Hunger: A Novel, written by a professor of fiction writing
in the MFA program for creative writing at Boise State
University, kicks off the fall 2004 season of Literature for
Lunch. Literature for Lunch is a monthly book discussion group
supported by Boise State’s Department of English.
The public is invited to attend the book discussions, held from
12:10-1 p.m. at the Boise Public Library, 715 S. Capitol Blvd.
The discussions are free and no reservations are required. This
fall’s selections include:
Wednesday,
Sept. 8: Hunger: A Novel, by Elise Blackwell. Based on
true events from World War II, Hunger was named a Best Book of
2003 by the Los Angeles Times. The story takes place during the
900-day siege of Leningrad by the Germans, beginning in 1941. It
is the powerful story of a man's confrontation with his own
morality and the decision he eventually makes — a decision that
affects the rest of his life. Blackwell is planning to join the
discussion.
Wednesday,
Oct. 6: The Crimson Petal and the White, by Michel Faber.
Faber’s novel traces a young woman’s journey from a London
brothel to high society in the Victorian age. Sugar is a
prostitute who yearns for a better life, which she finds through
William, a man with a wife suffering from emotional problems and
a daughter he pays no mind to.
Wednesday,
Nov. 3: Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides. Middlesex
explores the vagaries of a Greek gene pool, beginning on Mount
Olympus in 1922 and continuing through prohibition Detroit, the
early days of Ford Motors, the race riots of the 1960s and into
the present-day. At the heart of the story is Cal Stephanides,
who was raised as Calliope before discovering he wasn’t really a
girl, but a hermaphrodite.
Wednesday,
Dec. 1: Girl With a Pearl Earring, by Tracy Chevalier.
This book that inspired the movie is an exactly observed
imaginative explanation of the enigma of Vermeer’s canvases of
the Dutch Golden Age. The book tells the story of Griet, a
16-year-old servant girl whose life is transformed by her
encounter with the artist.
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. Books are
also available at the Vista Book Gallery, 890 S. Vista Ave. in
the Vista Village shopping center, for a 20 percent discount.
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Contacts
Carol Martin
English
208 426-1179
cmartin@boisestate.edu
Jan
Widmayer
English
208 426-1233
jwidmayer@boisestate.edu
Media Contact
Kathleen Craven
communications and marketing
2078 426-3275
kcraven@boisestate.edu
