A breath of fresh air. Alice Munro's collection of stories about relationships that bind us in surprising ways is a complete joy, from start to finish.

In selective, delightful prose, she carefully delineates the lives and loves of her characters, always making sure to show the bad with the good, and lending an ear to the vulnerabilities that make us all human. She is a genius of short fiction. Some highlights here are the title story, "Nettles" and "The Bear Came Over the Mountain."