This was my first poetry collection by Kingsolver and I read it in one sitting. This is rare for me as I like poetry books like I like my whiskey: in small sips so that I can appreciate it more, let it linger on the palate, and soak in the subtle notes that make it a masterpiece; but this one was so good, I could not put it down.

Thank you Netgalley and publishers for a DRC. All opinions are my own.

Wonderful! I'm not a regular reader of poetry, but I love Kingsolver! I read this after just finishing Flight Behavior and this was a treat.

I love Barbara Kingsolver's writing. It's so real, raw, and beautiful! This book is another example that demonstrates her captivating writing style.

This beautiful book of poetry was such a delight to read. Barbara Kingsolver’s prose have captivated me for many years and her poetry did the same. Her imagery and ability to observe and describe the world keep me coming back for more of her works.

Barbara Kingsolver's How to Fly (In Ten Thousand Easy Lessons) is an enjoyable and highly accessible collection of poems. The idea of writing poems that are instruction manuals at some level ("How to Cure Sweet Potatoes," "How to Knit a Sweater," or "How to Lose that Stubborn Weight") is charming. But these are not poems that will last in the reader's mind or heart. The emotional content seemed flippant, and there is nothing innovative about the writing. Not Kingsolver's best work.

I should preface with two facts: I don’t love nature poetry and I love Barbara Kingsolver. King silver’s The Bean Trees is one of my favorite books and so I had high hopes that, despite the content of these poems being something I usually don’t care for, I would like them anyway.

The experiment was neither a success nor a failure.

There are some poems in this collection I greatly enjoyed: How to Cure Sweet Potatoes, How to Shear a Sheep, How to Lose That Stubborn Weight, I. Pellegrinaggio, This is How They Come Back to Us, and Ghost Pipes.

Unfortunately, I found that many other poems were either boring or too long. I am not adverse to long poems: but a mediocre poem that is too long becomes a chore to finish.

I think that anyone who loved this kind of poetry will get a lot out of this collection. I, however, did not.

In this gorgeous book of poems the author, who I only knew for her novels, gives us “lessons” on how to deal with topics so many of us deal with in everyday life, topics such as aging, family, friendship and relationships are done with such precision and attention. To detail it is hard not to get caught up in them. I look forward to reading more of her poetry.

As a fan of Barbara Kingsolver's fiction, I enjoyed these poems as a similar yet far more personal voice. There is the same combination of logic and realism, yet dreamy enthusiasm for what could be as well. They are also very current, even seeming to deal with the isolation of the pandemic.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for a digital ARC for the purpose of an unbiased review.

Thought provoking and an unusual gift of poetry. I enjoy Barbara Kingslover use of language, "The Hands of Trees." , "Lemon-Orchard Blue", "Love Poem with Birds", "Ghost Pipes."
I enjoyed all of it, particularly the "How to" poems and the reflections on Art, Love and to appreciate everday experiences, as poetic in nature.
She emphasizes the use of perspective and encourages readers to look at life from a different angle and to appreciate, everyday you have.
Thank you Harper and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this wonderful book!
jb
https://seniorbooklounge.blogspot.com/

Growing up reading Barbara Kingsolver, both for school and for fun, something in her work just resonated with me. This collection of poetry is a wonderful reminder of what I love in her writing and a little something new. I think the biggest draw for me with this collection right now was the ease and brevity with which I could read through it. This far into the coronavirus pandemic, I am starting to hit a wall with the isolation, stress, and general disruption of life. I am finding it hard to concentrate on many things for any length of time. This was a great read for this situation. I was able to absorb a poem or two at a time and not feel overwhelmed. It was a wonderful moment of hope and beauty to jump into each of these. Of course there were some I loved more than others - I think right now the first section is my favorite. However, there was something to be had from each and I’m sure my favorites will shift and change depending on where I am and what speaks to me at the moment. I highly recommend this collection and I always look forward to more work from Barbara Kingsolver.

How to Fly in Ten Thousand Easy Lessons by Barbara Kingsolver is a compendium of original poetry. I would be the last to say I know anything about poetry but I found these poems to be accessible, easy to read and understand, and generally, pertinent to daily life. Plus, it is an intriguing title. I am not sure poems are meant to be read the same way a novel is, that is to say, from front to back in a sitting or two, but I find myself returning now and then for just one more. I guess that's a recommendation.

I was invited to read a free ARC of How to Fly in Ten Thousand Easy Lessons by Netgalley. All opinions contained herein are solely my own. #netgalley #howtoflyintenthousandeasylessons

When I've mentioned to friends I was reading and loving a new book of poetry by Barbara Kingsolver, they all said "I didn't know she wrote poetry?" Yes! She does! I am in love with this collection! Each poem reminds me of the importance of poetry in my life, of it's meaningful facility with expressing the world around me and the feelings inside me. It is like savoring a high end piece of dark chocolate, a fresh peach from the local orchard, the hug of a best friend, the memory of my brother, my mother's meatloaf. Kingsolver so beautifully uses the everyday to share these transcendent truths; her poems are deeply moving and yet very accessible.

I hope you will spend some time with these poems. Some I savored (more than others):
How to Cure Sweet Potatoes
How to Knit a Sweater
How to Be Hopeful
The Visitation
By the Roots


Yes, I have already ordered a copy to gift.
Yes, I will be including this in my Christmas Eve book flood.

These poems are readable, relatable and mostly understandable. The book is broken into seven sections. Each has a theme, the first being a quirky sort of “how to” that pulls you straight into the book.

My favorite section is the second “Pellegrinaggio” where these poems take you on the journey of her and family traveling in Italy with her mother-in-law.

If you’ve never read poetry before, this book may pull you in.

