High Tide In Tucson: Essays From Now Or Never

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High Tide In Tucson: Essays From Now Or Never

3.98 of 5 stars 3.98 · rating details · 6,555 ratings · 360 reviews

"There is no one quite like Barbara Kingsolver in contemporary literature," raves the Washington Post Book World, and it is right. She has been nominated three times for the ABBY award, and her critically acclaimed writings consistently enjoy spectacular commercial success as they entertain and touch her legions of loyal fans. In "High Tide in Tucson", she returns to her f...more

Paperback, 273 pages

Published 1996 by Faber and Faber (first published 1995)

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Jan 05, 2009 Zinta rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In this collection of essays, rewritten and expanded versions, in many cases, from what has been previously published in various magazines, Kingsolver's skill and talent as an essayist shimmers with brilliance and sheer entertainment.

Topics have wide range, covering nature, art, values and ethics, human nature and its foibles, politics and travels. Whether she is pondering the biological clocks of hermit crabs or espousing her views on violence and objectification of women on the silver screen,...more In this collection of essays, rewritten and expanded versions, in many cases, from what has been previously published in various magazines, Kingsolver's skill and talent as an essayist shimmers with brilliance and sheer entertainment.

Topics have wide range, covering nature, art, values and ethics, human nature and its foibles, politics and travels. Whether she is pondering the biological clocks of hermit crabs or espousing her views on violence and objectification of women on the silver screen, or taking the reader along on the harsh realities of a not so glamorous book tour, her language is lush and poetic, flowing and vibrant, clever and memorable. I have been quoting her words to anyone who will listen, and thinking back to it as a kind of measuring stick for my personal observations.

So what moved you to begin such a boycott of violence in movies? a friend asked me. We had been talking about popular contemporary movies, and why I had made sometimes surprising choices. While my inclination had been moving in that direction for some time now, it was Kingsolver's essay, "Careful What You Let In the Door," that had pushed me into a conscious awareness of how my viewing choices affected every other part of my life, the daily and seemingly miniscule choices I make. The results of such choices have been almost immediately apparent to me. The desensitization I had experienced toward atrocities in the news, to the daily disrespect I witness in various human interactions and my regretful tolerance of it, was lifting. Newly aware, I have been surfacing as if from a deep and dumb sleep.

Kingsolver writes about her literary profession that writers may not write with politics in mind, yet "good art is political." As is hers. Words can and should move us, good art should change us, and a good writer is a person who wields a pen more powerful than any sword.

In this particular essay, Kingsolver explores the function of violence in art (or media in general), visual or literary. Too often, she notes, such violence is perpetrated against women. "It turns out," writes Kingsolver about an inadvertant movie choice, "I'd rented the convincing illusion of helpless, attractive women being jeopardized, tortured, or dead, for no good reason I could think of after it was over." Pondering this, she concludes that violence in movies or video games (or various other formats) too often appears merely for its sensationalist effect, while in literature a writer has the ability to expand upon a violent scene to fully show its consequences. Because violence always has consequences. It is the absence of those consequences in our daily media diet, separate from the realm of reality, that has led to a society that hardly blinks at its constant appearance upon the screens of our minds. All of which, she argues, with time turns us into hardened and numb creatures, willing to not only view violence, but to tolerate it, potentially even to participate in it.

So an essay moves us to change our viewing habits. Art creates positive change. But Kingsolver can just as easily write an essay that makes us laugh, as in her story of joining a literary rock band, allowing herself to look the fool for our entertainment.

In "Somebody's Baby," her message takes on a ponderous seriousness in considering how little we care for our youngest generations, even while we claim to be a family oriented society. Her call to us is to consider that it is not just the parent's job to care for the child, but it is the obligation of the the entire nation, to care for and nurture our young. We are, she writes, raising Presidents-in-training, yet our attitude is "every family for itself."

What I love about Kingsolver's essays is that they are beautifully written, literary works of art. Yet each and every one carries a deeper meaning, a message, a call to arms, even those written with the relish of humor. It is art with consequence. (less)

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Jun 18, 2007 noisy penguin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I stole this from my mother-in-law about a year ago. Now I can finally give it back, but it's one of those that I liked so much that I'd rather just keep it. I haven't read anything by Kingsolver before so I have no idea how this compares to her other work, but it's a collection of shortish essays. Some are pretty funny, most are poignant, and all made me long for her writer's life. Time to get on that.

