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Backcountry Bookshelf:  Barbara Kingsolver fans?  |
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Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
 Posted - Apr 01 2007 : 6:56:32 PM
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Have you read B. Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer? I've read most of her books & am re-reading this one now that it's been a few years. I like the way she makes natural history & ecology accessible to her readers through good storytelling.
She's got a new book coming out soon called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (I think) that I'm really looking forward to. |
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Ellen
outstepping
124 Posts
124 Posts |
Posted - Apr 02 2007 : 08:59:09 AM
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ya ever heard the audio for this book?
fantastic birds...
my people are Appalachians.So deep ya gotta look straight up to see the sun. I went to UK. So listening to her read this story felt like being with Granny back in eastern Ky.
My mother and I talked about this book driving through NC last week.It came to mind with how the dogwoods are disappearing; and her telling the chestnut story.
do you in your books, Jen add the botany stuff too?
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Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
Posted - Apr 02 2007 : 11:44:13 AM
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I haven't heard the audio but keep thinking I should! I esp like audiobooks read by the authors themselves - didn't know this one had birdsongs too. My books (both collections of my stories & other people's) do end up weaving in a good dose of biological info, but I made sure they didn't end up academic - ie boring. The writers share really engaging stories of on-the-job adventures, and you end up learning a thing or two just by being immersed in their experiences.
Do you like Pam Houston, Ellen? I really enjoy her outdoor stories - those fresh, pure moments on mountainsides when she leaves the Prozac at home! |
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Debs
outthinking
5 Posts
Debby
Wellington
New Zealand
5 Posts |
Posted - Apr 05 2007 : 9:03:40 PM
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I'm currently reading Small Wonder, and want to read Prodigal Summer as well. There are excerpts on this website: http://www.kingsolver.com/bookshelf/bookshelf.asp
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle seems like a very good read for anyone frustrated when shopping for food and sees "Made in <insert oveseas country>" on the label!
In Small Wonder, she writes about a journalist who comes to interview her. The journalist asks why does she grow her own food and aren't there any stores "out here" - (when there are of course) and that just sums it up for me - so many people have grown up thinking the store is the place to get your food and that's the only place you need to go! They haven't a clue about where the food comes from or that they could grow it themselves! The latest book sounds like it explores these issues further.
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Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
Posted - Apr 06 2007 : 5:18:37 PM
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| YES! I really enjoyed Small Wonder, esp "Lily's Chickens" and the essay on writing short stories (both very relevant in my life). The story about the baby & the bear in the beginning is incredible too. Can't wait for the new book, cowritten w/ her daughter. I would love to do that w/ my kids someday. |
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Lily
outbound
28 Posts
Lily
Moss Landing
California
USA
28 Posts |
Posted - May 02 2007 : 9:12:40 PM
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| I love Barbara Kingsolver! Poisonwood Bible is one of my favorite books ever, and I really enjoyed Prodigal Summer too, and also her earlier stuff. She's an amazing writer. Maybe we could read her new book for one of our book club books if people are into it? |
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Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
Posted - May 03 2007 : 06:57:35 AM
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I think that's a great idea - I'm just about to order it 
The View From My Boots: www.bovesboots.blogspot.com
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Ellen
outstepping
124 Posts
124 Posts |
Posted - May 28 2007 : 08:08:15 AM
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Jen
I don't know Pam Houston's work? Clue me in to what I'm missing please?
Debs
I got the new animal veg miracle as a gift and it is in my pile of comin attractions. What was your favorite part of Small Wonder? Didja like?
Lily,
Which voice did you want telling the story in poisonwood bible? |
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Lily
outbound
28 Posts
Lily
Moss Landing
California
USA
28 Posts |
Posted - May 28 2007 : 9:06:10 PM
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To answer Ellen's question, I loved the multiple viewpoints Kingsolver used in Poisonwood Bible. Looking at the story through the mother's eyes as well as the daughters' eyes gave the story so much more dimension. I was happy to avoid the father's viewpoint because I disliked him so much -- and the picture the other characters painted of him was all I needed.
I also love how Kingsolver used this technique in Prodigal Summer. |
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Ellen
outstepping
124 Posts
124 Posts |
Posted - May 29 2007 : 03:29:20 AM
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Lily
I like how kingsolver does this too, tho in PoisonwoodBible, I got where I was wanting to be skipping chapters to hear one side first. I went back and read a second time = one voice at a time.Do you remember a daughter you liked more?
