One of my favorite bookstores burned down last weekend, and while I only got to visit there while I was on vacation, it made me stop and think.

What would you do if, all of a sudden, your favorite source of books was unavailable?

Whether it’s a local book shop, your town library, or an internet shop … what would you do if, suddenly, they were out of business? Devastatingly, and with no warning? Where would you go for books instead? What would you do? If it was a local business you would try to help out the owners? Would you just calmly start buying from some other store? Visit the library in the next town instead? Would it be devastating? Or just a blip in your reading habit?

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I would struggle to find another book source. It would break my heart if any of my favorite book shops closed down. While I do shop for books at national chains like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Borders, I prefer to shop at independent, local book stores. I would try to help out the owners if I could because I think that things from our communities should be given a chance to grow, bloom, and rebuild.

“I awoke to find myself (t)here.”

This line appeared throughout the book. Usually, it broke up various sections. The concept of time is challenged. The narrator is in prison, but he has recollections of adventures with friends, time at the university, moments with his grandmother, and the only person who he addresses as you—the woman he loves.

*Spoiler alert*

As I was reading the last section, I felt so happy that he was out of prison. When I got to the last paragraph, I felt dread. As I read the last page, I was SO sad! I suppose current times suggest that a happy ending in the prison of a war torn country is unlikely. However, I was still hoping for some positive resolution.

*Spoiler over*

I thought this book was insightful and incredibly honest about life in an Iraqi prison during Saddam’s reign. It reminded me of Memoirs from a Women’s Prison in how the restriction of ideas and expression are one of the worst prisons of all.

Recommend to a friend? YES! As wars continue all over the world, I think it is good to broaden our perspectives of various cultures. One way to do this is through reading; maybe it will help to remind of us of how universal some things are—the desire to love, be with our families, and feel free to express ourselves.

Other reviews:

• Care
• Fizzy Thoughts
• B&b Exlibris

*If you have reviewed this book on your blog or another site, please leave a link in the comments and I will add it to this entry*

I read this book for the Orbis Teeravm Challenge

I posted about the book in two Sunday Salon posts in which I expressed some of my other thoughts on the text. After I finished the book, I realized that I do believe in eating local, but as a person with limited budget, time, and land space, I find that challenging. One of the messages I am taking away from the book is how doing a little bit can make a big difference. In Seattle, I already shop at the local food co-op; although, I am not buying very much fresh produce. When I return to Seattle in the fall, I am thinking of asking Dude if he would want to share the cost of a vegetable and fruit box with me. When I move to Massachusetts, Partner to-be and I will likely get a box filled with vegetables and fruit from a local farm to help us eat better and support the local economy. While I am living with my family in Maryland, I just try to get produce and things (when I shop) from the closest destination. Unfortunately, this means that things are still coming from out of state, but I am trying to work within my circumstances for the summer.

Even though my family does not do a lot of “hard core” local shopping and eating, I do remember that my mother would take my brother and me to a pick your own farm when we were little. We had so much fun picking our own beans and other vegetables. She also had a garden in our old house and it was always a fun event to help plant. Weeding was not so much fun, but a good way to be outside. The tomatoes we picked always tasted better than the ones we would buy. My parents have moved into a new community which has weird rules, including one that says they cannot have a garden! How messed up is that?!?! In spite of the restriction, my brother has been growing jalapenos, tomatoes, eggplant, basil and bell pepper in various pots on the back porch. I am impressed that his rule breaking has lead to some fresh produce. One of my family’s favorite places to shop continues to be the Amish Farmer’s Market. All of the items come from Pennsylvania which is out of state, but we (or I guess my mother since she does most of the shopping) knows the vendors and how they produce the various items we consume. Again, the food always tastes better from produce to cheese to ice cream than most things we find at the general store.

My in-person book club meeting, the first one for me is over a year—I think, is on Sunday. For that meeting, I am in charge of preparing the meal. I am going to get ingredients from the Farmer’s Market and hopefully come up with something delicious. Of course, I am curious about how other people reacted to the book; I would especially like to find out what kind of food behavior and rituals they remember being modeled for them or participating in when they were little.

Recommend to a friend: YES.

