Animal Vegetable Miracle, Barbara Kingsolver

I had forgotten that I read this a few months ago until I posted about Poisonwood...there's something so satisfying about personal nonfiction work from one of your favorite writers. Got to be with her for a year, peer into her life - and loved every minute. A tale of her family's effort to exclusively eat locally for a year, it's incredibly interesting and informative without ever veering into preachy. (+)

The Blind Side, Michael Lewis

I know - I'm Michael obsessed (Lewis, Pollan, Chabon) but his writing is so amazing I want to eat it.

Amazing story - even better storytelling. Keep writing please - lots more. (+)

The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver

OK - so I've read it before. I was actually nervous to read it again. When the book first came out and I devoured it, it instantly became one of those novels that actually changed my worldview. Now, 10 years later, would it still hold up? Or would it be disappointing and one of those many things that don't stand the test of time - better left in the original memory. (Seriously - watch Less Than Zero again...I mean, really??)

A few things changed...I cried in different parts and some of the historical pieces resounded more now than when I was younger. But overall - this is the book that remains a fundamental influence on my way of thinking.

Barbara Kingsolver is amazing and one of those writers that underlines for me that some people are so truly, wonderfully gifted, we are just blessed to be recipients of their work.

P.S. - I love Adah. (+)

The Center Cannot Hold, Elyn R. Saks

I'd almost forgotten about this one until my mother rummaged through my room to find the copy for 'Book Club'. She jokingly...or perhaps not so...told me she was thinking about calling up Elyn to 'see how she was'. Um...please don't mom. Please don't.

Anyway...even as a Psychology major (just a Bachelor's but still...), schizophrenia has remained such an awful, mysterious thing to me. Even those of us who know better than to conflate it with Multiple Personality Disorder still cringe from the severity and devastation it can bring (Um...hello I Know This Much is True!....severed hand!!!). What makes this book so amazing is Saks' sharp and logical recollection of her own beginnings with the disease as well as vivid depictions of some the worst incidences that it brought. Even more amazing was her ability to overcome all of this to become a tenured law professor at USC.

Back to mom....she works with many affected adults and it opened me up to her world. I still don't know the answers, although it does put another tickmark in the 'pro-medication' column for me. Dr. Saks gave up her practice to write this book - the least we can do is read the thing. (+)

Second Nature, Michael Pollan

You know anything he writes I'm gonna love, right? So no surprises here...although it's nice to see some of the stuff he was writing before he had that pressure of being who he is now. Makes me want to plant a tree. (+)

The Help, Kathryn Stockett

Read this a few months ago...couldn't put it down at the time. Totally worth reading, but you don't have to put it at the top of your list. (0)

The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger

meh. I only started reading it because the previews for the movie were so freaking cute. But honestly, I know there are people who have read it a bazillion times...but really? meh. (-)

Moneyball, Michael Lewis

I have no idea what's up with all the recent non-fiction...but at least this one wasn't about animals. I adore Michael Lewis and everything he does, but hadn't been moved to read about baseball until I saw his recent NYT piece on basketball stats. Totally engrossing and so, so interesting. (+)

The Good Good Pig, Sy Montgomery

Wow. Pigs are smart. Like REALLY smart. And it just makes me really mad that bacon tastes so good. Apparently, they make good pets too. Sy Montgomery has studied some pretty amazing things in her life, and she brings the same enthusiasm and humanity to the story of her 750 pound pet, Christopher Hogwood. But, I know that I'm an animal weirdo, and others might be more interested in some of her other books before diving into this. (0)

Nim Chimpsky, Elizabeth Hess

It took me awhile to be able to write about this one. Nim Chimpsky (named by a witty academic determined to prove Noam wrong) was a chimp used in a Columbia University research experiment set out to prove that language is not exclusively human. As part of this, they raised the chimps as human - in homes, wearing clothes, sleeping in beds, etc. What happened to Nim and other chimps like him after the experiments stopped is enough to make even non-animal rights-ers pensive about animal research. The book isn't a Michael Moore-ish expose so to speak, but a more or less evenhanded study of the sexually and politically charged academia of the 70's and the lives affected.

I was particularly unsettled reading this - most likely because I've spent so much of my life wanting to interact with chimps (Project X had left a particularly deep impression I suppose...). And even though I never pursued the aspiration, this book unraveled my intentions around the whole thing...Had I ever planned to give up everything to unobstructively observe in the wild? No, I think the whole fantasy usually involved me bringing home a chimp, pretending its my kid and teaching it sign language between adorable outfit changes and Oprah. And even if I had realized the wrongness of this path, would I have turned my back on it after devoting my life to the school and research that it required? For once, it's a huge relief that I was never motivated enough to follow my dreams.

The gamut of people Hess found to interview and the piecing of the story is impressive but I certainly won't be reading her other book about animal shelters as I want to be able to at least sleep a little bit at night. (+)

The Hour I First Believed, Wally Lamb

I love Wally Lamb and count She's Come Undone as one of the few novels I've read several times. Lots of Lamb lovers didn't like this new one - but it's the best and most relatable thing I've read in a long while. It does meander a little, and the interjected personal politics are blatant, but I was more than happy to take the scenic route to see all these pieces come together. A thoughtful journey on God and meaning. (+)

Twilight, Stephenie Meyer

Fun and easy read - although I'm not sure I agree with the mania these books unleashed. A fun storyline, but fairly plain from a literary point of view. Not that it matters - I'll read all of them in the series for sure. (+)

The Condition, Jennifer Haigh

An easy moving novel perfect for a weekend read - amazing articulation of human insights and strong character/reader bonding. A tad heavy-handed in some of the foreshadowing, but not necessarily in an irritating way. Loved it. (+)

The Yiddish Policeman's Union, Michael Chabon

1/7/09

I'm on the fence for how I feel about alternate history novels - it feels as if its layered with inside jokes except we're all in on all of them. Perhaps it's the January ickies talking, but I think that maybe if I hadn't loved Kavalier & Clay so much, I may not have finished this. It's great in all the ways that Chabon is great - awesome detail, cultural insight and dry humor - but somewhere in the 2nd half it became a derivative of a grocery store suspense novel. (0)