The PBS documentary of Michael Pollan's The Botany of Desire turned what I thought was his more plodding book into a very watchable show. While I thought The Omnivore's Dilemma was the most relevant to my lifestyle, I am changing my mind after learning more about the dangers of farming monocultures. Beautifully shot, insightful commentary made this a great program.
It seems that Michael Pollan and the success of Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle have helped to breed a new genre of popular non fiction focused on educating the public to the benefits of sustainable agriculture, organic farming, etc. and hoping to generate change rather than the previous method sometimes used of shaming one into making important life changes. In that vein, I found Farm City by Nigella Lawson very funny and timely, and cannot wait to read Coop by Michael Perry.
Just finished Audrey Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry and am so sad that the book had to end. I wanted to read it forever. While I have heard some poor reviews, I think it may have been, perhaps, even better than The Time-Traveler's Wife. Beautifully, wonderfully good.
I wonder how many other people get their therapy from a library or bookstore. I get giddy at all the books at my fingertips (for free!) and that pleasant overwhelming feeling that I could never read them all. I have noticed that my weekly haul for Noa seems to be getting bigger and bigger (thus stretching bedtime slightly later and later...). Among my proudest Mommy moments is hearing Noa ask to go to the library to read and play puzzles. I know that every week we will get to learn new things (gardening, dinosaurs, dragons, farm animals, and the occasional Maisy book) and have some quality time.
I know I've been gone awhile. I tried Facebook (don't love it) and I tried to journal down my bookish thoughts [(I think I play better to a wider audience;-)]. So, let's play a game of catch up. I will mention some books I have read that I think are worth reading and why, and others not so much, and then hopefully we will be back to our old selves soon.
1. Testimony by Anita Shreve: I put it down after skimming through the book. Too much sensationalism, too much disturbia for me (although, I admit) I did not read it cover to cover. I really think I like her older stuff much better than the stuff she has churned out the past couple of years.
2. a shout out to some great kids books I've come across lately: anything by Graeme Base, Zinnia's Flower Garden, and The Cat in the Hat Came Back have all been recent favorites
3. I really enjoyed the whole series of books by Tasha Alexander. Interesting historical period, nice three dimensional characters, and lush descriptions throughout. In the harmless mystery vein, I also liked Emyl Jenkins' Stealing with Style and am looking forward to her latest.
4. Totally out of my comfort zone and more graphic than I would normally care for, I really did like Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. I have the second one on the bookshelf, just waiting to gird my loins for it
5. Still on my food porn kick, I devoured Eat My Globe (and have become a Top Chef fan).
and lastly, though I reserve the right to remember and add more later,
6. As a beginning gardener (and a lazy one, at that), I liked Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart, even if I am afraid of my own yard now.
Hope everyone has been well and I look forward to appearing more regularly.
It seems like I never get by here to write about books! However, I am making time today to rave about The Help. It is one of those rare books that I want to both hoard and force all my friends to read at the same time. Written with a finely tuned ear, it is a multi-layered story that has stayed with me days after putting it down.
Run, do not walk, to the nearest bookstore and buy a copy!
Ruth Reichl's new (very short) book about her mother, Not Becoming My Mother, makes the argument that the '50s housewife became bored and unsatisfied with their lives when modern conveniences freed up their time; time they could not, or did not, fill with meaningful careers. While this theory is interesting and well worth intelligent debate, I am forced to ask an complimentary question: why, in this day and age of so many more modern devices does it seem like the average American woman never has enough time? No time to nurture friendships, family, no time to travel, read, garden or write, no time to blog, shop, or watch movies--in short, are we filling up the time created by time saving mechanisms with other stuff, too much stuff? Have we gotten so far on the busy life treadmill that we forget what all the time saving devices are really trying to give us::::: FREEDOM?
Thoughts?
