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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
The life that Kingsolver and her family seem to live is (to me) ideal AND impossible. Still it makes me want to do better in my stewardship.
I read this book, then sold it at a yard sale....then months later.... it haunted me, and I had to buy another copy!
I read this book, then sold it at a yard sale....then months later.... it haunted me, and I had to buy another copy!
Immediately after 9/11, Barbara Kingsolver found herself writing essays as she struggled to make sense of what happened. Ultimately those essays and more culled from previous publication thorugh the 1990s became this collection of truly small wonders, each headed by an illustration relevant to the subject of that essay. Kingsolver examines here war, poverty, hatred, racism, and more. She also celebrates the beauty and diversity of nature, family, books and reading, and even macaws, crabs, chickens and rattlesnakes.
I related to much here. No surprise since Kingsolver and I are the same age. Sometimes I found an essay difficult to read - primarily those directly addressing 9/11 as I like most who were in Manhattan that day have a great deal we have buried deep and never pulled out into the sun and assimmilated. It was afterall how we were able to stay and cope and return to regular day to day living rather than cowering under the bed. Others I raced through chuckling (Lily's chickens), awed (the macaws), nodding in agreement or brow furrowed in consideration. I read these one or two at a time over a couple of weeks, just as you would if you came across them in magazines or newspapers. I suspect I will return to read some in the future after some world events or a memory reminds me of a particular essay.
At times thoughtful and deeply personal, revealing painful memories, at others funny and charming, beautifully crafted, every single one of these essays unapologetically reveals the heart and soul of Barbara Kingsolver.
I related to much here. No surprise since Kingsolver and I are the same age. Sometimes I found an essay difficult to read - primarily those directly addressing 9/11 as I like most who were in Manhattan that day have a great deal we have buried deep and never pulled out into the sun and assimmilated. It was afterall how we were able to stay and cope and return to regular day to day living rather than cowering under the bed. Others I raced through chuckling (Lily's chickens), awed (the macaws), nodding in agreement or brow furrowed in consideration. I read these one or two at a time over a couple of weeks, just as you would if you came across them in magazines or newspapers. I suspect I will return to read some in the future after some world events or a memory reminds me of a particular essay.
At times thoughtful and deeply personal, revealing painful memories, at others funny and charming, beautifully crafted, every single one of these essays unapologetically reveals the heart and soul of Barbara Kingsolver.
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Rape, War
Minor: Animal death
hopeful
informative
reflective
Barbara Kingsolver has the golden touch. Fiction or non-fiction, this woman is a magical writer. I am mezmerized by every word she writes. And may she write many more!
I am still reading this book. I pick it up and put it down whenever I want to read something short but well-written. The range of topics is wonderful, because I can choose according to mood. I have hopped all over the book. Some I have read twice.
What keeps pulling me to the book is how honest Kingsolver is as a writer. She shares these bits of herself and I feel as though I get to know her.
What keeps pulling me to the book is how honest Kingsolver is as a writer. She shares these bits of herself and I feel as though I get to know her.
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
fast-paced
For my money, Kingsolver is this generation's Steinbeck. She would be too modest to accept this praise, in my opinion, but that makes her no less deserving of it.
This collection of essays should be required reading for anyone under the age of 95, any American, or anyone who wonders why the world is in the state it's in and what there is we can do about it. I hate the idea of "required reading," but sometimes there is a book that reaches that plateau. Each essay is crafted with timeless simplicity, yet contain compelling, thought-provoking issues that aggravate that part within your soul that has been, of late, asleep.
I'm certain that I've read this book before, as I remembered parts of it as I read it this time. I will probably reread it again someday and find it just as heartwarming, intense, and pointed as I do today.
Buy, borrow, or steal a copy today.
This collection of essays should be required reading for anyone under the age of 95, any American, or anyone who wonders why the world is in the state it's in and what there is we can do about it. I hate the idea of "required reading," but sometimes there is a book that reaches that plateau. Each essay is crafted with timeless simplicity, yet contain compelling, thought-provoking issues that aggravate that part within your soul that has been, of late, asleep.
I'm certain that I've read this book before, as I remembered parts of it as I read it this time. I will probably reread it again someday and find it just as heartwarming, intense, and pointed as I do today.
Buy, borrow, or steal a copy today.
I happened to pick this up right after the 2016 election, and the opening chapter was so much that my heart needed. I actually used selections from it as a sermon shortly after. The rest of the book has great moments, but I can mostly take or leave it. But that first essay...Kingsolver insists that the things we dread might contain our salvation, and then tells stories of "small wonders," stories in which what people dread is the very thing that saves them.
I return to it when Donald does something intolerable, to remind myself that enemies are rarely who we think they are, to remind myself that the story is not yet finished, to remind myself of "the possibility of taking heart."
I return to it when Donald does something intolerable, to remind myself that enemies are rarely who we think they are, to remind myself that the story is not yet finished, to remind myself of "the possibility of taking heart."
I highly recommend this collection of essays. Ms. Kingsolver intelligently writes on destruction of biodiversity, the wondrous beauty of life, writing, evolution, conservationism, war (esp. our involvement in Irag and Afghanistan in relation to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks) and patriotism as a pacifist. I am sure I missed a category or two.