Book News
McGuane wins Stegner Award.
Western author Tom McGuane will receive the 2009 Wallace Stegner Award from the Center of the American West at the University of Colorado at Boulder during ceremonies Thursday at CU.
McGuane is best-known for his novels “The Sporting Club,” “The Bushwhacked Piano” and “Ninety- Two in the Shade” (for which he was nominated for a National Book Award). He also wrote screenplays for the cult film “Rancho Deluxe,” a film of his novel “Ninety-two in the Shade,” “The Missouri Breaks” and “Tom Horn.”
“Tom McGuane has been a spectacular ‘participant observer’ in the changing world of the American West,” said Patty Limerick, chairwoman of the board and faculty director of the center. “With equal grace, he reckons with the tragic and comic dimensions of human nature. Looking at the West through his eyes gives your habits of mind a productive shaking.”
Thursday’s event starts at 7 p.m. in the Mathematics Building, Room 100 on the CU campus. It’s free.
The Denver Post
First Lines
Promises in Death, by J.D. Robb
She was dead the minute she answered the link. She didn’t question the caller or the urgency of the request. In fact, pleasure and excitement rushed through her as she put aside her plans for an early night. Her movements both graceful and efficient, she dressed quickly, gathering what she needed.
She strode through her pretty apartment, ordering the lights to dim, and remembered to switch to sleep the little droid kitten her lover had given her as a companion.
She’d named it Satchmo.
It mewed, blinked its bright green eyes and curled into a ball. She gave its sleek white fur an affectionate stroke.
“Be back soon,” she murmered, making a promise she couldn’t know would be broken.
10 books most often re-read
The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkein
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Collected work, by William Shakespeare
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling
Little House on the Prairie series, by Laura Engalls Wilder
Winnie the Pooh, by A.A. Milne
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
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