Dillard Writes Such Beautiful Sentences About Plain Things

I have gotten Annie Dillard's novel The Living from the library exactly twice. Both times I have attempted to read it, and both times my attempts have failed. This last time I said to Michael, "I really want to read this book but I just can't. Her sentences are beautiful. She's a wonderful writer, but she goes into these high levels of detail about things that just aren't interesting to me. I scan through the pages looking for dialogue and there is very little." Michael suggested that if I really wanted to read it perhaps I should treat it like a technical exercise. Read to discover how she composes and punctuates such wonderful sentences.

I'll give you the example I gave Michael a few nights ago. You might need to read this sentence out loud to notice how wonderfully balanced it is:

"One November night after a supper of dried salmon and potatoes, the Fishburns sat in the Rushes' dark cabin drinking coffee made from burnt toast."

There is a short story appearing in The Annie Dillard Reader, the events occur at some point in the novel. I enjoyed the short story very much, even though it isn't the sort of fiction I would typically read. I think that if I really were a serious reader I would persist through all the detail of the novel, but alas, I am not really a serious reader. Maybe next time I take the book out of the library I will make even more headway.