Wallace Stegner (1909–1993)

Mac's Book Club will meet to discuss Angle of Repose By Wallace Stegner on Wednesday, January 15th at 7:30 p.m.

A deeply moving novel that, through the prism of one family, illuminates the American present against the fascinating background of our past

Angle of Repose tells the story of Lyman Ward, a retired professor of history and author of books about the Western frontier, who returns to his ancestral home of Grass Valley, California, in the Sierra Nevada. Wheelchair-bound with a crippling bone disease and dependent on others for his every need, Ward is nonetheless embarking on a search of monumental proportions -- to rediscover his grandmother, now long dead, who made her own journey to Grass Valley nearly a hundred years earlier. Like other great quests in literature, Lyman Ward's investigation leads him deep into the dark shadows of his own life.

The winner of a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award, Wallace Stegner is the author of a dozen novels and as many works of nonfiction, including Angle of Repose, The Spectator Bird, and Crossing to Safety. The founder and director of the graduate writing program at Stanford University, he spent much of his life in northern California and Vermont. He died in 1993.

Location: Street: 1820 Coventry Rd Additional: City: Cleveland Heights, Province: Ohio Postal Code: 44118 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Sunday, July 21, 2:00 p.m. Angle of Repose by Wallace Earle Stegner

A deeply moving novel that, through the prism of one family, illuminates the American present against the fascinating background of our past.

Angle of Repose tells the story of Lyman Ward, a retired professor of history and author of books about the Western frontier, who returns to his ancestral home of Grass Valley, California, in the Sierra Nevada. Wheelchair-bound with a crippling bone disease and dependent on others for his every need, Ward is nonetheless embarking on a search of monumental proportions.

Location: Street: 1010 El Camino Real City: Menlo Park, Province: California Postal Code: 94025-4349 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Monday, April 22, 7:00 p.m.

Crossing to safety by Wallace Stegner

Called a “magnificently crafted story . . . brimming with wisdom” by Howard Frank Mosher in The Washington Post Book World, Crossing to safety has, since its publication in 1987, established itself as one of the greatest and most cherished American novels of the twentieth century. Tracing the lives, loves, and aspirations of two couples who move between Vermont and Wisconsin, it is a work of quiet majesty, deep compassion, and powerful insight into the alchemy of friendship and marriage.

Location: Street: 1010 El Camino Real City: Menlo Park, Province: California Postal Code: 94025-4349 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Sunday, March 24, 2:00 p.m. Crossing to safety by Wallace Stegner

Called a "magnificently crafted story . . . brimming with wisdom" by Howard Frank Mosher in "The Washington Post Book World, "Crossing to safety has, since its publication in 1987, established itself as one of the greatest and most cherished American novels of the twentieth century. Tracing the lives, loves, and aspirations of two couples who move between Vermont and Wisconsin, it is a work of quiet majesty, deep compassion, and powerful insight into the alchemy of friendship and marriage.

Location: Street: 1010 El Camino Real City: Menlo Park, Province: California Postal Code: 94025-4349 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Village Books and the Willows Inn on Lummi Island present a two-day getaway at the Inn with librarian extraordinaire Nancy Pearl. Immerse yourself in two books recommended by Nancy: Angle of Repose By Wallace Stegner and The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. On Wednesday evening Nancy leads the first book club discussion in the cozy atmosphere of the Inn's living room, followed by a specially-prepared dinner by the Willows Inn sous chef. Nancy will talk about some of her favorite books over dinner. On Thursday morning, guests will reconvene in the main dining room for a hearty breakfast followed by a second book club session with Nancy. After the discussion, get cozy with a good book, indulge in a spa treatment, or wander the island in the afternoon before enjoying the famous tasting menu prepared by Food and Wine's Best New Chef of 2012, Blaine Wetzel.

For information about pricing and to book this event check out the Willows Inn weblisting. Each registrant will be sent both books, shortly after registering. A portion of the proceeds from this event will be donated to the Whatcom Literacy Council.

