Horse Heaven
By Jane Smiley
Alfred A. Knopf, $26
ISBN 037540600X

Buy or borrow this book! Support your local independent bookseller Find it in a WorldCat library Compare prices at major online bookstores

Random House Audiobooks, cassette, $25.95
ISBN 0375415750

Buy or borrow this book! Support your local independent bookseller Find it in a WorldCat library Compare prices at major online bookstores

Alfred A. Knopf, CD, $29.95
ISBN 0375416056

Buy or borrow this book! Support your local independent bookseller Find it in a WorldCat library Compare prices at major online bookstores

Look who's talking in BookPage!

Dave Barry
Ben Bova
Helen Gurley Brown
Larry Brown
Thomas Cahill
Da Chen
Winston S. Churchill
Beverly Cleary
Patricia Cornwell
Robert Crais
Mark Danielewski
Diane Mott Davidson
Jeffery Deaver
Barbara Delinsky
Connie May Fowler
Kinky Friedman
Mary Gordon
Melinda Haynes
Patrick Hemingway
Carl Hiaasen
Stephen Hines
Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster
Diane Johnson
Tracy Kidder
Catherine Lanigan
Ed McBain
Bobbie Ann Mason
Peter Matthiessen
Sena Jeter Naslund
Linda Nichols
Lewis Nordan
Joyce Carol Oates
Patrick O'Brian
Charles Osgood
Donny Osmond
Frank Peretti
Dav Pilkey
Monty Roberts
Anita Shreve
Neil Simon
Bodie & Brock Thoene
Scott Turow
Andrew Weil

Children's Authors

Arlene Alda
Graeme Base
John Bemelmans Marciano
Stan and Jan Berenstain
Tomie dePaola
Elise Primavera
Maurice Sendak
David Shannon
David Wiesner
Lori Aurelia Williams

Title of your new book:
Horse Heaven

Why did you choose to write about horses?
I love horses and think they are very mysterious. There aren't many novels about horseracing.

Of all the horses you have owned, which one is your favorite and why?
Mr. T. -- he was my first, he was beautiful and loved me, and I thought he was of normal human intelligence.

Where is your favorite place to ride?
The airfield below my house.

What is the most important lesson you have learned from a horse?
To be quiet and patience.

What name would you choose for a racehorse?
Hallelujah.

What is the subject of your next book?
Sex.

Your most aggravating habit?
Being scatterbrained.

What one thing would you like to learn to do?
Heal my horses' aches and pains with a laying on of hands.

Horse Heaven is the tenth novel by Jane Smiley, who won the Pulitzer Prize for A Thousand Acres. She lives in northern California, where she rides and breeds thoroughbreds.

Author photo by Jack Canning.