The Omnivore's Dilemma

"When you can eat just about anything nature has to offer, deciding what you should eat will inevitably stir anxiety, especially when some of the potential foods on offer are liable to sicken or kill you." ~The Omnivore's Dilemma, page 3

This is not a book you should read if you are not prepared to take a long, hard look at what you eat. In this book the author leads us through four meals: industrial, big organic, sustainable, and The Perfect Meal.

The industrial meal follows a steer from birth, death to it's presumably winding up in a typical fast food meal. This section was very shocking to me and helped me to understand why animal rights people would be outraged at the treatment of these animals. It is horrifying. Worst of all, it's only for money. Obviously, it is of no benefit to the animal and it actually makes their meat less healthy for us to consume.

Big Organic farms are better in that the animals do not have steroids or antibiotics and are not fed animal by-products but the treatment of the animals is not more humane. As for organic produce, it may be more healthful(no pesticides, better vitamin content, etc.) but it is not without cost to the environment. In short: This method's heavy reliance on fossil fuels for processing and transportation makes it unsustainable.

As for the sustainable farm, the guiding principles that they follow are best outlined on their own site: Polyface, Inc.

I have to admit that this book has sparked an intense interest for me to find locally grown meat and produce and the metropolitan buying clubs. I had already been very interested in minimizing the processed food in my family's diet. I just didn't understand exactly how far the processing went.

The Perfect Meal is the one that Pollan hunts and gathers himself. He says that the meal is not perfect because it has the best taste. It's perfect because it is the one which caused him to work the most both physically and intellectually for his food. He knows where it all comes from and exactly what went into processing it and bringing it to the table.

I can't say that I enjoyed every section of this book. Some of it was difficult to read. But it was very eye-opening and worth the effort.(4.5/5)

Amy's Progress

I didn't manage to get any books read for this challenge in August. However, I have two sitting here that I hope to get to in September:

The Omnivore's Dilemma - Pollan
Half of a Yellow Sun - Adichie

I have completed:

The Ghost Map- Johnson
The Keep - Egan
The Inhabited World - Long
The Road - McCarthy

Hope to read yet this year:

The Translator - Aboulela
Black Swan Green - Mitchell
A Woman in Jerusalem - Yehoshua
The Inheritance of Loss - Desai
Suite Francaise - Nemirovsky
Alentejo Blue - Ali

As you can see, I am hopelessly behind but I will keep plugging along.

Giving Up

Originally posted here.



I am about 50 pages into "Eat the Document"and I once again find myself avoiding reading. So, I am calling it quits. It really is too bad because at first I was interested but the book keeps switching around and I haven’t ever really caught on to what’s going on. This may be one I come back to when I am in a different mood.

On a different note, I have joined the Book Around the World Challenge and I have added some books to my list that fit that challenge and this one. Here are my added titles that I hope to read yet this year:

• Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngochi Adichie
• The Translator - Leila Aboulela
• Black Swan Green - David Mitchell
• A Woman in Jerusalem - A.B. Yehoshua
• The Inheritance of Loss Kiran Desai
• Suite Francaise - Irene Nemirovsky
• Alentejo Blue - Monica Ali

This makes me feel better since 3 of my4 DNF's for this year are NYT Notables. It can only get better, right?

June Update from Amy!

I have been scarce around the NYT challenge blog for a bit but that's because I was shooting for a little lighter reading after having read several of the NYT books in earlier months. So far, the only book I have slated to read in June for this challenge is "One Good Turn" by Kate Atkinson. However, if I get a lot of the other reading I have planned completed then I really would like to read one of my NYT non-fiction choices. We'll see how it goes!

Happy reading!

Lisey's Story

Also posted here.

I am giving up on this book. :(

I hate DNF's but I actually found myself avoiding the reading of this book today so that is a sign I should just let it go.

I didn't have any problem with the writing style. I had a problem with the fact that Lisey's interaction with Dooley and the flashbacks to Scott's childhood were images I don't like having in my mind but I can't get rid of them.

