What Are You Reading the Week of 16 August 2014?

Edna Annie Proulx (22 August 1935, hopefully immortal) is an American journalist and author. She has written most frequently as Annie Proulx but has also used the names E. Annie Proulx and E.A. Proulx.
Her second novel, The Shipping News (1993), won both the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction, and was adapted as a 2001 film of the same name. Her short story Brokeback Mountain was adapted as an Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe Award-winning major motion picture released in 2005. She won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for her first novel, Postcards.

She was born in Norwich, Connecticut, to parents of English and French-Canadian ancestry. Her maternal forebears came to America fifteen years after the Mayflower, in 1635. She graduated from Deering High School in Portland, Maine, then attended Colby College "for a short period in the 1950s," where she met her first husband H. Ridgely Bullock, Jr. She later returned to college, studying at the University of Vermont from 1966 to 1969, and graduated cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. degree in History in 1969. She earned her M.A. degree from Sir George Williams University (now Concordia University) in Montreal, Quebec in 1973 and pursued, but did not complete, a Ph.D.

Proulx lived for more than thirty years in Vermont, has married and divorced three times, and has three sons and a daughter (named Jonathan, Gillis, Morgan, and Sylvia). In 1994, she moved to Saratoga, Wyoming, spending part of the year in northern Newfoundland on a small cove adjacent to L'Anse aux Meadows. Proulx now lives in Seattle, Washington.

Starting as a journalist, her first published work of fiction is thought to be "The Customs Lounge", a science fiction story published in the September 1963 issue of If, under the byline "E.A. Proulx". Another contender, probably earlier, was a science fiction story called "All the Pretty Little Horses," which appeared in teen magazine Seventeen possibly a year or two before this. She subsequently published stories in Esquire magazine and Gray's Sporting Journal in the late 1970s, eventually publishing her first collection in 1988 and her first novel in 1992. Subsequently, she was awarded NEA (in 1992) and Guggenheim (in 1993) fellowships.

A few years after receiving much attention for The Shipping News, she had the following comment on her celebrity status:

It's not good for one's view of human nature, that's for sure. You begin to see, when invitations are coming from festivals and colleges to come read (for an hour for a hefty sum of money), that the institutions are head-hunting for trophy writers. Most don't particularly care about your writing or what you're trying to say. You're there as a human object, one that has won a prize. It gives you a very odd, ginger kind of sensation.

In 1997, Proulx was awarded the Dos Passos Prize. Proulx has twice won the O. Henry Prize for the year's best short story. In 1998, she won for "Brokeback Mountain," which had appeared in The New Yorker on 13 October 1997. Proulx won again the following year for "The Mud Below," which appeared in The New Yorker22 and 29 June 1999. Both appear in her 1999 collection of short stories, Close Range: Wyoming Stories. The lead story in this collection, entitled "The Half-Skinned Steer," was selected by author Garrison Keillor for inclusion in The Best American Short Stories 1998 (Proulx herself edited the 1997 edition of this series), and later by novelist John Updike for inclusion in The Best American Short Stories of the Century (1999). In 2001, Proulx was one of the writers heavily criticized by Brian Reynolds Myers in his polemical work A Reader's Manifesto.

In 2007, the composer Charles Wuorinen approached Proulx with the idea of turning her short story "Brokeback Mountain" into an opera. The opera of the same name with a libretto by Proulx herself premiered 28 January 2014 at the Teatro Real in Madrid to mixed reviews.

Nonfiction
Sweet and Hard Cider: Making It, Using It and Enjoying It (1980; with Lew Nichols)
Plan and Make Your Own Fences & Gates, Walkways, Walls & Drives (1983)
The Gourmet Gardener: Growing Choice Fruits and Vegetables with Spectacular Results (1987)
Bird Cloud: A Memoir (2011)

Novels and short story collections
Heart Songs and Other Stories (1988)
--republished with altered but similar content as trade paperback:
Heart Songs (1994)
Postcards (1992)
The Shipping News (1993)
Accordion Crimes (1996)
Close Range: Wyoming Stories (1999)
That Old Ace in the Hole (2002)
Bad Dirt: Wyoming Stories 2 (2004)
Fine Just the Way It Is: Wyoming Stories 3 (2008)
Bark-Skins (2015)

Nice author choice, Richard. I loved The Shipping News and, a bit less so, That Old Ace in the Hole. Having lived near the area, I need to read her Wyoming Stories series.