Other reviews:

• The Inside Cover (She also has discussion questions)
• The Hidden Side of a Leaf
• Karen
• Melanie
• Laura
• A different Melanie!
• Alisia
• B & b Ex libris

*If you have reviewed this book, please leave a link to your review and I will add it to my post*

I am very slow with completing books this semester  SUMMER, so I thought that it would be fun to have a progress report of my reading.  This is an online reading group where all the participants set aside time to read every Sunday and blog about the experience.

I continued reading  Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. For those who do not know, AVM chronicles a family's quest to eat locally for year.  The twist is that the family is also trying to grow most of their own food.  I am almost finished with the book and I like the final chapter best.  She is starting to address some of the critics of the local food movement.  So far, her counter-argument is not very convincing to me, but I am hoping that I will get more as I continue.

Another thing which struck me as I was reading the book is how food is delivered in India.  In both Delhi and Hyderabad, each morning a man would come on his bicycle with fresh produce. He would then yell the names of the various items.  If people in the homes wanted anything, they would come downstairs or yell the order to him.  Most non-perishable items are in a grocery store. However, most of the food shopping that was done while we were there took place in open farmer market type places or bicycle exchange.  There has been an increase in the number of traditional supermarkets which has influenced how people cook.  However, this does not mean that produce is available year round.  My father asked for radish filled parathas; my aunt had to "go all over the countryside" to find the radishes.  My mother and I were frustrated with my father at making such a request; however, that is a story for another day.

Overall, I am enjoy the book. However, I certainly find myself annoyed with the writer at various points.  One particular passage which irked me was her take on being a vegetarian.  I have only been a lacto-ovo vegetarian (this means that I eat diary and eggs, but no meat) for a little over a year; my Partner to-be has been one for most of his life. His reasons are religious and economic.  My reasons are economic and my agreement to create a vegetarian home and raise vegetarian children.  I think that Kingsolver has valid points and arguments about why to not be vegetarian; I also think that knowing where everything you put into your body comes from is important whether or not you consume meat.  However, I felt annoyed by her tone in that passage. 

As the book has continued, I find myself looking forward to Camille's passages more and more.  Her writing feels very welcoming and offers more insight on how to function "in the real world" with the desire to eat locally.  Her parents have an advantage of living a pretty insular life which I think makes it easier for them to eat locally.  Overall, I am enjoying the book and look forward to seeing how it ends.

1. If you participate in any challenges, get organized! Update your lists, post about any you haven’t mentioned, add links of reviews to your lists if you do that, go to the challenge blog if there is one and post there, etc.

2. If you don’t participate in any challenges, then join one! There’s a good selection of possibilities over on my right hand sidebar (scroll down) where I list those I participate in. There’s also A Novel Challenge, a blog that keeps track of all sorts of reading challenges.

3. Towards the end of the week, write a wrap-up post about getting your challenges organized OR if you’re joining your first challenge, post about that any time during the week. Once you have your post up, come back and sign Mr Linky with the link to the specific post, not just to your blog.

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The first thing I did to get organized was to put "tags" on all the posts I had written about the challenges. This helped me figure out that I am participating in four challenges.  Fortunately, I have read something for each one.  Organizing the challenges into one post helped me feel more focused and not so behind.  I am going to provide updates on the challenges in the same order in which I joined.

1. 1. What is in a Name?: In order to complete this challenge, I need to read six books with certain words in the title.  While I have made the most progress on this challenge, I have had the most "switches" with my selections.  In spite of the switch-a-roo, I have completed four of the categories.
3. 2. Chunkster Challenge: In order to complete the challenge, I need to read four chunksters. To qualify the book must be 450 pps regular type OR 750 pps large text.  I have actually read two selections for this challenge which means that I am halfway finished. 
5. 3. The Neustadt  Challenge: In order to complete the challenge, I need to read three books from the Neustadt award winner list.  The challenge finishes in August which means that I need to hustle my bustle to complete the remaining two books.

1. 4. Orbis Teeravm Challenge: In order to complete the challenge, I need to read nine different books written by nine different authors from nine different countries.  The challenge finishes in December and I do not even have all of my books selected! On the plus side, I have finished two books for this challenge.  I need to crank through the remaining seven books which is going to be extra tough for me once law school begins again in September; however, I remain hopeful.

