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Aug 19, 2010

Kate rated it:

I do not want to have lunch with Barbara Kingsolver. I do not want to sit across the table from this self-satisfied woman and have her gently scold me for eating imported "world traveler" foods, like bananas. I also do not want to hear any more of her stories about how awesome she and her family are, and how they were able to eat primarily off what they could grow in their backyard, (plenty of fresh vegetables!) or buy from local farmers (who are all personal friends, anyway! Aren't we More...

34 comments like (181 people liked it)

Nov 04, 2007

Lena rated it:

Barbara Kingsolver has long been one of my favorite writers, but this most recent book was a bit of a mixed bag for me. The book covers the year she and her family spent eating only food they had either grown themselves or purchased from local farmers personally known to them. Kingsolver’s skill as a storyteller is undiminished, and there are some wonderful sections as she relates their adventures plotting how to foist some of their bumper zucchini harvest off on unsuspecting neighbors and how More...

18 comments like (49 people liked it)

Jul 26, 2011

Joanna rated it:

Well...normally I am a Kingsolver fan. I like the way she writes--simple and straight forward. Her stories, both long an short are well done. But this book just really pissed me off. It's a non-fiction account of her back to the land movement with her family. The book starts off well and good. She describes their reasoning for leaving Tuscon and moving to a farm they inherited. She talks about the trials and tribulations of trying to live off of what they can either produce themselves through fa More...

4 comments like (33 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Shaina rated it:

This book was one of my big disappointments so far this year, because I went in thinking I'd really like it and wound up so unimpressed that I think I actually hated it. The premise of the book is an interesting one, so interesting that I called my mother on the way back from the bookstore to tell her all about this new book I just picked up that I thought she'd really like! Barbara Kingsolver and her family have decided, for various environmental, political, and health reasons, to eat locally More...

13 comments like (39 people liked it)

Jun 03, 2008

Mary Louise rated it:

I can forgive the obvious shortcommings of this book for three significant reasons: First, I believe wholeheartedly that by purchasing as much locally grown/made food as possible we can solve our fossil fuel dependency. Secondly, by the luck of the draw I can afford to purchase food from the weekly farmer’s market. And finally, our household is committed to making around 95% of our meals from scratch, which started as a response to our collective allergies (nondairy, meat-eaters) but like the Ki More...

10 comments like (26 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Elizabeth rated it:

You have to read this book. Not just because it conveys an important message about the sustainability and environmental impact of our foodways. Not just because its "Year in Provence"-style charm makes Appalachia sound as alluring as the French or Italian countryside (no euros required). But mostly because this is beautiful, tightly-strung writing about food and what it means to nourish ourselves. If you've read a certain amount of writing on food you know, sweet and delicious thoug More...

0 comments like (16 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Jo rated it:

I had a hard time putting this down once I'd started and once I'd finished I wanted to give up NYC life and move to the country to be an organic farmer. I'm hardly joking.

Anyone who eats -- and especially those who eat without thinking about where their food comes from -- should read this book. Not only is it informative and a bit scary (though she doesn't present anything terribly new or earth-shattering to those of us who have read things like Fast Food Nation or Portrait of a Burg More...

4 comments like (16 people liked it)

Jul 08, 2008

Nicole rated it:

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 t More...

2 comments like (17 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Lucinda rated it:

Good Reads is becoming the place I write what I thought what a book was going to be about and then either come back disappointed or pleasantly surprised.

In this case, it's mild disappointment. When I heard about this book and read the review, I thought it would be more like a diary. A multi-person diary about difficulties, triumphs, and oddities of a family living as "locavores" for a year.

Kingsolver and family move to their Virginia farm with the intention of More...

1 comment like (8 people liked it)

May 29, 2008

Miriam rated it:

My favorite cameo of all times from The Simpsons features Ed Begley Jr with a non-polluting car that runs on "[his] own sense of self-satisfaction." As I read this book, I couldn't help remembering that scene. Is Barbara Kingsolver a talented writer? Undoubtedly. Her descriptions of food are wonderful, and she makes her life on the farm sound idyllic, although she is realistic about the work involved. However, throughout it all,the undercurrent of self-satisfaction makes it hard to tak More...

