Tuesday, April 04, 2006
All Over Creation
Last night was book club night. This was my favorite book so far: All Over Creation by Ruth Ozeki. Two of the themes in the book really spoke to me. The first was about modern agriculture and the use of pesticides and GMO’s, but it wasn’t preachy and put a human face to these topics. The second, was about leaving your childhood home and becoming a different person and returning later. The book generated a great discussion and as a serendipitous surprise, the New York Times Magazine last week had a cover story by Michael Pollan, whose book The Botany of Desire influenced Ruth Ozeki to write All Over Creation. And, coincidentally, when looking up the hyperlink for Michael Pollan, I discovered that he also wrote the New York Times’s article about how cattle are raised, which totally changed the way I eat.
Next time, it is my turn to host and so I got to choose the book we’ll be reading. Actually, I chose three books and then everyone voted. My picks were: Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, Perfect Madness by Judith Warner, and Veronica by Mary Gaitskill. And the winner was…Perfect Madness. Check back in mid-May to hear how it went.
--Kelly