Friday, November 9, 2012

A new favorite

I am not a great reader, but I do like to read, and I have found an author that I want to share with the world. Maybe you already know her, and I am jumping on the back of the bandwagon. She is Marilynne Robinson, author of Housekeeping, Gilead and Home. I started with Home last year on my Kindle, and I couldn't put it down. When my husband asked what it was about, I realized that it sounded really boring. There is an old, retired preacher whose middle-aged daughter comes home after a failed relationship. Then her brother, the prodigal son, comes home, and it's about their daily life all under one roof again. How can this be interesting? I don't know, except that Robinson is a genius writer. The story totally drew me in. I'm in the middle of Gilead now, which actually has no plot at all. The whole book is a letter from an old preacher (not the same one, the other one's neighbor and friend) to his little son, who will presumably read the letter when he is grown, after his father has died. It's just his musings and little words of wisdom mixed with family history. Again, I don't know why this is so interesting to me, except that Robinson can really write. The book has no chapters and moves really slowly. There is no traditional storyline, but I love this book and recommend both of them wholeheartedly. I have Housekeeping, her other novel, but haven't started it yet. Has anyone else read her books?

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