Book Blogging: The Omnivore's Dilemma

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan

My review

Rating: 4 of 5 stars
I read Pollan's In Defense of Food a while back and instantly fell in love. I knew the minute I finished it, I had to find The Omnivore's Dilemma and devour it too. It was an intriguing concept, but I'll admit it wasn't really the book I thought it was going to be. I don't know what I thought it would be about, but the idea of following three meals from the farm to the table (or driver's seat as it were) was captivating. Not to be horribly cliche, but it really made me think.

Of course, some of my childhood was spent on a farm, and many of my earliest memories revolve around slaughtering animals for food (annual chicken slaughtering day, anyone?), so I'm probably more aware than many Americans of the origins of our food. Even so, the sections on industrially farmed corn and factory-raised beef were eye opening. Even moreso was the section on "industrial organic," or organic farming on a large scale a la Eggland's Best and Horizon Dairy. I'll admit I have bought industrial organic in the past and patted myself on the back for being "green" or environmentally conscious or whatever you want to call it. However, since reading this book, I've been more aware of the truly alternative option: buying local. I'm currently loving our local farmer's market, and I'm making an effort to buy more local vegetables and meats along with handicrafts and other fun farmers market finds.

The Omnivore's Dilemma will not necessarily radicalize the way you go about feeding yourself and your family. However, if each reader finds him or herself just a little bit more aware of how our food choices affect the world around us, we will probably all be better off for it in the end.

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Diving into Darkness: A True Story of Death and Survival by Phillip Finch

My review

Rating: 5 of 5 stars

I don't think I have it in me to ever even consider a hobby such as cave diving - not even casually. Finch takes the reader deep (really deep) into the dark underwater world of breathing regulators, drysuits, gas mixtures and guidelines to tell the story to two men, Dan and Dave, who have planned an ambitious dive deep into the belly of Africa to rescue the remains of a fellow diver lost years before. From the outset the reader knows that someone dies and someone will be caught up in an epic struggle to make it out alive - but Finch does a pretty decent job of maintaining the suspense. Even though I had pretty much figured out who it would be, I was still anxious to know the details, and was astonished to find that the climax of the story was not, in fact the end. Finch kept me engaged right up to the very last page. Five stars with no reservations.

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Deeper by Roderick Gordon

My review

Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Good, but not as good as Tunnels. I felt like the author was beating me over the head with a couple of the storylines in this one (yeah, ok, I GET IT ALREADY), and that this book could have easily lost a hundred pages or so in editing.

There's a third in the works, and I hear there are movie talks as well. Figures.

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The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

My review

Rating: 5 of 5 stars

This story of a boy growing up in Kabul - back when Afghanistan wasn't synonymous with religious extremism - is beautifully written and achingly real. It is the story of a rich, privileged boy (Amir) and a poor servant boy (Hassan) whose real or imagined friendship (depends on who you ask) carries them through childhood until both of their lives are irreversibly tainted by evil.

And then the Russians come.

Years later, Amir - now living in America - receives a call from Pakistan. An old friend of the family tells him, "There is a way to be good again," and draws him back to his childhood home. He barely recognizes the land of his birth, but the chance to finally find a measure of relief from the guilt he has carried around most of his life is undeniable.

Unlike novels of lesser caliber, The Kite Runner never reveals its secrets before Hosseini is ready. The last hundred pages or so are filled with revelations and back-to-back shocks and surprises. In retrospect, the foreshadowing of many events was apparent, but at no point does Hosseini bang the reader over the head with it. There is a quiet morality within this heartbreaking tale, and the reader is well expected to find it without help.

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Distress by Greg Egan

My review

Rating: 2 of 5 stars
Meh.


By the end I had a hard time mustering up the interest to continue reading. The "Aleph moment" did not capture my fancy and all the talk of Distress and the mixing plague was so much blather.

I should have stopped reading days ago, but I hadn't been to the library, and didn't have anything else to read.

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Book blogging

Sorry - just one more today, then I swear I'm done. For a while anyway.