I well remember starting The Shipping News. A good friend also had the book and I told her to start it so we'd be able to discuss it. For the first two days she'd come in and say "I don't know about this book. I don't know if I'm going to finish it." I was reading faster than she was and kept encouraging her, until finally I said, "You have to read to page 75. If you don't get the book by page 75 you never will. Promise me you'll read that far." Two days later she came back to me and said, "Thank you. It's wonderful. I didn't realize it was supposed to be funny."

I've reviewed The Irish Village Murder, fourth in the modern-day cozy series, in my thread...post #245.

Three ungrudging, but unexcited, stars.

>2 whymaggiemay: Heh, aren't you pleased to have made her a convert? I love that feeling.

>3 richardderus: richardderus The fun part was that it got her excited about reading more challenging authors. She'd gotten into a rut with nothing but quick mystery/spy thriller books and suddenly she started to ask me for 'interesting' books now and then. I loved that Proulx made the setting a character in itself. Love that book. The movie, not so much.

Thank you for a great start, richard. I loved The Shipping News (not so much the other novels), but for me it's her stories which are the real treasure. Every now and then I go back to my tattered copy of Heart Songs or any of the collections of Wyoming stories and fall in love with her writing all over again. The movie version of her novel is a good reminder of why I tend to stay away from movie versions of books I love. Of course, the movie version of her story, "Brokeback Mountain", is a good reminder of why I keep sneaking back to the movies anyway: every now and then somebody gets it right, and when they do -- wow.

Not much reading for me last week -- life kept interrupting -- but I've been grateful to have The Amsterdam Cops with me for those odd moments when I actually had some time for them. Grijpstra and de Gier are superb companions.

I'm about a third of the way through the well written but depressing history, The Ides of May: the Defeat of France, May-June, 1940, by John Williams.

# mollygrace, Have you read Postcards by Annie?? I love her short stories.

>7 hazeljune: I have read Postcards which I liked. I think it had some of the problems a first novel should be allowed -- especially when it showed so much promise. Even when her writing doesn't quite work (for me, anyway) I always find it intriguing and I appreciate her spirit and the way her mind works. I always have that sense of her career as a "work in progress" -- a living, breathing thing, and I like to follow where she takes me. Someday I want to read Proulx's memoir. I have a copy of Accordian Crimes -- somewhere in the tbr pile. I always assume books that are lost in there will turn up about the time I need them.

Thanks, Richard. I'm another fan of The Shipping News. Interesting to read her reaction to being asked to make appearances at colleges, etc. as a prize winner. I can see her point about their looking for trophy writers rather than really caring about her writing, but I wonder. The two aren't really mutually exclusive, and I think a lot of authors enjoy chances to connect with their readers.

I'm about 2/3 of the way through Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, and taken by it. It's a simpler, shorter ride than 1Q84, which I loved.

Did minimal reading the last week or so to give the eyes a break so I'm still reading A Turn of Light by Julie E. Czerneda and Curse of the Mistwraith by Janny Wurts.

Finished Mana's Story by Peter Dickinson and listening to both The False Friend by Myla Goldberg and Moonraker by Ian Fleming this week and made progress on both Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks and Araroon by Kay Crist.

I'm expecting to finish Araroon either today or tomorrow. Next up listening is, I think, The Unseen by Katherine Webb, while I'll start on The Emperor of Nihon-Ja by John Flanagan when I finish Araroon.

I'm another fan of The Shipping News. I bought a copy a few years ago intending to reread it. I should get on that.

This week I'm reading The Lobster Kings, Cat Sense, and Refuge. All are very different and very good. I don't anticipate finishing any of them this week but you never know.

Thanks, Richard. Nice choice!

Just finished the very goo Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President.

Next up to read is Pig Tales: A Novel of Lust and Transformation by Marie Darrieussecq.

I finished Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time which was very good. Now I'm reading the new Hampton Sides' book, In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the U.S.S. Jeannette.

I read and loved both Annie Proulx Postcards and The Shipping News. That was a long time ago though and I haven't read anything she's written in years.

