The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd – got this one at the Austin Library Recycled Reads book store for $1 after hearing a lot about it. I thought it was not worth the hype. I know a lot of people whove said they’ve loved it, but I thought it was ok.  I didn’t think it was written extremely well and it had a  lot of cliches in it, and it was predictable. It would probably be good for a teenager or pre-teen to read though.

Karl Marlantes’ Matterhorn, which I read about in this NPR review of under the radar reads, was one of the best books I’ve read in years. I reserved it at the library and didn’t know much about the book before I started reading it other that it dealt with the Vietnam War. I’ve never read a war book, and I thought I wouldn’t enjoy it so much once I read the book cover and actually realized that it was purely a war book, but it was so good that at times, I couldn’t put it down. There were a lot of characters in this book, and they were all guys, so it was hard to keep track of them, and there was a lot of marine lingo (although there was a vocabulary reference at the back of the book, which I discovered halfway though), but I stuck with it and learned a lot about the war, and also the book really helped me to empathize with the men who fought in that war in a deeper way than I had before. The book is written by a marine who served in Vietnam and he did a phenomenal job capturing what it was like there, down to the nitty gritty of dealing with leaches and the humidity.

All that Follows by Jim Crace, which a friend recommended to me.  I had a hard time getting into this book because I couldn’t relate to the main character at all, but as I kept reading I started to understand him better, and even though we don’t have a lot in common, the author did such a good job developing the main character’s personality that I could empathize with him by the end of the book. Plus part of the book takes place in Austin so that’s interesting. It took me about half way through the book to get into it, but once I did, I really enjoyed it.

The Girl Who Played with Fire, by Stieg Larsson. It seems like everyone is reading these books now so I read the first one just to be in the loop, and now I’ve checked out the 2nd book from the library. I think they are interesting, quick reads, but not great literature and I didn’t take much away from the first one, and I doubt I will with the 2nd one.  But they aren’t very complicated and are entertaining. Technically I only read 1/3 of this one before my month of riding the bus ended.

So there you have it – I was able to read 3 132 books in 1 month that I otherwise would have taken ~10 months to read. Hurray for the bus!

*not to sound like a cranky old person, but green/reading benefits or not, if Cap Metro raises the price over $63 a month for an express pass, I’m not sure I’ll ride it any more.

I have been using Howard Garrett’s book “Texas Organic Vegetable Gardening: The Total Guide to Growing Vegetables, Fruits, Herbs, and Other Edible Plants the Natural Way” ever since I started getting semi-serious about gardening this summer. It’s very useful- every common vegetable and fruit are covered alphabetically, and for each one, the book describes when to plant, what kind of soil treatments to use, and has a page of common problems for that particular plant (for example, plant not producing fruit, or plant covered in white spots), with the possible causes listed for each problem (for example, a certain disease or pest), followed by a solution (often treatment with materials you can easily find or make in your home, like compost, garlic, and red pepper).  The book also has a section on organic additives, a section on common pests, and a section on beneficial insects.  I found it very helpful and liked it so much that I am going to buy a used copy online (I checked out my copy from the library). 

Even if you’re not totally committed to organic gardening, it’s useful if you’re new to gardening in Texas because it has Texas-specific planting times and Texas-specific pests, which I found very helpful.

not my garden, but so pretty!

photo credit

“Most simply put, someone who regularly eats factory-farmed animal products cannot call himself an environmentalist without divorcing that word from its meaning.”

Jonathan Safran Foer, acclaimed author of the novels Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, has written a hard-hitting, well-researched non-fiction book about the animal farming industry. This book is at once a damning look at the horrors of factory farming, a sentimental memoir, and a hesitant approval of smaller, more humane farms. Foer’s motivation for delving into this topic was the birth of his first son, which forced him to think about the morality and health effects of eating animals. Needless to say, he found all sorts of horrifying facts. While the book feels like it’s a bit all over the place, he does a good job of weaving his research into his personal stories and the stories of the many people he interviewed. Also, Foer’s novel-writing talents are helpful in keeping you engaged and interested to see what he will discuss next.

