Articles tagged "Marilynne Robinson"

Happy Holidays from Macmillan Library!

Snoopy Holidays Dearest librarians,

This will be my last blog post of 2011. It's been an absolute pleasure blogging about all of our amazing books over the last year.

Tomorrow, I'm heading back to the Pacific Coast to spend the holidays with my family. I'm looking forward to a lot of eating, reading, and sleeping in as late as Mom will let me.

Things we're looking forward to in early 2012:

ALA Midwinter in Dallas!

PLA in Philadelphia!

World Book Night USA, during which two of our titles, HOUSEKEEPING and ENDER'S GAME, will be given out for free to remind people about the joy of reading! See all of the WBN books here or jump right in and sign up to give away books.

This holiday season Talia and I wish you many hugs, lots of smiles, delicious food, and piles of puppies. You make our jobs wonderful and easy.

Have an excellent rest of the year, and we'll see you on the other side!

Deep Thoughts

State of the Nation According to Books

Justin Cartwright (OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY) created an excellent list of ten novels that he believes best encapsulate the state of affairs of their respective societies. His list, published in the Guardian, includes socially poignant literature from Charles Dickens, John Updike, Salman Rushdie (a personal favorite), as well as Tom Wolfe's THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES, Marilynne Robinson's HOME, and Jonathan Franzen's FREEDOM.

Justin says, "When nations are undergoing some form of stress, be it financial or ethical or even military, state of the nation novels tend to be more numerous; they come in many guises, but they have one thing in particular, that they provide a commentary or a judgment on the times."