I think I forget what The Shipping News was about. I remember I enjoyed it so I guess it's time for a reread.

I very much enjoyed Elizabeth Gilbert's novel The Signature of All Things. Some of the turnings of the plot were a bit strange but she's a good writer and I was willing to go along with her. Not for those who didn't enjoy her memoir, I shouldn't think.

Speaking of memoirs, I've picked up Little Failure by Gary Shteyngart and so far it's very good. After a very long novel I wasn't ready for another so this is an amusing change of pace. Although I suspect there will be some tears with the laughter.

>15 NarratorLady: The movie version of The Shipping News was good too.

I liked Shipping News so much I went on to Accordion Crimes and Postcards which were so depressing I had to give up on the author. One can take just so much.
I have many books on the go right now which are being sidelined for the Little League World Series. I'm trying to read in between games.
Espresso Tales - I'm almost done. Bertie, Mathew, Pat keep my interest but the guy writing his memoirs, is Bertrand his name?, Lord, so dull I have to skip his parts.
I just started Holly Black's White Cat which is zipping along. Jessie Eisenberg reads it which makes it all the more enticing because I can't help but thinking it's Mark Zuckerberg's voice narrating this fantasy.
Also just started The Oldest Living Things in the World which is full of photographs of plants that have managed to survive for centuries, even millenia.
I'm a little ways into my first Denise Mina Still Midnight. Everything is just getting set up, including the harassment of the female investigator. I think I'm going to like it.
On kindle I'm about 1/3 of the way into The Soldier's Wife and having read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society I'm thinking this family is not going to enjoy being occupied by the German army.
I just finished Lionel Shriver's Big Brother and recommend it to anyone interested in reading about weight loss, fame, family interaction and controversy. She seems to be able to write about anything and make the reader think.

After sitting on my shelf patiently for 5 years I've started reading The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith.

I've given up on The House on the Strand and begun Work as a Spiritual Practice, which is wonderful. Not a big surprise since I loved the prior Richmond that I read. Also reading Lost by Michael Robotham, based on praise from someone in my RL mystery group at the library.

I remember finding The Shipping News too bleak and giving up on it several years ago. Maybe I'll try it again, at least up to page 75.

Am working on Mrs. Dalloway, which I'm liking more as I get into it, and thinking of starting Peter Duck by Arthur Ransome, the third book in the Swallows and Amazons series.

Finished the satiric sociopolitical rampage, Pig Tales: A Novel of Lust and Transformation. Quite a ride!

Next up is I Am A Cat by Soseki Natsume.

I reviewed the laugh-out-loud lark The Madonna and the Starship, James Morrow's latest bagatelle, in my thread...post #282.

Finishing up Sheepish by Catherine Friend. Great book - It has to be to make me literally giggle out loud while reading. :)

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage was a solid read, and now I've started The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth.

Over halfway through The Quick, which so far is quite engrossing. It has not yet blown me away, but it's definitely entertaining, and it's a wonderful antidote to many of the vampire novels that have been published within the last ten years. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!: The Story of Modern Pop is interesting as well, although I find myself disagreeing more and more with the author. I think that's one of the marks of a good music history/theory book, but his claim that The Turtles could have given The Beatles a run for their money in terms of musicality in the 60's irritates me.

The Turtles? Really?! "So Happy Together" is the only Turtles song I can remember offhand. Hardly "Hey Jude."

Read the Classics comic (back when it was new), seen the Michael Todd movie starring David Niven (ditto), and now I'm reading the book at last: Around the World in 80 Days. Irresistibly free for the Kindle and so far quite appealing.

My main read at present is Gillian Flynn's Dark Places, third for me of her three, though written second. Flynn either knows or imagines some very, very strange women.

The Turtles also had Eleanor and You know She'd rather be with me-fun light songs

Thanks for the awesome start, Richard. I liked The Shipping News but was not bonkers over it. I recall it being a bit slow.

I am reading We Are Called To Rise which is surprisingly compelling and hard to put down. It has been a while since a novel really grabbed me, The Goldfinch, so this is a nice surprise!

I just finished Baker Towers, which I loved, and I am going to start The Rose of Sebastopol tonight.

