Dogear Diary

Touch and Feel Pets

2012-02-02T22:17:00.000-05:00

by D.K. Publishing

This is one of the Touch and Feel books I hadn't seen it before; we found it at the library today. It has a variety of familiar pets featured in bright, clear photographs on the few pages. Each with a texture for small hands to feel: fuzzy dog (spaniel of some kind, so it was kinda curly), shimmery fish scales, soft rabbit fur (body and tail), smooth bird feathers. The baby was absolutely intrigued by the page of kitty whiskers. She could not get enough of tugging on those wiry whiskers. I like the fish page. So pretty. Nice little book, good to engage a restless child (I used it already when a distraction was needed!)

rating: 3/5 ........ 12 pages, 2001

David McPhail's Animals A to Z

2012-02-01T10:21:00.001-05:00

by David McPhail

This fun and engaging ABC book is the kind where each page is full of things beginning with the featured letter. The main animal or two are named on the page, and the rest are left up to the reader to find and discover- sometimes as many as six or seven animals or objects. If you think you've missed one, there's a little list in the back. When I read the book with my baby, I just name the few most prominent animals or objects, but my older daughter likes to look for every single thing and count them all. My favorite is the page for T, which has a tiger on top of a turtle, holding a telephone. The hard letters and/or unusual animals? This book features a bird called xenops for X, and a unicorn and upside-down catfish for U. I thought at first that the fish was a cop-out, a catfish that just happened to be swimming upside-down. But no, this fish habitually swims upside-down, thus its name. Wonderful, what the books will teach you.

Animals A to Z came into our house as a gift from my sister to the baby.

rating: 4/5 ........ 32 pages, 1993

Touch and Feel Baby Animals

2012-01-28T14:38:00.000-05:00

by D.K. Publishing

This book gets a lot of wear at our house. It is short and sweet, simply showing different animals on each page and inviting the child to feel the different textures. Soft rabbit fur, fuzzy ducklings, smooth calf hide. The page of baby elephants is charming, with a different, bumpy skin texture- although the pieces to feel are kinda small, on their ears. The last page has a baby gorilla and invites tickling- its "fur" has longer hair than the rabbit. My baby always likes to tug on the long black fibers. I like to turn the end of the book into a tickling game!

rating: 3/5 ........ 12 pages, 1999

Bring Me a Unicorn

2012-01-27T16:43:00.000-05:00

by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Letters and diary entries by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, spanning her college years up to the time she met and became engaged to Charles Lindbergh. It's been a while since I read any diaries, but Danielle has been discussing reading diaries lately, so I thought of this one when looking for my next TBR read. I was curious about it because in college I read quite a few books about Charles Lindbergh (I had to paint a portrait of him) it was quite interesting. Also I've recently read her inspirational book Gift of the Sea. So I was looking forward to this.

Bring Me a Unicorn didn't quite wow me, though. I suppose it's to be expected that her early diary entries will be unfocused, self-depreciatory, and lack the insights I hoped for. Most of the time I had no idea what people she was talking about, even when little footnotes informed me of their identity it really added nothing for me. Events passed in a blur. Lots of stuff is just alluded to, while she talks mostly about her emotional reactions to them (again, probably typical of a diary but not the best for reading, in my opinion). When she gets to the college years I did enjoy it more, hearing about the difficulties of classes and thrills of reading (her family was big on books). And when Lindbergh himself came into the picture, it was even more interesting to see how her family perceived him, how they came to be on friendly terms, how she experienced the repercussions of his fame, how she fell in love with flying (aviation in its early form seemed pretty frightening, to me!) etc. I liked seeing how her closeness to him developed as a friendship and feeling of being at ease, that's how I felt when I met my husband. I kept waiting to come across a passage describing a proposal, but instead she just at one point says Apparently I am going to marry Charles Lindbergh as if there was just no questioning it any longer. It made me laugh because that's how it was with me and my husband- we were very very good friends, completely comfortable with each other immediately, and just felt like we belonged together. Don't get me wrong, there was romance- and Anne Morrow certainly did plenty of mooning over him- but it wasn't mostly romance, it was mostly a strong friendship....

Aside from the relationship and seeing the figure of Lindbergh through her eyes, I also really like her descriptive passages. When she talks about visiting Mexico, travelling through the countryside, simple things like trees in a fog, birds flying over the sea, flowers in a garden, etc. it was so vivid I could see it. Her thrill and depictions of flying and viewing the landscape from up high- such a novel experience in her day- are sharp with excitement and joy.

Anyway, it turns out this is not a book I'm going to keep. I don't love it that much. But I am quite glad I read it. And I do want to read more of her diaries and other writings now.

rating: 3/5 ........ 259 pages, 1971

more opinions at:
Escaping Infinities
Gotta Have Vintage Books
anyone else?

Sounds

2012-01-26T10:36:00.000-05:00

by Liesbet Slegers

A short board book for little ones, about some everyday noises. Each page starts with the sound, asks What's that sound? identifies it, and then gives a little information. The ambulance drives very fast, the vacuum cleaner sucks up dirt, the airplane flies in the sky, etc. Other sounds are a ticking clock, ringing telephone and chirping bird. The pictures are simple and colorful, showing a toddler either looking at or holding the object making the sound. On the last page, the airplane noise is represented with a Rrroarrr! Unfortunately, my airplane roar sounds pretty much like my lion roar so the baby always turns around and looks at me with surprise. Older daughter was listening to us read this book and she suggested a plane sounds more like a big whooosh! or rumble. But I always forget and do the roar anyways. It's funny to see the baby look astonished as if she's thinking: what are you doing mommy? that's the lion noise.

rating: 3/5 ....... 12 pages, 2011

Hugs and Kisses

2012-01-25T14:03:00.000-05:00

by Rachel Hale

A beautiful little board book with sweet, soft photos of babies snuggling up to various animal friends. Gentle pastel colors, beautiful baby eyes, wonderful little smiles and of course, the furry companions! Babies cuddle with puppies and kittens, also bunnies, ducks, a half dozen adorable chicks, and a few different kinds of birds. My favorite is of the grinning baby with a green frog on her hat: Here's how a froggy hugs! Sometimes the babies look surprised, or shocked- there's an adorable picture of a baby and kitten nose-to-nose, both very wide-eyed. Mostly they're laughing and smiling. It's really cute. I thought at first that Rachel Hale was an individual photographer; turns out it's a company. Does not diminish my enjoyment of this little book, though.

rating: 4/5 ........ 20 pages, 2012

Swampwalker's Journal

2012-01-22T21:16:00.000-05:00

A Wetlands Year

by David M. Carroll

So far the Burroughs list has been hit or miss for me; out of the three books I've read specifically from the list, one was great, one was just okay and one was blah. This was another fantastic one, though! I've really been taking my time reading it, it's the kind of book you have to slow down and just carefully, methodically absorb every page. I don't think I ever read more than five or six pages in a sitting.

Swampwalker's Journal is full of the writings of a man who likes to walk through all kinds of wetlands. He makes the same rounds every year and keeps a beautiful notebook (sample pages included) recording his observations. Makes the most delicate, wonderful drawings of the plants and animals he finds. Sees how nature is playing itself out, how the habitats shift and change, how the creatures go about their lives. Things like noticing which tree species are overtaking a certain area, at what date the first salamanders emerge in spring to mate, how the water level has changed in a certain pool and what that does to the life around. His particular passion seems to be turtles; he makes notes of every one he finds and rejoices at coming across the same turtle again- usually just once every few years. Most of the book is a description of places. I had no idea what the difference was between a marsh and a swamp before, but there is a particular difference. Also fens and bogs, I though the terms were interchangeable but they're not. He also wanders the flood zones of rivers, searches for vernal pools (in many different habitats) and wades across wet meadowlands. He writes so eloquently about these places- it's almost like poetry. And such a deep concern for the wildlife. His stance, quite often repeated, is that man would do better to just leave nature alone- even the efforts of various groups to protect or restore threatened areas often do more harm than good (in his opinion).

I really enjoyed reading this book, it opened my eyes to a lot of animal life and places I hardly knew existed, much less wondered about before. It's not likely I'll ever go wading up to my hips through a swamp to find out myself, so it's wonderful to read about someone else's forays into these places, especially when its written so beautifully. Upon turning the last page I was immediately eager to find more of Carroll's works; this is just one volume of his "wet-sneaker trilogy." I'm glad to find that his Year of the Turtle is at my library, so I'll be reading that one as soon as the dare is over!

rating: 4/5 ......... 292 pages, 1999

more opinions at:
Willowhouse Chronicles
A Good Stopping Point

How Loud is a Lion?

2012-01-21T23:50:00.029-05:00

by Clare Beaton

By far the outstanding thing about this little board book is the illustrations. They're made out of fabrics and stitches and little beads all put together in shapes and patterns to make pictures of animals. It's just amazing and full of wonderful textures. The story itself describes different attributes of animals in pairs: Antelopes are elegant, elephants are enormous and each phrase ends with But how loud is a lion? you turn the page and find more animals, still wondering about the lion... If you look closely there are signs of the lion among the romping chimpanzees and running gazelle: a tail here, pawprints there, eyes peeking through a bush. You're going along with a nice rhythm, meeting familiar hippos and exotic-sounding zorillas when you turn the page and suddenly ROARR!!! (all the animals flee in panic). Then on the very last page is a big happy lion, looking very pleased with himself for having scared everyone, ha ha. My kid always jumps at the roar, it's so funny. She's not old enough to look for the lion hiding on each page, but it entertains me while I'm reading for the umpteenth time.

My only little quibble is that where is says Cheetahs are spotty, the animal pictured looks like a leopard, and it's reclining in a tree! I know this is an easy mistake- my older daughter's school makes it, for example. Their mascot is a jaguar, yet the huge rubber entrance mat features a sprinting cheetah. I've also seen cheetahs on their letterhead! It annoys me a little bit, but oh well.