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Mar 28, 2007 Tracy Rhodes rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

This is the first of Kingsolver's books that I read, and it's still my favorite, albeit that it's a collection of non-fiction essays. Maybe part of the reason is that I was also living in Tucson when I read it, so the things she had to say about life in that part of Arizona resonated with me. Beyond that, though, I just love the way she uses words - she writes lyrically.

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Jan 27, 2008 Hilda rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. Like "Small Wonder" it was a book of essays, but less militantly environmental.

My favorite of the essays was "Jabberwocky" where she discusses art as politics. AS in her other books her use of language is phenomenal and the bok provided excellent thoughts and quotes.

I would definitely recommend this book.

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Jan 01, 2010 Kathleen Dixon rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Kathleen by: Reading Seals

I read Prodigal Summer (last year, I think it was) and enjoyed it enormously. I really like the way Kingsolver uses words. So when another of her books was on offer (through Reading Seals, my book discussion group, just to borrow) I grabbed it. This book is a collection of essays. She took pieces she’d written for magazines and revised them, wrote a few more, and put them together in chapters ordered to be read as a book (i.e. front to back – acknowledging that some people don’t read books that...more

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Oct 28, 2007 Lisa Z rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read this collection of essays years ago, and remember how thought provoking I found them. Barbara Kingsolver is, of course an excellent writer; her fiction is beautiful. The great thing about High Tide in Tuscon is actually getting a glimpse of what's inside this writer's head - the everyday things as well as the grand. It's a pretty well rounded combination of essays that come across simply as "this is what I think now" or "this is what I've been thinking about lately" - in Kingsolver's voic...more

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Jul 20, 2007 Nicole rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

This was the my first introduction to non-fiction essay reading and it's been a tough comparison for all subsequent books since then. I have always loved Kingsolver's fiction, feeling like she was able to express character and imagery in such a way that I could actually hear, see, smell, touch, and taste it. This collection of essays was that exact same experience of being present with her in the moment. It probably helps that her idealogies resonant so well with my own - she can just express it...more

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Jun 22, 2008 Oceana2602 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone with a brain, everyone who is interested in the US

Shelves: 2008, women-writers, essays, english

I try not to do this often, but in this case, the New York Times Book Review review on the back of my paperback edition, really says everything about these 25 essays by Barbara Kingsolver that you need to know:

Kingsolver's essays should be savored like quiet afternoons with a friend. ...She speaks in a language rich with music and replete with good sense."

Couldn't have said it better myself.

An enormously honest and personal collection of essays. If you like any of Kingsolver's books, I'm sure yo...more

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Jul 13, 2007 David rated it 5 of 5 stars

It's been a while since I read these essays, and it's time for me to read them again. I remember, when I first read this book, it was on a horrible trip back to Cork, from San Francisco. My father was in hospital, having suffered some kind of major neurological setback, one of many on the long decline to his death in late 2002. Things were fairly touch and go, and there was a lot of waiting in hospital corridors. I was enormously grateful for the sanity and calm of Kingsolver's writing - this bo...more

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Jan 29, 2009 Rhonda rated it 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book, especially as I wanted a quick introduction to Kingsolver. Her observations about nature and the desert are lovely and picturesque. Her parallels to human existence are, if nothing else, thought provoking and interesting.

However, she seems somewhat out of touch with reality of a sort; in her visit to the retired Titan ICBM silo, she goes off on its ugliness, the questionably quick way in which it was constructed and the danger it presented to the citizens of Tucson should o...more I enjoyed this book, especially as I wanted a quick introduction to Kingsolver. Her observations about nature and the desert are lovely and picturesque. Her parallels to human existence are, if nothing else, thought provoking and interesting.

However, she seems somewhat out of touch with reality of a sort; in her visit to the retired Titan ICBM silo, she goes off on its ugliness, the questionably quick way in which it was constructed and the danger it presented to the citizens of Tucson should one have exploded as it was heading towards its intended target. To all of this, I say "Applesauce!"