Maybe Stephen King is too good at his job. I like spooky, I like creepy, I like mystery, I like paranormal. I want to say it's because I was feeling hopeless and sad while reading this but I certainly wasn't dancing while I read "The Road." I don't know what it is. I just didn't like it.

I have only read one other book by Stephen King("It") years ago. I finished and though I don't remember loving it, I don't remember being as bugged by it as this one.

I guess you can file me under the category of "Not a Stephen King Fan" and no satisfaction in crossing it off my list.

Amy's Progress Report

After reading several of the NYT Challenge books right off the bat I have been taking a bit of a break and doing some lighter reading. I will probably be reading "Lisey's Story" this month and possibly one of my non-fiction choices if I can fit it in.

I have decided to drop the titles that I had listed as alternates because I don't think I will have the time but I still have several of the challenge books that I am looking forward to.

See ya around blogworld and Happy Reading everyone!

The Ghost Map - Amy's Review

Originally posted here.

Reason for Reading: NYT Notable Books challenge and it seems to be pretty popular at my library so I read it while I could get my hands on it.

Back of the Book: This is a story with four protagonists: a deadly bacterium, a vast city, and two gifted but very different men. One dark week a hundred and fifty years ago, in the midst of great terror and human suffering, their lives collided on the streets of London.

From Me: The back of the book makes this sound a lot more exciting than it is. That's not to say that it isn't a very interesting story but in more of an informative way rather than a page-turner way.

There is quite a bit of information to be gleaned here, especially from a scientific and historical perspective. What exactly is cholera and what does it take for it to flourish? What were the thoughts of the city health officials and the medical community regarding disease and prevention and why were they so slow to accept changes in thought and procedure even when presented with compelling evidence? Why did some people who lived in the nastiest squalor live while people who lived in comparatively clean conditions die?

Without a doubt, the most startling thing I learned from reading this is what a nasty place Victorian London was. With a population of over 2 million people in 90 square miles before reliable sewer systems were invented, it was a disease-infested place that was notorious for it's awful stench.

I had a somewhat romanticized vision of what Victorian London must have been like, but now I understand it would have been a horrid place.

I enjoyed reading this book even though it didn't turn out to be the way I expected it to be and it thoroughly grossed me out in a few places.

Golden Country- Amy's First DNF of 2007

Originally posted here.

This is my first DNF for 2007. It's not that it's bad. It's just so.....plodding. It switches perspectives often and I am having a hard time keeping things straight. It's like I am not interested enough to try.

I am about a third of the way into it and I am not hooked. This book is due at the library and I have no desire to renew it so for now I am giving up on it. I am going to move it down to my alternates list and move on to my next book. I may pick it up later in the year because I don't hate it...I just don't find it engaging right now.

The Road - Amy's Review

Original review posted here.

Cormac McCarthy
Library Book
241 pgs

Reason for Reading: I read this for the NYT Notable Books Challenge.


***Spoilers Below***


I have never read anything by Cormac McCarthy and I really didn't know what to expect. What really hooked me into putting this book on my list for this challenge was the fact that the setting is post-apocalyptic. Other than that, I don't know much about the author or any of his other books.

I knew going into this book that the subject matter would be grim but McCarthy does an excellent job of using few words to pack a wallop. I actually felt the hopelessness of the man and the boy as they go through the ravaged and desolate countryside. I was horrified at the thought of people being held captive for food and the impossible situation of having to run to save yourself and being unable to help them at all. This is the stuff nightmares are made of and at this point in the book I wasn't sure I would be able to finish.

Then they find a hidden shelter and they have a reprieve from sleeping in the rain, being half-starved, cold, and filthy. I was so delighted to see them finally have some small comforts and I could almost feel how wonderful a bath and clean clothes would feel after weeks without and how wonderful such feasts of the stores that they discover would be, and oh! to sleep on a cot instead of the cold ground. At this point, I couldn't put the book down.