I do really love this book. I know I saw another one with same style of illustrations when my first daughter was small, but now I can't recall the title or even what it was about...

rating: 4/5 ........ 24 pages, 2002

NFL Big & Small

2012-01-19T11:29:00.000-05:00

A Book of Opposites

by DK Publishing

This is my husband's favorite board book in the house. It features football players in various poses to demonstrate opposites such as big and small, over and under, up and down. The page for happy and sad shows the painted faces of fans. Not all the spreads have famous figures; off and on features a scoreboard, empty and full a box of players' gear. Of course, hubby likes the book because his team is in here (the Niners) and I like it for the bright, bold colors and clear illustrations of the word concepts. I think my kid likes the faces, especially the one where a player is sitting on his rear laughing with his tongue sticking out! The initial big and small page is cute, too- it shows a large beefy football player standing next to a toddler in a football shirt. I can't tell you who the famous faces are in this book; I'm pretty clueless when it comes to sports, but the fan in our house loves it, and so does the child!

rating: 4/5 ........ 24 pages, 1999

reading moments

2012-01-16T23:06:00.000-05:00

the baby is almost too big for her sister's lap!
here they're reading the numbers book

Sonja insists on turning the pages herself

she also likes stories on the potty

unless, the floor suddenly becomes more interesting

catalog

2012-01-15T00:23:00.000-05:00

I just spent my evening quiet time (one of the few nights the kid and baby actually get to bed on time) reading a seed catalog. And I'm writing about it here because it feels more like an enjoyable reading experience than anything else, plus it's not much to note of on my garden blog since I won't be ordering seeds from this company. But I would, if I lived in the Pacific Northwest. Here's the deal.

I once bought my mother some flower seed for her garden from Uprising Seeds. I thought what better way to have varieties that will do well in your climate, than to buy from a company that grows the very seed right there in your home state? Not only that, but their plants are old heirloom varieties, many that are in danger of going extinct. I was happy to get my mom some of their seed, but when their catalog arrived at my door this winter thought meh: I love them, but they probably won't grow for me over here, in a different climate zone. But I started thumbing through the catalog anyway, just curious.

And found it was such fun to read. It was heartening to read the little intro page about the local farms that produce the seed and all the integrity these people put into their work. You can tell by reading the words that they love plants. And the descriptions next to the variety names not only all sound very enticing, but also quite honest: some of them just say crop failed next to it. Others mention that the crop is small, or that it was so lovely they couldn't help eating the produce in the field instead letting it mature into seed (I'm hoping that's a joke, mostly)! Most tell something about the history of the plant, or extol its virtues, but all in a way that's utterly charming, engaging, and sometimes downright funny. There's a tomato with soft, fuzzy leaves, a lettuce variety that dates back to 1799. Have you ever read a produce description before that said oh-my-god-these-are-so-cute? And listen to this about the pumpkins: There are some people in the house who believe pumpkin pie is not reserved for special occasions. The occasion is the pie and every day is open for celebration. If this describes you or who you'd like to be or be around, you will thank yourself for growing this pie pumpkin.... there will be enough to share. Sharing is good. Eat. More. Pie.

So I just kept reading, because it was fun. Usually I linger over all the pictures in seed catalogs but this one doesn't need them, the writing is so good. It made me long for some of their plants, and feel sad that I didn't live in the vicinity of Uprising Seeds anymore. I need to find me a seed company like this in Virginia. Anybody know of one?

First Numbers

2012-01-12T09:33:00.000-05:00

by Paradise Press

There are so many first-number books out there for babies, I couldn't even find ours online so had to scan my own for the picture. As you can see, it's well-worn from already surviving one daughter's infancy! First the book goes through numbers one to ten, each page showing the numeral, with its number spelled out and naming the objects in the picture: 3 three blocks, 5 five cuddly teddy bears, etc. When it gets to 7 seven soft kittens, the pictures cover the entire two-page spread. After the number ten, we get twenty shiny beetles, fifty friendly dogs, and one hundred pretty butterflies. I've counted the beetles and the dogs, but never all the butterflies. I'm sure there's a hundred on that page! My older daughter and I used to pause on the beetle and butterfly pages to pick out our favorites- there really are so many pretty ones. The last few pages invite young readers to count different sets of objects mixed together, and the last page shows groups of objects from one to ten on a single spread. It's a nice solid little book with lots of counting opportunities. The pictures are all bold, bright and adorable (although the teddy bears look kind of anemic to me). My baby doesn't count yet but she likes to look at the images and I'm sure she's absorbing something about the numbers as well. The only oddity is that on the back cover a clown is pictured, and there are no clowns inside the book. Maybe it's supposed to match the jack-in-the-box on the first page, but their faces are so different.

rating: 4/5 ........ 28 pages, 2004

Curious George's ABCs

2012-01-11T09:21:00.000-05:00

by H.A. Rey

Another one of the ABC books in our house. This one is actually based on a previous book called Curious George Learns the Alphabet, which I'm pretty certain was read to me as a child, as it sounds very familiar. In this short version, each page introduces a letter with a little phrase that uses several words beginning with the same letter. The alliteration makes reading it fun, and the pictures are quite charming- each letter is transformed into the animal, person or object that it stands for. The A forms the open mouth of the alligator (as seen on the cover), C is the curved shell of the crab, D is the belly of the dinosaur, and so on. This is one of the first books my baby actually seemed to enjoy; when she was very small she would squirm if I tried to sit and read her any baby book, but with this one she would sit quietly and pat the pages. When she's older I'll probably look for the original book to read to her, but for now this one is just right.

rating: 3/5 ......... 24 pages, 1998

Happy Baby Colors

2012-01-10T17:20:00.000-05:00

by Roger Priddy, et al

I've returned all the baby books to the library, to help enforce my participation in the TBR challenge by avoiding that building! So we're stuck with our own board books now, most of which used to belong to my older daughter. Right now this fat one is the babe's favorite. Each spread of pages features a color, showing four objects with that color and on the facing page a baby dressed in the color holding an object of the same color (green: peas, frog, leaf, pear, baby in a green sweater holding a green block). The photos are all very clear and bright, the babies are all cute, and my little one loves looking at them. It's nice to see a variety of familiar objects in slightly different shades of each color, too. After going through the rainbow white, black and grey are featured, then some rainbow-colored things (beach ball, macaw) and black and white (zebra, dalmation, penguin). The final page has four squares of color opposite four objects and invites baby to match the colors to objects. For a book of its type that is just about teaching little ones some basic vocabulary and recognition, it's really an attractive book. A little heavy and definitely too large for baby to handle on her own, but she loves it so much.

rating: 4/5 ....... 28 pages, 2001

Those of the Forest

2012-01-09T17:10:00.000-05:00

by Wallace Byron Grange

I got this book thru Paperback Swap because it won the Burroughs medal for nature writing in 1955. It tells of the life in a northern forest, describing all the activities and habits of the creatures that live there. Opens with a snowshoe rabbit taking shelter during a snowstorm, and follows the rabbit throughout a year. Other animals are observed as the rabbit sees them or crosses their paths. Had a lot of potential, but sad to say, the book was boring. The lengthy descriptions of plant life were unsuccessful at painting a picture in my mind, the passages telling what animals did were just that- telling, without any extra flair or feeling. And then there were statements of things like how the air that touched a rabbit's eye had traveled so many billions of miles from the sun, or how far the wind had gone, or how everything is connected via the molecules that move from one living thing to the next when they're consumed by each other... all very well to point out but I've heard it before and it got tedious again and again. Plus the rhetorical questions sprinkled throughout the text started to annoy me as well. I just wasn't enjoying it, so put the book down at about page 50. Had barely begun to hit spring. Disappointed.

Abandoned ....... 314 pages, 1953

Driftwood Valley

2012-01-08T16:48:00.000-05:00

by Theodora Stanwell-Fletcher

Based on journal entries, this is the story of a husband and wife who lived in a cabin (built themselves) in a remote mountain valley in Northern Canada. So far north that winter lasts six or seven months out of the year, twenty-foot snowfalls are common, nobody lives for miles and miles around except the Indians and of course the wildlife. They traveled there to study the plants and animals, to take samples for a museum. A few times the author mentions the work of skinning and stuffing birds, pressing plants, or how they came to be fond of the creatures around them and regretting shooting one or two of every species they came across in order to send back pelts and skulls to the museum. But mostly, that work is hardly mentioned. The book is full of details about how they lived, surviving the elements, hunting their own food (gardening was impossible), trying to get along with their Indian neighbors, reveling in the beauty of the wilderness and the northern lights. They had no radio, no running water, chopped wood for their heat, etc. It was a life of hard work, but they loved it. They even came to resent visitors who dropped in without notice because they felt their lifestyle became cramped! Personally, I can't imagine living in such conditions. Not the remoteness, but the cold and the weather (down to sixty or seventy below). The misery of mosquitoes in summer, being trapped by floods of mud in spring, the awful bitter cold of winter. Driftwood Valley is a book with a big heart, full of love for the wilderness. There's lots of adventures as every time they traveled to meet a plane or explore a new area they had to pack all their gear and food on their backs, and walk all the way on snowshoes. Eventually they acquired a few dogs and two horses, which made their lives incredibly easier- the animals could help carry packs so they could travel further, the dogs snuggled against them at night kept them warm, and their presence at the cabin protected the couple's privacy (as the Indians were afraid of them).

There were a lot of interesting things happening besides wilderness adventures. The book was written by the wife, and she talked quite a bit about how most people thought women were too weak to live in such a remote area. Once she camped out at night all by herself just to prove she could do it- the main goal being to survive! She examines the Indian's culture and in particular is upset by how poorly they treat their pack dogs- the Indians in return are astonished at how well she treats her own. I would dearly love to read her husband's take on the whole adventure; she mentioned once that reading his journal showed the opposite side of everything- he wrote in detail about things that didn't interest her at all, and vice versa. But I don't think he published anything about this trip (it lasted about a year and a half).

I also would have liked to read more details about the wildlife- a lot of animals are mentioned in passing, and that is all. Many of the creatures they only ever saw footprints- especially of marten, wolverine, etc. It was not until the very end of their trip that they ever saw a wolf- and that encounter sounds breathtaking.

Rating: 4/5 ........ 384 pages, 1946

more opinions at:
My Reading Diary
anyone else?

more and more

2012-01-06T14:12:00.000-05:00

books that have caught my eye, from the blogs noted:

The Sun's Heartbeat by Bob Berman - At Home with Books
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin- A Striped Armchair
Delusions of Gender by Cordeila Fine- Nymeth
The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson - At Home with Books
Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs- Edge of the Page
Quiet by Susan Cain - Caroline Bookbinder
The Town that Food Saved by Ben Hewitt - Ardent Reader
Kraken- China Mieville- Nymeth
Wonderstruck! by Brian Selznick- You've GOTTA Read This!
Emory's Gift by Bruce Cameron- Bookfool
Enchanted Hunters by Maria Tatar- A Striped Armchair
Intern by Sandeep Jauhar- Caroline Bookbinder
Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi - At Home with Books
The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard- A Striped Armchair
Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeyemi- A Striped Armchair
Temeraire series by Namoi Novik- Nymeth
Yotsuba! series by Kiyohiko Azuma - Puss Reboots

Birds of a Lesser Paradise by Megan M Bergman- Book Lady's Blog
Curiosity by Joan Thomas- Books Under Skin
My Dog Tulip by J.R. Ackerly- Ready When You Are, CB
Love Times Three by the Dargers- books i done read
Millions Like Us by Virginia Nicholson- Nymeth

True to my goal, I've looked these all up to see what's available at the library. The first block of the list I can get my hands on to read, the second shorter part I can't. So that's cheering. I was thrilled to find almost the entire collection of Yotsuba! at my library, after reading about it on Puss Reboots. But for some reason volume 2 isn't there, which is the very one that caught my eye first. Annoying already, even though I've been assured they're not really chronological so it doesn't matter.

