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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
This book spoke to me. I picked it up from the library and halfway through bought a copy because I knew it was one of the rare books I would want to read again.
As Kingsolver pointed out in this book, there are so many good books and life is short so rarely do I read the same book twice.
Kingsolver's beliefs are similar to mine although she is better educated about them and she walks the walk better than I so I learned from her essays and was inspired to do more to make this world a better place.
Kingsolver also has a lovely command of the English language giving much of her writing a poetic feel.
As Kingsolver pointed out in this book, there are so many good books and life is short so rarely do I read the same book twice.
Kingsolver's beliefs are similar to mine although she is better educated about them and she walks the walk better than I so I learned from her essays and was inspired to do more to make this world a better place.
Kingsolver also has a lovely command of the English language giving much of her writing a poetic feel.
My favourite book of all time. One I come back to again and again.
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3241623.html
I've very much enjoyed Kingsolver's fiction; this is a collection of essays, some co-written with her husband, on various issues. As with her fiction, she is on very solid ground when writing about family life and about the places where she lives or has lived. A recurrent theme is finding harmony with the environment, both locally and globally. There is a memorable clash of cultures with a visiting journalist in the last chapter, who "went back to the big city and reported that I am not very open with strangers, have quaint ideas, and pay too much attention to my kids." There are a lot of good insights into the human condition here. She is on less firm ground with political commentary; I am pretty aligned with her instincts, but her pieces are emotional reportage rather than the analysis which I find more interesting. Anyway, it's an interesting insight into the daily preoccupations of an author whose work I like.
I've very much enjoyed Kingsolver's fiction; this is a collection of essays, some co-written with her husband, on various issues. As with her fiction, she is on very solid ground when writing about family life and about the places where she lives or has lived. A recurrent theme is finding harmony with the environment, both locally and globally. There is a memorable clash of cultures with a visiting journalist in the last chapter, who "went back to the big city and reported that I am not very open with strangers, have quaint ideas, and pay too much attention to my kids." There are a lot of good insights into the human condition here. She is on less firm ground with political commentary; I am pretty aligned with her instincts, but her pieces are emotional reportage rather than the analysis which I find more interesting. Anyway, it's an interesting insight into the daily preoccupations of an author whose work I like.
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
I went into this knowing it was a collection of essays, but I didn't realize this would have such a political bent to it. Definitely thought this was going to be fluffy stories about nature. That was fine, though, and I found Kingsolver to be clear and well-written. I just wasn't expecting some of these essays to be as heavy as they were. As it is, this collection was specifically put together in the aftermath of 9/11.
It's interesting how many of the dilemmas and issues she wrote about are still incredibly relevant and problematic twenty years later. Haven't decided what that's saying to me about humanity.
It's interesting how many of the dilemmas and issues she wrote about are still incredibly relevant and problematic twenty years later. Haven't decided what that's saying to me about humanity.
I read this all night one night, up with insomnia and I suspect that I am giving it a 4 rather than a 5 because I read it in a place where I could not give it the attention it deserved. Carefully considered and thoughtful essays.
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
KINGSOLVER CRAFTS ESSAYS FROM DARKNESS TO SHOW LIGHT
Barbara Kingsolver wrote her 2003 "Small Wonder" essay collection in response to the 9/11 attacks and the political and social climate of the USA at the time. Although 15 years old, the essay topics are prolific and timely for today's reader.
Kingsolver's essays range from politics, plants, raising chickens, being a mother, having a mother, writing short stories, the death of a local bookstore, homelessness. In a favorite essay, "Stealing Apples," Kingsolver compares writing poetry to stealing an apple. She believes poems are there, fully formed, in everyday moments of life. They either fall and roll away or you grab them and jot them down. As she says, poems fall "from the richly pollinated boughs of an ordinary life, buzzing, as lives do, with clamor and glory."
Her essays about reading, writing are extremely spunky and relatable for this avid reader. As she ponders, "With Middlemarch and Pilgrim at Tinker Creek in the world, a person should squander her reading time on fashionably ironic books about nothing much?"
Kingsolver talks a lot about the earth's resources and how her readers can live more purposefully and mindfully. She encourages readers to live with less and, as a result, live with an awareness of more.
These essays are uniquely Kingsolver, and any fan of hers will find fistfuls of gems in this collection.
"The stories were, for me, both a distraction and an anchor. Good fictional tales will always be my pleasure, my companionship, my salvation."
Barbara Kingsolver wrote her 2003 "Small Wonder" essay collection in response to the 9/11 attacks and the political and social climate of the USA at the time. Although 15 years old, the essay topics are prolific and timely for today's reader.
Kingsolver's essays range from politics, plants, raising chickens, being a mother, having a mother, writing short stories, the death of a local bookstore, homelessness. In a favorite essay, "Stealing Apples," Kingsolver compares writing poetry to stealing an apple. She believes poems are there, fully formed, in everyday moments of life. They either fall and roll away or you grab them and jot them down. As she says, poems fall "from the richly pollinated boughs of an ordinary life, buzzing, as lives do, with clamor and glory."
Her essays about reading, writing are extremely spunky and relatable for this avid reader. As she ponders, "With Middlemarch and Pilgrim at Tinker Creek in the world, a person should squander her reading time on fashionably ironic books about nothing much?"
Kingsolver talks a lot about the earth's resources and how her readers can live more purposefully and mindfully. She encourages readers to live with less and, as a result, live with an awareness of more.
These essays are uniquely Kingsolver, and any fan of hers will find fistfuls of gems in this collection.
"The stories were, for me, both a distraction and an anchor. Good fictional tales will always be my pleasure, my companionship, my salvation."
Ehh ... I really enjoyed the first half of this book. Excellent essays on politics and the struggle to be earth-friendly (and as an added bonus one anti-television one for those of us on the bandwagon) but really did not like the essays that seemed tacked on at the end to make the book more substantial. The lead essay is worth reading.