The Chicken Chronicles: Sitting with the Angels Who Have Returned with My Memories: Glorious, Rufus, Gertrude Stein, Splendor, Hortensia, Agnes of God, The Gladyses, & Babe in Oly Reads

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Mar 27, 2012 jess rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: ladyish, food, growing, 2012

This book is just incredible. Read this:

What she did not expect was that the Ameraucanas among you, you of the pale green and blue eggs, would also sprout beards. Beards in the Abe Lincoln style; beards that go up to and seemingly into your ears. What magic is this? Bearded ladies who also lay colorful eggs! The wonder of this leaves Mommy breathless.

and this:
Sometimes, sitting on my green stool and lulled by your complete indifference to the consequences of your natural behaviors, I wish we we This book is just incredible. Read this:

What she did not expect was that the Ameraucanas among you, you of the pale green and blue eggs, would also sprout beards. Beards in the Abe Lincoln style; beards that go up to and seemingly into your ears. What magic is this? Bearded ladies who also lay colorful eggs! The wonder of this leaves Mommy breathless.

and this:
Sometimes, sitting on my green stool and lulled by your complete indifference to the consequences of your natural behaviors, I wish we were more like you. More relaxed with our breasts and bellies and our feathers (of whatever sort) and our heights and weights and how we toss our heads back to drink water or how we sometimes let a leaf of lettuce slip from our fork.
You seem so clear about who you are. So certain that you are just right as you are, that for all your intelligence and maybe in spite of it, you never seem to need a second opinion.

The top five best things about this book:

1. Alice Walker is an incredible writer and observer. This book extends those talents to the humble subject of chickens, wherein the author elevates the subject by extolling the beauty, friendliness, personalities and life forces of such majestic creatures.
2. There is a chapter where Alice Walker talks about smoking pot. (!!!)
3. The chickens have great names. Just say out loud "I'm reading this book about chickens named Agnes of God and Gertrude Stein," and try not to smile.
4. Alice Walker totally captures the strong feelings I feel toward my flock - and she is as surprised by her feelings as I was to discover my own. It is surprising to learn how lovable and wonderful a small backyard flock can be! The profound joy and peace of watching chickens forage while you share your yard with them, and the intense, shocking grief of suddenly losing a bird - oh, Alice Walker has got all this covered.
5. Alice Walker has interesting travels and religious experiences, which she manages to relate to her backyard flock in interesting ways. Searching for chickens on a visit to India and trying to explain Ghandi to her chickens may seem silly, but that stuff made the book richer than just a "memoir of a backyard flock by someone awesome and famous."

The top two bad things about this book:
(I could only come up with two things!)
1. Most of the book is written as a letter to the chickens. That's cute, except the author refers to herself in third person by the name "Mommy" for most of the book. It grated on me a lot by the end but did not surpass the awesomeness of this book.
2. Alice Walker details every time she eats meat while she is a chicken keeper, and apologizes to her flock for these transgressions. I'm closing in on two decades of vegetarianism, but the apologetic, guilty lapsed vegetarian shtick grates on me.

In conclusion, you should read this book. ...more

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Apr 11, 2011 Katie Hawkins marked it as to-read

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