Jane Smiley

Jane Smiley’s Followers (2,784)

member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo

Jane hasn't connected with her friends on Goodreads, yet.


Jane Smiley

Goodreads Author


Born
in Los Angeles, California, The United States
Website

Genre

Member Since
March 2016


Jane Smiley is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist.

Born in Los Angeles, California, Smiley grew up in Webster Groves, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, and graduated from John Burroughs School. She obtained a A.B. at Vassar College, then earned a M.F.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. While working towards her doctorate, she also spent a year studying in Iceland as a Fulbright Scholar. From 1981 to 1996, she taught at Iowa State University. Smiley published her first novel, Barn Blind, in 1980, and won a 1985 O. Henry Award for her short story "Lily", which was published in The Atlantic Monthly. Her best-selling A Thousand Acres, a story based on William Shakespeare's King Lear, received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1992.
...more

LETTERS TO THE FUTURE: I Didn't Try to Save You as Hard as My Opponents Tried to Destroy You

When I was alive, I thought I was trying to save you, but I didn't try hard enough, or at least, I didn't try to save you as hard as my opponents tried to destroy you. I don't know why they did that. I could never figure that out.
6 likes ·   •  2 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on December 08, 2015 08:33
Average rating: 3.72 · 192,941 ratings · 20,803 reviews · 137 distinct worksSimilar authors
A Thousand Acres

3.83 avg rating — 72,873 ratings — published 1991
Rate this book
Clear rating
Some Luck (Last Hundred Yea...

3.63 avg rating — 20,788 ratings — published 2014 — 40 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
Perestroika in Paris

3.98 avg rating — 10,328 ratings — published 2020 — 32 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
Early Warning (Last Hundred...

3.85 avg rating — 7,809 ratings — published 2015 — 35 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
Moo

by
3.47 avg rating — 8,606 ratings — published 1995
Rate this book
Clear rating
A Dangerous Business

3.17 avg rating — 8,936 ratings — published 2022 — 21 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
Horse Heaven

3.88 avg rating — 5,492 ratings — published 1999 — 4 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
Golden Age (Last Hundred Ye...

3.80 avg rating — 4,847 ratings — published 2015 — 24 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
The Sagas of Icelanders

by
4.31 avg rating — 4,257 ratings — published 1997 — 26 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
The Age of Grief

3.71 avg rating — 3,899 ratings — published 1987 — 5 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
More books by Jane Smiley…
Some Luck Early Warning Golden Age
(3 books)
by
3.71 avg rating — 33,444 ratings

The Georges and the Jewels A Good Horse True Blue Pie in the Sky Gee Whiz
(5 books)
by
3.99 avg rating — 3,359 ratings

The All-True Travels and Ad... Lidie: The Further Travels ...
(2 books)
by
3.59 avg rating — 2,841 ratings

Riding Lessons Saddles & Secrets Taking the Reins
(3 books)
by
3.91 avg rating — 110 ratings

Related News

Imagine a Shakespearean retelling of The Godfather set in a small Southern town, and you’ll have an idea about what to expect in Shawn Andre...
178 likes · 0 comments
Need another excuse to treat yourself to a new book this week? We've got you covered with the buzziest new releases of the day. To create our...
23 likes · 3 comments
It’s hard to believe the year 2022 is already coming to an end. That went fast, didn’t it? Still, there’s just enough time to wedge in a...
157 likes · 54 comments
Quotes by Jane Smiley  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“Many people, myself among them, feel better at the mere sight of a book.”
Jane Smiley, Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel

“A child who is protected from all controversial ideas is as vulnerable as a child who is protected from every germ. The infection, when it comes- and it will come- may overwhelm the system, be it the immune system or the belief system.”
Jane Smiley

“But what truly horsey girls discover in the end is that boyfriends, husbands, children, and careers are the substitute-for horses”
Jane Smiley, A Year at the Races: Reflections on Horses, Humans, Love, Money, and Luck

Polls

2nd Quarter 2022 Group Long Read

The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir, 1949, 746 pages
 
  43 votes, 25.3%

 
  42 votes, 24.7%

The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing, 1962, 640 pages
 
  22 votes, 12.9%

The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, 1001, 1182 pages
 
  18 votes, 10.6%

The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni, 1827, 720 pages
 
  17 votes, 10.0%

The Sagas of Icelanders by Jane Smiley, 1200, 782 pages
 
  17 votes, 10.0%

 
  11 votes, 6.5%

More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

No comments have been added yet.