Jen
you finished prodigal summer? did identify with deanna, nannie, lusa? |
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Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
Posted - May 29 2007 : 12:54:32 PM
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Hi Gals,
Ellen - Pam Houston's books include Cowboys Are My Weakness & A Little More About Me (fiction & autobiographical story collections), as well as 2 novels called Waltzing the Cat and Sight Hound. Sight Hound was not my favorite of her books anyway, but it's also about losing her beloved dog, which was (is) a subject too painful for me to enjoy after losing my own best canine friend last year. The other three have absolute gems in them, even if I find myself sifting through some of the more self-pitying passages (I'm too fat, my parents were crazy, I'm drawn to men who are losers, etc). She's a fantastic woordsmith & her outdoor adventures are gripping. Her fiction, I suspect, is simply a shuffled deck of true life experiences, written with the same honesty as her autobiographical stuff - both certainly ring true.
Ellen & Lily - If I remember right, I was absolutely drawn to the youngest daughter's chapters in Poisonwood Bible. I was heartbroken when she survived the malaria (was that the illness?) only to die by snakebite. I also remember what fantastic imagery that book opens with in the 1st paragraph.
Just finished Prodigal Summer for the 2nd time, and this time around I found myself skipping around to Deanna's chapters. I identified with her most the first time around, too, but was fascinated by the other women's stories & the intertwining roots. Deanna's storyline packs such ecological punch, though, personifying the deep, raw crux of life's induction. Plus, I understand her so well - her solitary ways, her love of the mountain, the way she often straddles the fence between scientific sensibility and utterly unscientific emotion. Wonder if she'll find her way back up onto the mountain in a sequel someday? Or maybe she'll take over Nannie's organic orchard in a new phase of life?
The View From My Boots: www.bovesboots.blogspot.com
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Lily
outbound
28 Posts
Lily
Moss Landing
California
USA
28 Posts |
Posted - May 29 2007 : 3:50:30 PM
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Hello Ladies, I can't really remember which voice I liked best in Poisonwood... I honestly just loved it all so much. I was very impressed with Kingsolver's ability to have all the different voices ring so true -- from the teenager Rachel to the preacher's wife. In Prodigal Summer, I remember really identifying with Lusa for some of her personal feelings related to marriage and trying to fit in (I read it as a new mother / housewife in eastern Texas) and I remember being able to identify with Deanna because of the wildlife connection. But I also thought she was a little bit of a grouch, at least emotionally cut off, you know what I mean? Not a bad thing for a woman living alone in the wilderness, or a woman living anywhere I suppose -- and I certainly admired her strength of character -- but maybe she's not someone I would be close to emotionally. I still loved her character though, and the ecological message in that book driven home by all the women was very powerful.
As for Pam Houston, one of my very favorite short stories in the world is by her: The Best Girlfriend You Never Had. It's in one of those Best Short Story collections. It's amazing, haunting. Has anyone else read it? |
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Ellen
outstepping
124 Posts
124 Posts |
Posted - Jun 02 2007 : 08:55:29 AM
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Dear Jen and Lily,I put Poisonwood Bible down for a couple weeks when I got to the part about RuthMay dying. Would you have continued to stay in Africa if you were Orleanna?
What was your take on Poisonwood's political commentary?
Thanks for answering all my questions. I thought Leah was a whiner, and enjoyed Adah most and Rachel seemed to have that 1st child confidence=inner strength.
I think I am a Nannie in the grove.
I will put Pam Houston on the list of books to pickup. I am currently reading A blistered kind of love. Have either of ya read it? they have some excerpts on Gorp
http://gorp.away.com/gorp/publishers/mountaineers/blistered_love_pt1_1.htm
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Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
Posted - Dec 19 2007 : 2:58:05 PM
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"Locavore" is 2007 word of the year!
The New Oxford American Dictionary chose locavore, a person who seeks out locally produced food, as its word of the year. The local foods movement is gaining momentum as people discover that the best-tasting and most sustainable choices are foods that are fresh, seasonal, and grown close to home. Some locavores draw inspiration from the 100-mile diet or from advocates of local eating like Barbara Kingsolver. Others just follow their taste buds to farmers' markets, community supported agriculture programs, and community gardens. Check out Local Harvest to find sustainably grown food near you, and make a New Year's Resolution to be a locavore in 2008!
Source:
Union of Concerned Scientists FEED – Food & Environment Electronic Digest - December 2007
Jen
Farmgirl Sisterhood Member #9
The View From My Boots: www.bovesboots.blogspot.com
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Backcountry Bookshelf: Barbara Kingsolver fans? |
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Barbara Kingsolver fans?
