Marilynne Robinson

When I was a child I read books

Celeste Richardson

These essays are among the deepest and most beautifully written that I’ve come across. They are also some of the most complicated I’ve ever read. The density and complexity reminded me of philosophy texts I read in college. This collection is definitely intended to be read slowly and thoughtfully instead of being rushed through. Marilynne Robinson is perhaps the most astoundingly intelligent person whose thoughts I’ve ever been privileged to read. What she has to say about patriotism and government; the true differences between capitalism and socialism; the misunderstanding of certain religious terms and how that misunderstanding impacts the practice of faith; the dangers of unnecessary competition on a global scale, are so deep that they’re difficult to wrap the mind around. However, I do have to admit that I felt just a bit hoodwinked by the title. I love books about what books mean to others, and that's what I was expecting. I think I would have enjoyed this collection far more had I not felt that I was floundering in its depths, but I have so much respect for Robinson as an author and an intellectual. I look forward trying her fiction, though I have to confess that I’m now very intimated by the thought.

From the author of the magnificent, award-winning novels GILEAD, HOME and LILA comes this wonderful, heart-warming collection of essays about reading. 'Grace and intelligence ...[her work] defines universal truths about what it means to be human' Barack Obama Marilynne Robinson is not only a writer of sharp, subtly moving fiction, but also a rigorous thinker and incisive essayist. In this luminous collection she returns to the themes which have preoccupied her bestselling novels: the place literature has in life, the role of faith in modern living, the contradictions inherent in human nature. Clear-eyed and forceful as ever, Robinson demonstrates once again why she is regarded as one of our best-loved writers.

When I was a child I read books

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