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Annie Proulx

Author of The Shipping News

46+ Works 32,016 Members 730 Reviews 137 Favorited

About the Author

Edna Annie Proulx was born in Norwich, Connecticut on August 22, 1935. She graduated from the University of Vermont in 1969 and earned an M. A. from Sir George Williams University in Montreal in 1973. She was a journalist, wrote nonfiction articles for numerous publications, and was the author of show more several "how-to" books before beginning to write fiction in her 50s. She became the first woman to win the prestigious PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, for her debut novel Postcards. Her novel The Shipping News won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award in 1994. Accordion Crimes, published in 1996, won the Dos Passos Prize for literature. She also won the O. Henry prize for the year's best short story twice; in 1998 for Brokeback Mountain and in 1999 for The Mud Below. She has written more than 50 articles and stories for periodicals and edited Best American Short Stories of 1997. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Series

Works by Annie Proulx

The Shipping News (1993) 13,365 copies
Close Range (1999) 3,394 copies
Accordion Crimes (1999) 2,818 copies
Brokeback Mountain (1997) 2,657 copies
Postcards (1992) 1,991 copies
That Old Ace in the Hole (2002) 1,781 copies
Barkskins (2016) 1,494 copies
Bad Dirt (2004) 1,063 copies
Fine Just the Way It Is (2008) 724 copies
Bird Cloud: A Memoir (2011) 417 copies
The Best American Short Stories 1997 (1997) — Editor & Introduction — 346 copies
Making the Best Apple Cider (1983) 65 copies
Steenstad (1988) 6 copies
Storie del Wyoming (2006) 2 copies
1997 1 copy

Associated Works

The Best American Short Stories of the Century (2000) — Contributor — 1,536 copies
The Best American Short Stories 2004 (2004) — Contributor — 548 copies
The Power of the Dog (1967) — Translator, some editions — 510 copies
Brokeback Mountain [2005 film] (2005) — Author — 504 copies
The Best American Short Stories 1999 (1999) — Contributor — 443 copies
The Best American Short Stories 1998 (1998) — Contributor — 403 copies
The Best American Short Stories 2000 (2000) — Contributor — 385 copies
The Best American Short Stories 2009 (2009) — Contributor — 354 copies
The New Granta Book of the American Short Story (2007) — Contributor — 205 copies
The Best American Travel Writing 2011 (2010) — Contributor — 153 copies
The Ecco Anthology of Contemporary American Short Fiction (2008) — Contributor — 122 copies
The Best American Mystery Stories 2014 (2014) — Contributor — 92 copies
Without a Guide: Contemporary Women's Travel Adventures (1994) — Contributor — 59 copies
The Vintage Book of American Women Writers (2011) — Contributor — 55 copies
Storm: Stories of Survival from Land and Sea (2000) — Contributor — 43 copies
The Second Penguin Book of Modern Women's Short Stories (1997) — Contributor — 25 copies
The New Great American Writers' Cookbook (2003) — Contributor — 20 copies
Horse Stories (2012) — Contributor — 16 copies
Contemporary Vermont Fiction: An Anthology (2014) — Contributor — 5 copies
Presentask med fyra noveller om kärlek II (2020) — Contributor — 2 copies

Tagged

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Common Knowledge

Members

Discussions

Group Read: Barkskins by Annie Proulx in 75 Books Challenge for 2018 (March 2018)
Annie Proulx in Other People's Libraries (July 2016)

Reviews

I've never really thought of swamps and bogs as beautiful but Annie Proulx describes them as wondrous but rapidly disappearing places. I was quite mesmerized listening to this book. Proulx describes the difference between the various kinds of wetland and the roles they play in sequestering carbon and protecting wildlife and plants. She also goes back in history to explore the fens of England and the peat bogs of Ireland and many other places. Sadly, many of these once large wetlands have almost totatlly disappeared. Proulx argues that if we want to reverse climate change we have to reintroduce these wetlands. Of course, that's not going to be popular with the many people who now live where they were located. Yet, with climate change comes rising ocean levels and more areas that will be submerged so maybe Mother Earth will return to the age of "fens, bogs and swamps".

Now, if only something could be done about all those mosquitoes that live in wet areas I'd be happy to have them return.
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Flagged
gypsysmom | 10 other reviews | Nov 22, 2023 |
A love song to the wetlands, this series of essays on different land/water habitats is comprehensive and informative without being dry (pun intended).
It captures aspects of humankind's interactions with watery land from ancient peoples to modern drainage and the massive implications that has for nature and the environment.
As someone with fenland heritage, I feel inspired to make some land soggy again.
 
Flagged
Helenliz | 10 other reviews | Sep 16, 2023 |
I have to say that I agree with the user who said this would've worked much better as a full length novel as opposed to such a short story. I wanted to know so much more about the characters and just felt rushed.
 
Flagged
cbwalsh | 92 other reviews | Sep 13, 2023 |
A slow-burner that rewards those that stick with it. There's no real plot here, just a year or so with a rudderless man who has been kicked by life in general and especially by those who should of loved him.
Quoyle relocates with his daughters to Newfoundland, his ancestral home, after tragedy strikes. With the help of his aunt, fellow reporters at the local newspaper, and the townspeople, Quoyle perhaps finds his place in the world and love that is given back in kind instead of stomped on.
What drives this book is getting to know the small-town people and their struggles as their lives change with the death of the fishing economy. Proulx captures locations and the locals' speech patterns nicely and never presents them as eccentrics, although they certainly are characters.
Poignant, humorous, a lovely book.
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RobertOK | 246 other reviews | Aug 20, 2023 |

Lists

Storey (1)
1960s (1)
AP Lit (1)
1990s (2)
Canada (2)

Awards

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Associated Authors

Katrina Kenison Series Editor
Jonathan Franzen Contributor
Tobias Wolff Contributor
Robert Stone Contributor
Richard Bausch Contributor
Cynthia Ozick Contributor
Leonard Michaels Contributor
Ha Jin Contributor
Donald Hall Contributor
Alyson Hagy Contributor
Tim Gautreaux Contributor
June Spence Contributor
Jeffrey Eugenides Contributor
Pam Durban Contributor
Junot Diaz Contributor
Lydia Davis Contributor
Carolyn Cooke Contributor
Michelle Cliff Contributor
Michael Byers Contributor
Karen E. Bender Contributor
Clyde Edgerton Contributor
Regina Willemse Translator
Marja Alopaeus Translator
Michael Hofmann Translator
Szoka Katherine Cover artist
Megan Wilson Cover designer
Anna Fields Narrator
Andrea Stumpf Translator
Melanie Walz Translator
Will Patton Narrator
Jaya Miceli Cover designer
Shanna Baker Cover artist
Gabra Zackman Narrator

Statistics

Works
46
Also by
26
Members
32,016
Popularity
#610
Rating
3.8
Reviews
730
ISBNs
498
Languages
19
Favorited
137
About
1
Touchstones
1,090

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