Listening Library: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

(This may be the last book review I do on this blog--I think I'm going to set up a separate blog for all of my literary excesses. After vacation, though.)
This book was the Pulitzer Prize winner in 2004. I've tried a few other winners, but had come to the conclusion that these prestigious book awards usually indicate a pushing of the envelope in disturbing ways that I don't care to read about. But with this one, I was pleasantly surprised. It was pretty much G-rated material, uplifting and deeply thoughtful. John Ames, a preacher in 1956 Gilead, Iowa, knows he is nearing the end of his life. The novel is a letter to his almost 7-year-old son who will not know or remember much of his father. He writes of his family's history, his thoughts on life and religion, and tells of some difficult experiences he has had learning forgiveness. This is one of the few audiobooks I've listened to that I loved the voice of the narrator. This was a good one to listen to, and reading it around Thanksgiving was appropriate, because you see the things that are important to John Ames at the end of his life. I checked out the books so I could quote some of my favorite passages, but there were just too many. It's far from a plot-driven book, but I see it as one that can sit on your nightstand and be read a little bit each night.