The Time Traveler's Wife

(review by Deanna)
I just finished The Time Traveler's Wife and I really enjoyed it. I found it evocative without being depressing ("depressing" is at the top of my list of things I don't want in entertainment, which, unfortunately, rules out a lot of high-quality literature). It was touching and puzzling and well-written. It's funny to me that I spent half the book tensed up and not enjoying it for fear of a bad ending because, well, there is a lot of that theme woven into the book.

I'm attending a book club next week and the book choice was The Time Traveler's Wife. I would not have chosen this book on my own; there was too much chance of it being sad. But I am excited about the book club so I went for it. It was so enjoyable. The characters were intense and compelling, shaping themselves and each other in the paradox of what they knew and didn't know. It was powerful without being moralizing. I liked how the plot fit itself together like a puzzle. I definitely recommend it, though I am not sure if it's something other people will like. My friend who loaned it to me didn't care for it (which surprised me at first though I get it a little now), so I guess I have a copy to loan if you are local and interested!

Disclaimer: the language and content are not PG-13 - Probably more like R. And some would say it did end depressing, though I didn't think so. Just so you know!

Outliers by Malcom Gladwell

(review by Deanna) (see Outliers review by Julie here)
Have you read Malcom Gladwell's books? I think they are some of the most entertaining non-fiction out there. Outliers is his latest book, after earlier titles The Tipping Point and Blink.

Gladwell has a fascinating way of addressing the world. In Outliers, he discusses how certain people become sucessfull outside the common pattern. He doesn't talk about how some people are smart, talented or determined, but how some smart, talented, determined people (not all smart, talented, determined people) excel beyond the usual. The Beatles, Bill Gates, Mozart, and many others are the subject of his investigations, but it's the phenomena he describes along the way that are so interesting.

You wouldn't think that the number of syllables in the aisian languages' words for numbers would seem so relevant in every day life, but after reading this book, that's exactly what comes to mind when I'm trying to remember an appliance model number.

That's what I really like about Gladwell's books - the observations and stories come back to me over and over when I'm in the midst of figuring out other things. Plus, you really don't want to put them down! I definitely recommend this fast-reading, smart, interesting read.

Made From Scratch

The book Made from Scratch, by Jenna Woginrich, was an ok little read. I didn't love it, but not because there was anything wrong with it.  It just didn't grab me.

The first chapter, on her adventures starting to keep chickens, was the best. I did enjoy the overall premise of the book, which was on homesteading for the newbie. Jenna talks the reader through various subjects related to a homemade and sustainable life with anecdotes of her own efforts. She includes the expected subjects of gardening and farm animals, but also antiquing, playing an instrument, and having working pets.

I'm not quite sure how we discovered this book. My mom had reserved it from the library, but when it came in she didn't remember looking for it herself and thought I had chosen it. I hadn't heard of it, but it did sound like something that fit my recent interest in learning more homemade skills. Although neither of us remembered hearing of it, we picked it up and read the first chapter out loud (hey, you never outgrow being read to!). We really enjoyed the chapter, but after that it had a little less punch.

I think the narrative style would have been a better fit for a narrative organization to the book. The book was organized by subject, and it did follow an emotional development, but the lack of chronology was a bit distracting. The author moved from Tennessee to northern Iowa to start her homesteading, but the progression of the book doesn't parallel the move and development.  There are small sections concluding each subject giving basic instructions for getting started and although the information is fine, it repeats some of that discussed in the narrative.

I did enjoy the book enough to finish it, mostly because of the interest of listening to a young woman share her passion for getting into how to do old things, but overall I would rate it "ok" rather than really good.

The Omnivore's Dilemma

(review by Deanna)

I finally finished The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan. I say finally because it seems to take me forever to finish anything, but also because it really was quite long and took a bit of discipline to get through. If that sounds like a poor endorsement, though, it isn't meant to be. I really enjoyed reading this: some of it was eye-opening and some thought provoking but all of it was a good read.

The author traces each of four meals from their source in nature or agriculture all the way to his table, reporting on the details of how it is produced along the way: the Industrial Meal, the Industrial-Organic Meal, the Organic Meal, and the Hunted-Gathered Meal. When Mommy Town recommended this book to me, she said, "somehow Pollan makes the agricultural history of corn page-turning stuff. (Corn is sort of the villain of the book.)" Corn does indeed play a disturbingly prominent role in the industrial food chain, the one most of us eat from most of the time. Pollan concludes that if we are what we eat (and from a carbon standpoint we are) then we are "corn walking". How sinister that is is left to the reader, but it made me see processed food differently. It also sheds light on the transition of Organic from a grassroots movement to a mass market niche. Again, the conclusion of whether this is a bad thing or not is left open, but much information is shared along the way.

Pollan is a journalist and writes with an investigative bent, but the purpose of the investigation is philosophical and the prose is at times lofty. Some phrases are beautiful; some take a second reading to process. There is one small section where the philosophy didn't connect with me at all, but I think that had more to do with our different world views. Overall, I appreciated the expansion of world view that this book afforded and I definitely recommend it, hopefully minus the library fines I racked up finishing it!