Books, Books, Books!

I was up waaay too late last night trying to finish a book - like that's never happened before:) Now that I have a bit more free time, I've been tackling the precariously tall stack of books I've picked up at garage sales and the library used book table.

Last night I had to give up around midnight with only a hundred or so pages left in "Memoirs of a Geisha", by Arthur Golden. I'd resisted reading it for a long time because I've often found popular novels to be boring or just awful but I've been enchanted with the story. It's well told, and filled with fascinating bits of history...some of it said not to be quite true. And it's a bit depressing to be reminded of all the things women historically have had to do when men abandon them.

Tonight I'll finish those last hundred pages easily, and then it will be time to choose the next book from my stack. I wonder which one I'll choose?

Here are some recent selections I've enjoyed:

• "The Fellowship of the Ring" by JJR Tolkien - you may remember that my friend Madonna sent that one to me a while back...I'd forgotten how the books differ from the movies! It was nice to revisit Frodo and Sam and the gang.
• "High Country" by Nevada Barr - I enjoy the Anna Pigeon mysteries, each set in a different National Park. This one visited Yosemite, a park I have yet to see.
• "The Mastery of Love" by Don Miguel Ruiz _ don't ask me why I'm reading relationship books...I found it at the library used book table, and had enjoyed his "The Four Agreements" some time back.
• "The Grand Finale" by Janet Evanovich - not her best one, and pure fluff. Check out her Stephanie Plum novels for better reading.

As you can see, it's an eclectic reading list...just the kind I like.

Book Review: "Living Wild and Domestic"

It's an interesting experience to finish a book and think, "I could have done that myself." Of course, I couldn't have done it as well as Robert Kimber. He says things I think with far greater skill than I even manage to think them. I found his book, "Living Wild and Domestic - The Education of a Hunter-Gardener" at the library while browsing the shelves. It looked interesting, so I added it to my pile of take-homes. And read all the others first.

Rarely does a hunter express the dichotomy of loving to hunt while hating to kill with anything approaching Kimber's finesse. Anyone who hunts successfully knows the dilema. There is - or should be - a bit of sadness attending to putting game on the table. It's a serious thing to take a life, even when it's going in the stew pot. It's the same with animals raised for meat. To get dinner on the table, the animal has to die.

Even an unrepentant carnivore like me wants some vegetables to go with the steak. Kimber's wife is the gardener in his equation. It's been about 5 years since I've been able to plant a garden...I miss it. Growing your food makes you responsible for your dinner in a way that going to the grocer does not. The care put into digging, planting and tending is revealed in the harvest. The big thing I miss about Missouri is standing in the garden in the hottest day of summer with fresh tomato juice dripping off my elbow as I eat the first Brandiwine right there.

If you are concerned about your food, where it comes from, and how it gets to the plate, this is a good book to read. If you hunt and/or grow your own food (animal or vegetable) it will sort out your feelings about your actions. If you buy all your food, it might help you understand why some of us do it ourselves.