It would be nice to live in a pleasant herbal- fed utopian society where everyone could just work and love one another, but I think the idea of a commune died out a while back. While I enjoy her writing, the overwhelmingly leftist slant of her writing is extremely irritating. I don’t mind celebrating the infinite power of women, but please give some of it a rest: another gender has more than a basic right to life here!

I also found myself disagreeing with her concerning crying children on airplanes: try and realize that there are some others who are there on a nurture expedition. You owe it to the rest of us to take care of the little darlings as best you can. If you really need our help, in an emergency, you can bet we will be there. Kingsolver emotionally confuses normalcy with special considerations and airplane travel is already bad enough.

Lastly speaking of how she believes in community values teaching children, I would agree with her except for one thing: the community values your kids learn end up coming from the lowest level of society these days. The people who pay for the cost of taking care and educating your kids are pretty much powerless in establishing anything which we might think is reasonable any longer. Hence, for the first time, I really do understand when someone without kids says he or she doesn’t want to contribute with his or her taxes: public education has gone the way of all flesh.
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Dec 22, 2012 Paula rated it 5 of 5 stars

I am a huge fan of much (not all) of Barbara Kingsolver's fiction. Very happy to have found this book of wonderful and thought-provoking essays on a broad variety of topics.

She ponders the way in which we all have a vested interest in the upbringing of children, which our American culture leaves solely in the hands of individual parents:

The way we treat chldren, ALL of them, not just our own, and especially those in great need--defines the shape of the world we'll wake up in tomorrow.

She find...more

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Oct 21, 2012 Katie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Barbara Kingsolver was one of a few novelists I fell head-over-heels in love with as a pre-teen; that is, an AUTHOR I vowed to follow, instead of a book or series. At this point it feels, as I'm sure it does for many of her fans, like I know her. That's part of her appeal, of course, and she cultivates her personability well and visibly. In coming to this collection of essays, released almost twenty years ago, I see her writer-wheels turning more visibly than ever. (Essays are really good for th...more Barbara Kingsolver was one of a few novelists I fell head-over-heels in love with as a pre-teen; that is, an AUTHOR I vowed to follow, instead of a book or series. At this point it feels, as I'm sure it does for many of her fans, like I know her. That's part of her appeal, of course, and she cultivates her personability well and visibly. In coming to this collection of essays, released almost twenty years ago, I see her writer-wheels turning more visibly than ever. (Essays are really good for this. Clear all the wondering you may do about an author's message or intent in a novel right up.) Frankly, BK's relentlessly folksy charm occasionally grates. I wasn't raised in the South, so my tolerance for phrases like "I had no earthly notion" is probably lower than some, and feels contrived sooner than it actually is. But the fact remains that Kingsolver's unfiltered (By the imaginary world of a novel, I mean) voice is not the one I prefer. THAT SAID, there are a few essays in this book that do nothing short of sing. My favorites are her treatises on parenting, because I am a temporary parent these days. "Somebody's Baby" is my favorite so far, about the Kingsolver's all living in the Canary Islands for a year, and realizing what it means to live in a place that, as a social, political, and economical rule, likes kids. Turns out, if you were not aware, the United States DOES NOT. In any of those ways. "Civil Disobedience at Breakfast" is another favorite, about the misnomer of "Terrible" Twos. (One of my right-now kids is two and a Selective-Listening, Tantrum-Throwing half.) And of course, I appreciate that any BK writing is going to mention something about the primate version of human habits, and something about women, and some great one-line response for morons at social gatherings going on about Creationism in schools, higher taxes for education, or sociobiology telling us that it is human NATURE for men to work outside the home and for ladies to evolve with a Cuisinart at the end of their arms. (less)

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Oct 20, 2010 Jillian rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I know I have raved about Barbara Kingsolver so many times before but this collection of her essays has firmly cemented my reasons for raving about her and why I will always pick up and read anything she has written.

This was the first collection of essays I have read by an author. I have never been one for short stories or essays but after reading all her fiction and her Animal, Vegetable, Miracle book, I felt I should give it a go. I was not disappointed at all.

High Tide is a collection of pie...more

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Apr 12, 2011 Michelle Cristiani rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoirs

You know how when you have a really great dessert, sometimes you have to stop between bites to just swirl the taste around in your mouth? No joke; that's what Barbara Kingsolver's writing is like. Sometimes I would put the book down and repeat, out loud, one of her sentences. She's a master at throwing words together. So good, that I sometimes felt I couldn't digest all the beauty on the page.

