alltheradreads's Reviews (1.9k)

SO much of Kingsolver's thoughts on the environment, food, gardening, conscientiousness, faith, caring for goods/people/places/our world, politics, etc, resonate with me. Girl is my soul sister. She's from Arizona, too, which just adds to the connectedness I feel to her. These essays are poignant and powerful and we as Americans would all do well to think more like this and act more wisely to keep our planet alive and thriving.

I have long loved Flannery. Her short stories are powerful and full of dynamic characters, and her prayer journal just made me swoon. Reading a biography about her has been on my list for quite some time, but I wasn't expecting to have SO MUCH in common with this author I love. Girl has got a FIERCE independent streak and some serious sass, and I love that so much. This gave me such rich insight into who she was a woman and an author, and I just loved it.

A friend raved about this one and it was the nudge I needed to finally pull it off my bookshelf and read it. The story was intriguing in its essence, but I found it hard to relate to McCandless as he broke ties with his family and pursued such a radically independent life of adventure and freedom. I'm far too much of a rule follower and homebody to just pick up, literally burn all my cash, and set off for some undetermined destination like he did, but I admired his courage and free spirit nature. The end is tragic and frustrating (this isn't a spoiler, it literally says on the cover that he dies in the Alaskan wilderness) and I just wished for more closure or a different outcome.

I read L'Engle's fiction as a kid, but have been wanting to get my hands on some of her non-fiction books for a while. This was a used bookstore find and had been on my shelf waiting for me, and my crazy "buy no books in 2016" challenge prompted me to finally dive in! I loved this one-- any book about the intersections of faith and art in our lives is one that will surely grab me. Her writing is just lovely and many of her thoughts are still sticking with me, which is a true sign of a great book.