Barbara Kingsolver Books

This book traces a year in the life of Kingsolver's family as they adopt and adjust to a diet based on locally produced foods. At the beginning of this narrative, Kingsolver and her family move from Arizona to Virginia, where they have family ties, and where subsisting on local foods will be much easier because of the more ameniable climate. Arriving after gardening season is over, they bide their time before switching to a diet of local foods until March, when locally produced vegetables first begin appearing in their local farmers' market. From then on, they fill their larder with locally grown foods, making exceptions only for certain "essentials" such as coffee or olive oil. Through spirited monthly essays, Kingsolver describes their food related activities and choices in the ensuing year. These are supplemented with short commentaries and recipes by her daughter Camille Kingsolver and informative notes by her husband Steven Hopp.

This book is quite enjoyable to read, especially for those who find Kingsolver's points of view well-aligned with their own. For those who don't agree with Kingsolver's premises, some of her excurses may be hard to relate to. However, virtually everyone can learn from this book some valuable tips about providing an abundance of healthy food on a budget. As Kingsolver points out, consuming local foods is not about being bringing a food elitist attitude to the plate--it's not (necessarily) a political approach to eating either. Actually, it wasn't all that long ago when virtually everyone everywhere ate a local diet because that was the food that was available. It was only when transportation became fast and cheap that non-local options even became available. With energy prices rising, consumers may finally become reacquainted with the products of their own regions, and as Kingsolver points out, many will be shocked at the flavors they have been missing over the years when their diet was comprised of foods that have been bred for travel stability, not taste.

Serious gardeners and homesteaders will recognize many scenes from Kingsolver's year: the arrival of the day-old chicks in the mail, more zucchini than an army could possibly eat, canning days during tomato season. None of Kingsolver's narratives describe anything out of the ordinary. That's just the point--her experiment in local living is not an extraordinary adventure of a family teetering on the edge of starvation, but a healthy, enjoyable, affordable way of life that could be available to all. It's well worth the effort.

After successfully graduating high school without succumbing to pregnancy like most of her classmates, the last thing Taylor Greer wants is to raise a child. But, thanks to a chance encounter, she suddenly finds herself the foster mother of a Cherokee toddler named Turtle.

Despite Taylor's initial reluctance, her heart softens when she finds out how horribly Turtle was abused as a baby. Together, the two set off in a new life in Arizona, where they live on Taylor's minimum-wage earnings and wit.

Then Taylor meets Lou Ann, another transplanted Southerner. Having recently become a mother herself, Lou Ann's been abandoned by her husband and is now seeking a housemate to split the rent. Taylor takes her up on the offer, and discovers that family can be found in the least expected of places...

If you enjoy this book, be sure to read "Pigs in Heaven," which continues Taylor's and Turtle's story.

I received a copy of this book from my daughter who was about to celebrate her 33rd birthday. The Amazon gift wrap was lovely. And she wrote and told me this was a gift for giving life to her and more. And I began to read the essays and the letters and the poems. And although each author had a different mother, there seemed to be a universal theme....love. And in some cases, lack of love. These are letters and poems that one can read and re-read and share with friends because there is so much thought and insights into that special unique relationship between mother and daughter. To have received this book from my daughter makes it all the more special....but the collection is filled with words that make my memories spin and I am happy that my daughter has always told me what she has meant to say...Mothers can send this book to their daughters. Daughters should send this book to their mothers. And if any man wishes to know why the relationship between mother and daughter is so very special, he can read this book too. Thanks to the editor who compiled the various works! This book is a keeper!

One of the best American writers

If you read the city of joy, this novel have a same spirit of the comunion with the world.The reality is amizing and the feelin is honestly.soory my inglish is so bad...so i like this book

One of the best books I've ever read, by one of the best female authors of our time.

These are very inspiring essays by one of our most brilliant writers. If you have enjoyed her fiction, you will really like her voice (literally, as she reads her essays aloud)as an observer of our human condition on this planet. There is a particularly great take on the 911 catastrophe.

I found Barbara Kingsolver's "A Small Wonder" inspirational. It's the first time I've finished a book and immediately turned it over and read it again! Ms. Kingsolver is a perceptive storyteller and the way she portrays everyday experiences sheds an illuminating perspective on a better way to experience life - from how we use resources, to how we raise our kids, to how we relate to others. It's a wonderful guidebook for those who are concerned about peace, family and the environment. Everyone should read it because we should all be concerned about these things!