2 comments like (14 people liked it)

Apr 13, 2008

Renee rated it:

I was so excited to finally get my hands on this fantastic story about one family's year long experiment in growing & raising most of their own food. I love reading about people who think differently, act differently and live differently than the norm.

I think the grow your own philosophy of this family is extreme for our culture but I am so attracted to it because it's a life lived with intention and deep conviction. In comparison I found our own family's efforts in supporting ou More...

3 comments like (10 people liked it)

Mar 08, 2008

Alison rated it:

By the way, I accidentally clicked that I "liked" this other person Camille's review. I didn't.

I give this book 5 stars because its cause is very close to my heart. It is an excellent primer for sustainable, local food sourcing: it provides a good overview of the issues (including problems faced by small farms and the many dangers to global food supply and health posed by the industrial food complex) and a plan for gradually incorporating local and sustainable foods in More...

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

Aug 04, 2007

Sharon rated it:

Here’s a double-post from our Costa Rica blog (www.maxandsharon.blogspot.com) for my pals on Goodreads. There’s no better place to be readin this book than in a rural part of a developing country. If you’re not familiar with the book, it’s about a year that her family lived off of only local food (they had to know the person who grew or raised it). So far it seems to be about half about their reasons for doing it (the politics, economics, science of it), and half about the methods (how aspara More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jan 30, 2008

Kate rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

lia rated it:

I like Barbara Kingsolver's fiction, and have been hearing about this book and others about local food movements springing up eveywhere. Essentially her family moves into their farmhouse that had up til then just been a vacation farm, to live a year eating only local food--whether it came from their farm or another 50 miles away. There are sidebars written by her husband(political mostly, discussing how much energy/gas it takes to grow wheat vs how much it takes to buy wheat grown across the cou More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jun 11, 2007

Amy rated it:

It took me awhile to get through this one but it was worth it. Barbara Kingsolver is respected novelist and essayist, but to my knowledge this is her first full-length nonfiction book. She describes her family's first year of moving to a farm in Virginia and trying to grow as much of their own food as possible. They raised their own chickens and turkeys. Anything else that they couldn't grow themselves, they bought from other local farmers.

The idea first seemed extreme even to me, a More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 07, 2008

Tania rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 08, 2008

Jaspreet rated it:

While I was waiting for my plane to take off on Sunday night, I finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. A lot of people were upset that we had such a long delay; however, I was glad to have the extra time to finish my book and postpone meeting the Food Police. I thought that the book finished pretty strong; it read like one of Kingsolver’s novels. I loved the story of the turkey having babies and the image of Kingsolver seeing the new babies with her daughter. A lot of the book is dense and More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 16, 2008

mindi rated it:

still processing my thoughts with this one.

loved most of it, really disliked a few things. the good definitely outweighed the bad, though, so 4 stars, for now. :)
***

okay, coming back to this, a few notes about this book:

i want a copy to own. there was so much good information, good recipes, brilliant ideas that i would love to incorporate over time

(the woman who grew the amazing heirloom tomatoes in her greenhouse during the winter comes t More...

5 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jun 08, 2008

Diana rated it:

Because we are trying to live a fairly green life style this fit right into my mindset. We live in a sustainable home built from tires and earth with a planter that stretches almost 100 ft. along the south facing wall of windows (our house). It just seems right to grow food here. Because of the planter were able to eat summer squash in January and have fresh tomatoes year around. I also started raising chickens this past March. And, when the banana trees mature we won't have to worry about the More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 03, 2007

heather rated it:

This book is no revelation. Kingsolver herself says in the acknowledgments: "Everything we've said here, Wendell [Berry] said first, in a quiet voice that makes the mountains tremble." True that.

That said, I am grateful to Kingsolver for writing a book on food ethics that my mom could read, because it's not a book on food ethics. For anyone who is already passionate about sustainable agriculture, this book will not teach you anything you don't already know. But, it may More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Jan 11, 2008

sylas rated it:

I received this book in the mail as a recommendation from my dear friend Fievel. The kind gesture was much appreciated.