I started Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard and so far am finding it really good. Who would have thought that a president, who is so historically obscure in today's world, would be so interesting?

I am also about half-way through the recorded version of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and finding it to be better than I expected. It is a YA novel and I find the plot rather simple, but like the concept and am finding it enjoyable listening while communting.

Reread A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan
Softback edition

Pig Tales by Marie Darrieussecq- An amazing portrayal of the animal side of human nature. A must read for translation literary lovers.

Next: This is the Garden by the Italian author, Giulio Mozzi

Finished The Last Summer of the Camperdowns, which I enjoyed. The prose was exquisitely descriptive, and the tale intriguing enough I kept trying to read faster to learn the truth behind all the secrets.

I'm now reading Archipelago, which is off to a promising start. It will be my final summer-themed read; fitting, as I'm enjoying a final week of summer vacation before the fall semester begins next week.

Just started reading A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki. Very interesting so far.

Just returned from a trip to Iceland which was amazing and which has gotten me interested in its history and literature, specifically the Icelandic sagas. Has anyone read them?

I finished Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson and I really wanted to like it for so many reasons, but I didn't. I admit that there were parts of it that were engrossing but most of the book just did not appeal to me. I found it overwrought and the main character too immature and emotional to care much about what he did. While the main character did show growth and understanding thereby gaining some semblance of maturity he still seemed spoiled and irrational to me. Like most teen-aged boys the continual use of the F word was a put-off as well as a put-down. I don't know people who use that word in everyday speech and don't understand why non-native speakers of English pepper their speech with it. My conclusion about that is that they must be learning English from the movies and not in practical experience, for it is only in the movies that I hear that one word in excess. Out in real life it isn't used that much.

I was very interested in this book because it featured a culture different from Western Culture and had people of other ethnic backgrounds as the heroes. However, the book seems to perpetuate every stereotype that I might have about Middle Eastern men. Perpetuating stereotypes is not why I want to read books set in other cultures. The mythology parts were very interesting and fun to read as I did not know much about Middle Eastern and Islamic folk lore and mythology. There should have been more of that kind of lore and less of the overly reactionary teen-aged boy hero.

This book was reviewed by Nancy Pearl in her podcast done with the author and from hearing that podcast I anticipated a much better read than what I got.

I am reading The Dinner by Herman Koch. I am not sure what it is about yet, to tell you the truth. It is scaring me because it is hard to be a good parent these days.

I just finished The 100 Year House which had some interesting twists. I wished the author (sorry, returned it to the library already) had taken her time more with the last part, it felt a little rushed.

Before that I read The Goldfinch which I wasn't planning to finish but was really glad I did.

I really like The Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency. I have read several of them. It tickles me that they were written by a man who seems to understand women and people and relationships so well.
I even sent away for some red bush tea and it was quite good.

>35 framboise: Yes. Here, with my reviews:

Song of the Vikings: Snorri and the Making of Norse Myths, by Nancy Marie Brown
http://www.librarything.com/work/12867900/reviews/107314328

Edda (Everyman's Library), by Snorri Sturluson
http://www.librarything.com/work/5530539/reviews/107314287

I would love to make that trip, especially after this reading.

I finished Thirty-Three Teeth by Colin Cotterill. Well, I didn't exactly finish it, I skipped through it. The Laos society was interesting and the Coroner and his friends were entertaining, but the overall atmosphere was depressing in its heat and poor communism and I found it hard to care about the mystery.

Now I am in-betweening with The Daybreakers by Louis L'Amour and then it will be The 100 Year Old man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared.

>39 Meredy: Meredy: Thanks for the links. I am looking forward to reading and learning more about their culture. Already planning my next trip there!

I've started Dennis Lehane's follow up to The Given Day, Live By Night. As far as a follow up historical fiction goes, it does follow the Coughlins but it seems to be mostly fiction with little history. That's a disappointment. Maybe there will be more as I go along.
I've also started The Souls of Black Folk and have high hopes for it.
On iPad I finished Orfeo which is a take on the myths of Orpheus substituting the main character's love for his daughter instead of the ancient Greek's different kind of love for boys. Well, how else would you sell a book? It was interesting with all its twists and unexpected turns, throw in a little Homeland Security rather than irate women, and the story did keep me listening, even when I didn't completely catch all the musical references.

