Robert James Waller, 'Bridges of Madison County' Author, Dies at 77

Robert James Waller, who wrote the bestselling 1992 book, “The Bridges of Madison County,” has died at the age of 77.

His famous book made the writer a multimillionaire after it was made into a film starring Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood. It was also turned into a Broadway musical.

Waller died in Texas, according to his longtime friend Scott Cawelti, who spoke with The Associated Press.

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Cawelti said Waller had been fighting multiple myeloma, a form of cancer, and died in his Fredericksburg, Texas home early Friday.

Waller famously wrote “Bridges” in 11 days. The novel follows roving National Geographic photographer Robert Kincaid, who spends four days romancing Francesca Johnson, a war bride from Italy married to a no-nonsense Iowa farmer.

The book was a No. 1 New York Times bestseller for more than three years. The 1995 film, directed by and starring Eastwood made $182 million worldwide at the box office.

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Waller also wrote a sequel to the book called, “A Thousand County Roads — An Epilogue to The Bridges of Madison County.”

Other books of his have made the New York Times bestseller list and his 1995 novel, “Puerto Vallarta Squeeze,” was also made into a film.

“I really do have a small ego,” Waller told The New York Times in 2002 after “Madison County” received widespread criticism for being too sappy and cliched. “I am open to rational discussion. If you don’t like the book and can say why, I am willing to listen. But the criticism turned to nastiness. … I was stunned.”

Barack Obama's Reading List: 11 Books Recommended by the President (Photos)

Before leaving the White House, Barack Obama sat down with New York Times book critic Michiko Kakutani to discuss the books that helped shape his presidency. Here are some of the titles he singled out.
"The Underground Railroad"

Obama tells the Times that the "last novel I read" was Colson Whitehead's 2016 book: "And the reminder of the ways in which the pain of slavery transmits itself across generations, not just in overt ways, but how it changes minds and hearts."
"Gilead"

Obama said he started reading Marilynne Robinson's novels while campaigning in Iowa. "I loved her writing in part because I saw those people every day. And the interior life she was describing that connected them -- the people I was shaking hands with and making speeches to -- it connected them with my grandparents, who were from Kansas and ended up journeying all the way to Hawaii, but whose foundation had been set in a very similar setting."
"The Three-Body Problem"

Obama cited Chinese writer Liu Cixin's sci-fi trilogy as "the stuff I read just to escape." "The scope of it was immense. So that was fun to read, partly because my day-to-day problems with Congress seem fairly petty -- not something to worry about. Aliens are about to invade."
"Song of Solomon"

"I think Toni Morrison’s writings -- particularly 'Song of Solomon' is a book I think of when I imagine people going through hardship. That it’s not just pain, but there’s joy and glory and mystery," Obama told the Times.
"A Bend in the River"

Obama recalled the opening line of V.S. Naipaul's novel ("The world is what it is...") and noted, "I think about his novels when I’m thinking about the hardness of the world sometimes, particularly in foreign policy, and I resist and fight against sometimes that very cynical, more realistic view of the world."
"The Naked and the Dead"

Norman Mailer's 1948 novel, partly inspired by his experience in World War II, was one of several books Barack Obama told the New York Times that he gave to his daughter Malia. "Or 'One Hundred Years of Solitude,' I think she hadn’t read yet. Then there were some books I think that are not on everybody’s reading list these days, but I remembered as being interesting, like 'The Golden Notebook' by Doris Lessing, for example. Or 'The Woman Warrior,' by Maxine [Hong Kingston]."
"One Hundred Years of Solitude"

As we just mentioned, Gabriel García Marquez's 1970 novel was another one that he gifted to Malia.
"The Golden Notebook"

Doris Lessing has described her anti-war, anti-Stalinist 1962 novel as a work of "inner space fiction." It's another one of the titles Obama gave to Malia.
"The Woman Warrior”

Maxine Hong Kingston's 1977 novel, subtitled "Memoirs of a girl among ghosts," was another pick for Malia.
"Gone Girl"

Obama praised Gillian Flynn's twisty thriller as "a well-constructed, well-written book."
"Fates and Furies"

The president called Lauren Groff's book "a really powerful novel."
During challenging moments like the financial crisis, Obama said he turned to "Lincoln’s writings, King’s writings, Gandhi’s writings, Mandela’s writings -- I found those particularly helpful, because what you wanted was a sense of solidarity."

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Before leaving the White House, the president shared his favorite books with New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani

Before leaving the White House, Barack Obama sat down with New York Times book critic Michiko Kakutani to discuss the books that helped shape his presidency. Here are some of the titles he singled out.

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