One of our absolute favorite books of 2006 was Sheila Heti's Ticknor, which has just been released in paperback by Picador. Here's what we had to say about it in the Philadelphia Inquirer (the link is, sadly, no longer active) :
A man walks through the rainy streets of 19th century Boston, en route to a dinner party, carrying a pie. He dithers. He frets. He contrasts his own woeful fortunes with those of his prosperous host, reviewing a laundry list of slights and resentments, real and imagined, along the way. It's the slenderest of conceits for a novel but Sheila Heti's diminutive debut Ticknor contains multitudes.
Biographer George Ticknor's friendship with his great subject, the historian William Hickling Prescott, was the foundation of his 1864 popular and critical success, Life of William Hickling Prescott. Pulling this obscure page from the archives, Heti has turned their friendship on its head, transforming it into a darkly funny anti-history, a hilariously biting study of envy, bitterness and promise unfulfilled. In her masterfully re-imagined landscape, this Ticknor – quite unlike his real-life counterpart - is a thwarted second-rater, all talk and very little action, forever toiling in the shadow of his wildly successful childhood friend.
We're pleased, indeed, to offer a copy of this wonderful book to a lucky TEV reader. We're sticking with our new random format, so: Please drop us a line and include your full mailing address. Subject line: GIMME SOME PIE. We'll collect all entries until 3 p.m. PST when the Random Number Generator will strike again. As always, prior winners are ineligible.
CLARIFICATION: We are not giving away books to all callers, as one email seemed to suggest. The Random Number Generator will pick one lucky winner from all entrants. Still two hours to get your entry in!
UPDATE: Congratulations to winner Mike Emmons of Missoula, MT in our most popular giveaway to date.
Have a wonderful weekend. We'll see you back here Monday with some good news. (Well, good for us, anyway.)
I have thirty-three more copies to donate, if need be. :)
Posted by: ed | April 20, 2007 at 09:34 AM
if i don't win, i'll take one of ed's copies! please! :)
Posted by: grackyfrogg | April 20, 2007 at 12:14 PM
yes i wouldnt mind one either truth be told
Posted by: Cooms | April 21, 2007 at 04:24 AM
On first looking at the book cover I thought of Charles Dickens' The Pickwick Papers, and thought this was one such concoction. Now if any copies are left I wouldn't mind having one, thanks in advance - interesting to see if the storyline has any similarities with Dickens' style and sense of humour.
Posted by: Coll B. Lue | April 23, 2007 at 03:09 AM