Someone (and for the life of me I can't remember who.. losing what little memory I have left lol) recommended Libriomancer by Jim C Hines. I started it this morning - so far it seems like a combination of Harry Dresden and Harry Potter.. I like the Dresden like humor so far.. :)

The Ghost Writer was pretty good. I'm now reading A Month in the Country and continuing to read Takedown Twenty.

#44> The Ghost Writer was the book that really started my passion for Roth's novels.

>45 rocketjk: It seems like it would be a good entry novel for him. I had read Goodbye, Columbus way back when, but liked this one better.

P.S. If you're interested, my review is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/179106#4818429

Took a little detour and read a fantastic collection of short stories entitled, This Is The Garden by Giulio Mozzi.

Now I really am going to read I Am A Cat by Soseki Natsume.

I've read and reviewed the post-apocalyptic nightmare of aging in a childless world, Greybeard by Brian W. Aldiss, over in my thread...post #126.

I am really enjoying Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, very pleasantly surprised as I thought that it may have been for a younger reader than myself.

Demon Child by Kylie Chan - her latest. I've enjoyed every book of hers so far, so I'm excited to be starting this one!

I was underwhelmed by The Quick, unfortunately. It proved to be interesting (although slow at times) through most of the book, but then the last 50-75 pages dragged on at a snail's pace. The last sentence was great, but the tail end of the book did not work for me. I'm glad I didn't decide to buy a copy of this book.

I'm about halfway through Horns by Joe Hill, which is quite different from my usual horror preferences, but I'm enjoying it a lot. Also just started my ARC The Boy Who Drew Monsters by Keith Donohue, which comes out in October.

A Month in the Country is as enjoyable as LTers have been saying, and I had fun with Takedown Twenty. Also just started Dreams of Gods and Monsters.

>35 framboise: On Goodreads, The World's Literature Group is reading about Iceland for 2014. Here's the link to the year's reading so far https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/31445. Each month we read several books about Iceland, which has included the sagas. Feel free to join us.

Just finished Dark Side of Nowhere by Neal Shusterman (YA SF) and Stitching Stars: the Story Quilts of Harriet Powers by Mary Lyons (J NF)

Now reading A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence and Power by Jimmy Carter
and
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff (YA Printz Award sinner)

Well, hello again everyone! :) I do hope everyone's week in reading was eventful, because mine certainly was! Anyway, to start off the week fresh for me, myself and my daughter Mareena went to our local library's perpetual book sale on Saturday, August 16th. Between us, we acquired 74 books - 52 of which were mine! :) My birthday was on Friday, August 22nd, so we both considered the library visit my 'Birthday Visit'! Mareena was more restrained, buying only 22 books! :)

So, I started right in on my newly-acquired TBR pile - picking up A Nice Place to Live by Robert C. Sloane on Saturday, August 16th. It only took me two days to read this book, and I finished it on Monday, August 18th! :) For a horror novel written in the early 1980s, the story was very well-written and I really enjoyed it.

Up next was The House of Stairs by Barbara Vine, which I started reading on Monday, August 18th! This was another two-day read for me, and I finished it on Wednesday, August 20th! :) I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and actually, Barbara Vine is a pseudonym for the author Ruth Rendell.

I started reading A Perfect Divorce by Avery Corman on Wednesday, August 20th - my second book by Avery Corman that I've read. I finished it on Friday, August 22nd, and was completely engrossed in the story.

>56 moonshineandrosefire:

I thought Avery Corman sounded familiar - I read Kramer vs. Kramer years ago when it first came out.
At the time I thought it would make a good movie. They did make the movie with Meryl Streep and Dustin Hoffman; it won an Academy Award for best picture, I think. After that I thought I should get myself a (high paid) job choosing book properties for movie scripts!

I'll have to read more of his books.

I'm reading The Guns of August and Bitch in a Bonnet, and liking both.

#57 - nrmay - my daughter Mareena and I saw the movie Kramer Versus Kramer about three or four years ago, when it was broadcast on television - Turner Classic Movie Channel on cable. Such a good movie! :) I just received a copy of the book this past week.