Sunday, February 3, 2008

Book Cravings

There are a lot of books on my list of "Books to Read" this year. Unfortunately, that list keeps growing as I read reviews of older books and new books get released. This week, the books that I'm craving the most are:

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. I've been hearing a lot about this book, but was putting it off because I thought it would be as long as The Omnivore's Dilemma, his last book. Then I saw the book yesterday at Shakespeare and Co. and discovered that it's only about 250 pages long. I can definitely read this one quickly and finally get a taste of Pollan's writing. In Defense of Food has been summed up in seven words: Eat food, less of it, more plants. I don't know if Pollan intended it to be a diet book. From what I've read, it's actually about getting people to understand that food isn't evil. It's all the processed crap we eat that's making us unhealthy. If we were to eat more whole foods, well, we'd likely be a lot healthier. I think it will make for interesting reading, and maybe get me motivated to keep with my Parisian diet once I get back to California.

Next on my list is The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. I ordered this book on Amazon a few weeks ago, but unfortunately international shipping takes a bit longer than normal. I'm desperate to have this book in my hands. The World Without Us is a scientific look into how nature would react if humans were to go extinct. I'm fascinated by this concept and am interested to know exactly what type of research was tapped in order to write authoritatively on the timeline for the destruction of cities by plants.

Lastly, I'm waiting, quite impatiently, for the release of Sophie Kinsella's new book, Remember Me? I am the hugest Sophie Kinsella fan so even though the story line seems a bit played out (girl gets amnesia, falls in love with someone other than her original lover, discovers life is better than it was), I'm still waiting excitedly for it. Kinsella is one of the few chick lit writers who I don't want to strangle after reading one of her books. The reading is always light and funny, which makes them a quick read, without making all women seem ditzy or bitchy. Can't wait.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

"keep with my Parisian diet" ~What exactly is a "Parisian" diet? Does that include McDonald's? ;)
"...am interested to know exactly what type of research was tapped in order to write authoritatively on the timeline for the destruction of cities by plants." ~I saw a program on the History Channel called "Life After People" that was pretty much the same concept. What if humans just disappeared one day? The timeline for destruction of cities by plants was based on what has taken place in Chernobyl since the nuclear disaster there. The city had to be abandoned after the accident and in the program they show photos of how the plant life is slowly destroying the buildings there. According to that show, it would take hundreds of years for cities to return completely to nature, but profound changes would take place in a very short period of time, say thirty years. The site for the "Life After People" is here: http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=mini_home&mini_id=57517

Becca said...

Heh. No McDo. I'll definitely be replacing that with Mexican Food. I'll have to write about my Parisian diet sometime.

Anyway, thanks for the link and the info. Tony's going to be fascinated by the Chernobyl connection. He's pretty much obsessed with Chernobyl. He watches videos about it all the time, and has even ordered a book now off Amazon about it.