http://www.goodreads.com/user/updates_rss/593030 en-US Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:03:42 -0700 60 http://www.goodreads.com/ 200 41 http://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/gr_logo.gif 31660248 Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:03:42 -0700 Review27514568 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/27514568 The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story (Hardcover) by Diane Ackerman
]]> 29480846 Sun, 29 Jun 2008 08:23:11 -0700 Review25818990 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/25818990 Diego Rivera: The Detroit Industry Murals (Hardcover) by Linda Bank Downs
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> 29480690 Sun, 29 Jun 2008 08:21:36 -0700 Review25818873 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/25818873 The Painter of Battles: A Novel (Hardcover) by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
bookshelves: to-read
]]> 29480620 Sun, 29 Jun 2008 08:21:04 -0700 Review25818816 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/25818816 Prodigal Summer: A Novel (Paperback) by Barbara Kingsolver
bookshelves: to-read
]]> 29480556 Sun, 29 Jun 2008 08:20:37 -0700 Review25818765 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/25818765 Final Theory: A Novel (Hardcover) by Mark Alpert
bookshelves: to-read
]]> 29480534 Sun, 29 Jun 2008 08:20:11 -0700 Review25818745 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/25818745 How the States Got Their Shapes (Hardcover) by MARK STEIN
bookshelves: to-read
]]> 29480483 Sun, 29 Jun 2008 08:19:54 -0700 Review25818705 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/25818705 Beijing Coma: A Novel (Hardcover) by Ma Jian
bookshelves: to-read
]]> 29391210 Sat, 28 Jun 2008 09:49:00 -0700 Review21974330 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/21974330 to: Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally (Hardcover) by Alisa Smith
bookshelves: food, memoir-biography, nonfiction
This memoir of this couple's experience eating only foods grown within 100 miles of their home did a great job explaining the challenges and the rewards of their decision.

I couldn't imagine this 100-mile diet being very easy to accomplish and I was glad to read that at times, the practicioners didn't either. Their epic struggle to locate local wheat, for example, or the potato-closet-ajar crisis seemed like easily unforeseen issues. It was nice that they lived their lives as much as normal as they could, that they noticed and noted when their diet changed their normal habits so that at the end, there wasn't a big "TA-DA! See? There's nothing to it! Jump on board!"

Both of the authors are journalists and I liked that they alternated writing chapters. It was refreshing to see things from both sides, one gung-ho, the other craving pineapple, etc and to watch those alternate viewpoints progress.

This was an easy read that definitely piques one's curiosity of making a local food commitment. ]]> 29121544 Thu, 26 Jun 2008 08:07:31 -0700 Review25535545 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/25535545 to: Gang Leader for a Day CD (Audio CD) by Sudhir Venkatesh
bookshelves: adventure-, audiobooks, memoir-biography, nonfiction
The audiobook does a great job of capturing sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh's seven-year experience hanging out at the Robert Taylor Housing Projects in Chicago as the personal guest of a local gang leader.

The story of how Sudhir (foolishly) first wandered into Robert Taylor and had the guts to return again the next day is fascinating and defines the qualities that bring him back day after day: basic curiosity, the need to understand and plain awe at survival in the ghetto. He spends years befriending gang members, tenants and community leaders while earning his Ph.D in sociology and the book does a good job recounting his observations as well as his often-baffled inner dialogue.

This book easily kept me enthralled for the same reason the projects captured Sudhir's interest. It is dumbfounding to discover how an underground society functions, to understand how the people live in it and to see it through the eyes of a young sociologist. ]]> 29121439 Thu, 26 Jun 2008 07:25:22 -0700 Review25535464 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/25535464 Assassin's Accomplice, The (Audio CD) by Kate Clifford Larson
bookshelves: currently-listening
]]>