January 10, 2003

LITERATURE FOR LUNCH FEATURES PRIZE-WINNING BOOKS

A quartet of prize-winning books have been selected for the spring schedule of Literature for Lunch, a monthly book discussion group supported by the English department at Boise State University.

The public is invited to attend the book discussions, held at 12:10 p.m. to 1 p.m. at the Women’s and Children’s Alliance, 720 West Washington St. The discussions are free and no reservations are required. The spring’s selections include:

Wednesday, Feb. 5: Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels, winner of the 1997 Orange prize. This gripping and exquisitely written novel delves into the lives of Jakob Beer, a Jewish boy buried in the rubble of a Polish city, and Athos Roussos, his Greek rescuer, during World War II and years later.

Wednesday, March 5: The Hours by Michael Cunningham, winner of the 1999 Pulitzer prize and the PEN/Faulkner award. Virginia Woolf, an updated Clarissa Dalloway and a ’50s housewife wander through Cunningham’s meditation on Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway. Participants might want to read Mrs. Dalloway before reading Cunningham’s novel — but wait till afterward if you’re re-reading Woolf’s celebrated book.

Wednesday, April 2: Homestead, by Rosina Lippi, winner of the 1999 PEN/Hemingway award and shortlisted for the Orange prize. Set in a high valley of the Voralberg in western Austria, this novel seems at first like a set of separate short stories, but gradually we see the intertwining of lives through and beyond two world wars.

Wednesday, April 30: Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, winner of the 2000 Pulitzer prize. India and America meet in a series of finely detailed short stories.

Books in the series are available at the Boise State Bookstore for a 25 percent discount; parking validation with your purchase can be used at the visitor’s lot behind the Student Union building. Books are also available at the Vista Book Gallery, 890 S. Vista Ave. in the Vista Village shopping center for a 20 percent discount.

For more information, contact Boise State English professor Carol Martin at 426-1179 or e-mail her at cmartin@boisestate.edu, or contact Boise State English professor Jan Widmayer at 426 1233 or e-mail her at jwidmayer@boisestate.edu.

-30-

Carol Martin

English Department

426-1179

Jan Widmayer

English Department

426-1233

Janelle Brown

communications and marketing

426-1790

Return to News home