Western Book Roundup

John Hickenlooper, Helen Thorpe, and Mark Spragg Discuss Books with Western Booksellers

By Jenny Shank, 9-30-09

	The exhibit hall at the 2009 MPIBA Trade Show.

The final day of the 2009 Mountains and Plains Independent Bookseller Association Trade Show in Denver, Saturday, September 26, featured a breakfast with presentations by four authors to benefit literacy organizations in the region.  Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper introduced his wife, Helen Thorpe, the author of Just Like Us, describing how each of them were initially reluctant supporters of the other’s chosen career path.

Hickenlooper explained that Thorpe is “as much of an introvert as I am an extrovert,” and said she had consented to his run for mayor because “she would meet people through the process of the campaign that she would never otherwise meet,” and because there “was absolutely no way in God’s green earth that I would ever win.” During the campaign, when Hickenlooper went ahead in the polls, Thorpe looked over her copy of the Rocky Mountain News at him and said, “You never told me you were going to win.”

Hickenlooper described Just Like Us as “a book about four Hispanic girls whose parents are illegal immigrants,” adding, “as an elected official, that’s not the topic you’d choose for your wife to write.” But he became more enthusiastic as he realized she could “create a narrative that was as compelling as fiction, with characters that grow on you and unfold, just as in a novel.  To witness this was one of the most rewarding processes, more rewarding even than getting elected mayor.”

Hickenlooper continued, “She won’t say this, but there’s a little sex in this book,” though it mostly occurs off stage.  He concluded by describing Thorpe as “one of the greatest authors alive.” Thorpe said, “Are the other authors going to have their spouses introducing them?  It’s highly unfair.” Thorpe explained that at its core, her book is about identity.  “When you’re growing up in this country and you don’t have papers, the fact of being illegal and undocumented is a burden you carry as you’re figuring out how to form an adult identity.  It makes coming of age particularly complicated.”

Patrick McDonnell, the author of the comic strip Mutts and many books for young readers presented his new book Wag, and Allison Hoover Bartlett discussed her nonfiction story about an antiquarian book thief, The Man Who Loved Books Too Much.

The event concluded with a presentation by Mark Spragg.  It was clear from his reception among the booksellers that Spragg is one of the most popular writers of this region. MPIBA President Andy Nettel introduced Spragg’s forthcoming novel Bone Fire as “a can’t-miss IndieBound pick.” The novel, which Knopf will publish in March, picks up the story of several characters from Spragg’s previous novels, including Griff Gilkyson from An Unfinished Life.  Nettel said that in an early interview, Spragg cited Kent Haruf, Jim Harrison, and Cormac McCarthy as influences, and now younger authors are claiming Mark Spragg as an influence.

Spragg discussed his book, which took him five years to write, saying that like Thorpe’s book, Bone Fire includes sex as a subject.  “I tried to get quite a lot of sex into Bone Fire, but I want to assure you that it’s literary sex and that no one truly enjoys themselves.”

Spragg described his Wyoming childhood.  He grew up in a national forest with no television or radio, and that instilled in him “a love of horses, science, and books.” His father made Spragg and his brother prepare monthly book reports, with an oral presentation and a written report due the following day.  Spragg said his father “read for argument,” and so he assigned his sons books such as those by Kierkegaard and Marcus Aurelius.  Spragg said his father believed there “are only two great themes: our deaths and our couplings in the face of that inevitability.” Spragg’s mother loved poetry, so when she picked the assigned books, she chose selections by Whitman and Frost.

When he was a boy, Spragg kept journals with “long passages of descriptions of the landscape, scraps of dialogue, and endless passages of wondering about death and sex.  The same things I write about now.” His family drove into Cody once a month for shopping, and his parents would drop Spragg and his brother off at the library.  “I literally considered the library evidential of an afterlife,” Spragg said.  He found a note his mother had made in a baby book, which said that when she asked him at age eight what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said he “planned to be a novelist.” Years later, Spragg said, “I’m still addicted to the struggle of narrative and enchanted with the surprise of writing.”

Spragg concluded by thanking the independent booksellers in the audience.  “If it were not for books,” he said, “many of you would have gone out into the world and made a decent living.” He said his editor at Knopf, Gary Fisketjon believed, “If it were not for independent booksellers, Knopf would have to change its list or it would go out of business.” A visibly moved Spragg continued, “You’ve given me the hope that I’m not wasting my life, and I thank you for that.”

Please follow me on Twitter, and with any regional book news or events.

Like this story? Get more! Sign up for our free newsletters.