My pick for book of the week!

My sister recommended this book to me.

When I examined the book for the first time, I couldn't help but notice that The Poisonwood Bible also has the Oprah Winfrey seal of approval plastered all over the front cover.

Don't get me wrong, Oprah is cool and all, but my sister's recommendation carries far more weight than Oprah's ever could.

I'm guessing that some of my Christian brethren might find this book a difficult read. After all this novel questions the very foundation of faith, as well as the missionary approach of bringing western living to the jungles of Africa. For myself, I was also intrigued by the peripheral issues of land management and whether or not it is genuinely within man's ability to control nature. Leave it to me to find the environmental issues interesting....

So what's this book about you ask? Well, I think the jacket blurb on the book itself says it best...

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 out 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. The novel is set against one of the most dramatic political chronicles of the twentieth century: the Congo's fight for independence from Belgium, the murder of its first elected prime minister, the CIA coup to install his replacement, and the insidious progress of a world economic order that robs the fledgling African nation of its autonomy. Taking its place alongside the classic words of postcolonial literature, this ambitious novel establishes Kingsolver as one of the most thoughtful and daring of modern writers.

If you should decide to read this book, be forewarned. Kingsolver writes with a rich and full bodied prose style. Moreover, The Poisonwood Bible, is not a book meant to be read in haste. Kingsolver's words and her poetical use of language are meant to be savored.

So, if you have the time and think you are up to the challenge, I would encourage you to read this book. It's worth the effort.

Hey, don't just take my word on that....after all, Oprah loved The Poisonwood Bible too!