Touch and Feel Kitten

2012-01-05T09:19:00.000-05:00

by DK Publishing

I like this series of touch-and-feel board books. We have a few at home, but not the cat one so we keep borrowing it from the library. Each spread shows a few large, clear photos of kitties with various textures installed on the page, and invites the child to explore with her fingers. I like that book uses a variety of words to invite interaction: stroke, touch, feel, etc. There is a patch of soft kitten fur, hard plastic food dish, shiny smooth reflective tags. My favorite is the sandpaper-rough pink kitty tongue (although that texture patch is rather small). My daughter's favorite is the last one, with a kitten in a woven basket. The basket texture is relatively large- almost half the page, and certainly very interesting with its ins and outs and alternating colors. A cute little book that does well at engaging little hands.

rating: 3/5 ...... 12 pages, 1999

a look back

2012-01-04T12:27:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking more about the reading experience that was 2011. It was hard for me to pick a "best book" and so I finally gave up trying. There just weren't a lot I read that really wowed me this year. I think that's because I read so much non-fiction. A lot of those books were great. They were interestting, satisfied my curiosity, even entertained me sometimes- but I didn't fall in love with many of them, or feel very passionate about recommending them to people.

In one regard it was a good reading year- I did read over a hundred books- but it many other ways it wasn't. I was dealing with pregnancy and then a new baby, lots of sleep loss. So even though I read alot while nursing the baby, much of the time my brain was too tired or mind wandering, to focus on the book in hand. And then I found when I sat down to write blog posts nothing seemed to come out right. I either couldn't think of much to say and wrote really brief posts, or just started rambling about the book and had a hard time organizing my thoughts. I feel in part that my visitors dropped off because my writing was suffering, but I know it's also because I failed to visit and comment on other blogs as much as I used to. I also didn't write a single past-reads post, something I've been meaning to get back into lately. So overall I feel like my blogging efforts were really lame this year. Not enough visiting around, not enough focus, poor writing on my part. I'm really hoping to do better again, now that the baby sleeps most of the night and I get a few hours to myself during her daytime naps....

Excuses, excuses. Mostly just writing this to remind myself there were good reasons I failed to blog well as last year, and that I want to and can get back into the swing of things again.

Five Little Ducks

2012-01-04T10:30:00.000-05:00

by Justine Smith

This is a board book version of the five-little-ducks rhyme. I've become familiar with it through a few different versions I read with my older child when she was small. Momma duck has five babies who go off swimming, and each time she quacks to call them back, one is missing. At the end she quacks again and they all come back. There are a few things about this book that try to be cute and clever, but they just didn't work well for us. The number of diminishing ducklings is achieved by using cutouts on the pages. The duckies have little gold foil patches on their wings but they're so small and dull that they hardly get noticed, and certainly don't have any texture. Overall I was kinda disappointed with the illustrations- they're nice but rather bland. Not overly cute, or bright, or accurate, so I was left just thinking meh. The one thing that made me pick up this book is that when you turn the last page it makes a quacking sound. My baby was thrilled with this at first, she even laughed and wanted it to happen again. But the rest of the book never holds her attention long enough to get to the quacking. I end up having to truncate the rhymes so we get through the pages fast enough to get to the only part she really likes- the noise.

rating: 2/5 ..... 12 pages, 2007

Toot!

2012-01-03T10:10:00.000-05:00

by Leo Timmers

Most of the books I pick up for the baby either feature animals or basic shapes, colors, etc. I wanted something a bit different for once, and this one was just right. The pages show various types of vehicles- fire truck, police car, ice cream truck, cold-storage, semi and trolley or cable car- along with the different sounds they make, from a ting-a-ling-ting to a wailing siren or deep honk. I make up my own little jingle for the ice-cream truck page because it's more cool that way. The pictures are bright and very engaging, the different animals in the trucks look so funny. I always get to the end wanting to add one more page that will say beep! but see that there's another book of his called Vroom! that has taxis and cars, so I guess that one's got the beep in it.

rating: 3/5 ........ 14 pages, 2009

Head Cases

2012-01-02T17:07:00.001-05:00

Stories of Brain Injury and its Aftermath
by Michael Paul Mason

I chose this book off a library shelf because it jolted my mind: I knew I had another book on the TBR about brain injuries. This wasn't the one on my list, but it turned out to be a very gripping read. It's very sad, and frustrating, and astonishing. It's written by a man who works as a case manager for people with traumatic brain injuries. He travels the United States to visit people who have suffered brain injuries and try to help them get the medical care they need - most often woefully inadequate or non-existent.

Head Cases is a collection of stories about these people: what they have suffered, how it has changed their lives, and those of their families as well. He describes athletic accidents, car wreck, diseases and violence, all wreaking a moment's devastating havoc on the all-so-important yet so very fragile brain. Some of these stories literally terrified me, as you read them and see how easily it could happen to yourself, or someone you love. A few of them have positive outcomes, with a person recovering and regaining a sense of self (though different from what they were before) and a meaningful life. All too often though, the patient ends up shuffled around between facilities that don't quite know what to do with them, much less how to help them. It's very sad to read of brain injury patients who could improve with the proper medical care and therapy, being drugged into a stupor in a nursing home or mental health facility where they don't really belong. Also very sad to read of families torn apart- people who no longer recognize their loved ones, or whose personalities are so altered they can't stand each other anymore. What gave the book relief was how very well it is written. There are many passages beautifully describing the experiences these people had, the things they loved to do- it takes you into another person's life so acutely. They are written with compassion, you can tell the author really cared about these people. He often participated in experiences that were an part of the patient's spiritual life- sitting in a sweat lodge, joining a meditation session. Even in the last, most painful chapter where he tells the story of a suicide survivor he brings a personal connection to the narrative, as one of his close friends had just died of suicide.

Wait, that wasn't the most painful chapter. Just as disturbing was the one where he visited a hospital overseas that treats soldiers (and civilians) who have been injured in Iraq. Horrifying as the head injuries are, many patients survive them. Only to get released, come home, and find their lives frustrating, painful and misunderstood. It's very dismal that medical technology can now save people who suffer the most atrocious brain injuries, but then the system fails to continue offering them proper care. So many of them find their lives a dead-end.

I could not help comparing this book to those I've read by Oliver Sacks. Mason writes in a much friendlier manner, his book is not nearly as technical as Sacks'. I found it a lost easier to read, but also a lot more emotional. Because I didn't have to sit and struggle to understand, the narrative communicating itself to me easily, it was also easier to connect to it and feel like this was something that could happen to anyone I knew. Makes you scared to get in a car or ride a bike...

rating: 4/5 ........ 310 pages, 2008

more opinions:
curled up
Open Mind, Insert Book
Krista Stevens

2011 Stats

2012-01-01T17:37:00.000-05:00

I was trying to finish my last library book before the year closed, even stayed up a bit late last night and welcomed the new year with a book in my lap and eggnog in hand, ha. But I didn't make it through that one, so Head Cases will bridge the gap and be the last borrowed book I read before diving into the TBR challenge.

Here's the numbers from 2011. No, they don't quite add up. I always make an error somewhere in counting, plus some books go into more than one category, and others might not have got counted- for example, I think I counted some picture books into the total tally but then didn't list them as either fiction or non-, so that's the first glaring error. Anyways, the count is roughly thus:

Total books read- 119

Fiction- 16
Non-fiction- 91

further breakdown:

Memoirs- 20
Gardening/ Food- 25
Nature- 8
Art- 2
Pregnancy books- 12
Animals nonfic- 30
Other nonfic- 9

Fantasy- 1
YA- 1
Historical fiction- 5
Animals in fiction- 4
J Fiction- 2
Picture books- 15

Short story collections- 2
Comics/ graphic novels- 5

Male authors- 50
Female authors- 52
co-authored- 12

owned books- 52
library books- 60
borrowed from a friend- 2
review copies- 5
books from bloggers- 3

Abandoned books- 5
Re-reads- 3

Places I visited during the year's reading: Ireland, England, Egypt, Africa, France, Russia, Holland and Ecuador. Not nearly so many as last year.

The numbers are quite a bit different from last year. (Except for the number of books read- that was exactly the same.) I continued on my trend of reading more and more non-fiction. In fact, I don't think there's ever been a year where I read so much non-fiction. I miss the novels. Mean to get more into them this coming year. I was surprised to find that I read no poetry, only one YA book and one fantasy. Fantasy used to be a huge genre for me. My ratio of men-to-women authors was about equal, as was the number of books I read off my own shelves compared to borrowed.

I did something a little different this year, which was to keep a running tally of books read, and which categories they fit into. This was to avoid having to count everything up at the end of the year (usually a big headache).

It worked pretty well. I counted up a few categories just to see how accurate my tally was to my blogging. There were probably a few books I just forgot to jot down, but for the categories I checked it more or less added up the same. I did read far more picture books than noted here; I just didn't start counting them until near the end of the year, nor did I review many of them. I plan to use this system again next year, it worked well for me. This time around I'm also going to keep track of which books I read off my TBR (whether physical or listed) and which I find browsing. I'm curious about that, too.

I usually do more here with listing notable books of the year such as my favorites, the ones I found most inspiring, amusing, and so forth but I'm just too tired right now. Might make another post out of it.

If you're at all interested, here's the last few years' numbers: 2010 and 2009 (before then I didn't do end-of-year stats)

So, Happy New Year everybody! May it be a great year of reading ahead, for all of us!

digital!

2011-12-30T12:47:00.001-05:00

I was completely floored this christmas when my husband bought us a Kindle Fire! I never expected to have an e-reader, at least not anytime soon. I always thought I wouldn't like them, wouldn't like the reading experience. Of course I miss the feel of pages and the scent of paper, but I'm surrounded by about six hundred paper books on shelves, so that's not really a gap in my life here. It was a different experience, reading on the kindle, but not as awkward as I'd expected.

