Read With Us: The Winter 2024 Announcement

Today is a very exciting day. A day that only comes 4 times per year. It’s the day when we announce our next Read With Us book. In keeping with the tradition we started last year, our winter selection is once again a contemporary classic. A book you may have read before or perhaps you may have missed but one that we think it still relevant and worthy of our time and discussion. This time around that book is . . .

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Here’s your standard book jacket blurb: The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it — from garden seeds to Scripture — is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family’s tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.

Now. I read this book back in 2000. And I hated it! And yet, I’m the one who suggested it to Bonny and Kym. It may seem strange to think I’d want to read a book I initially hated but the truth is that I think I’m a different reader now than I was back in 2000. I think I have a deeper appreciation for literary fiction. And a much broader interest in places and subjects I don’t know much about. I’m really looking forward to reading this and having a new, positive experience with it.

And I hope you will join me, errrrr, us. And read it, too.

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This Post Has 9 Comments

  1. Loved this when I read it decades ago and (even though I’m not one to re-read books) I’m looking forward to reading it again!

  2. I’ll be so interested to hear how/if your opinion changes. I loved it when it first read it (back around the same time that you did) but didn’t remember much about it. I’m about 225 pages in on my reread and really enjoying it, and I think it’ll be great to discuss!

  3. I also read the book back in 2000, and while I didn’t hate it, I didn’t love it either. It’s a book that almost demands discussion, so I’m glad to read it again and be able to discuss it!

  4. I probably read it 5-6 years ago and did not really care for it. I’m listening now with an open mind and can say I am enjoying it more this time around!

  5. I have never read it… and have yet to start! So I don’t have any feelings about it … yet!

  6. “Tata Jesus is Bangala!” Absolutely one of my favorite books ever, Carole. and my favorite from Barbara Kingsolver. I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did. It will certainly give you lots to discuss.

  7. Either you love it or hate it! No in between. I have picked it up to reach at least a dozen times eventually folding and giving up. I took it out of the dust around November but I still can’t get deep into it. WHY does it have this affect on people!

  8. I read it when it was first published and loved it. I re-read it about 10 years later and still loved it. I’m currently reading it for the 3rd time and am just blown away by how good this is and how much I missed on those first two readings. One of my life-time favorite books! I think it will be a great book to discuss!

  9. I was so surprised to hear that you hadn’t liked PB when you first read it, Carole! It seems like a book you (or, at least, the reader you are NOW) would really enjoy. I’m hoping you like it better this time around! (And if you don’t, I’ll look forward to talking to you about it!) Happy reading! XO

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