Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays are money in the bank, sista. I open my current read to any arbitrary page, pick a very short quote from somewhere between lines 7 and 12, and post it here for you so that you can be titillated and teased into finding a great book you might have otherwise overlooked.

This week's quote comes from A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley (Pulitzer Prize winner in 1991):
"I noticed Pete, standing alone against a wall, drinking a Coke. He looked like he'd rather be drinking a beer. I remember that his eyes scanned the crowd with predatory detachment, though at the time I only wondered whom he was looking for."
I think a little summary of this book will help to tell you why a book that is seemingly about farming in the late 1970's is so great to be read today.
Barnes and Noble.com writes, "A successful Iowa farmer decides to divide his farm between his three daughters. When the youngest objects, she is cut out of his will. This sets off a chain of events that brings dark truths to light and explodes long-suppressed emotions. An ambitious reimagining of Shakespeare’s King Lear cast upon a typical American community in the late twentieth century, A Thousand Acres takes on themes of truth, justice, love, and pride, and reveals the beautiful yet treacherous topography of humanity."
B&N also has a great audio interview with the author on that page that is worth a listen. This book is definitely worth a read... she definitely earned her Pulitzer.

5 comments:

Wendi said...

What an interesting teaser and write-up. You know - I may have read this one in college for a paper. It seems really familiar!

:) My teaser is from Finding Father Christmas by Robin Jones Gunn -
http://wendisbookcorner.blogspot.com/2008/10/teaser-tuesday-finding-father-christmas.html

Take care ~ Wendi

shelburns said...

That so sounds like something I would read! Thanks for the teaser.

Karen Harrington said...

Oh, this is a great novel. Years since I read it. Thanks for posting it.

Brooke from The Bluestocking Guide said...

Thanks for stopping by.

avisannschild said...

I bought this book recently, but haven't gotten around to reading it yet. Thanks for the teaser!