I've never used another e-reader, so I'm just comparing this experience to reading regular paper-bound books. The Kindle is small, easy to hold in the hand, but a bit heavier than I expected when I first saw it. In some ways it makes reading easier- I can prop it up and read hands-free, and it's easier to hold in one hand and use a thumb or finger to turn the pages, when I'm nursing the baby and have my other hand supporting her. That's a struggle sometimes with a real book. I found turning the pages very easy and intuitive- you can do it either by sliding, or with a finger tap. I usually tapped. One of the features I really like is that you can tap on any word and pull up a definition, since the Kindle has a dictionary loaded onto it. I love that. You don't know how many times I've wondered about a word but not wanted to stop reading, jotted down a list and by the time I got around to looking them up it wasn't contextual any more. It took me a bit of time to get used to navigating the book on the screen, you can't just flip through pages to see what's ahead for example. And I really didn't like the way photos were handled. This book had an insert of photos in the middle. I really enjoy photos in books. But here, though each photo and caption was given its own screen on the Kindle they were incredibly small. If you tap on the picture you could enlarge it to fill the screen, but then it was blurry. I was really disappointed in that. I think with all the tecnology we have out there, it should be simple for them to put good photos up when they're included in a text. I can put my own photos on my Kindle, and they look fantastic! Here's my older daughter:

The Kindle Fire also has email, games, and all kinds of other stuff on it. Which means everyone else in my house wants to play on it and I have to juggle with them for reading time! I imagine in the future I would love to take the Kindle on trips, because I can load numerous books on it and not worry about the luggage space. But it would also be a great thing to entertain restless kids on airplanes or long car rides, so maybe I wouldn't get to read on it anyways!

I was a bit worried about eyestrain, since my eyes get fatigued reading stuff on a screen too long. Discovered that if I adjust the screen brightness according to the light in the room, it's easier on my eyes. Contrary to what I originally thought, lowering the brightness so the screen is dimmer in dimmer light made it easier. I'd never read on it in the dark, though, which I once thought might be cool. Nope. Have to have light.

I also found it felt like I was reading faster on here, than with a real book. Probably because the amount of text on each screen is less than on any regular book page (or so it felt to me) so I'm turning pages more frequently. You can look at what percentage of the book you've completed, but for me it didn't have the same sense of progress as looking at where my bookmark is in a block of pages.

So... overall I'm pleased with the experience. I don't think the e-reader will ever replace real books for me; if I read a book I like on the Kindle I'll probably go buy myself a hardcopy rather than just own a file. It still feels more real to me. But I was pleasantly surprised at enjoying the experience and I will definitely use this thing, especially on trips. Yay!

Alex and Me

2011-12-30T12:03:00.002-05:00

by Irene Pepperberg

Even though he's so famous that the author had to devote the entire opening chapter (which I might skip next time, by the way) to how many people recognized and mourned his death, I never heard of this parrot until I saw other book reviews about it. Alex and Me is about the author's work with him, training him to label objects with words and answer questions so she could delve into how complex his thinking process might be. I was pretty impressed with his accomplishments: correctly naming colors, shapes, textures, quantities. Learning to compare and categorize. Learning phrases from what students around him said and applying them to correct contexts. Showing understanding of the concept of zero. And more. A lot of the descriptions of how she taught him and how obstinately he often refused to do repetitive drills, reminded me of reading books on language experiments with apes. Much of this book is about Pepperberg's struggles in academia: trying to secure jobs, find funding, secure recognition from the scientific community, dealing with frequent moves and marital stress. It was interesting to me how particular she was with words in describing her project when seeking grants or giving lectures. For example, she wanted to be dissociated from the furor that was arising challenging the claims of those who taught apes sign language so she never said Alex learned words or names for things, instead she called them "labels". Also curious was how little passion comes through these pages; she didn't seem to have a very close relationship with Alex, or at least didn't express it. In fact, she mentioned a few times how she tried to keep her distance from him so their relationship would remain a clinical one appropriate for the study. Understandable, but it made reading the book a little cold. Overall, I was very intrigued with the work she did with Alex and wanted to learn more. I'm definitely going to try and find her other book The Alex Studies to read, it seems like that one goes into more depth and this book felt a bit lacking to me. I kept wanting more detail, more explanations, even more anecdotes than she provided.

After finishing the book I went on youtube to find videos of Alex talking, I wanted to hear his voice. I should have done it before I started the book so I could have had his voice in my head when I was reading!

Incidentally, this was the first book I ever read on an e-reader. I'm going to discuss that experience in my next post.

rating: 3/5 ........ 240 pages, 2008

more opinions:
Book Coasters
Bibliofreak Blog

more findings

2011-12-28T22:10:00.000-05:00

One of the results of organizing my TBR was that I found more books I want to read- from poking around in the library's online catalog. Here they are, added to the list:

Horses Never Lie About Love by Jana Harris
Be Different by John Robison
Lonesome George by Henry Nicholls
Grow the Good Life by Michele Owens
The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure
Man O'War by Dorothy Ours
Seashells: Jewels of the Ocean by Budd Titlow
The Way of the Tiger by K. Ullas Karanth
Oudrey's Painted Menagerie by Colin Bailey

Lost Mountain

2011-12-28T14:36:00.001-05:00

a Year in the Vanishing Wilderness

by Erik Reece

This book has filled me with outrage, sorrow and disbelief. I knew a little bit about the atrocities of strip mining from watching a brief news report on it once, but I had no idea of the extent of the environmental damage and threat to human life, until I read this book. It wasn't one I was intending to read over the holidays, in fact I had to take a break for a few days there because it was making me so incensed. It was the subtitle that caught my eye off the library shelf, and then a bit of perusal inside the cover flap made me realize what the book was about, I felt I ought to read it.

Lost Mountain chronicles the disappearance of one particular mountain in the Appalacian range in Kentucky. The author visited the mountain once a month for a year, hiking up to the summit and wandering around the ridges to see how the mining was changing its landscape. Changing? Removing. Destroying. Annihilating. Strip mining, or mountaintop removal, is when instead of tunneling through the ground, mining companies use large machinery and explosives to blow the mountaintop away, in order to reach coal. Not only does it destroy the habitat, but tons of debris is illegally dumped into streams and valleys and chemicals leach into the groundwater. I didn't know this before, but the Appalachain mountains have one of the most diverse forests in North America in terms of both wildlife and plant life, and are considered our only rainforests. Many of those species are in decline. I kept shaking my head in dismay at the continual blatant disregard for safety or concern for others that these mining companies practice. Blasting too close to human habitation. People's homes getting ruined: foundations cracking, flying rock breaking things, piles of rubble and naked slopes causing floods and mudslides. Children getting sick from respiratory illnesses. People dying of cancer left and right. Overloaded coal trucks driving dangerously fast on narrow roads, killing people. Miners getting paid pittance, families starving, union organizers facing death threats. People who sue for damage to their homes and loss of lives, just getting ignored or threatened or sidestepped because the companies just claim bankruptcy and then open up again under a new name. I could go on and on. It's just disgusting. It had me incensed. I can't believe that in our country a few powerful companies can just go on destroying the landscape and people's lives because they have the muscle of money and power.

Augh! Well, the book itself was a pretty engaging read. It's set up in alternating chapters, between descriptions of Reece's hikes around the mountain and the progressive destruction he observed and chapters about events, health issues, lawsuits, how people in the region live, etc. The chapters are so brief they almost feel like essays, but they are also so intense I don't think I could read it in longer stretches. I appreciated that the author presented both sides- he met and spoke with mining workers and owners alike, and sat in on some town hall meetings where mining employees argued to keep the industry rolling because what would they do without the jobs? It is truly a sad situation. In the end, after the mountain top is gone and Reece can no longer climb to the summit, he files complaints with federal Office of Surface Mining, and visits the mine with inspectors to see if the groundwater is getting contaminated, and sees firsthand how they argue out of every environmental ill.

There were parts I liked. I liked the chapter about the flying squirrels, such marvelous creatures. It was really interesting to read about a re-enactment of Robert Kennedy visiting the community. I liked the inclusion of poetry by Wendell Berry, which I'd never read before. And despite all I thought to the contrary, it even ended on a positive note: restoration of the land. The mining companies are supposed to restore the habitat, but the most they usually do is level the ground when they're done and seed it with grass, creating unnatural pastures up on the flattened mountain plateau. Reece reports that it would actually be easy to plant young trees, which can later be harvested for their wood and would hold back erosion better. It's even cheaper. It just doesn't look good as quick- little trees dotting the broken landscape are less impressive than a wave of green grass I suppose. So it was hard for the mining companies to be convinced that planting tree seedlings was better.

It was hard for me to assess from looking stuff up online if strip mines are actually following the procedures for reforestation. Looking online I found lots of sites that present a positive image of strip mining, with plenty of photos showing lush green forest growing where strip mines had been. But they predated this book so I wonder if some of these atrocities are still continuing.

I had a few small quibbles with the book itself, particularly a handful of typos I came across- break printed for brake, with for will, etc. They jumped right out at me. It's not a big deal, but it always bothers me a little bit to find that.

rating: 4/5 ........ 250 pages, 2006

more opinions:
Tree Hugger
Lake Loop

Seven Cats and the Art of Living

2011-12-22T14:12:00.000-05:00

by Jo Coudert

This is a very pleasant and thoughtful little book. It reminded me a lot of Conversations with Amber, which is a favorite of mine. The author looks back on her years with seven different cats (she's owned quite a few more) and in describing their different personalities and behavior, draws parallels to how we human beings deal with life. It feels more like a book about living well and fully, than a book about somebody's cats. She talks about character, about patience, about building relationships. She discusses the effects of early childhood- whether secure and loving or stressful and abusive- in influencing one's outlook on life. She talks about having self-confidence, about the value of hard work, about breaking ruts of behavior, making positive changes in our lives, putting on appearances, being needy or self-sufficient, jealousy, meditation, etc. A wealth of insights and observations. It only helps that I happen to agree with or admire many of her sentiments.

I find it a bit amusing that she and I have completely different taste in cats, though. Meaning, how they look. I once fell into error by choosing a handsome cat from a shelter based solely on his looks- he turned out to be not right for our family (see below). Coudret, too, is pleased to have cats that are beautiful or striking in appearance, but our opinion on that differs. She likes stocky longhaired cats with luxuriant fur. I like lean, athletic cats with long, graceful tails. I've always thought white cats with tabby patches were pretty. A cat comes into her house with all those qualities- lean, muscled, white with tabby patches, a long tail- and she is always mentioning how much a ruffian he looks, how scrawny and unkempt. I'm thinking, I'd like to see his photo! I bet I would find him a handsome cat.