About Nancy Pearl:

The New York Times calls her "the talk of librarian circles." Readers can’t get enough of her recommendations while bookstores and libraries offer standing room only whenever she visits. Since the release of the best-selling Book Lust in 2003 and the Librarian Action Figure modeled in her likeness, Nancy Pearl has become a rock star among readers and the tastemaker people turn to when deciding what to read next.

Having worked as a librarian and bookseller in Detroit, Tulsa, and Seattle, Pearl’s knowledge of and love for books is unmatched. In 1998, she developed the program "If All of Seattle Read the Same Book," which spread across the country. The former Executive Director of the Washington Center for the Book, Pearl celebrates the written word by speaking at bookstores and libraries across the country and on her monthly television program Book Lust with Nancy Pearl on the Seattle Channel. She is a regular commentator about books on National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" and NPR affiliate stations KUOW in Seattle and KWGS in Tulsa.

In 2004, Pearl became the 50th winner of the Women's National Book Association Award for her extraordinary contribution to the world of books. In the moments when Pearl finds herself without a book, she is an avid bicyclist and happy grandmother of three. She lives in Seattle with her husband, Joe.

Location: Street: 2579 West Shore Drive Additional: The Willows Inn City: Lummi Island, Province: Washington Postal Code: 98262 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Join Warwick's on Thursday, November 1st at 7:30pm as we host Music Director and Conductor of the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus, Steven Schick, who will lead a discussion on Wallace Stegner's masterpiece Angle of Repose in conjunction with the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus's 2012-13 season. Attendees will also have a chance to enter a special drawing to win Symphony tickets (details will be announced later). A portion of the sales from this event will go to the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus.

A note from Steven: Just as "The Great American Novel" explores not just the space of art, but also of society, of ourselves, a musical reflection upon it seeks a similar illumination. We at the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus have chosen Wallace Stegner's masterful Angle of Repose as the center of gravity for our 2012-13 season. Indeed as the novel engages a dialogue between generations I would like to explore the tumultuous rites of passage as one historical era in classical music yields to another. For example, Angle of Repose highlights the question of how the heroic independence of an earlier age is mapped onto the cultural landscape of a subsequent one. As a response we have paired a Beethoven symphony (“The Eroica”) and an experimental work by John Cage on the same program. What would these works say to each other? Could they find a way to occupy the same space at the same time? In these questions, among others, we will explore Angle of Repose as a constant mirror to the music we play and the lives we lead.

About Steven Schick: Percussionist, conductor, and author Steven Schick was born in Iowa and raised in a farming family. For the past thirty years he has championed contemporary percussion music as a performer and teacher, by commissioning and premiering more than one hundred new works for percussion. He was the percussionist of the Bang on a Can All-Stars of New York City from 1992-2002, and from 2000 to 2004 served as Artistic Director of the Centre International de Percussion de Genève in Geneva, Switzerland. Schick is founder and Artistic Director of the percussion group, red fish blue fish. In 2007 he was named Music Director and conductor of the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus. Schick founded (2009) and is currently artistic director of “Roots and Rhizomes,” an annual summer course on contemporary percussion music held at the Banff Centre for the Arts. In 2011 he was named the Artistic Director of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and in 2012 became the first Artist-in-Residence of the International Contemporary Ensemble based in New York City. Recent publications include a book on solo percussion music, “The Percussionist’s Art: Same Bed, Different Dreams, a 3 CD set of the complete percussion music of Iannis Xenakis (Mode) and a 2012 DVD release of the early percussion music of Karlheinz Stockhausen. Steven Schick is Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of California, San Diego.

To learn more about the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus click here.

Location: Street: 7812 Girard Ave City: La Jolla, Province: California Postal Code: 92037 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

The Hickory Stick Bookshop will be reading Crossing to safety by Wallace Stegner Called a “magnificently crafted story . . . brimming with wisdom” by Howard Frank Mosher in The Washington Post Book World, Crossing to safety has, since its publication in 1987, established itself as one of the greatest and most cherished American novels of the twentieth century. Tracing the lives, loves, and aspirations of two couples who move between Vermont and Wisconsin, it is a work of quiet majesty, deep compassion, and powerful insight into the alchemy of friendship and marriage.

Location: Street: 2 Green Hill Road City: Washington Depot, Province: Connecticut Postal Code: 06794 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)