Barbara Kingsolver

I didn't know Barbara Kingsolver had Hero potential.

I associated her with her novels, The Bean Trees, and The Poisonwood Bible.  I think I've read both of these - though honestly I'm not a huge fiction reader, and I don't remember them.

[My mother will laugh - I spent most of my childhood immersed in fiction.  She was a librarian, and STILL had trouble keeping me in books.  But I think much of that had to do with needing to distract myself from problems that I didn't yet have the power to address.]

Since I've been grown up, I have tried to do, rather than read about it, and this means very little fiction.  However, I heard about Animal, Vegetable, Mineral from a friend (thanks Trisha!) and Mom and I picked it up when I was in Tally.  I took it home.

It's wonderful.  Right up my alley - full of arcane statistics of how bad the normal food delivery process is, with Kingsolver's writerly talents dangling the luscious alternatives - your own produce, your neighbor's animals, learning to make cheese (!) - terrific recipes for seasonal meals, tidbits of food history, tips on how to grow them better...I frequently wish I'd had some alternate anachronistic upbringing, one where I could have learned at the elbow of an elder relative some system of making all the domestic acts work.  Kingsolver calls this CULTURE, and her book is a close substitute.  Thank you for writing it, Barbara (and Camille, and Steven).

(I also want to read Plenty, about the same zeitgeist, Eat Local.

Comments

[Gina]

I just ordered Kingslover's book (I love her and I am not much of a fiction reader anymore either) and I am looking forward to reading it. I read Plenty a few weeks ago. I love all of the extra facts and figures the authors put in the book. After reading it, I felt like my convictions to local eating were renewed.