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Selected Stories

The Alligators, A & P, Pigeon Feathers, The Family Meadow, Witnesses, Separating

Author John Updike
Read by John Updike
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Audio | Random House Audio
On sale May 12, 2009 | 2 Hours and 50 Minutes | 9780307702548
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John Updike reads six stories he has selected from the hundred-odd he has published.

"A&P", recounting a moral crisis on the checkout counter, is his most anthologized story.

"Pigeon Feathers," the longest story included, tells of a fourteen-year-old boy's fear of death and the answer he finds.

"The Family Meadow" describes a piece of America, a picnic reunion in New Jersey.

"The Witnesses" and "The Alligators" both deal with love, as felt by a middle-aged man and a fifth-grade boy.

"Separating" recounts the June day when Richard and Joan Maple separate, in front of their four children.

Mr. Updike, when asked to described his method of reading aloud, said "I try to picture the things describes, and to speak the words distinctly, and to let the emotion come through on its own."
The method works beautifully.
JOHN UPDIKE is the author of more than sixty books, eight of them collections of poetry. His novels won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle, and the William Dean Howells Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He died in January 2009.
View titles by John Updike

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John Updike reads six stories he has selected from the hundred-odd he has published.

"A&P", recounting a moral crisis on the checkout counter, is his most anthologized story.

"Pigeon Feathers," the longest story included, tells of a fourteen-year-old boy's fear of death and the answer he finds.

"The Family Meadow" describes a piece of America, a picnic reunion in New Jersey.

"The Witnesses" and "The Alligators" both deal with love, as felt by a middle-aged man and a fifth-grade boy.

"Separating" recounts the June day when Richard and Joan Maple separate, in front of their four children.

Mr. Updike, when asked to described his method of reading aloud, said "I try to picture the things describes, and to speak the words distinctly, and to let the emotion come through on its own."
The method works beautifully.

Author

JOHN UPDIKE is the author of more than sixty books, eight of them collections of poetry. His novels won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle, and the William Dean Howells Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He died in January 2009.
View titles by John Updike

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