Just curious if anyone has read this book. It was the last book I read senior year of high school in AP Lit and I can confidently say one of the best books I’ve ever come across. I can’t recommend this book enough! There are so many aspects to analyze if you’re looking for a novel that will really make you think, especially about American Imperialism in the first half of the 20th century.
I really enjoy the beautiful personal and pastoral writing with subtle characterization. Also I like the religious undertones and the social/historical settings.
I've read Housekeeping and half of the Gilead series so far. I've only read The Poisonwood Bible, but I already bought two more of her books.
Hi all, I'm trying to build my reading list for 2021 and would love some suggestions! To get an idea of my taste, some of my favorite books I've read the past couple years are...
The Bean Trees and Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver
The Robber Bride and Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood (I prefer her books about old women reflecting back on their lives over her dystopian fiction)
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Into the Wild and Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer (I love all of his books!)
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
The Book Thief by Markus Zusack
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
So in general I like historical fiction, thrillers, non-fiction/memoirs, and anything that's very character-driven. Thanks!
The poisonwood bible is one of my favourite books. I read prodigal summer, but felt it was too happy and just not as good as the poisonwood bible. Looking on goodreads, there are good reviews for the bean trees, animal dreams, the lacuna and flight behaviour. Any suggestions?
I loved how in the poisonwood bible, none of the characters were really good people. I loved the contrast of the price family against the village they were living in and their struggle to find their place. I found the book to be a harrowing epic that explored large themes.
I felt prodigal summer was missing the strength of poisonwood bible. Of course I love kingsolver’s writing but it was just a pretty good story to me.
Unsheltered is the story of two families, in two centuries, who live in the same house in Vineland, NJ, navigating what seems to be the end of the world as they know it. The Washington Post identifies it as: “The first major novel to tackle the Trump era straight on and place it in the larger chronicle of existential threats” and Newsday describes it as: “a gripping novel of two multigenerational households…that find themselves in poorly constructed dwellings on faulty foundations, during a time of sweeping cultural and historical change…”. Listen to my NPR interview for more background: www.npr.org/2018/10/14/657238918/unsheltered-tackles-the-unhealed-divisions-in-america. I look forward to discussing my new novel, UNSHELTERED, with you!
Hello again, and goodbye. I'm so sorry the hour flew by too quickly for me to get to everybody. Thanks for your superlative questions, and most of all, thanks for reading. You're all wonderful. --xox Barbara
I really really enjoyed Let the Great World Spin. Has anyone read anything else by Colum McCann? Any recommendations?
I love everything by Barbara Kingsolver but especially "Unsheltered". I also think that "Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens may be a top 5 book for me. So I would love to read something with similarly beautiful storytelling and a strong natural presence.
Thank you so much! Can't wait to start reading your suggestions
[subject: AP literature]- how to write logs for characters The assignment is to write one log for each of the the 5 main characters , my question is how and what should exactly be in the log and how should it start , should it just portray how the events in the story affect each character and one another and how long should a log be ?
Thanks in advance for anyone who answers
Here’s exactly what was put for the assignment “Evaluate what you are reading. Be sure to prepare for exams as follows:
- Write down your reactions and feelings to each of the five characters as she tells "her story" about their family, her place in it, the Congo, the people, events.
- Write how you feel about Nathan, what he does, "his religion" and "his mission", how he treats his family and the people in the Congo.
- You might want to write about the different symbols in the book.
- Write down examples of the beautiful figurative language the author uses to write her story and how language and the meaning of specific words play a role. 5.Write down significant, startling, and/or interesting details about the Belgian Congo as it is described at that time. "This is a work of fiction, but the historical figures and events described are as real as I could render them with the help of recorded history." (Author's note)
- It took the author twenty years to research and to write this novel. Pay close attention to details as you are reading the book, not the Sparknotes.”
HOWEVER, I am specifically looking for the paperback version that has "Oprah's Book Club" on the front and/or is published by HarperTorch (instead of just Harper Collins or Harper Perennial). Thanks!! I know that's quite specific!
What I loved about this was how it centered around family, how I learned something from it, how it had a strong point of view and message, and how it still contained levity. It was also amazingly well-written.
I haven’t found a memoir quite like it. Any suggestions?
The cathedral is burning. Absent flame or smoke,
stained glass explodes in silence, fractal scales
of angel damsel rainbow parrot. Charred beams
of blackened coral lie in heaps on the sacred floor,
white stones fallen from high places, spires collapsed
crushing sainted turtle and gargoyle octopus.
Something there is in my kind that cannot love
a reef, a tundra, a plain stone breast of desert, ever
quite enough. A tree perhaps, once recomposed
as splendid furniture. A forest after the whole of it
is planed to posts and beams and raised to a heaven
of earnest construction in the name of Our Lady.
All Paris stood on the bridges to watch her burning,
believing a thing this old, this large and beautiful
must be holy and cannot be lost. And coral temples
older than Charlemagne suffocate unattended,
bleach and bleed from the eye, the centered heart.
Lord of leaves and fishes, lead me across this great divide.
Teach me how to love the sacred places, not as one
devotes to One who made me in his image and is bound
to love me back. I mean as a body loves its microbial skin,
the worm its nape of loam, all secret otherness forgiven.
Love beyond anything I will ever make of it.
