read. this. book.

It's not often that i do this. i may enthuse about stuff, but there's only been one other book that's made me want to tell people, You have to read this book. (Barabbas... surprise surprise... )
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My Bright Abyss, by Christian Wiman
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i'd put up excerpts here, except that every single sentence in this book is so darned good i can't decide which to choose. i love it when poets write prose -- the result is almost always a heightened intensity that shimmers and burns, 'like shining from shook foil', as Hopkins would have put it. And Wiman is an especially good poet.
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It's a book of essays about faith, more specifically, Christian faith; but you don't have to be a Christian to appreciate Wiman's writing; you don't even have to be religious. Though i'll admit it will make a big difference to how much the content resonates personally. Still, anyone who cares about language will be able to see that Wiman is a brilliant writer; and for the non-religious, the fact that Wiman is wrestling with faith would probably make this book more accessible than one that was more pious or conventionally orthodox.
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Basically, just. Read. This. Book. You won't regret it.
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