Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
Wow, was I naive about agriculture in the US. Kingsolver is an amazing writer; she keeps you captivated throughout with stories and style, all the while making you question your status quo. This book has inspired major changes in my kitchen. I highly recommend this read to any who eats.
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
One of the more insightful and informative books I've read in a while, and enjoyably written as well. It will change the way I shop and eat.
I stopped reading about half the way through this book, returned it (overdue) to the library, and ordered my own copy online. I know I will be referring to it over and over.
an amazing book on the local food movement. it avoids preaching (mostly) and talks about the caring, community aspect of food grown by people you know and love.
Plus, it's Barbara Kingsolver, people!
Lastly, the recipes are insanely delicious!
Plus, it's Barbara Kingsolver, people!
Lastly, the recipes are insanely delicious!
I enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would. I don't know, I guess I expected it to be kind of boring -- it wasn't.
Let's be honest. I'm not going to turn my backyard (in the desert Southwest) into a vegetable garden. But I will be much more conscientious in my shopping habits, looking for local and responsibly-produced food options when available. This book made me want to learn how to make cheese in my own kitchen and can tomatoes during the summer. And it was written in such a way that kept me interested and curious to find out if the turkeys would hatch their eggs in the end. There are also a lot of easy recipes included, so this book is going in the kitchen with my other cookbooks.
Let's be honest. I'm not going to turn my backyard (in the desert Southwest) into a vegetable garden. But I will be much more conscientious in my shopping habits, looking for local and responsibly-produced food options when available. This book made me want to learn how to make cheese in my own kitchen and can tomatoes during the summer. And it was written in such a way that kept me interested and curious to find out if the turkeys would hatch their eggs in the end. There are also a lot of easy recipes included, so this book is going in the kitchen with my other cookbooks.
I enjoyed it...I learned more about gardening and farm life from this book than I thought I cared to know, but it was interesting. I thought the essays by the daughter often got a little sanctimonious. I also wished they spent more time on how to translate the choices they made to lifestyles like mine where growing my own food isn’t really possible. Still an inspiring and provocative read and it really ends with a bang.
I think Barbara Kingsolver is a great example of a fine orator, as well as being a tender and descriptive writer. High school speech and theatre classes would do well to use recordings of her speaking style, in that soft Appalachian drawl, for use in dialect and annunciation work. I also agree with some other Goodreads reviewers when they say, "Give me a break, Babs." There is too much utopia in this examination of gastronomic and cultural and ethical and agricultural landscape, and not enough struggle. Oh, I was reading about the farmer's struggle, the animal's struggle, and even the plant's, but I got none of her real familial struggle, save a "Fresh Fruit Pllleeease?" request in the wimpiest of sweet child tones. Unless your kids are afraid of you, even the good ones, raised on Southwestern delights like frijoles and Moon Pies, will cry out for refined sugar and fat once in awhile. Did you leave it out or is Lily just sneaking Kit Kats into her room? Conflict is really what keeps us hooked, and the conflict (that of GMO farmers and the little guy) was not personal or intimate enough to keep me engaged. There was a story of a guy you heard about, big deal. You did a disservice to that end of the story if that is the way you were going, and if you meant to keep it personal, to your family, why the whitewashed Cleaver meets Swiss Family Robinson version? Your story was too sweetened and refined to be organic. I listened to your pretty voice smooth out words ripe and juicy, but I was left hungry for something more substantial, hold the whipped idealism.
I'm surprised a writer, or an artist of any kind, wants to come off so externally sunny, when all artists know that the goods, the real jasmine of a thing, is not in the sweet smell, but the dirt beneath. This book did make me hungry, and I did go out of my way to shop at Farmer's Markets whilst reading. Of course, if it is summer in Maine and you aren't doing that, you might as well be reading Bukowski.
I'm surprised a writer, or an artist of any kind, wants to come off so externally sunny, when all artists know that the goods, the real jasmine of a thing, is not in the sweet smell, but the dirt beneath. This book did make me hungry, and I did go out of my way to shop at Farmer's Markets whilst reading. Of course, if it is summer in Maine and you aren't doing that, you might as well be reading Bukowski.
I dig the way Kingsolver writes and now I want to dig vegetables, raise turkeys (or at least chickens), shop locally, and taste heirloom varieties of about everything. The story of this family living off their farm and local foods for a year was inspiring.
I did find myself sighing a lot while reading the book. Many sighs of frustration resulted as I realized how far removed my food supply is from "natural" and for that matter from well known to me.
This book might have changed my life in some small ways. I'm not certain I can really be a farmer or live this way, but I've been to the farmer's market the last two grocery trips and I feel good about that, especially since peaches are in season. I'm also in the mood to can, but I'm not sure I'm going to get things in place in time.
I did find myself sighing a lot while reading the book. Many sighs of frustration resulted as I realized how far removed my food supply is from "natural" and for that matter from well known to me.
This book might have changed my life in some small ways. I'm not certain I can really be a farmer or live this way, but I've been to the farmer's market the last two grocery trips and I feel good about that, especially since peaches are in season. I'm also in the mood to can, but I'm not sure I'm going to get things in place in time.