The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why by Amanda Ripley

My review

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Who survives when a disaster strikes? People who don't freak out for too long, that's who. Can you increase your chances of survival? Yes - and Amanda Ripley will teach you how.

If for no other reason, read this for the story of the people who made it out of the towers on 9/11. Good stuff.

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Virgin: The Untouched History by Hanne Blank

My review

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

A non-voyeuristic history of virginity from the earliest civilizations to modern times. What does it mean to be a virgin? Has it always meant the same thing? What is the value of this *thing* we call virginity? Questions all considered and addressed by Blank in a straightforward, unapologetic manner.

But if you're squeamish at all about things *down there,* avoid this one.


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Book blogging

In His Sights: A True Story of Love and Obsession by Kate Brennan

My review

Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Kate Brennan is an alias, a precaution made necessary by the fact that this book's author is the victim of stalking, and her stalker is still at large. The story is horrifyingly true, and knowing this makes her honesty all the more breathtaking. Brennan reaches back nearly two decades to the time when she first met Paul, the man who will later become her hunter. He seems so normal - superficially - but as the months and years go by the reader takes up a role normally played by the audience in a horror movie. "Don't listen to him!" You will want to shout; "Just walk away!" But, as in any horror movie, the heroine can't hear; these scenes have already been played out.

Brennan humanizes the victim of domestic abuse and stalking. No longer can you afford the luxury of thinking that a woman who stays in an abusive relationship is foolish or weak or any of the other pejorative labels we apply to such women. She is strong, professional and capable of shouldering her own weight in the world - yet she still gets taken in by the predator. Her journey gives us insight into the mind of such an animal and gives hope to those in similar shoes. Definitely worth the read.

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Book blogging

The Body Toxic: How the Hazardous Chemistry of Everyday Things Threatens Our Health and Well-being by Nena Baker

My review

Rating: 4 of 5 stars
I'm scared. I feel like I never want to buy anything ever again. While I'm at it, I'll try to stop eating and breathing and doing all the other mundane things I do every day that invite toxins into my body.

I don't mean to imply that Baker was inciting people to panic or that her writing was unduly alarmist. She was just absolutely thorough and detailed. She pulled no punches and airbrushed nothing. In the end, the picture was devastatingly clear.

Ok, so I can't completely remove myself from modern society. What *can* I do? Stop buying microwave popcorn, that's a start. And my non-stick cookware has been shoved aside in favor of some shiny new stainless steel. But it would be absolutely fabulous if the government could be convinced that petrochemical companies who create possible toxins should not be allowed to flood the environment with their chemicals without first proving that they are not harmful.


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The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived: How Characters of Fiction, Myth, Legends, Television, and Movies Have Shaped Our Society, Changed Our Behavior, and Set the Course of History by Allan Lazar

My review

Rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is one to keep out where it is easily accessible and can be picked up whenever a few spare moments present themselves. I like that I can bounce around - picking and choosing which influential characters I'd like to read about rather than reading cover to cover. And, any book that includes Buffy the Vampire Slayer as one of the most influential characters in history is tops in my opinion.


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Book blogging - SPOILER ALERT

Natural Selection: A Novel by Dave Freedman

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars



Eh.

A viral infection originating in the sea drives an ancient predator out of the depths. This nightmarish predator somehow manages to leap evolutionary tall buildings in a single bound, not only leaving the sea but learning to thrive on land. Wings that used to propel the animal through the water are now used to soar above the clouds. A vestigial air bladder is miraculously adapted - in a single day no less - to breathing air. Eyes that evolved in the pitch blackness of the deep oceans can not only withstand the brilliant glare of the sun but are somehow super keen. This animal could threaten the future of humanity.

Ok, so the idea was fresh, I'll give it that. But can you say pre.dict.a.ble? Was I shocked when the one guy who was supposed to be one of the good guys turned out to be a slimy character? Nope. Was I surprised by the standard horror-movie twist at the end? Not a bit. The book jacket calls it an excellent beach read. That's laying it on rather thick. Sure, it's an OK book, pure escapism, but it's not likely to keep beach-goers out of the water.


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