I tried to read this book with an eye for how non-vegetarians might take it, because I feel like selling this kind of book only to vegetarians is a bit like preaching to the choir. It helped me in providing more motivation for the vegetarian diet I am already practicing, but for those who aren’t already committed to it, how would they take this? At first, I felt like Foer’s bias was pretty clear–he’s been a vegetarian on and off since he was a little kid. Obviously, Foer is not your average meat-eating American, and his predisposition is apparent in that respect. But by the end of the book, it is  nearly impossible to see how anyone wouldn’t  find his uncompromising attitude justified. There are just too many mind-boggling facts to ignore, all of them documented in the extensive notes section. Foer explores all the reasons why factory farming is negatively impacting the earth– the drastic contributions to global warming, the horrible working conditions and the sadism it causes in factory farm workers, the scary health effects of the overuse of antibiotics, the disgusting reality and the environmental impact of having all that feces in one place caused by animals being placed in the worst conditions imaginable, and the unfairness of the plight of the small farmer trying to make a more humane system work in a world dominated by huge food industry. All of it is a bit overwhelming but undeniable.

In sum, this is a book that will educate and challenge you, which I understand is uncomfortable for most people, but, as Foer points out, if we turn our heads away from the mistreatment of animals, of workers, of our food, and of the environment, then we are willingly ignoring something that will have drastically negative effects on our future. As Foer puts it, “Just how destructive does a culinary preference have to be before we decide to eat something else? If contributing to the suffering of billions of animals that live miserable lives and (quite often) die in horrific ways isn’t motivating, what would be? If being the number one contributor to the most serious threat facing the planet (global warming) isn’t enough, what is? And if you are tempted to put off these questions of conscience, to say not now, then when?”

The book  was really informative especially if you are a new homeowner and need new appliances, or a new heater, for example, and was very thorough about describing available products.  It would be a great reference book to have on hand if you were looking to do some home repairs or updates.  And there were some good tips in Chapter 1 “Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle” which included the links for websites where you can swap books, video games, and clothes (paperbackswap.com, goozex.com, and swapstyle.com), as well as interesting links for recycling old batteries, cell phones, and electronic gadgets (cellphonesforsoldiers.com, myboneyard.com, secondrotation.com).  I think he also did a good job of making environmental choices approachable to regular people and recognizing that people can make small changes to help the planet like changing their shower heads, looking for clothes made from eco-responsible fabric, or switching to nontoxic cleaning supplies and more earth-friendly personal care products.

My criticism of the book was that for me, there weren’t a lot of budget saving tips that were new to me.  I already have the water heater set low and keep the thermostat in the house low in the winter and higher in the summer. I bought used books in college or checked them out from the library.  And I realize that taking the bus can save money and is better for the environment than driving my car to work each day (although it doesn’t have as much money now that Capitol Metro has raised rates).  I guess there weren’t a lot of tips in the book that were new to me that I could implement, which was a little disappointing.  And some of the ideas, like putting in solar panels, were just way too expensive for most people to afford, including myself at this point in life.

What struck me most was that the majority of the tips were about more things you can buy to make the environment better.   But I know it’s more exciting to read about and imagine what kind of new car or refrigerator I can buy rather than reading about reusing things.  The whole book was a little too focused on the consumerism aspect of the green movement.  One tip Dorfman didn’t give was that you should get your books from the local library (or download it to a Kindle), because when you buy a book, there’s a chance you won’t like it enough to keep for more than 5 years, at which point it may end up in someone else’s home, or it may end up in the trash or recycling.  And in 5 years, The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget will be somewhat dated since all of the appliances/cars etc. Dorfman is describing will no longer be the most environmental choice on the market. At any rate, I recommend checking it out at the library for a quick and informative read.