Despite the unparalleled writing - "Civil Disobedience at Breakfast" is the best piece on having childre...more

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Apr 05, 2012 Erin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult, non-fiction

Well--I accidentally deleted the meditative and in-depth review that I finished just a moment ago.

Suffice it to say that I wish Barbara Kingsolver lived down the street from me, and that I could invite myself over to her house for tea at least a couple of times a week. She is the kind of woman that I want as a mentor--in writing and in life. Her personality comes through in these essays, both humble and spunky; she doesn't claim to have all the answers, but she isn't afraid to share her opinions...more

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Dec 16, 2007 Michelle rated it 5 of 5 stars

From the title essay: Embrace your own biology. Don't beat yourself up for acting like the human animal that you are.
The rest of the essays: I laughed out loud more times than I can say, and I felt more connected to humanity as I read them. This is a book I go back to and re-read over and over because of that. I don't always agree with everything she says, but the essays always make me think and evaluate my own beliefs, biases, prejudices, actions.

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Jul 06, 2007 Mollie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I liked Kingsolver's fiction so much that I decided to venture into her nonfiction, too, and have been hooked on the personal essay ever since. Here's a collection of essays that are rooted in observation of the everyday life around her that explore topics sometimes at broader levels (as in cultural, societal, and political traits across the country) and sometimes at more specific, detailed levels (as in the essays that go back to her roots in biology).

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Feb 13, 2008 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

Excellent, excellent book of essays. Ranging from detailed observations of hermit crab behavior, conservation, politics, writing, family, and more. Barbara is a very well educated scientist and writer, and brings insightful observations to both. She's also very well-read, and researches her points thoroughly. I really enjoyed re-reading this book, and would recommend it to everyone.

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Nov 10, 2010 Suzanne Kittrell rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Well, I love this author to begin with and she writes this collection of essays with such insight, humor and, surprisingly to me, scientific details. One of her majors in college was biology, as well as classical piano and literature. Observations about family and America and how to live with humor and grace roll out of her mind and onto the page. The best thing is you don't have to read every one of the essays if you happen not to like or agree with the topic. But her writing is the best. She a...more

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Mar 12, 2011 Addie Capaldi rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was my first Barbara Kingsolver book ever and it isn't really an understatement to say that it changed my life. My mom got it for me when I was home sick in 200...1, I think. Before reading this book I had confined myself to books that I had read a thousand times before in the same narrow genre (cough, sixth grade reading level horse books, cough). After this I read everything I could get my hands on by Kingsolver and then other contemporary authors I had never known existed. I loved readin...more

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Sep 18, 2011 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

(Reviewer's Note: If I ever finish a book of Kingsolver's where I'm not weeping or proclaiming "Amen!" or both, please call the authorities. That's when I need to be hospitalized.)

I picked up this copy of "High Tide" while in Carlsbad's library book sale at the Georgina Cole branch. The books and magazines for sale are kept opposite the courtyard and next to new books and magazines, on a set of shelves under the wall. You select books and magazines you wish to purchase and place the dues in a bo...more (Reviewer's Note: If I ever finish a book of Kingsolver's where I'm not weeping or proclaiming "Amen!" or both, please call the authorities. That's when I need to be hospitalized.)

I picked up this copy of "High Tide" while in Carlsbad's library book sale at the Georgina Cole branch. The books and magazines for sale are kept opposite the courtyard and next to new books and magazines, on a set of shelves under the wall. You select books and magazines you wish to purchase and place the dues in a box, based on the price that is affixed with a yellow sticker to the cover. I picked up this book for a dollar and Louis Erdrich's "The Painted Drum" for fifty cents, and, partly because I didn't have change and partly because I wanted to add to the kitty, paid two dollars to the box. I wouldn't have purchased any books (or looked for any, for that matter) if my sister-in-love hadn't stated she was going to just take a few minutes with the magazines, her reading of choice. I opened my heart, assuming that chances were slim that I would find anything good in the books, and begin the methodical joy that is combing through spines.

