Rating: 
Summary: A pleasurable introduction to Barbara Kingsolver
Review: I thought it was an appropriate book to bring along with me to southern Arizona. When I started reading it while camping at Chiricahua National Monument, I was immediately transfixed. I finished it after returning to Boston, when the appeal of the book got even better. It is for anyone who loves nature and has a whole lot of respect for it; she also shares with her readers unique views of special, relatively unknown places such as Canary islands, Benin, a Nature Conservancy preserve in Kentucky, Haleakala Crater, and a remote place somewhere in the southwestern fringe of Arizona (Cabeza Prieta wildlife refuge or Kofa Wilderness perhaps?). What a great experience to be transported to these places by the power of her words, her keen perceptiveness, and her insatiable curiosity. I am definitely bound to read more of her books!
Rating: 
Summary: Ho hum!
Review: I'm glad I didn't waste any money on this dreary litany of what an eternal adolescent doesn't like about the world. However, I do concede that some people who grew up after 1970 would think these ideas original. There are better (and more honest) memoirs of warriors who fight to make the world better without descending into self-pity. As for "style"--where is a good editor when you really need one?
Rating:
Summary: Ho hum!
Review: I'm glad I didn't waste any money on this dreary litany of what an eternal adolescent doesn't like about the world. However, I do concede that some people who grew up after 1970 would think these ideas original. There are better (and more honest) memoirs of warriors who fight to make the world better without descending into self-pity. As for "style"--where is a good editor when you really need one?
Rating:
Summary: This is what good writing is all about
Review: If my fellow writers, who struggle with the modern essay format, want to read an example of good writing, this would be a great place to start. Barbara Kingsolver, already famous for Beantrees, Pigs in Heaven, etc., lets loose with this collection of 25 essays on issues as diverse as hermit crabs, political activism, and vegetarianism. Her exquisite and thoughtful language persists throughout as, trained as a naturalist, she links minutae in the natural world with the more close-to-home issues of parenting, family, honesty, and her political views. Some of her best writing can be found in this collection.
Top rating.
Rating: 
Summary: Preachy and Whiny
Review: In "High Tide," Kingsolver uses her position as an author to relentlessly promote her political views, religious views, any kind of view that anyone might have. A truly great author presents the information and allows the reader to draw their own conclusions. Not only does "High Tide" NOT allow us to draw our own conclusions, but it lacks the fresh prose of "The Poisonwood Bible." Thumbs down to a potentially great author who is biased, mis-informed, and forceful in her personal beliefs.
Rating:
Summary: Kingsolver hits highest tide with her wit and views on life.
Review: In this thoughtful, charming, and many times very witty collection of essays, Barbara Kingsolver shares some of her most personal views of life and the sometimes odd situations in which it places us. Each essay is a small treasure which adds
up to a total sum of its parts which leaves us smiling, challenged and longing for more. From topics as serious as violence in our society to something as light as a rock band
composed of authors, Kingsolver weaves each one into a colorful
quilt of words. While reading "High Tide", I lost count of
the number of pages with turned corners ...each one, a page
with thoughts that challenged or moved me. I highly recommend it!
Rating:
Summary: Freedom of Expression: To Mary C. Packer and Others
Review: Just two questions 1.Since when is an author not entitled to express personal opinions in her own book of personal essays? 2. Since when does living and selling books in the United States take away ones right to critique aspects of the United States? I am thankful that writers have the freedom to express a variety of ideas and opinions. As readers, we have the freedom to read them, not read them, like them, or dislike them. I just hope people understand the difference between critiquing a writer's ideas and objecting to her right to express them.
Rating:
Summary: Like reading a letter from a close friend...
Review: Ms. Kingsolver writes in a way that makes me feel as though she climbed into my head and understood me, then wrote it all out. Her explaination of her experiences inspires me to go out and do more. She is always exciting, yet always herself. She makes sense of the world, and seems to see it through childlike eyes, unpolluted by mass marketing and extremists. I can't wait to read more!!
Rating:
Summary: Second reading, even better than the first
Review: The essays in this book speak to the troubles of today's world because they are timeless. I feel like standing on the roof top and offering Barbara Kingsolver's wisdom and love of life and all it encompasses to all who pass by. The essays are a wake up call without being strident while at the same time a salve to my soul and a voice of reason. Let alone the fact that Kingsolver is a fabulous writer.Somehow for me, it is the time to immerse myself in Kingsolver's words and ideas. I also re-read "Small Wonder" and I'm now savoring "Animal Dreams". I can only suggest that other readers might enjoy her books for the first time or second or third.
Rating:
Summary: Second reading, even better than the first
Review: The essays in this book speak to the troubles of today's world because they are timeless. I feel like standing on the roof top and offering Barbara Kingsolver's wisdom and love of life and all it encompasses to all who pass by. The essays are a wake up call without being strident while at the same time a salve to my soul and a voice of reason. Let alone the fact that Kingsolver is a fabulous writer. Somehow for me, it is the time to immerse myself in Kingsolver's words and ideas. I also re-read "Small Wonder" and I'm now savoring "Animal Dreams". I can only suggest that other readers might enjoy her books for the first time or second or third.
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