Rating: 
Summary: Breath-taking
Review: This is the most profoundly spiritual book I've ever read. I don't know if that's what she intended, but that was the affect it had on me. I was just stunned with the breadth and the depth of it. I'm not a previous fan of Dillard's work -- this is the first book of hers I've ever read, and I didn't come to it with any preconceptions. She writes of the hard things along with the beautiful, writes as a mystic-observer in love with ALL that is. A faith as true and deep as Job's (though not a Christian one), and an eye much keener. One on a short list of life-changing books for me.
Rating: 
Summary: Mind Numbing Trash
Review: "For The Time Being," is a collection of events that seemingly have no direct correlation with each other. This memoir is written in a format very unusual to what is expected. The chapters are divided into separate themes and stories that repeat throughout the book. Some of Annie Dillard's topics are: birth defects, China, clouds...Each title basically describes what the section is about. She explains random facts pertaining to her topics and random occurrences she herself has experienced. She never actually says she experienced anything. When she describes these places she never involves herself or her emotion interpretations or beliefs on the topics throughout the book. Dillard is a very talented writer who uses descriptions that make you feel as though you are seeing through her eyes. However, this only lasts for a moment and then she is back to writing about trivial facts involving the chicken population of the world, or Elvis impersonators. This book is very har to follow most of the time and the direction is often hazy. The story line is not clear nor are the details and why they are included. Overall this book lacks direction, emotion and most of all interest.
Rating:
Summary: Wonder-full
Review: I can't think of a better book to read following the events of September 11. Annie Dillard dignifies the living and the dead, and helps us put into perspective our precious and fragile moments on this earth.
Rating:
Summary: For the Time Being
Review: Annie Dillard bedazzles me with her wonderful sentence structure and effortless flow. I read this book in a day because I simply could not put it down... Not your average nonfiction piece. Although the religious aspect of this piece is more prevalent than her other works, she is open-minded and tolerant and respectful of other religions- making her writing even more attractive to me. I love the format of this book- It is written in bits and every chapter reveals more and more of each story. Definitely a must-read.
Rating: 
Summary: Her Best
Review: Those who have criticized the book simply haven't understood the book. If you loved Pilgrim at Tinker Creek--its theological questions and poetic inventions--you will love this book. It will remind you why Dillard maintains a position as one of the best American essayists of her generation.
Rating:
Summary: jesus etc.
Review: Somewhere along the road Mrs. Dillard became a theologist--to such an extent in fact that she now spews out "Lord" and "Christ" and "God" more often than one would probably like. But on the whole this Dillard as we remember her from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek et al., and for that it is worth a read.
Rating:
Summary: A book to read and re-read and re-read
Review: I have read several of Ms. Dillard's books. This one is among my favorites. She weaves together several seemingly unrelated topics--Judaism, clouds, birth defects, birth, etc. in a poetic pose. I was moved to re-read this book. She uses her signature style of interspersing the mundane with the ridiculous never coming off as pandering or cheap. I would become a writer except , it seems that Ms Dillard has already said what I wanted to say. This book is a jewel.
Rating: 
Summary: how can something this deep be so boring??
Review: This book, though short, was incredibly boring. The only thing keeping me from a rating of 1 is the fact that she writes good prose and I kept thinking about the book once I'd finished it. I like creative non-fiction, and I like discursive writing, and I like elusive connections - but come on, Annie. Plus, this book's reflections on mortality depressed me. It doesn't make me want to read her other stuff at all. Oh snooooooooozzzzeeee!
Rating:
Summary: Breath-taking, stunning work of genius!!!!!
Review: Annie Dillard propels me to a precipice far above the mind-numbed, robotic routine that is my life and shows me----what? Clouds, my mortality, my smallness, eternity, a grain of sand, my own soul? She illuminates the magnificent in the ordinary, the magic in the mundane, God in a deformed child. For a moment it's as if I'm Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz", sitting on that bed in Auntie Em's house which is spinning out of control in the midst of a tornado, and life is passing me by in fast-forward like the characters whizzing by the window and I'm just amazed, clutching Toto, too stunned to react. And then in the next moment of reading, serene illumination. I get it! It all makes sense and I no longer feel like a tiny, insignificant morsel of clay, but a vital, significant part of the whole. What a breathtaking patchwork quilt of wisdom and philosophy this tiny book is! Thank you, Annie, for yet another priceless gem from your wonderful intellect. I'm reminded of my favorite quote by Kafka: "The books we need are the kind that act upon us like a misfortune, that make us suffer like the death of someone we love more than ourselves. . .A book should serve as the ax for the frozen sea within us."
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, to say the least
Review: As a high school student, I found this book much more difficult to comprehend than othet titles I've been assigned in the past. Dillard's lack of transitions and seeemingly meaningless statistics and facts aggravated and confused me at first. As I read, though, I realized that not only was Dillard traveling on her own philiosophical journey, she was subconsciously forcing me to go on one too. Dillard's unique writing style forces the reader to looks for "links" in the book and to develop his/her own philisophy for what they're reading. I'm not sure if I'm ready to read another one of Dillard's works; I'm still reeling from this one.
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