I have noticed that the challenges I began earlier are the ones for which I have made the most progress; funny how that works :)

It’s a holiday weekend here in the U.S., so let’s keep today’s question simple–What are you reading? Anything special? Any particularly juicy summer reading?

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I am currently reading, Animal, Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.  It is not particularly juicy, but it is very informative.  Since I am traveling by plane this weekend, I may even finish this book before I land. Fortunately, I packed a few other books for the weekend.  Next up, I will either read White Oleander or I'jaam; we shall see what the literary universe brings to my hands.

1. The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire , J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved , Toni Morrison (1987)
4. The Liars' Club , Mary Karr (1995)
5. American Pastoral , Philip Roth (1997)
6. Mystic River , Dennis Lehane (2001)
7. Maus , Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
8. Selected Stories , Alice Munro (1996)
9. Cold Mountain , Charles Frazier (1997)
10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle , Haruki Murakami (1997)
11. Into Thin Air , Jon Krakauer (1997)
12. Blindness , José Saramago (1998)
13. Watchmen , Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
14. Black Water , Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius , Dave Eggers (2000)
16. The Handmaid's Tale , Margaret Atwood (1986)
17. Love in the Time of Cholera , Gabriel García Márquez (1988)
18. Rabbit at Rest , John Updike (1990)
19. On Beauty , Zadie Smith (2005)
20. Bridget Jones's Diary , Helen Fielding (1998)
21. On Writing , Stephen King (2000)
22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao , Junot Díaz (2007)
23. The Ghost Road , Pat Barker (1996)
24. Lonesome Dove , Larry McMurtry (1985)
25. The Joy Luck Club , Amy Tan (1989)
26. Neuromancer , William Gibson (1984)
27. Possession , A.S. Byatt (1990)
28. Naked , David Sedaris (1997)
29. Bel Canto , Anne Patchett (2001)
30. Case Histories , Kate Atkinson (2004)
31. The Things They Carried , Tim O'Brien (1990)
32. Parting the Waters , Taylor Branch (1988)
33. The Year of Magical Thinking , Joan Didion (2005)
34. The Lovely Bones , Alice Sebold (2002)
35. The Line of Beauty , Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
36. Angela's Ashes , Frank McCourt (1996)
37. Persepolis , Marjane Satrapi (2003)
38. Birds of America , Lorrie Moore (1998)
39. Interpreter of Maladies , Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)
40. His Dark Materials , Philip Pullman (1995-2000)
41 . The House on Mango Street , Sandra Cisneros (1984)
42. LaBrava , Elmore Leonard (1983)
43. Borrowed Time , Paul Monette (1988)
44. Praying for Sheetrock , Melissa Fay Greene (1991)
45. Eva Luna , Isabel Allende (1988)
46. Sandman , Neil Gaiman (1988-1996)
47. World's Fair , E.L. Doctorow (1985)
48. The Poisonwood Bible , Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
49. Clockers , Richard Price (1992)
50. The Corrections , Jonathan Franzen (2001)
51. The Journalist and the Murderer , Janet Malcom (1990)
52. Waiting to Exhale , Terry McMillan (1992)
53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay , Michael Chabon (2000)
54. Jimmy Corrigan , Chris Ware (2000)
55. The Glass Castle , Jeannette Walls (2006)
56. The Night Manager , John le Carré (1993)
57. The Bonfire of the Vanities , Tom Wolfe (1987)
58. Drop City , TC Boyle (2003)
59. Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat (1995)
60. Nickel & Dimed , Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
61. Money , Martin Amis (1985)
62. Last Train To Memphis , Peter Guralnick (1994)
63. Pastoralia , George Saunders (2000)
64. Underworld , Don DeLillo (1997)
65. The Giver , Lois Lowry (1993)
66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again , David Foster Wallace (1997)
67. The Kite Runner , Khaled Hosseini (2003)
68. Fun Home , Alison Bechdel (2006)
69. Secret History , Donna Tartt (1992)
70. Cloud Atlas , David Mitchell (2004)
71. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down , Ann Fadiman (1997)
72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time , Mark Haddon (2003)
73. A Prayer for Owen Meany , John Irving (1989)
74. Friday Night Lights , H.G. Bissinger (1990)
75. Cathedral , Raymond Carver (1983)
76. A Sight for Sore Eyes , Ruth Rendell (1998)
77. The Remains of the Day , Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
78. Eat, Pray, Love , Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
79. The Tipping Point , Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
80. Bright Lights, Big City , Jay McInerney (1984)
81. Backlash , Susan Faludi (1991)
82. Atonement , Ian McEwan (2002)
83. The Stone Diaries , Carol Shields (1994)
84. Holes , Louis Sachar (1998)
85. Gilead , Marilynne Robinson (2004)
86. And the Band Played On , Randy Shilts (1987)
87. The Ruins , Scott Smith (2006)
88. High Fidelity , Nick Hornby (1995)
89. Close Range , Annie Proulx (1999)
90. Comfort Me With Apples , Ruth Reichl (2001)
91. Random Family , Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)
92. Presumed Innocent , Scott Turow (1987)
93. A Thousand Acres , Jane Smiley (1991)
94. Fast Food Nation , Eric Schlosser (2001)
95. Kaaterskill Falls , Allegra Goodman (1998)
96. The Da Vinci Code , Dan Brown (2003)
97. Jesus’ Son , Denis Johnson (1992)
98. The Predators' Ball , Connie Bruck (1988)
99. Practical Magic , Alice Hoffman (1995)
100. America (the Book) , Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)