Some readers might be a bit put off by her solutions to problems with a few of the cats- one that turned assertive and began spraying all over the house was relocated to a farm where he disappeared and no one knew his fate. I can sympathize, though- I had a cat once that was very aggressive to children and after trying for months to remedy the situation I gave him to a family without children, who lived on a large property where he could roam (he was a passionate hunter). The same day we took him to his new home, he bolted out their door and was never seen again. I still feel bad about it to this day, but also don't know what I would have done differently... Anyway, that's a tangent here. I liked Seven Cats and the Art of Living, so much that I want to find a copy for my own shelves.

rating: 4/5 ........ 192 pages, 1996

more opinions:
From the Recamier
anyone else?

influence

2011-12-21T12:09:00.000-05:00

Ever since I read Merry Hall, I've found some of Nichols' sentiments on plants creeping into my own opinion. Especially in regards to the speckled or spotted laurels. He speaks of them repeatedly with contempt, saying they look sickly, works very hard to rid his property of them. Finally I went online and looked them up. And instantly recognized the plant.

photo credit

Soon after moving here to Virginia, I had noticed a shrub that grows in many people's yards. It has large, pointed bright green leaves with paler green or yellow speckles on it. They look rather tropical (to me) but keep their leaves right through the winter. I always wondered what they were. Now I know: spottedd laurels! I was familiar with solid-colored laurels from back home, my mom's yard has a nice hedge of them- but these were something new. I always looked at them with curiosity before.

But sadly, since Nichols influenced me, I can't help but look at them with distaste. Every time I see one, I think it looks ill, diseased. Just because of the spots. Just because of how Nichols went on and on about them.

Am I alone or have you ever had an author's (or character's) opinion affect your own in real life?

Barnheart

2011-12-20T11:27:00.000-05:00

by Jenna Woginrich

This book continues where her previous one left off. Woginrich continues to strive to live her dream of homesteading. She moves into a new place, a rented cabin in a small community in Vermont. Continues gardening, raising chickens and rabbits. Adds sheep, ducks, geese, a turkey, a goat and a sheepdog to her little farm. Most of the book is not really details about the animals, or even about her efforts to raise her own food. For all she loves sheep, I learned more about what it's actually like to keep them from this other book. There's not much mention of her practices of animal husbandry, for example, until she has to defend someone's accusations on how she keeps them. There's hardly any mention of the garden, except for that she has one. It came across to me that the focus was her emotional journey. She talks a lot about her longings, dreams and plans, and then describes how she goes about acquiring them. There are welcoming neighbors who help her along the way, and suspicious ones who report her (unfounded) for animal cruelty. In the end, she discovers she can't stay forever at the cabin and undergoes a frantic search for a piece of land to own.

Barnheart was a quick, focused read. I really admired the tenacity which she had, to stick to her goals. She didn't mind if she looked odd to her neighbors (or even her own family) but just went ahead and found classes in the things she wanted to learn, found someone to trade sheep with her, found friends who liked fiddling, neighbors who helped her build a sheep shed, a whole community of people living the same kind of lifestyle (with a surprising variety of backgrounds). Her enthusiasm is catching, her honesty refreshing, her love for this way of life very obvious. I enjoyed reading her little book and have recently subscribed to her blog so I can follow along with her doings. I don't know if I'll ever have a homestead (or even if I want to) but I do love gardening, and want to have a few chickens someday (maybe rabbits too) so it's nice to see someone living that dream and far beyond it.

Rating: 3/5 ........ 184 pages, 2011

organizing

2011-12-20T11:21:00.000-05:00

I've spent the last week or so organizing my TBR list. The main focus of my task was to separate the list into the books I can find at my local library, and those that are unavailable. I don't know how many times I've gone to the library with a list of titles I was currently interested in, only to find most of them weren't in the system. Frustrating. So I've looked them all up and now know that even if I have to wait for something to travel from another branch, at least all the books on this list are there. It's satisfying to know that.

The list of books not at the library, dubbed TBR etc, is full of titles I'll just ignore for now. Someday I might search for them on swap sites, or purchase those I really really think I'll like, but I have no idea when. I've had a policy for a long time of borrowing books to read before I decide buy them, to keep the number of purchases down. It would be hard to start breaking that habit, especially where there's still so much on the regular TBR that I can still read at no cost.

I've also sorted the list a little more, especially with the nonfiction books, to make finding things easier. I'm not quite sure how to sort the fiction, which is the next-longest segment of the list.... It was interesting to see how the list broke apart when I started searching the library's catalog. About half the classics and nonfiction I want to read are available. Most of the YA books, two-thirds of the fiction and fantasy are available too. But less than a third of the animal books I'm interested in are. It was also eye-opening to go through the entire list in detail. I'm eager again to read many books I had completely forgotten were on my list. I found quite a few books that I'd read and not removed. And a number that were in the wrong place- fiction titles listed as memoirs, for example. Now it all feels tidy, and much more accessible. The list is not nearly so intimidating anymore. It feels manageable. I rather believe I might actually read all these books someday.

It will add an extra step whenever I add a bunch of titles to my TBR, because now I'll go look them up in the library catalog first. But I'm hoping it will save me some time and frustration down the road.

Animal Babies on the Farm

2011-12-19T11:46:00.001-05:00

by Kingfisher

Yet another cute board book we found at the library. This one shows a close-up of a baby farm animal- the chick's feet, pig's curly tail, a lamb's bright eye- gives a clue about the animal's identity and hints that the child guess "who is my mommy?" The following spread shows each baby animal with its mother and identifies their different names- chicken and chick, sheep and lamb, horse and foal etc. It's utterly charming, a great introduction to familiar animals, their mothers and some typical characteristics each have, from the goat's silky beard to the lamb's wooly coat. Six animals are shown, with nice clear photographs. It's a hit with my child.

rating: 4/5 ....... 28 pages, 2005

Baby! Baby!

2011-12-18T11:15:00.001-05:00

by Vicky Creelen

This is the first book that ever got my baby's attention. It has no words, just pictures. Each spread shows a baby and on the other page an animal. There's always a similarity between the two- posture, expression or activity. It's fairly large for a board book, so the baby faces are nice and big and catch your little one's attention. My kid loved looked at the faces, and it was easy to make up some words telling her what was going on: "oh, look at this baby with his legs all bent like a froggy" or "this baby is sitting up like a big ole gorilla!" My daughter's favorite page is the one where a kid sticks out his tongue next to a yawning lion also showing its tongue. I like the one near the end where a baby holds his head high (seen against the blue sky) aside a giraffe also holding its head high. Or the one where a baby sleeps with his hands tucked under him, and a kitty sleeps with its paws tucked just so- they both have just a bit of tongue peeking out, too. The only picture we don't really appreciate is the caterpillar, juxtaposed with a baby lying on the floor on his tummy, arching his back. Both babe and caterpillar look really small on the page, and it's not nearly as engaging for the child. Overall this is a wonderful collection of pictures, arranged so nicely. You'd be surprised how much a kid can look like a turtle's face!

On Flickr you can see some of Creelen's paired photographs. (They aren't all in the book- that only has eleven pairs). And I noticed that some other reviews say it's baby faces next to baby animals, but the animals are definitely not all babies- about half are grown.

rating: 4/5 ....... 24 pages, 2008

more opinions:
Young Readers
Maya Reads
Readia: Children's Book Reviews

Wilderness and Razor Wire

2011-12-17T22:41:00.039-05:00

by Ken Lamberton

This is one of the books I found on the John Burroughs Medal list, and was lucky enough to get through Paperback Swap. It was written by a former teacher who received a twelve-year sentence for having an affair with an underage student. During his time in prison, he kept his spirits up by observing what he could of the natural world around him- desert wildlife, birds and plants- and began writing essays on the subject. Ended up publishing numerous articles and essays about wildlife and nature in journals; I'd actually like to read a collection of those. This book is a kind of mesh describing his thoughts and emotional states while imprisoned, some of the details of prison life, how the system worked, the sadism of the guards, his observations of other inmates, etc. Mostly it is about what bits of nature he could connect to: naming birds that visit the prison yard, watching sparrows that build nests. The ants, cicadas, other insects that busily carry out their lives. The growth and spread of various plants, especially weeds and wildflowers. Patterns of weather and changing seasons. His grief and fury when trees are cut down and flowerbeds paved over because they pose a "security risk". I found most touching to read about the interactions of others with the wildlife: lots of inmates were curious to watch tarantulas hunt other bugs. Some kept birds or ground squirrels as illicit pets. When the author's family visits he engages his daughters in hunts for flowers, insects and toads.

Most of Wilderness and Razor Wire was an interesting read. But it was hard to ignore the unpleasant facts. One is the nature of his crime. He never goes into unnecessary details, but describes his guilt and remorse at betraying his family. The weird thing was that the man who wrote the forward tried to excuse his crime, calling it merely a crime of passion and of love. He said it wasn't comparable to crimes of violence, that if it had been a different era, would be considered no crime at all. It was strange going into the book having had that thrown at me. I would rather I had not read the intro. I would rather have not known what he'd done at all. It was hard sometimes to look past it and enjoy the nature bits.

The other part that bothered me was to read about his background as a naturalist. He was the kind of kid who liked to shoot animals (or run them down on the road) just to collect a specimen. Even protected species. Had a kind of cruel streak and enjoyed killing animals, taking them apart, engaging in taxidermy with the remains. You get the impression that only part of it was a fascination with learning. I thought this aspect of his character might fade a bit after so many years in prison, especially when I saw how sympathetic he was to his fellow inmates with their pets, to the living things around him, down to the very weeds in the concrete. But then I'd read about things like how he'd glue down the feet of insects to hold them still so he could draw them (and his drawings are quite nice, by the way.) No mention of whether they were set free again.

