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Tag Archives: Jane Smiley
Four Favorite Books from 2017
I’ve already written about the best books of 2017 for teachers, and so today I will focus on the other books that I’ve read this year. My “favorite” books are the ones that I am most likely to read again. … Continue reading
Posted in fiction, non-fiction
Tagged best books of 2017, Charles Dickens, Desmond, Elizabeth Strout, Jane Smiley, Matthew
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“Felicity rubbed a bit between her fingers. It was gray, just grit.”
This is how the great-granddaughter of Iowa farmers Walter and Rosanna Langdon describes what’s left of the topsoil on the original family farm when she visits it in the closing pages of The Last Hundred Years Trilogy by Jane Smiley. … Continue reading
Posted in fiction
Tagged family farm, Golden Age, Jane Smiley, legacy, Pulitzer Prize winner
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“Rosa was a perfect example of an only child, thought Claire – she behaved herself, but it was because she was always on the stage and the lights were always up. “
If you were a novelist, what compliment would you most like to see in a review of your work? A comparison to Tolstoy, perhaps? That compliment was in fact given in the British newspaper, the Guardian, in a review of … Continue reading
“The perennial question of motherhood, Eloise thought, was how honest to be.”
This is the first book in a trilogy about a farm family in Iowa. It begins in 1920 and runs for a hundred years, with a chapter per year. I’m among its many fans. As the LA Times says, the … Continue reading
Posted in fiction
Tagged Context, Great American Novel Trilogy, Jane Smiley, Some Luck, The Divine Comedy, Trilogy, truth
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