ewee (09/26): Shortcomings by Adrain Tomine

Those of you with long memories might recall that I read 10 issues of Optic Nerve and had the gall to count it as a book. Well, I'm gonna top that (the gall, that is). Tomine has finally finished the series and pulled the story he started in Optic Nerve #9 into a book. This is that book. And I'm counting it. Again.

Wait wait wait. Before you get all into a tizzy, I followed the rules. I started it (again) AFTER the Sept 8th 2007 start date, and finished it before the Sept 7th 2008 end date. So, true, some of it is a repeat. But it was worth the revisiting.

Tomine's story is agonizingly beautiful. The crisp drawings, the embarrassing truthfulness, the beauty (in spite of? because of?) all the squirmy truthfulness. I couldn't help but devour it. Tomine's protagonist, Ben Tanaka, is someone I feel like I already know...and loathe. And yet, there's an element of self-hatred and negativity that's all too familiar (thus the squirminess). It's all very real, and of course, I was taken in by all the deets from the bay area (one of my fave brekkie joints!). But what will happen now that Tomine is in the big apple? (And how much of this story is really real? Wait. Don't answer that. I don't wanna know.)

Eh, click any of the links above (in the title or text) for better reviews. Gorgeous, worth owning. And highly recommended as a Sunday evening read in your cosiest chair, while surrounded by dogs and love.

[Gentle readers might note that if I had found the last installment of Optic Nerve (#11) before I came across this book, I'd still be on book 8. But I'm hoping that our gentle readers will continue to be forgiving--especially as I'm still 3 books behind!]

ewee (08/26): In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

One more Michael Pollan book, and I'll admit I'm a groupie (and, yes, I've got my eye on The Botany of Desire next...). In the meantime, this was a good, albeit, lightweight follow-up to The Omnivore's Dilemma.

In Defense of Food offers a prescription (of sorts) for the dilemma presented in his previous book. It's a good fast read, tightly woven enough to keep you engrossed, and detailed enough to own, rather than borrow from a library (tho that does remind me, I need to get my copy of Omnivore back...)

As always, Pollan makes excellent observations and astonishing connections (from my notes--p.118: Industrial agriculture has made tremendous strides in getting more calories from the land, so why is there still hunger? and--p.166: Livestock creates more greenhouse gases than the entire transportation industry worldwide...). And in this book, he takes pity on us, the overwhelmed reader, and loosely constructs an outline of what it is we can eat. (The oft quoted intro: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.")

A couple tidbits to whet your appetite (so to speak):

"Culture, which, at least when it comes to food, is really just a fancy word for your mother."

"...historically, people have eaten for a great many reasons other than biological necessity. Food is also about pleasure, about community, about family, and spirituality...eating is as much about culture as it has been about biology."

"...[it's] worth keeping in mind...[that a] far more powerful predictor of heart disease than either diet or exercise is social class."

"Don't eat anything incapable of rotting."

"Don't eat anything that your great grandma wouldn't recognize."

"...a glass of wine a day is better for your health..." [ok, I admit that last one is taken out of context, but only slightly.]

No time to read the whole book? Try his article Unhappy Meals from the NYT (this article is the seed from which the book was born...).

In a full-circle-cool-web kinda way, this book takes me back to my original thanks to mahna mahna--it's because of him that I read Unhappy Meals, which lead me to discovering Omnivore, which lead to In Defense and perhaps onward to Botany...

And in a pass-it-forward kinda way, buy the book from your local friendly bookseller. Bookshops have it tough these days, and if you have one in your hood, give it plenty o' love.

(Stepping offa soapbox now...)

The Nine; Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin

Even if you have just a passing interest in the US Supreme Court, this book is NOT to be missed!  Toobin has given his readers an intimate view into the lives of the justices (from Earl Warren to Samuel Alito) by providing us with their detailed idiosyncrasies (from the mundane to the sublime) to explain the evolution (or devolution; see Bush v. Gore!) and existence of our rules and laws today.  

swingbeat 1/26: Acacia by David Anthony Durham

Wow, quite a while since posting :). Since George R. R. Martin is kind of on hiatus now (just realized I didn't blog for a LONG time).

I picked up this book when I saw it in the library - my favorite Teriyaki place is Acacia Teriyaki :). I read the back cover and noticed there were lots of comparisons to George R. R. Martin!!! Plus I jsut read the GRRM website, and he recommended this author to read :).

This book is an epic fantasy story (part 1 of 3 [hopefully]), about a king who gets assassinated and the effects on the country, conquerors, and his four children. Durham, the author, is a black man, one of few writing in this genre. This book is heavily intertwined with themese of drugs and slavery, something I'm sure he must have given lots of thought to. His world-building skills is close to being on par with Martin and Frank Herbert, and his prose is flowing, and I was able to read this 570+ page hardcover in a few days. The characters are very believable, although there were some actions that I felt were done simply to move the plot along. Finally, the pace was good - no dragging out actions in order to lengthen the story (I call it the "Lost" syndrome :) ).

Recommended. In a nice cozy chair.

My sign above says "Should be on book #11 or so!"

Ewee's on #7. I'm on #3.

Maybe we can corporately read 26 books in 52 weeks this year?

=p