It's a kind of harshness, a raw edge butted up against sensitive feeling and passion for nature that kept me intent on the pages as an uneasy and enthralled reader. I'm a bit curious to read more of his books if I can find them, but wary of liking them.

rating: 3/5 ......... 218 pages, 2000

more opinions:
Southern Rockies Nature Blog

The Very Best Daddy of All

2011-12-16T13:03:00.003-05:00

by Marion Dane Bauer

This little board book shares a theme with the Ashley Wolff ones about animal daddies and mamas. It shows how different animal fathers care for their offspring, and then at the end highlights a human father's love for his child. Birds bring dinner, a fish builds a house, a penguin snuggles his chick, prairie dog plays with his pup, fox brings food home so the vixen can care for the cubs, etc. The one that surprised me was a frog leaping at a snake with the caption Some daddies face every danger, so you will be all right. I had no idea frogs would attack a snake to defend their tadpoles! The pastel illustrations are soft and vivid, the words have a gentle rhyming flow that doesn't feel forced. It's easy to fall into a little singsong while reading it aloud. I enjoyed turning these pages with my baby daughter.

rating: 3/5 ....... 34 pages, 2004

The Alphabet

2011-12-15T09:31:00.035-05:00

with Wild Animals

by Melanie Watt

You read through lots of alphabet books when you have little kids. And you start to notice the similarities and differences between them. For example, most of them seem to begin with A is for Alligator and end with Z is for Zebra. Lots of other animals are fairly common for certain letters of the alphabet: E- elephant, K- kangaroo, Y- yak, etc. What's really interesting is to see what animals the authors can come up for the hard letters like Q or X.

This version is completely charming. The illustrations are simple yet descriptive, and the backgrounds show each wild animal's appropriate habitat with very few elements. It's just right for little kids. I also really like that the opening spread shows all the featured animals grouped together. Something different, and nice. Some of the more unusual (for an ABC book) and interesting animals here are the quetzal (a fantastic Central American bird), narwhal, monarch butterfly, salamander, tuna fish, orangutan, xerus (a ground squirrel) and unau (the two-toed sloth). I did have a few small quibbles with the book, though. One is the W animal: wapiti. I thought elk was a more common name for this animal, I don't know why you would introduce children to the less-used term (I would also have used the sloth for S not U, but I know it's hard to think of a U animal! the last book I saw had unicorn). The elephant's trunk on the E page looks awkward: too big, like a chopped hose. And the rhinocerous looks like he has cloven hooves, not three-toed feet. Small things, but I started to notice them after so many readings.

rating: 3/5 ........ 30 pages, 2003

Why Don't Pengins' Feet Freeze?

2011-12-14T13:12:00.000-05:00

and 114 Other Questions
by New Scientist

Another book I found just browsing library shelves. Of course, it's not about penguins. It's a kind of trivia book, full of questions asked by readers of New Scientist magazine. All kinds of quirky and curious things you might wonder yourself, like: what makes your hair turn grey? do fish die when lightning strikes a body of water? how do gnats avoid raindrops? how do you make ice cubes without bubbles (as seen in commercials)? how does temperature affect the taste of food and drink? etc etc. A lot of the answers got quite technical in the details of physics or chemistry that causes certain effects, and sometimes I have to admit I got a little lost, even though I could tell the answers were written for laypeople. And here's the one little problem with this book. The answers in Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze? are not uniform in quality. They're not written by the same author, or even by a team at the magazine. They're sent in by other readers, and vary quite a bit. (Some of them have impressive little list of credentials after their names, others just list their name and you wonder who they are or what they know). Quite often completely contradictory answers are printed next to each other and there are even some that are obviously making a joke of the whole thing. They did make me chuckle, and it was interesting to see different ways of explaining the same phenomenon, but a few times I was still left wondering which response was the most accurate. It didn't bother me too much, but other readers might find this uneven quality dissatisfying.

I want to see them answer the question about the hummingbird my sisters and I used to pose to each other as kids when we drove around in our large volkswagon van: if a hummingbird is hovering in the car and it takes off suddenly, will the bird keep moving along with the car or get smashed against the rear window? (I think this was mostly answered by the question in the book about how a floating balloon behaves in a moving car, but somehow I think a living creature powering itself, like a hummingbird, might act differently?)

rating: 3/5 ........212 pages, 2006

Architecture Shapes

2011-12-12T13:36:00.001-05:00

by Michael Crosbie and Steven Rosenthal

Another little board book that's been visiting our house from the library this week. This one introduces children to shapes by juxtaposing a line drawing (circle, square, diamond, oval, etc) next to a photo where that shape is prominent on a building (mostly windows). The final picture shows several buildings together and suggests finding different shapes on the page. I keep looking for a star there, but can only find the other shapes mentioned in the previous pages. This is because my daughter's favorite page is the star, she keeps patting it with her hands (I think because it looks very three-dimensional).

It's a nice little book, but not one of my baby's favorites. She usually looses interest halfway through. I think she's just a little young to be learning shapes yet (her interests right now are animals, bright colors and people's faces). This is a book we'll probably look for again later on, when she's a tad bit older.

rating: 3/5 ........ 16 pages, 1993

Flower Confidential

2011-12-09T13:56:00.000-05:00

by Amy Stewart

I wanted to read this author's book about earthworms, or the one about her first gardening efforts, From the Ground Up. But the only other Amy Stewart title my library had was Flower Confidential so I brought that home instead. And it's been quite an interesting, educational read.

This book is all about the cut flower industry. Amy Stewart traveled from California to Ecuador to Holland to see exactly where our flowers come from- the ones you see in the grocery store, in the corner florists' shop, or order online for Mother's Day. The first part is about flower breeding, from the old-fashioned (eccentric guy who hand-pollinated all his lilies but his place was always in disarray. They speculate that his lilies were so hardy because they had to be in order to survive the unsanitary conditions!) to the modern: gene-splicing in attempts to get new flower varieties, even the quest for a blue rose. Then she visits several growing operations, from local and almost-organic in southern California to low-wage pesticide-ridden in Latin America. It's funny, I never thought about flowers being a similar product to food but there are many parallels. Just like produce, the flowers that have been bred to withstand travel and handling have also lost their scent. Flowers are produced cheaper in other countries, so they get shipped from far away. Organic flowers, grown without pesticides and harsh chemicals, are just coming into vogue. Next the reader gets to visit the huge flower auction in Holland, which was fascinating. And then revisits florist shops on home soil, peeking into their doings. Last of all is a look at the mad rush that is Valentine's Day, and how florists cope with the demand. All of it was interesting, and eye-opening for me. I learned a lot about how flowers are propagated and cared for in mass numbers, how they travel around the world, how the demand for them rises and falls (most curious were some of the historical bits about what flowers were popular among Victorians, for example). And I kept jotting down notes of flower names, so I could look them up on my computer and see what they were. I'm familiar with peonies, snapdragons, chrysanthemums, etc but these had me seeking a visual: dianthus, clarkias, mignonette, lisianthus, tuberose, alstroemeria... Some I had seen before, just didn't know their names. Beautiful!

I enjoyed this book a lot more than reading Wicked Plants. This book had a nice, conversational narrative that took the reader along on a journey of discovery. Wicked Plants felt more like a detailed list. Interesting still, but the format is not as fun to read.

rating: 4/5 ........ 306 pages, 2007

more opinions:
Books and Other Stuff
Maggie Reads

Eva and Her Animal Friends

2011-12-08T12:32:00.000-05:00

by Ulla Kampmann

This is a book that got weeded out of my daughter's library. She recently got a new bookshelf and it's crammed full (smaller than the old one) so a few had to go. (Most of the board books went to a different shelf just for the baby). Eva and Her Animal Friends is one I've had a long time and can't remember where I got it.

I actually really like the story: a little girl named Eva is getting ready to visit the zoo and talking to some animals in her backyard. The fox is very vain and thinks he's the most beautiful, clever creature around. The sparrow is practical, busy and forever worrying about her children. The bunny is just a little innocent fellow. They all want to know about the zoo, which the sparrow tells them about- having visited herself once (she has a cousin who lives in an elephant's cage). They learn that lions have long tails, brown fur and loving eyes. Elephants have wrinkled skin, big ears and are very smart. Eva goes off to the zoo with the idea that she can bring a lion home for a pet- or maybe an elephant (the sparrow's recommendation). When she gets there, she realizes at once that neither animal is suitable for a pet, and settles for an ice-cream cone instead. The next day, the animals in the yard wake up early and find a strange creature among them. At once they assume this is the new pet Eva brought back from the zoo- but is it a lion, or an elephant? It has brown fur, a long tail, loving eyes and wrinkles and large ears. What can it be? They are all puzzled until Eva arrives to tell them about it.

It's a charming little tale. My only problem is the pictures. They're awkward, look like a child drew them and scribbled in with markers. I really don't care for them at all (and neither does my kid). So even though the story is enjoyable, she doesn't want to look at the book. I really wish this book were reissued with new illustrations. As it is, my copy is probably going to get recycled- it's missing all the front pages (including the first illustration) and has quite a few tears with old, yellowed tape and a very worn cover. It's sad, but one that must go.

rating: 2/5 ........ 30 pages, 1967

Nam, Nam! Yum, Yum

2011-12-06T12:56:00.000-05:00

by Catherine Hnatov

This cute little board book is quite simple. Bold, three-color illustrations show animals eating their favorite foods while the facing page describes what they're doing, in both english and spanish. The color mentioned on each page is the only one featured against black-and-white, so it makes a good contrast to help infants become familiar with colors. I like the simplicity of it. My favorite page is the donkey (eating red apples), he's just so charming! The book is very short, only twelve pages, but sometimes that's just right for little attention spans.

rating: 3/5 ........ 12 pages, 2011

I Love My Daddy Because

2011-12-05T19:28:00.001-05:00

by Laurel Porter-Gylord

Another beautiful board book illustrated by Ashley Wolff, I Love My Daddy Because is a companion to I Love My Mommy Because. It shows how animal fathers help care for their young, in many of the same ways human fathers do. Kids can see puffins bringing food to their chicks, beavers and muskrats building a home, a fox teaching caution. My favorite pages are of the eagle sitting with his baby, the lion snoozing with his cub, the chimp laughing with his offspring. The only spread I don't care for so much is the one where the animals play hide-and-seek. Spider monkeys, anoles, jaguars, parrots, toucans and sloths all hide behind busy patterns of leaves. Search as I might, I still haven't been able to find the second sloth. But it's a small matter. The gentle words reminding us of bonds between parent and child (whether human or animal), and the lovely pictures make this a great book to snuggle with your little one.

rating: 4/5 ........ 24 pages, 1991

Move!

2011-12-04T00:01:00.002-05:00

by Robin Page and Steve Jenkins

This is one of the picture-book duds I brought home. The cover is really attractive- it has one of those pictures that shift when you tilt it (is there a term for that? can someone tell me?) Inside, each spread describes how a pair of animal moves (walking, swimming, floating, diving, running, etc) and then one of the animals continues to the next pair on the following spread. For example, on one page a snake climbs a tree, alongside a praying mantis climbing a grass stem. On the next spread, the mantis is flying, next to a roadrunner also flying. It's a wonderful example of how different animals use the same methods of getting around. The illustrations by Steve Jenkins, done with cut paper are full of different textures, and just beautiful.