I initially found myself enjoying this book, though I struggled with Kingsolver's assertion that anyone of any income level could participate in her "locavore" (eating local and organic) diet. Putting aside Kingsolver's complete disregard for her privilege, I was intrigued by her tales of gardening and interested in some of her recipes.

Howev More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Oct 24, 2007

Jen rated it:

I have liked Kingsolver's books in the past and I am easily obsessed with sustainable farming/living/eating issues. So, why didn't I love this book? Several reasons:

- Preachy, preachy, preachy. Yowsers, if I wanted to be depressed I'd watch daytime TV, not read a book. It's a lot of doom and gloom, particularly from Kingsolver's husband (uber downer).
- Self-righteous, Party of Four. She and her family spend a lot of time planting seeds, celebrating food, pointing fingers, and More...

2 comments like (10 people liked it)

Jul 24, 2007

Jennb33 rated it:

I really, really like Barbara Kingsolver's novels. Her short stories can be a fun read, but increasingly, she's getting a little preachy with her earth awareness subject matter. I'm not saying the earth as a whole shouldn't be brought to the forefront, it's terribly important that it be sustained so that the rest of us can continue to survive and thrive. I do love the idea of sustainable gardening and living, and that's about all I can do. I'm a working mother with a household, a husband, and pe More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 22, 2007

Kerry rated it:

I really enjoyed Barbara Kingsolver's account of how her family tried to reduce their carbon footprint by eating locally for a year. It definitely raises some good questions about food choices that we make and their impact. We might not be sacrificing price, but what about taste and the environment. You be the judge. I am a huge fan of farmer's markets, so I applaud her reverence for people who work the land. I love the recipes and contributions from her daughter. Camille's down-to-earth se More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 18, 2011

Naomi rated it:

My true GR rating: 0/5 stars

To call this book a trifling piece of trash is, in my opinion, giving it too much credit. This book could have been excellent given the premise of the book. Instead what we get is the author, her husband and her daughter, bloviating at how much America and Americans suck..how Europe is so much better..and the list goes on. Just your typical "leftist" book...She could not even look out for other research to support her "claims"! Instead, More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 03, 2009

Sarah C. rated it:

Dear Barbara Kingsolver,

I'm very sorry, but I'm abandoning my attempt to read your book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which chronicles the year your family spent living on your farm in Virginia attempting to eat only local, sustainable food.

I adore your novels. And I loved Fast Food Nation and The Omnivore's Dilemma. They even made me stop eating fast food, buy organic when I can, and give up most meat.

I wanted to love your book. I settled in as you scolded me More...

2 comments like (17 people liked it)

Jan 15, 2011

Francine rated it:

In a world where going green is the way to go, I found this book both frightening and enlightening. First things first: I know myself well enough to know that while I applaud Barbara Kingsolver's family's attempt to live only on food they grew and raised, I know that I'm not going to do that. (I can't raise any animal without naming it, let alone killing it for food!) While I want to live healthily and as environmentally responsible as possible, it's not completely for me. I enjoyed her fami More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 14, 2007

Tatiana rated it:

This book is good, in spite of it's lower rating. It loses two stars for two and a half things:

1) It is a little slow. Kingsolver is one of the best living writers of fiction, so she has a high standard that she can't quite live up to in this book. My theory is that she is too involved in it. The same talent that allows her to write amazing pieces of fiction detract from her nonfiction in that she just knows too much detail and feels too passionately about what she is talking abo More...

2 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jan 21, 2008

Valerie rated it:

I finally finished this book. I only say that because my brother reviewed it, and said it was "easy, fast reading". I beg to differ... I had checked it out from the library, and as I made my way laboriously through the pages, I found not one, but two different little scraps used as bookmarks, and I'm assuming they were left by the two readers before me, marking the pages where they gave up.

Then why did I give this book four stars? Because I think the information it imparts More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

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