So I was listening to NPR, and they had a program on featuring this guy who writes for the NEW YORKER, and he'd just produced a piece entitled--something to the effect of--the most promising fiction writers in America under forty.

             So I picked up the magazine to read the article, and I discovered that part of the narrative had to do with the researchers asking the young writers who their greatest influences were, and the name that came up over and over was Marilynne Robinson.

             Of course, I didn't know who Marilynne Robinson was, and was kind of embarrassed about that, so that weekend I made it over to Barnes and Nobles and picked up a book entitled "Housekeeping," by Marilynne Robinson.

             The prose style is amazing. If anyone had told me I'd enjoy reading a book entitled "Houskeeping" before now, I'd have never believed it. It's wonderful.