Kingsolver

Last night we were delighted by an evening with Barbara Kingsolver at Sweet Briar College. She talked about the process she goes through developing an idea into the scheme for a novel, read from her new book Flight Behavior, and answered audience questions. I have not read one of her books since she moved to Virginia, so it has been a few years, but I always loved her writing. It is rich prose, the kind that draws the reader in, etching a picture of a scene into one's mind. From Flight Behavior,

The people, she and the others here, were human boulders in the butterfly-filled current. They had waded into a river of butterflies...

Kingsolver's books are not for speed reading, rather they are ones to savor, to enjoy the flow of her writing as the words paint a picture in your memory. I look forward to reading the rest of the book!

Why Sweet Briar College? It turns out that professors Lincoln Brower, a renowned Monarch Butterfly expert, and his colleague Linda Fink helped Kingsolver in her research for Flight Behavior, even reading drafts to ensure that the science about butterfly behavior was accurate in the novel.

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