So why doesn't she like it? My seven-month-old only wants to look at the cover, once I start reading she squirms and complains and turns away. I've tried the book on her three times now, and she just doesn't want to sit through it. (It's not just the moment, either; I've picked up another book right after and she sat quiet for that one, happily patting the pages). I think part of the problem is that the concept is a bit advanced for her. I'm thinking she'd be more interested when she's two or three, able to jump and run with her own body, interested in imitating the animals. Just not there yet. And I think by the time she is at that point, she won't be interested in board books anymore. It would be nice if there was a regular, paper version of this one to share with an older child.

rating: 2/5 ........ 32 pages, 2009

a note: I've been listing the picture books in my index here by the illustrator's name, not the author's. Because to me, the illustrations are almost more important in a children's picture book. It's certainly what I look for when I'm trying to find new books to share with my kids.

this never ends

2011-12-02T09:30:00.000-05:00

the TBR pile! thanks to...

The Kitchen Counter Cooking School by Kathleen Flynn- books i done read
Love at First Bark by Julie Klam- Caribousmom
Birdology by Sy Montgomery- The Stay at Home Bookworm
I'm the King of the Castle by Susan Hill- Kyusi Reader
The Heroine's Bookshelf by Erin Blakemore- The Lost Entwife
As For Me and My House by Sinclair Ross- My Porch

State of Wonder by Anne Prachett- Sophisticated Dorkiness
In a Single Bound by Sarah Reinersten- Caroline Bookbinder
Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel - Farm Lane Books Blog
Bird by Zetta Elliott- Puss Reboots
Island of Wings by Karin Altenberg- Books Under Skin
the Girl's Guide to Homelessness by Brianna Karp - Shannon's Book Blog

You Deserve Nothing by Alexander Maksik- Farm Lane Books Blog
Emotional Geology by Linda Gillard - Opinions of a Wolf
Gluten -Free Girl by Shauna James Ahern- Sophisticated Dorkiness
At Home by Bill Bryson- So Many Books
Emily, Alone by Stewart O'Nan- You've GOTTA Read This!
Wild Life by Molly Gloss- A Work in Progress and So Many Books

You Had Me at Woof

2011-12-01T14:09:00.000-05:00

by Julie Klam

Searching for love in her life, Julie Klam has a dream where a small black-and-white dog leaps across a field of flowers towards her. And pretty much, that's when she fell in love with the Boston terrier breed. First came Otto, a dog she simply loved to pieces. Then she (with the reluctant approval of her husband) became involved in a Boston terrier rescue group, and started fostering homeless dogs. All different sorts of little dog characters came through her home, some incorrigible, some adorable. There was the dog who pooped all over the house, another that bit people, a third that did nothing at all, just lay there. The story that endeared me most was of Dahlia, a very aged dog no one liked much until she brought a wonderful surprise into their home.

You Had Me at Woof is an amusing, lighthearted and sometimes surprising read. The author admits openly that she does almost nothing to train her dogs, they're completely spoiled. It made me wonder a little how the rescue group gave her dogs to foster, as their behavior problems didn't get much help from her. But then, at least they had a safe roof over their heads while looking for their forever homes. It was really interesting to read about the operations of the rescue group- I didn't really know how they functioned before, and it seems like (at least this one) they are basically just a collection of big-hearted people doing what they can to help dogs in need, without asking anything in return.

Sometimes the writing in the book bothered me a bit. There were certain gaps in the story, regards to the author. For example, she never explained why she can't drive- even though it comes up as an issue a few times. Reasons for events or changes in her life also get glossed over. I didn't mind that so much- I liked that the book was more focused on the dogs, and perhaps she just didn't want to share details about her life. But it was just confusing as a reader to suddenly have an aspect of her situation different, with no explanation at all.

One thing I particularly liked was that the "life lessons" weren't overly obvious, not shoved in your face. Each chapter had a title like "How to Uncover Truths" or "How to Mourn the Loss of a Friend" (yes, some dogs die in the book. It didn't make me overly sad, though- probably because I just didn't get attached to them as characters). Sometimes I would get to the end of a chapter and then look back at its title and think about the contents before I realized that it all summed up that title "lesson". The one I didn't get was called "How to Feel Good About Your Neck." What does that mean? is it some cultural reference I don't get? can someone explain?

rating: 3/5 ........ 226 pages, 2010

more opinions:
S. Krishna's Books
Luxury Reading

Busy Kitties

2011-11-30T16:56:00.000-05:00

by John Schindel and Sean Franzen

This is the board book featured in my post about the baby's shocked expression! It's a real appealing book with bold pictures of cats in various activities. Begins by saying Busy, busy kitties. What are they doing? and continues with simple captions that rhyme across each spread of pictures: Kitty strolling, kitty rolling / Kitty hissing, kitties kissing...etc. All the pictures are really cute or expressive, and show cats doing cat things- sprawl in the sun, drink from a dripping faucet, cry insistently for noms. My baby likes this book especially, whether because she recognizes cat faces (we have two) or recognizes me talking about them, I'm not sure.

Busy Kitties is part of a series, all in the same format, all featuring animals. We've brought home from the library at various times Busy Birdies, Busy Bear Cubs and Busy Elephants. My daughter liked the birds okay, the bear cubs and elephants not at all. Her favorite is the cats. There's lots of other books in the series, featuring penguins, dogs, pigs, chickens, barnyard animals, horses, etc. I'm sure to find some others that she'll like!

rating: 4/5 ........ 20 pages, 2004

Circle + Square

2011-11-29T10:49:00.001-05:00

by Jill Hartley

Since I'm reading my own books at a rather slow pace (not much free time, I'm afraid) but going through lots of picture books with the baby, I figured might as well feature the kid books here. After all, there's good and bad of those just like any other book. I'm more likely to only feature the "good" books for now, as I do a quick evaluation and only bring home the ones I like best (or think the baby will like). Later when she's big enough to pick her own books at the library we'll bring home some not-so-good ones and those will probably get mention here, as well, if I keep this up. I've been looking forward to exploring the picture-book section at the library again, when she's more able to appreciate the stories. Right now learning to turn the pages, not chew them, is her focus.

So, Circle + Square is one of the board books my six-month-old has been enjoying recently. It has no words, just bright photographs featuring objects that either have circular or square shapes, or both. Not only are the colors vivid and kid-appealing, but the pictures are paired so that each spread has a nice color harmony. For example, a photo of blue-and-green highlighted bubbles floating against a background of dark evergreens is next to a picture of clear marbles with blue-green swirls sitting on dark pavement. It just looks nice together, and adds to the visual appeal of the book. The only thing that throws me off is seeing a skull on the first page! (paired against black-and-white dice in a child's hands) but it doesn't faze my daughter at all (she probably doesn't even know what it is) and after learning that the author is from Mexico it makes sense; probably some Dia de Los Muertos figure. Some of the more striking images include an array of vividly-striped spinning tops, the insides of a gumball machine, a boquet of bright flowers, a table full of what looks like jello molds (all shaped like cups, many colors), a huge swirly lollipop obscuring a child's face and a bunch of little prickly cacti wrapped in pink tissue paper. The square book is small enough to be easily held, my baby has just started turning pages by herself and this one she always seems eager to see the next picture.

rating: 3/5 ........ 24 pages, 2008

Quiet Time with Cassatt

2011-11-28T10:31:00.003-05:00

by Julie Merberg and Suzanne Bober

This charming little baby book features paintings by the famous artist Mary Cassatt. All the pictures feature children, and are accompanied by simple, rhyming text describing the picture. My favorite is the last page, on a pink background it has a detail of Cassatt's work Breakfast in Bed and says Fresh and clean, on cool white sheets, it's cuddle time before we sleep. (The fact that the painting is of morning time and the words make it sound like bedtime doesn't bother me; I didn't know that until I looked up the title of the picture!) Such a nice little book, Quiet Time with Cassatt is a wonderful way to introduce some great artwork to your little one.

Other titles in this "Mini Masters" series include Painting with Picasso, A Picnic with Monet, Sharing with Renoir, Dreaming with Rousseau, Sunday with Seurat, In the Garden with Van Gogh, Dancing with Degas.... I really wish I could search for more at my library but for some reason they don't catalog the board books. I can't search for them, and even though I check them out, they don't show up on my list. I find that very odd. Maybe they just loose too many to bother keeping track of them? I'll just have to rummage through the board-books shelves and see if I can find more.

rating: 4/5 ........ 22 pages, 2006

2011-11-16T12:19:00.000-05:00

by R.D. Rosen

When I first spotted A Buffalo in the House on the library shelf, I thought it was about the guy featured on the tv show Fatal Attractions (about people who keep dangerous animals as pets, often with disastrous results). It wasn't the same man and bison, but a story even more interesting.

Roger Brooks' artist wife Veryl Goodnight was the descendent of a couple who had helped save the buffalo from extinction, bottle-raising two orphaned calves in the 1870's. She decided to create a sculpture of her great-great-great grandmother (I don't know how many greats) feeding the calves, and so when the opportunity came for them to take in their own orphaned calf they were thrilled. Veryl used the calf as a model for her sculpture, and her husband Roger became increasingly attached to the animal. He started out living in the house, but eventually Charlie the buffalo became too big and potentially dangerous. He was moved to a corral outside but continually poked his nose in windows, browed on flower shrubs, and went for walks in the countryside with Roger. When the bison was at his "teenage" stage they tried to introduce him to his own kind, hoping to integrate him into a regular herd. But an accident injured his spine and left him disabled. Amazingly, Roger kept the buffalo, increasingly dangerous not because of his nature (he was very gentle for such a huge animal) but because he was now prone to bad falls (and very difficult to get back on his feet again).

