Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Update on the 3 book challenge

Wherein previously
 

Didn't do as well as I'd hoped, so...
 
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Barbara Kingsolver. Spent three weeks on this and only got about a quarter of the way through before returning it to the library. Partly because I was in a reading doldrum at the time and couldn't much focus on anything and partly because I hated the book. Couldn't stand the author or her writing...her sanctimonious, nailed to the cross suffering attitude. There is much that is wrong and what isn't wrong also isn't original. [deleted] Maybe further on in the book she realizes what an asshat she is; however, I doubt I will pick up the book again to find out. If interested in the whole global food chain, a much more intelligent read would be anything by Michael Pollan. Eating local is a nice idea (though often impractical. There's a local farmer's market only seven miles away, but I pass four grocery stores to get to it. And it only runs four months of the year.), eating seasonally is a great idea if you live somewhere with a 12 month growing cycle, and while organic is more expensive, the benefits are debatable (besides the fact the definition of organic is constantly being dumbed down to the point of being meaningless -- For example, how can aerosol pancake batter be organic?). Keep it simple: Reduce the amount of processed foods you consume -- as much as possible, stay away from anything that comes in a can, box, or freezer section. Buy from the outside of the grocery store -- fresh vegetables and fresh meats. Not that hard and much easier than trying to be a martyr.
 
The Gulag Archipelago, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Picked up a condensed version and I'm slowly working my way through it. If I'd read this when I was younger it might have outraged me. While thoroughly depressing, I am no longer shocked at how easily (or quickly) humans can mistreat each other.

His Majesty's Dragon, Naomi Novik. It was an OK popcorn book. The author is a decent enough writer, though nothing really grabbed me and me into the world of the story. I might read another one some day, but I make no promises. Unless the series is leading up to the day the dragons realize they're smarter than humans and we get a moment like, "Take your stinking claws off me, you damned dirty dragon!" Then I'm in.

1 Comments:

Blogger justkim said...

I'm sorry you didn't like His Majesty's Dragon more. The later books do feature Temeraire starting a labor movement amongst the dragon corps and demanding compensation. Hillarity ensues.

3/03/2009 08:03:00 PM  

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