It always shocks me, finishing a Kingsolver book, that I don't sit down with her collected works and finally knock them all out, once and for all. The reasoning could fall under any number of lame excuses--what if she disappoints me, what if one isn't as good as the other, what if I get tired of her voice...but my favorite, the one I'm sticking with out of sheer love, is the same reason I haven't read all of the Tales of the City series: I NEVER WANT THEM TO END. If I don't sit down, with an "In" stack on one side and an "Out" stack on the other, then Kingsolver is forever fresh, forever available, and forever reacting to things I would have never thought possible. These essays are no exception. As a high-schooler I was guilty of yellow-ribboning the world in support of an armed services member I was writing to during the first Gulf War, and the ecological pieces sometimes make me feel like I'm killing the world by consuming four individually-wrapped Dove dark chocolates, but that's the mark of an effective writer. And I love her for disagreeing with her just as much as for my agreements with her.

I'd love to tell you of my favorite piece from this book of essays, but that would be like picking my favorite book from those I've read in my life--must...reread...to...be...accurate...NOPE. Not going to bite. There were slivers of this book that I loved in every chapter, even when the biological terminology made my eyes cross. But of the incidents in her world, my favorite was her husband's miracle. No spoilers, but let's just say that Mother Nature is a very effective iPod. Thanks, BK.(less)

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Aug 18, 2012 Amy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir, north-america, non-fiction

I don't give many 5 stars but this book was really great. Barbara Kinsolver put together a bunch of her essays from various magazine and paper publications to create a book in which one really feels connected to the author. Kingsolver is known for her fiction works and she even discusses how many of her fans write to her thinking that they are based on truths even though they aren't. What this book allows for those fans is a real glimpse into her life and her thoughts on things from raising a he...more

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Feb 22, 2008 Jacqui Lafrance rated it 4 of 5 stars

What a great title. I love her voice and her sensibilities and her musings. Her fiction titles are good but not as enjoyable, somehow, as her essays. ( the something-wood Diaries about a missionary family and Prodigal Summer)

Collection of essays

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Aug 31, 2007 Melanie rated it 3 of 5 stars

i was living in tucson when i discovered barbara kingsolver. in truth, while i enjoyed the bean trees (and animal dreams even more), it's her nonfiction writing that i remember most. she is a comforting writer, and now a touchstone to that time in my life.

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Jan 06, 2013 Jackie Saindon rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read this many years ago, but lost touch with it until I wanted to reread "Confessions of a Reluctant Rock Goddess". I couldn't remember which book of essays it was in, but thankfully a friend had it, scanned it and sent it to me. She had been asked to join with other writers for a rock concert at the American Booksellers national convention (included were Riddley Pearson, Dave Barry, Any Tan, and Steven King among others). This first concert was followed by a national tour. This essay writes...more

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Dec 22, 2008 Kate rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

These essays were mostly written in the early 90s and more than a few deal with aspects of the First Gulf War and our country's response to it. They are strikingly timely today as we flounder our way through our return to Iraq.

But lest you think it's a "political" book, there are lots of fabulous essays on things like go-go boots, hermit crabs, and an incredible museum of Native American culture.

Barbara Kingsolver is one of my favorite authors and I think I like her non-fiction even more than he...more

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Apr 18, 2010 Cindee rated it 3 of 5 stars

I really shouldn't read essays. I love the way this lady writes. 8 years later, I can still hear the tap dancing of the javelinas on the air ducts. (the story of building her home in AZ amidst the wildlife is wonderful) Unfortunately, I DON'T agree with her political opinions and solutions, both of which she spewed freely throughout the book (OK, just one essay but that was enough for me). I can't fault her for expressing them- this IS a book of essays, after all. But the problem is... they put...more

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Aug 30, 2007 cat rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: look-ma-im-savin-the-world, happy-happy-joy-joy, top-twenty-of-all-time

she's just a genius with nature and wildlife descriptions and taking corollaries from the natural world and applying them to human thought and behavior. and she's really funny!

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Aug 17, 2007 Becca Stroebel rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Barbara Kingsolver fans.

Shelves: non-fiction

Barbara Kingsolver could write about a doorknob and it would be interesting. This delightful collection of essays is a celebration of place, people, things, and the world.

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Mar 04, 2008 tanya rated it 5 of 5 stars

Who knew that such a beautiful author of fiction was also super smart and insightful when writing essays? I guess I did, but I can never quite believe how amazing Kingsolver is.

