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The Book You Should Have Read by Now [Wow! It’s Wednesday!]
After reading this wonderful post by Emily Hauser about how hard it is to squeeze in time for reading after motherhood, I got to thinking about the THE POISONWOOD BIBLE by Barbara Kingsolver. TPB is Barbara Kingsolver’s bestselling book to date. It got all kinds of critical raves. People who I really respect LOVED this book. I myself had read every single book that Barbara Kingsolver wrote before TBC. I adore her writing style and her stories have stayed with me throughout the years. As soon as I heard about this book, I ordered it from my local library and picked it up the same day I got the notice that it had arrived.
And then for some reason, I didn’t read it. Eventually I had to return it. And I thought to myself that I would get it when it came out in paperback and I had a little more time to read it. But then it came out in paperback, and though I’ve found myself a few times with “nothing to read” since then — I never picked this book up while scouring bookstores for something — anything to read.
And the thing is that I just know hat I will love the book. Kingsolver tends to be both funny and thoughtful, engaging me in important social issues without making me feel like I’m listening to a sermon. So why haven’t I read this book yet?
I have no idea. But here’s me promising that it will come off my TBR by the end of this year. So now I’m wondering if anyone else has a book like this. A book they should have read by now, but for whatever reason, still haven’t. I’m also interested in hearing from people who took years to read a book they should have read straight off. How did you feel afterwards? Were you glad that you waited or was it a bit of a let down? Either way, let me know in the comments.
Click on the cover pic to purchase the book!
The incredible life of junot diaz, or however that goes… got it from the library, even renewed it, and returned it unread. I did, however, read The Poisonwood Bible, possibly twice.
I’m finding it weird that I’ve read all the books that other folks on here and FB haven’t read yet. Gudrun, read that book! It was my favorite of 2008.
First of all – ohmygosh, thank you so much for linking to me and for calling my Kingsolver post “wonderful”! I loved writing it but I couldn’t be sure how my rambling might translate. Thank you!
Second of all – how is it that it took that link for me to discover this blog? I don’t know. It’s a mystery, but now that I know, I’ll be back. For I am both fierce, and a nerd. There is, I would submit, no better way to be.
And THIRD of all, to answer your question: Oh my good lord in heaven, I have so many books I’ve been dying to read in a pile by my bed. The Lacuna was one of them. Slowly, surely, I hope, the pile will shrink, and I will die a peaceful death beside it, at an advanced age — and not be crushed by it, sometime next week….
No thank you for the thoughtful post. And really, I don’t understand why everyone doesn’t want to be a fierce nerd either. Seriously puzzling.
That’s my worst nightmare, dying before I get a chance to read everything I want to read. Sadly that will probably be the case. I’m glum now.