PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Marilynne Robinson is the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Orange Prize for fiction and she has twice been nominated for the International Man Booker Prize. In 2013 she was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama.
The Givenness of Things is Robinson unadorned, speaking her mind forthrightly, sometimes with frustration, often with dry humour ... Robinson makes full use of her writerly imagination Herald I surrendered to the beauty of Robinson's prose and the breadth of her learning, I found that, even if I didn't recognise every biblical or philosophical reference, my mind was expanding and thrilling to her ideas ... When she describes herself sitting on her porch, writing and eavesdropping on her neighbours, I think of Henry David Thoreau in Walden and the enduring urgency and relevance of his meditations. Now 71, Robinson's words might outlive us all Independent What comes across most forcefully in these beautifully written essays is Robinson's sense of awe at the universe's wonders, and her boundless desire for knowledge Sunday Times The most engrossing book I read this year was The Givenness of Things -- Frank Cottrell Boyce Observer
