The same year the New Oxford American Dictionary declared "locavore" its word of the year, novelist Kingsolver published an account of her family's year-long effort to eat only foods they had grown or raised themselves or purchased nearby. There are lots of books about "going back to the land" — by brave writers chronicling their quest to move to the countryside and learn to love compost, etc. — but Barbara Kingsolver's is among the best of the bunch. She brings a novelist's gift for narrative together with stories about raising chickens, canning tomatoes and throwing dinner parties for her neighbors. She even throws in recipes and weekly menus for inspiration.