Off the Shelf

Gilead
By Marilynne Robinson
Robinson published her first novel, Housekeeping, in 1981. A sprawling work of fiction, it won her great acclaim, and she was nominated for the Pulitzer. More than 20 years later, her second novel is a study in contrast. Slim, sparsely plotted, each word chosen with great care for adequacy and simplicity, Gilead is an American Mid-West preacher8217;s mid-twentieth century remembrance, a counting of blessings amidst stock-taking of a lifelong friendship fraught with tension. Gilead won the Pulitzer this year.

Collected Stories
By Carol Shields
Canadian writer Carol Shields passed away in 2003 after a long battle with cancer, leaving behind beginnings of new stories. One of those stories, Segue, leads this magnificent collection of all her short stories, for the first time in one volume. Shields, more than anything else, was a careful chronicler of life8217;s many pleasures and happinesses, she was at her most skillful in capturing the fragility of those perceptions. And in tracking the light that filled most lives, she found new ways of investigating how her characters confronted passages of darkness in their lives. This is definitely a book to carry through an entire summer season.