Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life in Around the World in 80 Books

Jul 23, 2008 Sera rated it really liked it

Shelves: own, non-fiction

Wow! Where to begin...

This book offers so much to the reader, from explaining the farming cycle for all the foods that we eat to providing an understanding on why local foods are important to our health, environment and economy, and so much more.

I really enjoyed this book and I can't believe how much I was able to learn about food through its pages. It's interesting because I think that I always understood the food paradigm in our nation, but Kingsolver put it together in such a clear and concis ...more

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Jun 13, 2010 Telly rated it it was ok

Maybe I love her too much because of "The Poisonwood Bible," or maybe I love her too much because she's a Kentuckian, but for some reason, like a parent who sees a child acting up, I couldn't tolerate her behavior in this book. Kingsolver comes off as pompous and overly judgmental here, something that is soooooooooooo not Kingsolver in her previous writing. In fact, I quit reading the book because of this sentence:

"[My daughter:] has actually watched eggs exiting the hens' oviducts -- a sight f Maybe I love her too much because of "The Poisonwood Bible," or maybe I love her too much because she's a Kentuckian, but for some reason, like a parent who sees a child acting up, I couldn't tolerate her behavior in this book. Kingsolver comes off as pompous and overly judgmental here, something that is soooooooooooo not Kingsolver in her previous writing. In fact, I quit reading the book because of this sentence:

"[My daughter:] has actually watched eggs exiting the hens' oviducts -- a sight few people on earth have yet checked off their to-do lists, I imagine."

Yes, perhaps it's not on their "to-do list" because most people in the world, according to Global Issues, are living off of less than $10 per day. Even still, Kingsolver, who is five years older than my dad, who also grew up in rural Kentucky, shouldn't be so judgmental. My dad grew up with an outhouse and on farm and has seen a chicken lay an egg. Even I, who grew up with a toilet in my house, albeit a log cabin, in the 1980s (born in 1974), has seen a chicken lay an egg.

This, to me, was too much and beyond pompous insulting. I hate to tell you, Barbara, especially after the wonderful tale you spun in "The Poisonwood Bible," that it is actually quite likely most people in the world, including the Americas, especially if they are your age or older, have seen a chicken lay an egg.

Yes, I am well aware of the plight Americans in particular face with their eating habits. However, having read this book, I think it would've been better if her husband wrote the book and left her out. He, too, wrote very matter of factly about what is going on in our food culture but in a way that was without judgement. Even their daughter contributed pieces to the story that were nowhere near as pompous as Barbara Kingsolver's "contributions."

Will I read Kingsolver in the future? Undoubtedly, yes. I already have "The Lacuna" downloaded onto my Nook. However, I will NOT read any more of her nonfiction, especially if it gives her an allowance to critique others. ...more

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Dec 28, 2010 Sarah rated it did not like it

Shelves: book-club-dm

Oh dear God, how I hated this book. Kingsolver comes across as the most holier-than-thou, self-righteous person I have ever had the displeasure of reading. She doesn't write about just her family's decision to eat only things they produced themselves; she passes judgment on everyone else in the world who eats food from a grocery store.

A big thing for her seems to be the availability (or lack thereof) of fresh produce. At one point, she likens eating tomatoes out of season to teenage girls havin ...more

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Nov 21, 2011 Jessica rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: memoir, non-fiction, food-and-drink

Kingsolver is absolutely correct about one key point - local, in season food is utterly delicious, which I never really appreciated until I moved to Oregon and latched on to the delightful and varied products of nearby growers. While I find some of her broad-scale prescriptions a bit pie-in-the-sky, you can reap tastier meals if you follow her general idea of eating with the seasons (even if your area isn't as agriculturally rich) and cooking more at home. Food is, and should be, a pleasure, and ...more

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