Books and Cooks August 1998

King Lear/A Thousand Acres

Our rating: 4.4/3.67 cups of tea!

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A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

Discussion date: Friday, August 14, 1998, 6:00PM

Discussion place: Lyn's

Menu: Various munchies, peanut grilled chicken, smores, wine, and more!

This month we will be discussing Jane Smiley’s A Thousand Acres along with Shakespeare’s King Lear. Note: It is fine to just skim/refresh your memory on the Shakespeare; the primary discussion will be about A Thousand Acres. Point of interest: A Thousand Acres won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1991 and the Pulitzer Prize in 1992.

There are two book reviews of A Thousand Acres at The New York Times Book Review, both of which discuss the connection to King Lear.

We are also planning to rent the movie A Thousand Acres as well. It’ll be a dinner/discussion/movie evening. Should be fun!

Amanda has put together a page of links about A Thousand Acres. They are copied here (for posterity):

Book reviews:

Review by Scott Holdtad at the California State University Department of English

Summary with information on the book at NYU

Movie Reviews and Information

Review by Michael Maynez

Review with comments on the book from Salon Magazine

Interview with Michelle Pfeiffer about the movie at MSNBC

Interview with Jessica Lange about the movie at Mr. Showbiz

Review by Nick Davis

Review from newsday.com

Review by James Bererdinelli at ReelViews

Review by Melissa Starker for The Dispatch, Columbus OH

Information about Jane Smiley

Biographical information on Jane Smiley at BookWire

Review of Moo and excerpts from an interview with Jane Smiley

"Making Enemies: Your Bad Review" by Jane Smiley at Hungry Mind Review

Last updated: November 21, 2000 .