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Tale selects An Unfinished Life for 2007 book
Oct. 28, 2006
By Ben Beagle
Daily News Lifestyles Editor
The wait is over. The Tale for Three Counties Council has chosen Mark
Spragg's book An Unfinished Life for its 2007 community reading project.
The novel, the fifth selection in the annual program organized by libraries
in Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties, brings a western flavor to
the project with a story set in a fictional Wyoming town.
"A Tale for Three Counties" encourages people to read the
same book, get involved in community discussions, and meet the author
when he visits next spring. Spragg's visits are tentatively scheduled
between March 8 and 10, 2007.
An Unfinished Life "will appeal to a wide variety of readers from
young to old, men and women, and the themes provide many discussion
points," said Leslie DeLooze, the librarian at Batavia's Richmond
Memorial Library who started the project. "The contemporary Western
setting provides a different kind of story for our readers."
Spragg's second novel, An Unfinished Life, takes readers to the fictional
town of Ishawooa, Wyo. There, bitter Einar Gilkyson basically subsists
as he cares for his friend, Mitch, and battles personal demons. Then,
the daughter-in-law Einar blames for his son's death in a car accident
arrives at his ranch, running from an abusive boyfriend. She seeks a
safe haven with the granddaughter , a 10-year-old wise beyond her years
, Einar never knew he had. The granddaughter, one of the book's more
memorable characters, helps bring about an awakening for Einar.
The story is both funny and heartbreaking at times. Ultimately, it is
a tale of family, forgiveness and the relationships that bind even after
death.
The idea that our lives are unfinished lends poignancy to how most of
the characters "must learn to forgive what they perceive as wrong
in their life, whether that wrong was committed by other people or by
some form of cosmology," Spragg, who lives near Cody, Wyo., said
in an interview with The Associated Press.
The book, said DeLooze, has received outstanding professional reviews
and awards.
Critics liked the book's concise language, fast-paced plotting and Western
setting.
An Unfinished Life was nominated by the Denver Public Library for the
2006 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, an award open to books
published in any language. It won the 2005 Wyoming State Historical
Society Publications Award for fiction, was a finalist for the 2005
PENCenter USA fiction award for "Best in West," and it was
named to the Editor's Choice of Best Fiction for 2004 by Booklist.
"Tale" organizers look for books that they consider to be
an outstanding piece of fiction that is accessible to many ages. Specifically,
they require a book that will appeal to both adult and teen readers
with a theme of rural family life or local history. They look for literary
merit through professional reviews or awards, and issues or topics to
discuss. They also want to introduce a new or relatively unknown author
to local readers, and the author must be willing to participate in community
activities.
An Unfinished Life may be familiar to readers. A 2005 movie starred
Robert Redford as Einar, Morgan Freeman as his friend and Jennifer Lopez
as Einar's estranged daughter-in-law. The film, which received critical
praise in some circles, was directed by Lasse Hallstrom. Spragg and
his wife, Virginia Korus Spragg, wrote the screenplay for the movie.
Spragg, 54, worked odd jobs for years , school teacher, oil-rig worker,
horseshoer , to support his writing. Though he had short stories published
when he was in his 20s, it wasn't until his early 30s that he started
writing screenplays and later still when he says he matured as a "prose
writer."
"It wasn't a matter of choice," Spragg told AP. "It was
a matter of a later-blooming talent."
Spragg's other books include Where the Rivers Change Direction, a memoir
about growing up on a Wyoming ranch that won the Mountains & Plains
Booksellers Award, and a novel, The Fruit of Stone, also set in the
West.
The "A Tale for Three Counties" reading project started in
2003 with Peace Like a River by Leif Enger. It was followed by Northern
Borders by Howard Frank Mosher, the mystery In the Bleak Midwinter by
Julia Spencer-Fleming and last year's selection, A Northern Light by
Jennifer Donnelly.
Discussion groups will be scheduled at many area libraries leading up
to Spragg's visits. Author visits will be scheduled at Richmond Library
in Batavia, and at one location each in Orleans and Wyoming counties.
Readers will also be able to share reaction to the book in a book review
contest sponsored by The Daily News that includes a lunch with the author
for several winners.
Copies of An Unfinished Life will be available for loan or purchase
at libraries in all three counties. Local book stores are also expected
to stock copies of the book.
The Tale for Three Counties Web site, www.taleforthreecounties.org,
will list a schedule of events, details on the book review contest,
and other resources. Information about past programs can also be found
on the site.
Courtesy of Batavia Newspapers Corporation