Greetings, Saloners!
My reading this week was all over the map: time, place, even genre. From historical fiction to non-fiction to High Art. I’m reeling from the shock! In the best possible way, of course.
Historical fiction
First, I started into The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett. It’s the first of a series, The Lymond Chronicles, that takes place in sixteenth-century Scotland. I’ve heard such good things about these books, and the historical period is fascinating. England is scheming to annex Scotland, and if they can’t do it through marriage (the infant Mary Queen of Scots to young King Edward VI, whom you may remember from The Prince and the Pauper) then they will do it by force. Yikes! All the noblemen must figure out how they will deal with this. Rebel? Join with England? Enter into the mix Francis Crawford of Lymond, an anti-hero almost as devilish as Flashy — and you’ve got a recipe for a terrific read. :-)
I was humming along quite happily with this book when all of a sudden I Iooked at the calendar and realized my book club was meeting next week. No, The Game of Kings was not our pick for this month! Alas, I had to set it down and get started, quickly, on something completely different. I went from sixteenth-century Scotland to present-day Appalachia, from historical fiction to memoir-diatribe-cookbook, in one fell swoop.
Non-fiction
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, as you’ve probably heard, is Barbara Kingsolver’s memoir of the year her family spent eating only locally-grown food.
I was a little nervous about reading this. The last time I read a book about food & diet, The China Study, I made my family go vegan. (We lasted almost a year.) Who knows what crazy thing I might foist on them after reading this?
I’m about a hundred pages into it. I’m learning a ton. I’m particularly fascinated with the things she says about botany and plant life cycles. I also was very interested to learn how we ever got the idea that it’s completely normal and natural to eat tomatoes in January, in the first place.
What I don’t like so much? It’s a little hard to read this and not feel rebuked. Not all of us live on a farm in fertile Appalachia. Not all of us have the means to turn around and start feeding our families almost entirely on home-grown produce. I hope that by the end of the book she will have given some advice to us regular people so we can do our part, too.
“High” Art
And last but not least, I renewed my friendship with Philippe Halsman’s Jump Book. I wrote about the book at length already, so I’ll just say this: he took photos of famous people… in mid-air! (At left, Peter Ustinov.) I followed up that post with some jumpshots of my extended family. You gotta see these, especially my 75yo dad. And I hope you’ll try taking some jumpshots yourself!
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Coming up next in my TBR stack: Matrimony, by Joshua Henkin, and oh! a collection of short stories: The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke, recommended by the inimitable Ella at Box of Books. (Susanna Clarke is the author of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which I loved.) And I have a graphic novel in line, too, that I think I might actually like.
Happy reading!
11 Comments
Oh my, I had completely forgotten about Philippe Halsman and his jumping
photos! I was in love with his stuff back in the 60s. He got some amazing
people to jump for him. You are so lucky to have that book.
I’ve tried taking my own jump shots over the years, but they never turned out
as good as yours – great job!
I felt the same way about AVM as you. Here are my thoughts about it this week:
http://beastmomma.squarespace.com/from-shelf-to-hand/2008/7/6/the-sunday-salon-16-animal-vegetable-miracle.html
Also, even though the book makes me feel a bit like “How can I do this?” I did feel curious about how to eat more local food.
interesting choices of books! i’ve read a lot of Barbara Kingsolver’s fiction. I didn’t know she had a memoir out… I’m gonna have to look for it!
JLS, thanks!
Beastmomma, thanks for the link. It looks like we do feel the same way! At the same time, though, I am also thinking about how to eat more locally. We already eat quite a bit of local produce, but I suppose I could shop at our farmer’s market more…
Nicki, I hope you enjoy it!
As a student, I feel limited in my time and financial resources. I wanted the book to help me figure out how to do more with less in my quest to eat local.
I can’t wait to talk about AVM tomorrow. If you want a great website (although a bit klunky to navigate) to find local food try http://www.localharvest.org You enter your zip code and can find all kinds of local farmers, produce and farmer’s markets around you. It is in the back of the book, but thought you might want to check it out.
Thanks for the tip!
I really want to read The Game of Kings – I’m eager to see what you think!
“Rebuked” is a great description! I also felt inadequate because my kids would NOT be willing and enthusiastic participants in such an endeavor. I laughed out loud at the part where the daughter’s friend, inspired by the family’s refusal to buy bananas, goes on to major in banana-rejecting or whatever. Given the same scenario, my kids’ friends would be making fun of me. Of course, my kids’ friends would never ask for a piece of fruit to begin with so I am reminded again that I simply don’t live on her planet.
Beastmomma, I wish AVM was about how to save time & money — if anything, it seems to be all about the opposite. :-P
Terri, thanks for that link; I’ll check it out.
Swapna, I seem to have ground to a hopefully-temporary halt with that one. I’ll keep you posted though, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on it if you get to read it.
Diana, neither would mine. Not in a million years. I laughed out loud when Kingsolver’s older daughter chose “dried fruit” as her exception. No, I don’t live on her planet either.