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.

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Carol Martin

English Department

426-1179

Jan Widmayer

English Department

426-1233

Janelle Brown

communications and marketing

426-1790

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