Western Book Roundup

Oprah Picks Wroblewski’s “Sawtelle” and “Brokeback” Porn Aggrieves Proulx

By Jenny Shank, 9-24-08

It’s getting to be all David Wroblewski all the time around here at the Roundup, but heck, this is big news: Oprah has named The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by the Westminster, Colo. writer as her next Book Club selection.  Check out my interview with him, which I conducted a few weeks before the book was published, and my review of it for the Rocky Mountain News here.  Patti Thorn, Books Editor at the Rocky, has the post-Oprah announcement scoop with Wroblewski. 

According to Thorn’s interview, “Ecco has printed 750,000 copies of the book with Oprah’s seal…They will augment the 300,000 copies already in print.” Thorn also asked the question many wondered—just how many truckloads of money does Wroblewski get from this?  Wroblewski said, “I’ve actually asked this very question to my publisher: What exactly should I expect? But Ecco’s a small press, and this has never happened to them either.”

On her show last Friday, Oprah lavishly praised the book: “Especially for people with pets, I think this is right up there with the greatest American novels ever written, like Steinbeck.  It’s a literary feast of a book that you will not want to end.”

Earlier this month, Robert J Hughes of the Wall Street Journal interviewed Annie Proulx about her new story collection.  Proulx said that this would be her final collection of Wyoming stories, because she wants to avoid the “regional-writer” label.  She also remarked on how the film version of “Brokeback Mountain” affected her life:

“‘Brokeback Mountain’ has had little effect on my writing life, but is the source of constant irritation in my private life. There are countless people out there who think the story is open range to explore their fantasies and to correct what they see as an unbearably disappointing story. They constantly send ghastly manuscripts and pornish rewrites of the story to me, expecting me to reply with praise and applause for ‘fixing’ the story. They certainly don’t get the message that if you can’t fix it you’ve got to stand it.”

This prompted a piece in the Guardian exploring various examples of “Brokeback” fan fiction.  (Via Maud Newton.)

The recent BookPeople of Moscow, Idaho newsletter included an update on the writings of Joan Opyr, whom New West readers will remember from her time as our Northern Idaho Editor.  The newsletter noted: “Joan Opyr is working on her final edit of From Hell to Breakfast, which she is anticipating will be released at the end of October or beginning of November.”

In other regional author news, Oregon’s Floyd Skloot has a new memoir out with the University of Nebraska Press, The Wink of the Zenith: The Shaping of a Writer’s Life.  He has several upcoming appearances in Portland: at Powell’s Books, on September 28 (7:30 p.m.), Annie Blooms Books on October 2 (7:30 p.m.), and at Broadway Books on October 14 (7 p.m.).  Idaho writer Kim Barnes’ new novel, A Country Called Home, hits bookstores next week.  She has a number of regional appearances scheduled, including a talk at the Tattered Cover on October 15 and an appearance in Missoula at Montana’s Festival of the Book on October 24.  Look for my reviews of both of these books in the weeks to come.

Finally, on a somber note, Missoula-based crime novelist James Crumley died on September 17.  David McCumber of the Seattle Post Intelligencer offers his remembrance here.

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