Jane Smiley Books In Order

Publication Order of Ellen and Ned Books

Publication Order of Horses Of Oak Valley Ranch Books

Publication Order of Last Hundred Years: A Family Saga Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Collections

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Penguin Lives Books

Publication Order of Warmer Collection Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

The full name of the writer Jane smiley is Jane graves smiley and she was born on the 26th of September in California in Los Angeles in the United States of America. Most of the writer’s works center on family and they have a pastoral setting. Jane smiley took her studies in literature at the Vassar College (B.A. in 1971) as well as in the University of Lowa (M.A. IN THE YEAR 1975, M.F.A IN 1976 and Ph.D. in 1978). From the year 1981 to the year 1996, she was an English professor at the Lowa state university and with time she resorted to writing fulltime. Jane smiley has also worn some awards as a result of her writing and the book a thousand acres, (1991 that later on in the year 1997 was filmed) won the Pulitzer prize and it is so far known as the bestselling novel for Jane Smiley. The book Ten Days in the Hills written in 2007 that is a reworking of Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron was set in Hollywood. Below are some of the works that the featured author has written:

The Barn Blind

The first novel that Jane smiley wrote was the barn blind. The barn blind focuses mainly on the relationship between a mother and her children. In Jane smiley’s book barn blind, Kate Carlson, is the heroine of this pastoral novel and she is the mother to four adolescent children that she aspires to turn to Olympic equestrian stars that she failed to become while she was in her youth. Kate Carlson is brought out as a self-absorbed mother that is blind to the desires of her own children. Her four children on the other hand obey and honor their mother despite the fact that they dream of one day to escape from their mother and pursue their own desires. In the novel, the four Carlson teenagers labor from morning at character building chores that they are accustomed to obviously by their mother on the 40-horse, 300-acre farm that mainly include horse work; their mother feels that a family that rides together abides together. However, Peter is dazed, john is lashed by angry frustrations henry champs at the bit and Margaret the only girl drowns in romantic tears and unlike her mother, Margaret is a warm sensitive woman. In this novel, Jane smiley handles mainly the cumbersome love that family members feel for one another.

The Greenlanders

Another one of the early books written by Jane smiley is the Greenlanders and in this book is the character Erik the red who was born in Norway immigrated to Iceland and after being exiled from Iceland, he traveled looking for a rumored island and this was assumed to be in 982. The sagas were not recorded in history until the early part of the 13th century and it is believed that 15 years before the Christian faith became law in Iceland, Eric sailed there with only 25 ships of which 10 did not make it to reach the land that he was looking for having being exiled from Iceland. The land was eventually named Greenland and in the next few years, settlers took up the residence and they formed the so called western and the eastern settlement and the Norse descendants for 500 years farmed hunted and traded all through Europe and later on the great death swept and since ships failed to arrive in Greenland, the Greenlanders were left to their own isolation. Smiley feels great compassion for the Greenlanders as they are portrayed as not only victims of time and history but also of their own limitations since due to their strong cultural beliefs, they are not able to adapt to changes that if they had found a way to live with, they would have survived. The Greenlanders simply unravels hundreds of episodes that mainly include culture. The Greenlanders uses a folklore-like mode and the stories that are in it fold into more others making it seem more told rather than written. The end of the Greenlanders novel closes with a tale that is about to be told; the citizens of this country severely diminished saw that the events that are featured in the book happened since the world by nature is fallen from paradise and there are no promises from God to repair it but rather is meant for us human beings to repair our own souls.

The books written by the featured author have an alienation from the works of other authors and by alienation in mean that they are better off as compared to what other authors normally write. Take for example the novel; barn blind:

“He stepped through dew and cottony dandelions, slid his fingers through moist fence boards. For a moment, he lay down, first with his nose against the soil, then on his back, flat as if the sky was a stone that pressed him down. Even with the moon at half, thee were stars and stars he thought of buddy a rather pretentious older cousin that once had a telescope, a flashlight and a star map. Buddy was very methodical. John narrowed his eyes and the moon receded, making of the night sky a tunnel pricked with diamonds. He veered toward sleep, shook his head and stood up.”

From the above extract from the story, the vivid description of what the character partakes in renders the reader of the novel engrossed as the imagery also takes over.

In the trilogy Some Luck, Jane features the way lives were buffeted by weather, the way work never ended and how, for kids, there is never any spare time. Below is a quote from the book verifying this?

“You like to shoot?” writes Jane smiley. “Well shoot a rabbit, and mama will make rabbit stew or shoot that coyote that is trying to enter into the chicken house. …You want fried chicken for supper? Go out and catch a chicken and wring its neck-you’ll have to learn some time.”