Want to know the next "it" novel before everyone else? If so, keep an eye on our John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize. Last year's winner, Junot Diaz, went on to win the National Book Award and then the Pulitzer Prize for The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. We are in the midst of the current batch and will announce our short list in September, so stay tuned.
I've been reading
Richard Ford: Rock Springs
First read this collection when it came out in 1988 and remember that it astonished me at the time. Every story in it is impeccably written and the collection as a whole secured Ford's place as one of America's best short story writers. Reading it again this summer has been a deep pleasure. "Sweethearts" in particular is as good as a story gets. Check it out and browse all Ford's work in our new open stacks.Peter Cameron: The City of Your Final Destination
A University of Iowa grad student decides to write his thesis on a Uruguayan writer who is survived by his gay brother, painter wife, and his lover and their child. Grad student visits family compound in the Uruguayan hills and complications ensue. A book about love and selfishness and the lingering power of old attachments.Edith Wharton: The Custom of the Country (Penguin Classics)
As fresh and amusing as the day it was first published, with a heroine you love to hate--not quite the Paris Hilton of her day, but almost.Jonathan Hayes: Precious Blood
The book is good--a tight, well-constructed serial killer story with spot-on descriptions of New York City. The author, who read at the Merc in January, is a senior medical examiner in the coroner's office in Manhattan and a food and wine writer for Martha Stewart Living. So you know he's not your average guy. He's also a great speaker--witty and smart and engaging, with some astonishing stories to tell. We hope to have him back again in April to talk about the Maltese Falcon, so look for the listing on our events calendar.
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The plan for a center for fiction, to include a library, seems to be an appropriate and needed direction for the Merchantile Library. It is an ambitious plan and will require an effective management team to carry it off. I sincerely hope that such a team exists and is prepared to dedicate themselves to making the plan become reality.
Posted by: James L Rogula | June 06, 2008 at 04:08 PM