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About Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Kingsolver is an American novelist, essayist, and poet. She was raised in rural Kentucky and lived briefly in Africa in her early childhood. Kingsolver earned degrees in Biology at DePauw University and the University of Arizona and worked as a freelance writer before she began writing novels. Her most famous works include The Poisonwood Bible, the tale of a missionary family in the Congo,...more Barbara Kingsolver is an American novelist, essayist, and poet. She was raised in rural Kentucky and lived briefly in Africa in her early childhood. Kingsolver earned degrees in Biology at DePauw University and the University of Arizona and worked as a freelance writer before she began writing novels. Her most famous works include The Poisonwood Bible, the tale of a missionary family in the Congo, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, a non-fiction account of her family's attempts to eat locally.

Her work often focuses on topics such as social justice, biodiversity, and the interaction between humans and their communities and environments. Each of her books published since 1993 have been on The New York Times Best Seller list. Kingsolver has received numerous awards, including the UK's Orange Prize for Fiction 2010, for The Lacuna and the National Humanities Medal. She has been nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Pulitzer Prize.

In 2000, Kingsolver established the Bellwether Prize to support "literature of social change."

Kingsolver was born in Annapolis, Maryland in 1955 and grew up in Carlisle in rural Kentucky. When Kingsolver was seven years old, her father, a physician, took the family to the former Republic of Congo in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Her parents worked in a public health capacity, and the family lived without electricity or running water.

After graduating from high school, Kingsolver attended DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana on a music scholarship, studying classical piano. Eventually, however, she changed her major to biology when she realized that "classical pianists compete for six job openings a year, and the rest of [them:] get to play 'Blue Moon' in a hotel lobby." She was involved in activism on her campus, and took part in protests against the Vietnam war. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1977, and moved to France for a year before settling in Tucson, Arizona, where she would live for much of the next two decades. In 1980 she enrolled in graduate school at the University of Arizona, where she earned a Master's degree in ecology and evolutionary biology.

Kingsolver began her full-time writing career in the mid 1980s as a science writer for the university, which eventually lead to some freelance feature writing. She began her career in fiction writing after winning a short story contest in a local Phoenix newspaper. In 1985 she married Joseph Hoffmann; their daughter Camille was born in 1987. She moved with her daughter to Tenerife in the Canary Islands for a year during the first Gulf war, mostly due to frustration over America's military involvement. After returning to the US in 1992, she separated from her husband.

In 1994, Kingsolver was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from her alma mater, DePauw University. She was also married to Steven Hopp, that year, and their daughter, Lily, was born in 1996. In 2004, Kingsolver moved with her family to a farm in Washington County, Virginia, where they currently reside. In 2008, she received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Duke University, where she delivered a commencement address entitled "How to be Hopeful".

In a 2010 interview with The Guardian, Kingsolver says, "I never wanted to be famous, and still don't, [...:] the universe rewarded me with what I dreaded most." She says created her own website just to compete with a plethora of fake ones, "as a defence to protect my family from misinformation. Wikipedia abhors a vacuum. If you don't define yourself, it will get done for you in colourful ways."(less)

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“In my own worst seasons I've come back from the colorless world of despair by forcing myself to look hard, for a long time, at a single glorious thing: a flame of red geranium outside my bedroom window. And then another: my daughter in a yellow dress. And another: the perfect outline of a full, dark sphere behind the crescent moon. Until I learned to be in love with my life again. Like a stroke victim retraining new parts of the brain to grasp lost skills, I have taught myself joy, over and over again(15).” — 51 people liked it

“Every one of us is called upon, perhaps many times, to start a new life. A frightening diagnosis, a marriage, a move, loss of a job...And onward full-tilt we go, pitched and wrecked and absurdly resolute, driven in spite of everything to make good on a new shore. To be hopeful, to embrace one possibility after another--that is surely the basic instinct...Crying out: High tide! Time to move out into the glorious debris. Time to take this life for what it is.” — 47 people liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14256.High_Tide_In_Tucson?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1349029586l/14256.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14256.High_Tide_In_Tucson?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]High Tide In Tucson: Essays From Now Or Never by Barbara Kingsolver[/url]

High Tide In Tucson: Essays From Now Or Never

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