Un-Book Club Book

I believe a more traditional person would call this a book read for leisure.

Back in January, I presented a list of book suggestions to my book club for our March book. The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan was on my list; it wasn't picked. A few months later another book club member suggested it as well; again it wasn't picked. But she had brought a physical copy with her to book club. I mentioned how I had really wanted to read it and she let me borrow it.

This was back in April, in the midst of our packing and moving process thus I didn't read it in a very timely fashion. However I finished it over the weekend.

The full title of the book describes clearly the book's contents - The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl. In all honesty, I was not very familiar with The Dust Bowl. I had heard of it and knew it occured during The Great Depression, but outside of that didn't know much and certainly hadn't realized how long it lasted!

Throughout the book, Timothy Egan follows several families across Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and New Mexico at the end of the wheat boom and the vast plowing of the native grasses in order to have more land to cultivate. When the land enters a multi-year drought these same families lose without viable crops are forced to live without income for several years, selling the majority of their belongings to keep their land. All the while the land they had plowed turned to dust and blew continually forming dust storms that at times blacked out the sun and reached as far as the East Coast. People of the Great Plains died of dust pnemonia and their farm animals starved; their insides literally filled with dust.

Throughout the book the author discusses the causes of the dust bowl - and while nature did play a role with a drought, which was not a-typical to the region, the true cause was human interference. The grasslands of the plains were not intended to be farmland; they were best suited as they had been - grasslands.

It is a very interesting book and opened my eyes to a period of time I didn't know much about. I might end up buying my own copy to read again (mostly because my water bottle leaked on the one I borrowed and feel badly giving it back in that condition). So if you want to borrow my copy, let me know... :)

Book Club: Kafka on the Shore

This month's book was... well... strange.

I can't say I didn't like the book. It was a page-turner and once I got started, I felt like I couldn't put it down. Though, when I finished it I was relieved. The book contains quite a bit of adult content, which frankly made me uncomfortable. Especially since I read the book during our Chicago vacation.

All in all, it was super weird and a book I would never have ordinarily read, but a prime example of why I am in a book club.

For me, book club is an opportunity to:
1. Read books
2. Read books I would never otherwise select
3. Discuss the book with friends

If you want a taste of how odd the book is, read the first two paragraphs of this summary from January Magazine.

Book Club: Kindred

Our May Book was Kindred by Octavia E Butler.

The book itself is about slavery in Maryland in the 1800s.
But here's the twist: the book is Science Fiction. Unexpected, right?! I know! That's what I thought.

The story starts with Dana (an African American woman) and her husband Kevin (a white man) in 1976. They are in the process of unpacking when Dana gets dizzy and is pulled into Maryland circa the 1800s.

She rescues a drowning boy from the river, Rufus, who turns out to be her great-great-great.... grandfather. After the rescue Rufus' dad puts a gun to Dana's head, Dana gets scared and dizzy and *voila* she's back in her 1976 living room. Dana is wet and muddy which is Kevin's indicator that she really did disappear and go to 1800-Maryland.

Throughout the book she is pulled several times to rescue Rufus and each time, months or years have passed for him, while in Dana’s own time only hours or days have passed. On one of her trips, Kevin grabs hold of Dana as she begins to feel dizzy and is transported along with her to the 1800s. Ultimately he ends up trapped in that era for several years, which takes a significant toll on him.

Once you are past that randomness of time travel, the story itself is really good. It provided a very different perspective of slavery - not quite from the slave view nor the slave owners. It was more of a birds-eye view where the key players getting sucked into that time frame. In all, it was a very interesting, worthwhile, quick read.

*At book club we wondered what became of Dana and Kevin's relationship after this ordeal. It seemed strained, so I would be interested to see how things turned out for them.

Book Club II: In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto

The book club I was just invited to selected In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan as their April Book choice. Lucky for me, my original book club had picked this book for our January read.

Overall it is an educational book, or at least it was for me. The basic idea is: eat pure foods. If the food wasn't alive or directly derived from something that was living at one point, don't eat it. When buying prepared foods, the fewer ingredients listed the better the food probably is for you.

Did I change my food choices as a result of reading the book? No.
Do I buy organic? No, because I am cheap.
Have I increased my fruit/vegetable intake? Yes. However this change is unrelated to the book.
Does it make me think about the foods I eat? Yeah, sometimes. I think about it more with light, fat free or low-cal products. Only because I wonder how did they make it fat free and what was added to make it "healthy."
Is there anything I want to change or do as a result of reading this book? Yes. I kind of want to subscribe to a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm. As a member you receive weekly deliveries of sustainably grown produce during the standard growing season (June-October).

At book club we barely discussed the book, but that's okay. It was a great excuse to get together and meet new people (and talk to some I don't see often enough). I asked to become a permanent add and am excited to find out what the book is for next month.

Book Club: The Monsters of Templeton

Our April Book was The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff.

In short I liked it! I thought it was a fun read - light and breezy, but still interesting.

The book is about a girl (Willie) who returns to her home town after a 'mishap' at graduate school. Then Willie's hippie mother lets it slip that Willie is not the love child of an unknown man from San Francisco, but instead was fathered by a man from her small town. The remaining story involves Willie's intense research to identify her real father.

Oh yeah - and did I mention that the day she arrives back to the town a huge monster (similar to Loch Ness) is discovered dead in the lake? Well, there's that too.

But I swear it is a good book. Don't let the monster throw you off... it's worth the read.

Book Club: March Book

I am not an avid reader however in an attempt to read more I joined a book club last August. The book club contains a few friends and then a lot of others I hadn't met. It's been really fun to get to know more everyone and expand my circle.

Thus far I have attended all monthly meetings and in all but one instance, have read the book. (The book I didn't finish in time was The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao; I have since read it.)

We select our books two months in advance. In January I presented the list of book suggestions for March and Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell was chosen. My brother loaned me a copy several years ago and I had never read it. So I was pretty excited when the book picked was one I already had on hand. Plus, I think my brother was pumped he would finally get his copy back.
The book is based George Orwell's descent into poverty while living in Paris and London. For a nice summary, check out Wikipedia.

I thought it was a good read with an interesting perspective. I certainly walked away with an altered view of restaurants and vagrants. Also, I learned that a sanatorium does not equal an insane asylum (Whoops! I thought they were synonymous…). Now I just need to give my brother his copy back and we can chat about it.

*Also, I just got invited to a different book club. It is all ladies, wives or friends of Rich's from college. I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep up with two books a month, but it should be fun!