false 17 112 100 true 5646431 read 0 true 1718948 currently-reading 12 true 1718947 to-read http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/22224497 to: Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table (Paperback) by Ruth Reichl
Ruth Reichl is the NY Times restaurant critic and former editor-in-chief of the now defunct Gourmet magazine. I loved her stories about growing up with a somewhat crazy mother who once sent over 70 guests at her son's wedding to the hospital with food poisoning and who shipped Ruth off to boarding school in Montreal after Ruth expressed the desire to learn French. How Ruth went from an upbringing like that to gourmet chef and food connoisseur is the subject of this book. While I loved her stories of her childhood (which I would rate a 4 or even a 5), I found the stories of her college and early marriage days, when she pretty much lived commune-style and embodied the subculture of the 1960s, less interesting (the reason for the 3 rating). ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79482692 to: The End of Food (Hardcover) by Paul Roberts
This is somewhat of a repeat of Michael Pollan's excellent books on food production and consumption, but with more focus on international food markets, politics, and food distribution. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more had I not already read two of Pollan's books. Still, it is good to be reminded that we should not take our food supply for granted, and neither should we be surprised by food-borne illnesses. I was particularly interested in a long section on "value-added foods," which includes any food that goes through processing that makes it easier to use and more expensive to buy. Roberts paints a gloomy picture of future food markets, and he makes an excellent case for smaller, local farms and farming that is based on much more than just yield per acre. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79481843 to: 180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day (Paperback) by Billy Collins
Earlier this year I was in the mood for poetry. I have several anthologies of the poets I read when I was in college, but I figured it was time to update. I am a fan of Billy Collins (former U.S. Poet Laureate) and his campaign to bring poetry back to the public school curriculum, which is part of why I chose this anthology of poems written by contemporary poets and compiled by Collins. I also used the highly literary method of browsing the ratings of poetry anthologies in Amazon.com as I considered which of the many options to purchase. Once I had the book in hand, I read a few poems at a time, turning down page corners of my favorites. My book has a lot of turned-down pages. There are also quite a few poems I would draw a big, fat X through with a black Sharpie. However, if you want a grand tour through approachable contemporary poetry, this anthology or another one compiled by Collins is a great place to start. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76082732 to: The Tipping Point (Paperback) by Malcolm Gladwell
The subtitle of this book is "How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference."

A "tipping point" is the moment when an idea, product, behavior, or trend crosses some invisible barrier and suddenly starts to spread, much like an epidemic. Gladwell analyzes the seemingly unimportant factors as well as types of people that cause something (teenage smoking habits, suicide rates, crime in a neighborhood, school violence, product sales, clothing trends, etc.) to "tip." Specifically, Gladwell talks about three types of people: the Connector who knows everyone, the Maven who knows an amazing amount of information, and the Salesman who is able to get others to see something in a new way. He also talks about the "stickiness" of ideas as an important factor in whether or not something tips.

While I thought there were many parts of this book that were rather one-sided (his argument that nuture is almost irrelevant in the face of nature, for example), there were many fascinating insights and much food for thought. I can see many applications not only to the world around me, but also to my own personal life and career. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/66178642 Barb's review of The Thirteenth Tale
by Diane Setterfield

I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one disappointed by this book. I expected something more along the lines of DuMaurier's "Rebecca." It didn't measure up. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75151102 to: The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court (Hardcover) by Jeffrey Toobin
This is a fascinating history of the Supreme Court from the Reagan administration on. Toobin covers the appointment of each justice and the background of most of their major decisions. He discusses the ideological shifts that have occurred during the last 30 years, and expresses what I thought was a fair and balanced opinion on each justice's role.

I now have a better understanding of why abortion has been such a pivotal concern ever since Roe v. Wade, along with other issues such as desegregation, affirmative action, religious freedom, the death penalty, gay rights, use of foreign law to make decisions, and other key issues of our time. However, far more interesting are Toobin's insights into the very diverse personalities of the justices themselves. He seems to like Clarence Thomas the least (pointing out, for example, that in the 2006 judicial year he did not ask one question of the arguing attorneys), but he gives grudging to extreme respect to every other judge, perhaps placing O'Connor at the top of his list.