I love anything written by Barbara Kingsolver. She has a way with words that is amazing to me.
This is the first nonfiction I've read from her, and I love it. It was a perfect choice for me since I have lately been interested in starting my own garden, and eating locally and organically as often as possible.
Even though I agree with most of what she and her family are saying, she can be a little preachy about how the world is wrong to live the way its been living. However, she makes up for it in many ways. She has great stories about neighbors and friends making the same efforts to live locally that really help me feel better about the Earth. The variety of the heirloom veggies she lists and grows makes me wonder what I've been eating all my life!
There are lots of great links listed throughout the book for more information on her discussions, Steven Hopp's information, and Camille Kingsolver's recipes.
This is a great book. I recommend it to anyone who likes this author or wants to know more about gardening and living healthy and preserving an American way of life.

Very few books make me want to be a better person, even fewer make it seem easy. Kingsolver's engaging writing style was as fresh as her veggies. I've spent the past week identifying the location of everything on my plate and feeling better about the future than I thought possible.

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The book is most informative and an eye opener of our food sources. I would love to follow the Kingsolver/Hopp family's "A Year of Food Life" and maybe I'll be able to at some point. Anyway, the book is wonderful.

I'm amazed that so many negative reviewers claimed that Ms Kingsolver's tone was smug. I did not get that impression at all, nor was I smacked in the face with "wealth". I suppose some people are just looking to be offended, from any and all directions.

Rather, I found her tone refreshing. Her talent as a writer and her passion as a lover of good food, gardening, and the environment came together beautifully to create an entertaining and inspiring read.

I highly recommend it, along with Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food.
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto

This is not only an outline and testament of one family being committed to local food production and consumption, it is a view into the lives of the author and her family. Sidebars from her husband provide more motivation and reason to become a Locavore. Her daughter provides excellent commentary on various parts and stages of the project as well as some excellent recipes that I look forward to trying myself. This book has motivated my wife and I to be more committed to being Locavores. Here in NW North Carolina we also have many local farmers that provide reasonably priced produce, meat, milk and cheeses, and other food items that are organically raised/grown. Thank you Ms. Kingsolver for sharing your experience on becoming a Locavore. My wife and I are more committed to local farmers as a result of your work and we have recommended this book to our family and friends.

i think the book could have gone through one more review period/editing, but for the most part it was full of entertaining stories. i dont want to pick it apart for its redundancies, but sometimes the author got carried away with using certain manners of speech, puns, etc. over and over again. also, there was a random chapter full of recipes that didnt seem to fit in with the rest of the narratives.

i dont know if this book would make my top 10 list for the year, but maybe the new york times looks for qualities that i dont appreciate as much.

I grew up on an Iowa farm in the early 60s so I could relate
to some of the items this author wrote about. Good book.

This book was a veryveryvery good summer read. Mildred Armstrong Kalish recounts her years on an Iowa farm, when times were hard and money was scarce. The joy of hard work on a farm. The descriptions of the food for large family dinners makes your mouth water. The work to make the meal is amazing. I could feel the hot summer nights, reminding me of my own childhood. Filled with stories of a large country family that has grown close out of the Depression, this book is filled with cousins, aunts, uncles, grampas and grammas, the rural community is splendidly interwoven.

I loved this book. The account of life on an Iowa farm in the depression 1930s was both stunning and compelling. It's a way of life unknown to so many people in our country today, yet not far in the past at all. I know only vestiges of it, such as seeing my mother use a wringer washing machine, but mostly from hearing my parents tell about the way they grew up. While reading it, I was torn between wishing I could go back and live in that time and place, and being so very glad I can go to a supermarket and get excellent chicken without having to behead, gut, and singe the feathers off, then cut it all up myself! But the thread running through is the learning of self-sufficiency, pulling together, rising above, the building of good character, all of which is a huge help to one through life's hills and valleys. It's well worth going back to have a look at this way of life and what we've gained and lost.

I loved this book my Mom grew up on a farm and told similar stories.The home remedies are great and creative sometimes. The book makes me yearn for simpler times when fun could be had by tipping over outhouses.