and Mirrors. Unless I don’t.