Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
4/14/20261 hr 44 min
It's a very special week on Zero to Well-Read as Jeff and Rebecca pick up one of their shared favorite novels, Marilynne Robinson's magisterial meditation on life, death, family, and faith. They discuss why a book where almost nothing happens is impossible to put down, how Robinson examines the great mystery of existence without ever getting heavy or preachy, and the reasons Gilead has stayed with both of them for more than twenty years.
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First 90 secondsJeff O'Neal· Host0:00
This episode of Zero to Well Read is sponsored by ThriftBooks.com, and they're letting me talk about some great editions of Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, which is one of our favorites, the subject of today's episode, that you can find on ThriftBooks.com. There's a bunch of paperbacks, this has been a perennial paperback bestseller, so you can get a lot of used paperback editions. Those are all great. I have one myself. I have a first edition that I bought after the fact, not one available right now on ThriftBooks.com, but I think what you can get is actually, I think, sort of the sweet spot here, Goldilocks, is you can get a hardcover edition of Gilead. It's not the first edition, but it's a second printing that FSG did in November of 2004. Gilead came out in January of 2004, but it's still a hardcover. You don't have a Pulitzer sticker, you don't have an Oprah sticker, you don't have any of that stuff if you don't like that, and it looks, smells, holds, reads, shelves like a first edition. And you can get one in like-new condition on Thrift Books for $5.69. How about that? All right. Thanks to ThriftBooks.com for sponsoring Zero to Well Read. Time for the show. [upbeat music] Welcome to Zero to Well Read, a podcast about everything you need to know about the books you wish you'd read. I'm Jeff O'Neill.
Rebecca Schinsky· Host1:19
And I'm Rebecca Schinsky. Big day for us here today on Zero to Well Read. This is not heaven, but it is Iowa. We're talking about one of the most highly acclaimed novels of the 21st