I'm generally a fan of Barbara Kingsolver's work and was excited to see her book of poetry. Based on interviews, it sounds like Kingsolver's true love is writing poetry and I'm delighted that this love shines through in this collection.

These poems are deeply personal. You feel as though Kingsolver is chatting with you about life while sipping wine on the back porch. Her word use is impeccable and thoughtful. Many of the poems turn on the last line in surprising ways.

The collection explores our connection to the natural world and to each other and offers intriguing and memorable gems of wisdom. It doesn't feel constrained or overly formal.

An insightful, intimate, and ultimately optimistic collection by a masterful artist .

"May I say that life is filled with instructions we / just don't believe we are ever going to need?"

Three and a half stars. I've always been drawn to the poetic style of Barbara Kingsolver's writing (e.g. "How to stay at this desk when the sun / is barefooting cartwheels over the grass"), so of course I was drawn to this book, her second collection of poetry.

I loved large portions of it-- the "how to" poems felt prescriptive (maybe especially in times of pandemic) in the best possible way; the cycle Pellegrinaggio was a favorite of mine; and the section "This Is How They Come Back to Us" and "My Mother's Last Forty Minutes" were especially beautiful even in the heartbreak.

Other specific poems and phrases caught my attention. The burning of Notre Dame. Advice to female poets. I highlighted too many lovely, vibrant phrases and lines to share here-- both funny and sad, thought-provoking and whimsical.

That being said, the first few sections of the book were much easier for me to get through than the last few. It's probably personal preference that my attention wandered when she turned to the natural world and stopped focusing so much on the human part of it. People who like that aspect of Kingsolver's writing might appreciate these poems more than I did.

Overall, though, I'm very thankful to HarperCollins Publishers for the ARC through NetGalley, and I plan to revisit various poems.

4.5 stars.

Barbara can do no wrong in my eyes. This was a poignant, comforting collection of poems, relying heavily on imagery from the natural world and touching on themes such as love and marriage, parenting, ancestry, and spirituality. Kingsolver's style reminds me quite a bit of Mary Oliver, and I think fans of Oliver's works would be similarly touched by this collection. If you, like me, are an avid fan of Kingsolver's fiction, I would highly recommend checking this out.

Thank you to Harper for providing me with an early e-copy of this work through Netgalley. How to Fly (In Ten Thousand Easy Lessons) is out September 22.

While I haven't read everything Kingsolver has written, a few of her novels are among my favorite books ever written. But this collection of her poetry, organized by general theme (lessons, a family trip to Italy, elegies) didn't do that much for me. The writing was beautiful but the poems and their themes just didn't hit for me. Maybe it was because they were organized by type and theme that what seemed interesting at first rapidly became stale?

I had never read Barbara Kingsolver before, but when I saw that there was a new poetry collection from such an acclaimed writer, I figured why not give it a shot. I actually liked this a lot! It's broken up into parts, some of which I liked much more than other (e.g. loved the series of poems about going with her mother-in-law to her Italian homeland; not as into the long ode to knitting). Interesting way of using imagery and description that makes me feel that I would like her other works. At once modern and seemingly timeless. My one critique would be that I'm not sure the entire collection came together cohesively, but that doesn't bother me too much.

“Tiptoe past the dogs of the apocalypse
asleep in the shade of your future.
Pay at the window. You’ll be surprised: you
can pass off hope like a bad check.
You still have time, that’s the thing.
To make it good.”
-“How to Be Hopeful,” Barbara Kingsolver
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So often poetry without teeth and claws fails to hold my interest for the duration of an entire book. I tell myself this is because poems are meant to be savored like a single piece of extra-dark chocolate after supper; a whole bag at once would only ruin the treat.

The truth is probably more about a deficit of attention.

The poems in HOW TO FLY (In Ten Thousand Easy Lessons) are threaded through with gentle grace. There’s no blood-letting here—just a calming touch along your spine, the cool hand at your brow when you’re under the weather. And yet my attention never strayed, one to the next. Kingsolver had me under her spell in short verses as completely as she commands the pages of a novel.
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Loosely themed sections of the book travel from a series of How To’s to a family pilgrimage to Italy to a section of heart-rending epitaphs to lost loved ones and beyond. Kingsolver’s observations are capacious and wise, and never too self-serious. As soon as she sketches the state of the world in stark lines that tighten the throat, she limns them with hope and makes you laugh.

And who in the world doesn’t need that right now? A little hope tinged with laughter; a lyrical hug as we trudge wearily into a new season with the same worries and woes on our backs.
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Huge thanks to @harpercollins for the chance to review an early copy of this work. I highly recommend nabbing HOW TO FLY from your local library or independent bookstore today if your soul is feeling a little drained and needs a some filling up.

I have read and enjoyed novels by Barbara Kingsolver and so was both excited and intrigued to see that she was publishing a book of poems. I read about this volume in an interview with the author that said her poetry was personal and could not have been put out into the world earlier in her life.

The poems themselves cover many topics. The first section, aptly in view of the title of this collection, is all about how to…how to Have a Child, Cure Sweet Potatoes, Survive This and more. There are a number of other sections as well.

The poems can, of course, be read in any order. I loved many of them. There is a life wisdom that Ms. Kingsolver has acquired and shares; take part in it. Read this title.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.

I am familiar with some of Barbara Kingsolver other books, that I thoroughly enjoyed in the past, but I never knew she is also a poet. This book is an interesting peek inside Barbara's thoughts about places and everyday life.

While I do enjoy some poetry, books like this aren't usually my preferred material for reading. But this one really struck a cord, especially the poems about Italy because my husband's parents were both from there, and we have visited the country in the past. Many of the poems brought to mind a delightful trip to the places mentioned. I also appreciated the way she looks at circumstances from the present and past.

I am giving this 5 stars because I enjoyed it so much.