Happy Birthday, Alice!

Today is the birthday of Alice Munro (born in Ontario in 1931). I'm almost ashamed to say it, but I read my first Munro story only this year. I've read many since then, and have the rest of her collections in my to-read pile. She's amazing. Her prose is clear, spare, beautiful, and her characters so real and vivid that even in stories where nothing much seems to happen the story draws you in and releases you only well after you've finished. I'd call her a national treasure if she were American; as it is, she's a treasure in the world of English-language writers (and readers).