Book Reviews 2009

I started way more books in 2009 than I finished and read a ton of magazines (my favorites and ones I got regularly in the mail last year include The Week, Sunset, Real Simple, Better Homes and Gardens). That's the type of year it was. I hope that 2010 bring more opportunities to read and perhaps better selections that I will want to finish.

The Taste of Sweet by Joanne Chen - This was probably the first book I read last year so it's been a long time and I tend to forget details of things I read or watch rather quickly. It's about sugar. Our relationships with it, the history of it and the science of it. It's a delicious piece of non-fiction. But don't read it if you made any sort of ridiculous resoution not to eat sugar. Unless you enjoy a challenge.

The Price We Paid by Andrew Olsen. This is a religious (LDS) non-fiction account of the Martin and Willie handcart pioneers and their tortuous trek from England to Utah. The author seperated the accounts of the two companies into different portions of the book, since they were seperate events (although generally classified as one event) and I was riveted by the first half and worn out by the second, but I still enjoyed this book as a whole. If you ever feel like you don't have enough material wealth or comfort, read this and you will be glad for whatever you do have. I promise (if you have a computer, or access to one and you are reading this post trust me - you have plenty). And while I would classify this as Mormon faith-promoting literature I think anyone who enjoys inspiring stories of human struggle and historical events would enjoy this book. Basically, even if you consider the Book of Mormon to be a work of fiction - this really happened. And I was truly inspired by the courage and strength of the men and women (especially the women! imagine giving birth on the side of a frozen road!) in this account.

(Photo Above) Julie and Julia by Julie Powell - My least favorite book I read this year. I took it on vacation and hadn't seen the movie but had heard good things so I bought it. It wasn't so bad that I didn't want to finish it and it's not that I disliked the story. The book would have an R rating by the way (for language and PG13 for sexual situations - just a warning). I disliked the writing and although I feel really bad about this I disliked the author by the end. But I did make the potage parmentier soup that I believe was the first Julia Child recipe she made. Anyway, I'm sure it was the easiest. It was really nice, but I don't think I will be making anything else from MtAoFC because it just seems a bit too complicated for this stage of my life. But I would eat anything from it anytime. And I am a bit interested in reading Julia Child's My Life in France, she and her husband seem like a hoot.

Note - Ben and I just watched the movie and I enjoyed it, I probably would have enjoyed it more had I not read the book first. It just made Ben hungry but I don't think he was that interested in losing sleep over it.

The Help by Katheryn Stockett. (non-fiction) The best most enthralling book I have read in a long time. Loved it loved it. Ben's mom and my mom recommended it and Leah sent me her copy to take on vacation (because there is nothing like reading a hardback on the beach) but I wasn't sure that I was going to be interested. The cover looks like an Amy Tan novel - I like Amy Tan I just wasn't sure that I was in the mood for that. It is about 1960's Mississippi, race relations, and sassy women. The story gives voice to three women - two black maids and one white girl just home from college. I can't say much more except just read it. I wished I had written it. I don't know anyone who has read it who didn't like it. I started it on the plane ride home from Turks and Caicos and barely said hi to my kids when I got home because I wanted to finish it. I hadn't devoured a book in less than 24 hours since Kite Runner.

Free-Range Chickens by Simon Rich. I picked this book up on a whim from the library kiosk. It's not what I thought it was going to be about - I thought it was going to be about chickens. It's a collection of jokes, or joke situations - I really don't know how to explain it. But I found it hilarious (irreverent at times) but hilarious. And a very very fast read - like you could read it in one hour. And then spend another hour reading it over your husbands shoulder as he reads it. I went ahead and got his first collection of joke stories and laughed through that one as well (although it has a few pages that are offensive in a raunchy way). It starts off with an imagined conversation with Abraham and Isaac on their way back from the attempted sacrifice/"camping trip" (excerpt - "Wow, there is nothing like camping! Cooking your own lamb, building your own pyre...and no women! Just a couple of guys in the woods, lighting fires, doing stuff, and keeping it between themselves! Speaking of which, did you ever notice how your mother sometimes gets ideas? I mean, she raised you and I love her, but she's a very nervous person. All I'm saying is sometimes it's all right not to tell her about certain things. Like GUY things."). The author is young (born in the 80's young), went to Harvard and writes for Saturday Night Live (don't hold that against him, his book is much funnier) Anyhow, pick it up at your library that way if you didn't like it you didn't spend any money on it. Or you can buy multiple copies of it like I did.

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The following are books that I started in 2009 and intend to finish but haven't yet.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. This is another book I got to take on vacation but Ben snatched it from me and started reading it before I had a chance to start it. He only read a bit of it before he got bored I think. I haven't found it to be boring yet, it's just not a book you feel compelled to read quickly. And although Kingsolver is a novelist this is a non-fiction account of her family moving to a sort of farm where they are to live off of the land or from their neighbors land. The eat locally movement thing. And in season. Personally I enjoy having access to food out of season. I just had some delightful strawberries in fact. But their experience is inspiring, informative and amusing at times. It includes perspectives by her teenage daighter, her husband who tracks down various interesting facts about food production and consumption in the world and her young daughter besides herself. There are also a few recipes and I find it helpful as I think about planting our next garden in a few months. If I didn't keep starting new books I might actually finish it before planting season.

Rough Stone Rolling by Richard Lyman Bushman. Also not a quick read. This one will probably take all year. But parts are extremely interesting. It is a fairly neutral biography of Joseph Smith. It is a thorough study of the person and the time period. And it is long. I think Ben bought this with the intention of reading it but I stole it from him. I guess we tend to steal books from each other even when one of us has already started it - how rude. I'm only about 70 pages into the over 700 page book so I can't say much about it except that so far so good.

Waiter Rant by The Waiter. Another book I picked up at the library. I've been wanting to read this one for a long time. I was intrigued by Anthony Bourdain's review that "you will never look at your waiter the same way again, and you will never top less than 20%". It's an anonymous collection of experiences in the restaurant business by a waiter. I think it'll have some good parts but so far is a book I am inclined to skim.

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*If Ben ever decides he wants to hijack my blog again I think he has read a few good books this year. Open by Andre Agassi, The Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons and Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande (which I wanted to read but he left on the plane).