All the way through the book I was going back and forth.

In the end, I have to say that I really liked this book. The fact that it took me to both extremes is, I suppose, a testament to the author's skill.

One thing that I didn't like is the lack of punctuation. I don't like reading conversations without quotation marks. I find it distracting and this is the second book that I have read recently that has done this. I am unsure if this a some sort of fad or a writing style that I am unfamiliar with. If anyone wants to clue me in on this, I would appreciate it. I would hate to remain ignorant forever. (4/5)

Amy's Progress Report

I am currently reading "Golden Country" but I am only about 20 pgs into it. Not really far enough to have much of an opinion except to say that I like what I have read so far.

I have "The Road" and am currently #1 on the waiting list at the library for "The Ghost Map". I have high hopes of reading them before the end of March. However, I am also reading a lengthy book("The Tea Rose") for my April TBR challenge and I have a book that I am trying to read for the lenten season that I would like to finish within the next week, so that may delay my progress a bit.

I am still here and pluggin' along though! I haven't had a lot of time to check in lately but I hope everyone is enjoying their reading.

I look forward to hearing about it!

I also wanted to add that I am dropping a couple of books on my list to alternates and adding one(thanks to Michelle's review)

I am going to drop "The Echo Maker" "The Use of Enchantments" and "The Inheritance of Loss" to alternates. I will read them if I have time but they are not top priority. I am adding "Apex Hides the Hurt" because Michelle's review really piqued my interest.

The Keep - Amy's Review

This review is also posted here.

Jennifer Egan
Library Book
240 pgs

I chose this title for the challenge because I was very intrigued by the summary that I read. Here is a part of it : "Two cousins, irreversibly damaged by a childhood prank whose devastating consequences changed their lives, reunite twenty years later to renovate a medieval castle in Eastern Europe, a castle steeped in blood lore and family pride."

***** Possible SPOILER material below!

When I started reading "The Keep" I was prepared for a suspenseful thriller.

We start out meeting Danny and we learn of his cousins Rafe and Howard and the prank that affected all of their lives.

We then fast forward to Danny at age 36. Howard has purchased a castle in Eastern Europe and has given Danny a one-way ticket to come to the castle. Danny is unsure why.

We quickly begin to learn things about Danny like the fact that he can sense wifi connections through a tingling in his skin and he gets incredibly uncomfortable when he is disconnected (no cell phone, computer, etc.) for too long.

Maybe I missed some important connections, but things got strange and confusing to me after this point. Howard reveals his vision for the castle( a hotel that is electronic gadget free), Danny sleeps with an 89-year-old baroness(why?), falls from a window onto his head, becomes convinced that Howard is out to get revenge for the childhood prank, escapes to a nearby town and more.

After finishing the book, I discovered that there are actually three separate storylines going on with the stories intersecting and being told from different perspectives. The latter two storylines I understood and even enjoyed. The first storyline, though I understood how it connected, didn't make any more sense to me when I finished than when I when I started.

I was just left feeling like this book could have been better than it was. (2.5/5)

The Inhabited World - Amy's Review

The original review is posted here.

David Long
Library Book
277 pgs

One of the reasons that I joined the NYT Notable Books challenge was to read books that I wouldn't normally choose.

I wouldn't normally choose a book in which the protagonist, Evan, has committed suicide, doesn't really know why, and now lives in a realm somewhere between life and the afterlife.

Trapped within the confines of the property where he lived when he was alive, Evan watches as various tenants come and go but it is the most recent one, Maureen, that he seems to feel a connection to. She is in the midst of trying to break off an affair and through his own life experiences, Evan seems to understand the feelings that she is facing and through watching her, he learns to understand the depths of his own despair and what caused him to commit suicide.

I didn't close this book with a satisfied sigh when I was done. There were some things that left me feeling unsettled and I suspect there are things that I will be mulling over for quite a while to come.

However, I did enjoy "The Inhabited World" and I am glad I read it.