Larry Cook isn't getting any younger, and he decides to divide his 1000 acres of prime Iowa farmland between his three very different daughters: Ginny, Rose, and Caroline. But Caroline, who tends to speak her mind, lacks the proper enthusiasm for the deal, and Larry impulsively disinherits her. Vividly set in Iowa farm country, Jane Smiley's saga ...
Acclaimed novelist Jane Smiley zeroes in on 100 novels, all read (or reread) after 9/11 in a period when she found herself unable to write. Here she reports on each, in the process illuminating not only these 100 books (with some very unexpected judgments) but her own creative process. The novels include everything from classics (THE TALE OF GENJI ...
This historical novel, set in the 1850s, is about an independent-minded young woman named Lidie Harkness. She impulsively marries an abolitionist she hardly knows, and sets off with him from Illinois to the Kansas Territory--a venue that challenges even Lidie's ability to cope with hardship. Jane Smiley brings the period, and the bittersweet ...
Every autumn, readers of short stories eagerly look forward to the chance to discover their favorite writers and new talents in this preeminent anthology of short fiction. This year's edition features works by Don DeLillo, Ellen Gilchrist, Thom Jones, Joy Williams, Stephen Dobyns, Kate Braverman, Jamaica Kincaid, and many others. "Expect to be ...
In Jane Smiley's satirical novel, Moo University, a vast Midwestern aggie school, is populated with schemers, dullards, losers, fornicators, frauds, and the few sensible souls who see through them all--including some very appealing animals. The book is not only a traditional academic comedy, with its bureaucracy, student-teacher interactions, and ...
Set in 14th-century Greenland, THE GREENLANDERS tells the story of the Gunnarsson family: rebellious daughter Margret and ever-questing son Gunnar. In this exhaustively researched epic novel of hardship and human frailty, Jane Smiley delves deeply into Greenland history, customs, and culture, while also providing a stirring human drama.
Jane Smiley's panoramic novel is about racing--the jockeys, trainers, and fans, and, not least, the horses themselves, one of whom even handles part of the narration. Smiley has lived around horses all her life, and has written about them extensively; during the writing of this book was living on a ranch with 16 of them (plus her family) in ...
In Iceland, the age of the Vikings is also known as the Saga Age. A unique body of medieval literature, the Sagas rank with the world's great literary treasures - as epic as Homer, as deep in tragedy as Sophocles, as engagingly human as Shakespeare. Set around the turn of the last millennium, these stories depict with an astonishingly modern ...
In two extraordinary novellas, Jane Smiley explores the nuances of family life. ORDINARY LOVE is about a woman who, as her large family gathers, ponders the life choices she has made and their effects on herself and her children. In GOOD WILL, a man who is trying to lead a moral life of simplicity and honesty sees his ideals backfire when his ...
Jane Smiley, who has had horses since she was a small child, writes about not only the race track but her own experiences and--in particular--those of the horses she has loved. Her aim here is to write about horses the way a novelist writes about human characters--because horses are, she insists, are every bit as quirky and interesting as men and ...
The title novella in Jane Smiley's collection is about two dentists--husband and wife--and the wrenching consequences of the infidelity that shakes their marriage. The stories in this volume, many of which are about troubled relationships, include "The Pleasure of Her Company" and "Long Distance."
A professor of classics who is also a fifth-generation farmer brings both perspectives to this treatise on how farming--and the family farm in particular--has been and remains essential to the American republic.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Smiley returns with a sexy, irreverent novel that dives into Hollywood culture and the dynamic personalities that move in its inner circles in the days following the 2003 Academy Awards.
Among the great world literatures, the medieval Sagas of Iceland rank high in the opinions of 20th-century poets such as W. H. Auden, Ted Hughes, and Seamus Heaney, but they have remained relatively obscure when compared to other national epics such as BEOWULF, THE SONG OF ROLAND, and THE ILIAD. This edition, which includes 12 Sagas including the ...
In this early novel by Jane Smiley, who turns her versatility to a mystery, a group of Midwesterners living in New York find their friendship strained when two of their number--drug dealers--are murdered. The suspense revolves around who did or did not have keys to their apartments.
Jane Smiley's early novel is about a family living on a horse farm in Illinois, and about the workings of ambition in the small, concentrated world they inhabit.
Jane Smiley's first novel is about a dying old man and the three middle-aged daughters who come home to look after him--and to watch, wait, and remember.
This year's volume, featuring 17 new stories selected by award-winning novelist John Casey, continues the tradition of identifying the best young writers on the cusp of their careers.
In two extraordinary novellas, Jane Smiley explores the nuances of family life. ORDINARY LOVE is about a woman who, as her large family gathers, ponders the life choices she has made and their effects on herself and her children. In GOOD WILL, a man who is trying to lead a moral life of simplicity and honesty sees his ideals backfire when his ...
In Jane Smiley's 12th book, Joe Stratford, a newly divorced real estate salesman, wants to get rich. His friend Marcus Burns has some ideas for how to make it happen. It's 1982, and Joe is tempted--but his life is also complicated by the attentions of an alluring woman who, unfortunately, happens to be married to someone else. A New York Times ...
The author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "A Thousand Acres" makes her debut for young readers with this novel set on a California horse ranch in the 1960s, where a girl finds refuge from her problems with the horses.
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