About this title: In her first full-length nonfiction narrative, bestselling author Kingsolver opens readers' eyes in a hundred new ways to an old truth: you are what you eat. The bestselling author returns with a wise and compelling celebration of family, food, nature, and community.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Date Published: 03/04/2008
ISBN-13:9780571233571ISBN:0571233570
Description: Used-Good. Book in good or better condition. Dispatched same day from warehouse. Please email with any questions for quick response. read more
Description: Houser, Richard A. New. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 370 p. Contains: Illustrations. P.S. (Paperback). Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Very good. 2008 Harper Perennial Press Reprint Softcover(Trade PB) Edition. Slight wear to cover, text clean with strong binding. Ships Fast! read more
Description: Good. Used copy-Because of our high volume, we can not accurately describe each book, so we list the MINIMUM condition you can expect; most are better than the condition listed. read more
Binding: Red and White Hardcover
Publisher: HarperCollins, New York
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780060852559ISBN:0060852550
Description: Like New in Almost Like New jacket. 6.5x9.5. BOT 026222 Solid and clean like new hard cover with likewise nice dust jacket. 370pp. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780060852566ISBN:0060852569
Description: New. Items ship once payments have cleared. Media mail 5-8 days Priority 2-3 days and international orders may be subject to customs clearance procedures which can cause delays. Seasonal delays can occur in postal system. All items ship within 24 hours of receiving payment. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780060852566ISBN:0060852569
Description: Houser, Richard A. New. No dust jacket as issued. Excellent condition. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 370 p. Contains: Illustrations. P.S. (Paperback). Audience: General/trade. read more
"Kingsolver never disappoints and this book has an element of the sacred to it. This book is for anyone who cares about good story telling, food, family, animals, and the fate of our world. Who is this not for?"
"This book would be good to use in a environmental class because of the issues they address. This book brought back memories of my childhood of when we had a garden and canned some of our vegetables. This is very useful for anyone who is interested in the environment and looking to make changes."
"I really enjoyed this book, and this is coming from someone who usually avoids non fiction. It helps that I'm already a fan of the author's - her writing style is so engaging, filled with a mixture of creative flourishes, insightful observations and a down-to-earth sense of humor.
This book was truly inspiring. I've never given much though to the food I eat, or where it comes from. I'm basically the very person that Kingsolver constantly rails against in this book - a consumer of fast food and lots of corn syrup, who hasn't a clue which fruits and vegetables actually belong to which season.
But after reading this book, I find myself thinking about my food every time I open my mouth to take a bite. I've decided to try and buy locally grown produce wherever possible (which, admittedly is easy in Southern California, compared to other states). I've decided to pay the extra few cents to buy organic products. I've also been making an effort to cook more - something I never had a desire to do before. But the way Kingsolver talks about how satisfying it is to create a meal, to reconnect with nourishing our bodies, and to appreciate food as that which sustains us...it really opened my eyes.
That's not to say I'm going to give up drinking Dr.Pepper, or stop eating fast food. I may be inspired, but I'll admit I'm not that willing to change everything I do (at least not right away). But I do believe that by changing some of my buying and eating habits (and hopefully my husband's), that we will be happier and healthier in the long run, as well as supporting the hardworking people who grow our food.
As for the book itself, it was a thoroughly entertaining read. I enjoyed the chapters that focused more on family life and lessons learned along the way (cheesemaking, turkey-mating, gardening), but my eyes tended to glaze over a bit on the chapters that were more like angry essays on corporations and mass-food-production. I also was hoping to learn more about the struggles of living a life of a "locavore", but I realized that this family already had a lot of farming and animal husbandry knowledge, so that took away some of the mystique. I guess I was secretly hoping for more farmyard shenanigans and winter struggles!
At times Kingsolver's tone struck me as a little elitist and holier-than-thou. After all, we aren't all so fortunate as to own a large plot of farmland and the time to tend to it. I understand the points she was trying to make, but some of her rants felt rather hostile toward the "common person" who commits various culinary sins. And being a "common person", that included me.
After all, I was here to learn and I felt like I was being criticized harshly in the process! But maybe that's the reason why the book made such an impact on me.
That aside, it was an entertaining book and I would recommend it to the "common person"."
"I have to admit that I have a real love/hate relationship with this book.
On one hand, when the author sticks to the actual practicalities and stories of what it took to live on local food only for a year such as the hilarity of turkey sex, the pets vs food dilemma or the aggravation that a zucchini crop can cause, it is a thoroughly enjoyable read. On the other hand, when she goes the route of moralizing and fear mongering about the environment and public health, and stoops to the typical "America sucks compared to the rest of the world" it gets maddeningly obnoxious (especially the part about the evils of Halloween and Fourth of July - come on lady, lighten the hell up!). I kept alternating between being riveted and wanting to toss the book against the wall.
I can't help but think that Kingsolver, her husband and daughter present a very incomplete and one sided picture of American farming. I suspect that the truth is somewhat more complicated than Evil Capitalist Overlord Farm Corporations vs. Saintly Environmentalist Local Organic Farmers. It becomes very obvious right from the beginning that she's got an extremely narrow focus for her arguments and doesn't quite understand how economies work and how and politics and public policy have shaped where people live and what foods are accessible to them beyond the typical liberal "you're being hoodwinked by those nasty CFOs."
It doesn't seem to occur to her that not everyone wants to be a farmer, grow their own food or make meals from scratch. Both of my grandmothers grew up on farms and could tell you at length about how much being a farmer, baking your own bread and living on only "local food" can completely suck. And while claims that she's not an elitist, smug self-satisfaction creeps into passages all over the book.
Her assertion that low income families can afford to shop at farmer's markets is equally boggling. I went to my local farmer's market last weekend and discovered that local organic ground beef costs about seven bucks a pound and that the organic, free range, local chicken runs between twice and four times as expensive as it does in the local supermarket.
Finally, her argument that America doesn't have any real food culture of it's own made me almost sprain my eyeballs from rolling them so much. It apparently escapes her that 1) America as a country is extremely young in comparison to most European, Asian and South American countries and therefore wouldn't have as ingrained of a tradition and 2) the reason that most of the traditions we have are imported from other countries because, hello, we're mostly a nation of immigrants and their descendants. She takes a trip to Canada and gushes about the local French food culture - as though she couldn't find the similar of thing in any major city in the States and as though French cuisine isn't imported to Canada too.
Not that she doesn't make interesting and legitimate points; the part about biodiversity among crops and livestock as well as the the havoc farm subsidies have caused are two of the best points that she makes. And I will give her this - although I don't agree with a lot of what she argues, she has given me a lot of things to think about and I will probably put a lot more thought into what I buy to feed myself and my family. But she seriously needs to dial back on the smugness, guilt and fear mongering, and focus more on the fascinating daily life of what it means to grow and eat locally because she'd win more converts that way."
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