Why have the publishers of Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres resorted to so many book-cover designs? That is the first interesting question in the new Reader's Guide by scholar Kathleen Butterly Nigro for the 2009 ReadMOre project. People in many Missouri towns will read and discuss Smiley's book about...about what? About keeping up appearances? About the culture of agriculture? About family life and its tensions?
Why does one cover show a lone woman "at sea" in an ocean of grain? Why does another focus on two women whose positions create an "X?" Why a quilt? Why a neat hayfield with one round bale?
Jane Smiley grew up in Webster Groves, Missouri but spent most of her writing career on the faculty of Iowa State University. A Thousand Acreswon the 1992 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. This spring, Jane Smiley will probably tour several of the communities where A Thousand Acres is being discussed. You can find program times and places -- once they are firmed up -- at the ReadMOre web site. You can also download Kathleen Nigro's wonderful discussion guide.
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