I am very slow with completing books this semester  SUMMER, so I thought that it would be fun to have a progress report of my reading.  This is an online reading group where all the participants set aside time to read every Sunday and blog about the experience.

I missed a few Sunday Salon posts because I was in India, but during my trip I finished reading She's Come Undone.  Towards the end of my trip, I started reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver which I continued today.  For those who do not know, AVM chronicles a family's quest to eat locally for year.  The twist is that the family is also trying to grow most of their own food. 

At first glance, the objective of eating completely local food seems far fetched.  Sprinkled throughout the book are tidbits about how to make eating more local food a part of your daily routine. Steven Hopp, one of Kingsolver's co-authors, provides resources for more information about various aspects of food production and consumption.  Camille Kingsolver, the other co-author, gives a younger person's perspective and provides recipes. Her pieces are actually my favorite because she provides a meal plan and recipes that incorporate a lot of ingredients.  On the website, the recipes are actually organized by season which makes it easier to figure out what food items are in season if you are not growing your own food or a person who visits farmers markets on a regular basis.

This book is a selection for two book clubs in which I am participating in, one online at Inside Cover and one in-person in Atlanta.

The book is a memoir of Dolores Price whose intense emotional journey includes gaining weight and losing weight while she becomes emotionally healthy. I could certainly relate to the way weight gain and intense emotional events are related. When I first picked up the book, I did not realize how many sad and horrible things would happen; I found the book hard to get through. However, I could not stop reading because I wanted resolution so badly.  From spending so much time around relatives in India who have such a strong vision of what a successful woman looks like, I also found myself noting how easy it is to create an imaginary version of yourself.  In the novel, Dolores pretends to be "perfect" in order to have a relationship with a "perfect" man.  There are certainly moments in various relationships where I have stretched and thinned the truth.  Finally, I was very impressed with the effectiveness of the main characters voice.  Throughout the novel, I could see the transformation as Dolores figures out how the various parts of her life come together and seeks closure and resolution.

Recommend to a friend: YES.

I read this book for two challenges:

Orbis Teeravm Challenge

Chunkster Challenge

I picked up Remembering Babylon by David Malouf  from the public library a little over a week ago. I decided to start reading it again from the beginning. I am glad that I got to take in the story in small chunks during my commute to and from work.  The story is very moving. It touches on themes of identity, belonging, and which way of being in the world is correct.  I had to stop reading a few times in the last chapter because I started crying and did not want to be embarrassed in public.  One of the things which adds complexity to the story telling and richness to the plot is that each chapter is told from a different characters point of you.  I charted my reading progress for this book through the Sunday Salon.  Before going to the airport, I dropped the book off at the library; no fines for me! I also read this book for two challenges:

The Neustadt  Challenge

Orbis Teeravm Challenge

Other reviews:

A Striped Armchair