I've had this book on my iPod for months, but have put off listening to it because it seemed outside my interest range. Now I am much more interested in the workings of the Court and its decisions. I'll be paying a lot more attention in the future, as well as looking for additional reading on the subject. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74792129 to: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (Hardcover) by John Boyne
Although I did really enjoy this book, I think I actually liked the movie better, which is rare for me, but there were several things that bothered me in the book that were not in the movie.

This is the story of an 8-year-old boy named Bruno from Berlin whose father is assigned to be the commandant of Auschwitz, only the naive little boy thinks it is called "Out-With" and that his dad's boss is "The Fury" (my first issue with the book, since this could only happen if the boy speaks English rather than German). From his bedroom window, he can see the camp in the distance, and eventually he sneaks over there and meets another 8-year-old boy named Schmuel through the fence, and they become fast friends. (Where are the prison guards while they spend hours together?)

It helps that Boyne calls this novel "A Fable." I don't think we are supposed to take it literally, but rather we are to look for the universal message, which is perhaps contained in the book's final tongue-in-cheek words: "And that's the end of the story of Bruno and his family.Of course all this happened a long time ago and nothing like that could ever happen again. Not in this day and age."

I did really like the true-to-life innocence of young Bruno, who just can't seem to comprehend that Schmuel's life is so drastically different than his own. I'm sure he is meant to represent each one of us in our naivete regarding the pain and suffering happening all over our world. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74791299 to: Sweetness in the Belly (Paperback) by Camilla Gibb
The memoir of a woman who was born to British parents, but after being orphaned at age 8, she was raised in a devout Muslim shrine in Morocco. Her journey takes her next to Ethiopia where the teaches the Koran to school children and falls deeply in love with an Ethiopian doctor who becomes involved in the overthrow of Haile Selassie's government. She is forced to flee to England without him, and does not know whether he lived or died in the revolution for over 15 years. The book is an interesting combination of history and self-discovery. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/72957979 to: The Engish American by Alison Larkin
Pippa Dunn was born in America but adopted by well-to-do British parents who gave her a wonderful home and life, but as an adult she craves knowledge of who she "really" is and seeks out her birth parents. She finds a crazy mother living in Georgia and working as an art promoter, and a mysterious father who might be a spy, might work for the CIA, or might be making money illegally from foreign governments. She quickly identifies with their looks and quirks, only to find out that she is more different from them than she thought.

After having read great reviews of this book and enjoying the beginning, I was disappointed by its entirety. In some ways it felt like a written-to-be-a-movie book, with somewhat over-exaggerated characters and events. I got irritated with Pippa "finding herself" in her birth parents. She was much more like them in looks and personality than I am like my mom or my kids are like me, and it felt stretched. Although not graphic, the casual sexual encounter with a man she hardly knew in America bothered me, as did her drooling over another British man she ALSO hardly knew (who turned out to be married with chldren). In t ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/72957570 to: The Good Thief (Hardcover) by Hannah Tinti
Part Oliver Twist, part Huckleberry Finn, this book is a rollicking story about a twelve-year-old, one-handed orphan named Ren who is adopted from a somewhat brutal group of monks by a con artist named Benjamin Nab who claims to be Ren's brother but really just needs an accomplice. (How is that for complicated?) The unusual setting is colonial New England.

Ren longs to know who his parents were and why he is missing one hand, and his journey with Nab is filled with discoveries of all kinds. More than knowing the past, however, Ren wants a family of his own, and he ends up making one out of the characters he meets and befriends.

Though often dark and ominous, such as in the description of a mousetrap factory and its evil owner with whom Ren and Nab become entangled, the book is balanced in intriguing ways by laughter, lightheartedness, and tenderness. A fun read. Once you get started, you'll have a hard time putting it down. ]]>