The story of Roger's dedication to Charlie is one I could not put down. Interwoven in the narrative is a brief history of the American bison, from their near-demise to the handful of people who protected the animals and helped bring them back from the brink. The latest chapter in this story astonished me; I had no idea that the bison herd which lives in Yellowstone was threatened- of all things by cattle ranchers in Montana. This book was written four years ago and apparently the killing is still going on- bison which migrate out of the park in search of food are shot because of supposed threat to grazing cattle (even though there's never been a documented case of a cow catching a disease from a buffalo). Spurred by his love for Charlie, Roger Brooks worked tirelessly to get the Yellowstone herd protected, but it hasn't happened yet.

rating: 3/5 ........ 242 pages, 2007

Mama's Milk

2011-11-14T09:30:00.043-05:00

by Michael Elohon Ross

I looked for this book specifically because I wanted more with illustrations by Ashley Wolff. Similar to I Love My Mommy Because, it shows different animal mothers caring for their offspring. Only in this case, the entire focus is about breastfeeding. Mama's Milk has a nice gentle rhyming quality. It begins showing a mother nursing her baby in bed Cuddle little baby warm and tight Mama's going to feed you day and night then each page shows a different animal mother nursing her infant(s). In the middle spread there is a picture of a mother nursing her baby in a park (while another mom nearby feeds a toddler in a stroller with a spoon), another picture shows a mom holding a baby in a sling leaning over to see a mother cat with her kittens, and the final picture shows a mother fallen asleep in a chair with her nursing baby. Delightful is the variety of animal moms- not just the ones you'd expect to see like horses, pigs or bears but other less-familiar animals like the platypus, a bat, and an armadillo- all nourishing their babes with their milk. I like that the book showed a variety of aspects regarding breastfeeding- nursing at night, in public, at home, by humans and animals alike. At the end of the book is a spread with little thumbnails giving some facts about each animal featured. I found this particularly interesting: did you know that an elephant will nurse her baby for up to five years? or that kangaroo milk is pink? Lovely little book, Mama's Milk is one I enjoyed just as much as my daughter.

rating: 4/5 ........ 24 pages, 2007

more opinions at:
the Petite Bookshelf
Breastfeeding Mum's Blog
Carma's Window

I Love My Mommy Because

2011-11-13T01:25:00.001-05:00

by Laurel Porter-Gaylord

I've discovered that I'm kinda picky about what board books I read my daughter. She likes bold colors and faces (especially of other babies) so I end up choosing ones that have photos or very lifelike illustrations. There's lots of books with cute sketchy or cartoony pictures but I always pass these over for some reason; thinking she won't make much sense of those kind of pictures. How do I know, though?

Anyway, one of my favorite board books for her right now (which we've borrowed from the library several times) is I Love My Mommy Because with illustrations by Ashley Wolff. I was really drawn to it for the pictures. The paintings have beautiful texture and colors and they all show mother animals doing things for their babies that really occur in nature. The book starts out with the words I love my mommy because she reads me stories, showing a mom reading to her child. Then each page names something mothers do for their children, but showing different animals performing the care: She feeds me when I'm hungry shows an ewe suckling her lamb She rocks me to sleep the sea otter holding her pup in the waves She lets me play in the mud a mother sow and her piglets, etc. It's just a lovely little book and I enjoy reading it to her again and again.

There are two editions of this book. I like the board book one better, not only because it's easier to read with a baby but because the cover illustration is more attractive. The other edition has a picture of a child with a mother cat and her kittens- and (in my opinion) the artist is just better at doing animals than people so it's not quite as charming.

rating: 4/5 ........ 24 pages, 1991

Walking Wisdom

2011-11-11T18:44:00.000-05:00

by Gotham Chopra

Picked this book up from browsing the public library shelves, it looked interesting. It's a musing, meandering book full of introspective thoughts on life- from the viewpoint of a man who is the son of a famous (although I never heard of him before) spiritual self-help kind of guru. And it's about their dogs, and their father-son relationships, and what it's like having a toddler... and it didn't work for me. It was just too jumbled. I was enjoying the thoughts, but finding it hard to see how they fit together. I kept getting confused on who was who, and which dog belonged to which generation (he talks about his childhood dog, and the one he owns currently). I realized how bad my concentration was when a description of one of the dogs as a teacup bit of fluff that fit in two hands gave me a double-take; I'd been picturing it as a husky-type dog. I flipped back looking for a description of it but couldn't find any...

My lack of interest reflects more on me than on the book itself; I just wasn't following it well. I don't know if I'll pick it up to try again, though.

Abandoned ........ 254 pages, 2010

TBR Double Dare

2011-11-11T17:54:00.000-05:00

I'm joining in on CB James' TBR Double Dare for 2012!

Last year I didn't quite make it to the end, this time I'm hoping to accomplish the goal and clear some real space off my shelves. It goes from Jan to April, read stuff only off your shelves, nothing new that comes into the house, no library borrowing, just get to those books that have been sitting patiently in a row... yeah!

The Blessing of the Animals

2011-11-07T13:45:00.000-05:00

True Stories of Ginny, the Dog Who Rescues Cats
by Philip Gonzalez

This was a light read. Very good for these last few days of stress my family is going through, when I just catch a few minutes of quiet time with the baby now and then. Read a few pages, not much heavy thinking, pick it up again later. That's why it took me so long, a book I'd normally get through in less than a day.

The Blessing of the Animals tells more about Ginny, a dog in New York City that engages in cat rescue. When I saw the picture on the cover I recognized her immediately from the first book about her, The Dog Who Rescues Cats (which I've read but don't think I reviewed it on the blog yet). To make the story short, she's a dog that the author Gonzalez adopted from a shelter after he suffered a disabling work injury. Gonzalez didn't care much for cats at the time, but soon discovered that his dog did, and she was constantly finding them hiding away in tight places. Most of the cats Ginny found were in need of help- injured, sick, abandoned, starving. Gonzalez took them into his home, took them to the vet, found some new homes and kept others. Eventually he ran out of space- he had nineteen cats in his apartment, so those that weren't found homes in several weeks' time were let back out onto the streets (all spayed and neutered) and then provided with food via one of his many cat feeding stations. Some people vilify the guy for feeding hundreds of stray cats but he points out that he's helping the population, because he always traps and fixes the homeless cats so they can't reproduce, and finds homes for those he can. As of the writing of the second book, he and Ginny had rescued nine hundred cats!

Ginny is a schnauzer/husky mix, with a winsome face and an odd ruff of long, wiry fur around her neck. Some people think she's sent from God, that her way of finding cats is a miracle. Personally, I don't think there's anything miraculous in how she can locate cats in trouble, hearing or sniffing them out. Her affection for them, and theirs for her, is wondrous. My own thoughts, from reading how she approaches cats, grooms them with nibbling teeth, and is reluctant to socialize with dogs, is that maybe she thinks she is a cat. Her past is unknown; maybe she was fostered by a cat mother? Who knows. But her dedication to digging cats out of trouble- from dumpsters, vehicles, pipes, once a pile of cut sod in the back of a landscaping truck, another time a box of broken glass- has earned her the admiration of many.

I was a bit disappointed that most of this book narrated how the author handled his dog's newfound fame after the publication of the first; a lot of it is about events they attended, meeting with publishers, visiting schools, going on talk shows, etc. I was really more interested in the stories of the cats, there wasn't quite enough of that.

Anyway, if you like animals and are in for a light, easy read, this is a nice heartwarming little book. You can find articles (and video) of Ginny the dog online by just googling her name connected with "rescues cats."

rating: 2/5 ........ 177 pages, 1996

Merry Hall

2011-11-03T19:20:00.000-04:00

by Beverly Nichols

This read was delightful. I'm sad I didn't discover Beverly Nichols sooner, and happy there are more books of his to search for. It's thanks to A Work in Progress that I found this author!

Apparently his gardening books are the "less serious" of Nichols' works, but I'd be happy enough to just read them. Merry Hall begins the trilogy where he describes acquiring an old mansion with extensive grounds and attempting to restore its gardens. He is a man obsessed with plants, enchanted by flowers. While he kind of inherits an old, crotchety gardener who has worked at the manse for years and maintains a stupendous vegetable garden (envied by ladies around), Nichols himself dreams up, designs and attempts to put into place new lawns and pools, flowering shrubs and tall walls of living greenery, while at the same time tearing out plantings by the previous owner he finds hideous. Lots of commentary on that subject! Anyone who's ever moved into a new house with a piece of land on it and tried to remake it according to their own taste can probably relate. I really like this man for his eagerness to do gardening experiments: if he sees a plant he likes while traveling, he thinks nothing of gathering some seed or digging up a young plant and smuggling it home! he even hides an avocado pit in his pocket at a dinner party to sneak home to his greenhouse (from the way he spoke of the "avocado pear" it must have been a rare fruit to encounter). Quite amusing are his descriptions of neighbors and acquaintances, most of whom want to share their own opinions on what ought to be done with his gardens. And then there are delightful tidbits like his chapter on plants that give you flowers in winter, or one that describes his efforts to grow all the flowers needed to reproduce in life a painting of a floral arrangement that he loves. The book made me laugh out loud quite a few times, and smile to myself many others, and dream big ambitions of my own garden. I can't wait to get my hands on another Nichols volume, though I fear it will be difficult (my library only has this one title by him).

Borrowed from the public library.

rating: 4/5 ........ 320 pages, 1951

more opinions at:
The Captive Reader
BookNAround

The Year of the Seal

2011-10-29T14:14:00.000-04:00

by Victor Scheffer

A companion book to The Year of the Whale, The Year of the Seal describes the life of an Alaskan fur-seal and its companions. I found it more interesting than the whale book, probably because seals are a bit easier to relate to, but also more disturbing in some ways. Most of the book tells about one female seal, and what she does from day to day in the different seasons; she comes to land to breed and raise a pup, leaves it periodically to go fishing in the ocean, then roams widely through the seas but returns again to land the following year. The story also follows the doings of one of her pups, and a little bit of the adult male or bull seal as well, to show how their habits differ. Interwoven with the seals' lives are the activities of men, and this is where it gets troublesome. There are hunters who "harvest" the seals' skins for their thick warm fur, and biologists who count their numbers and study their behavior. Their main motive for doing so is to determine how many seals can be taken each year without decimating the population. But they also do some studies just (it seems) for knowledge' sake. Things like chopping the ears off a hundred seals to mark them and see if they come back the next year to the same spot. Killing a bunch of seals by different methods just to see which is more efficient. The worst, I felt, was when they had caught a few pups for a study and in order to keep them alive, every day would go out to the seal rookery, find a pup that had just been fed by its mother, kill it and feed the milk from its stomach to the captive pup. It seemed such a waste.

Of course, the seals suffered and died of natural causes, too. Orcas and parasitic worms, stormy weather and fights among themselves. The huge bulls often trampled pups that got in their way, or attacked them to vent frustration. Some pups' mothers never returned from the sea and these slowly wasted away. It's all quite brutal. And yet the seals are full of life, apparently vigorous and healthy, and there are many passages beautifully describing their grace in the water, their speed and agility chasing fish, the quiet and tender moments between mother and pup, etc. All the misery seemed to jump out at me, though. Maybe that's why this book has gone unread for so many years (the last time its due date was stamped is 1995).

Still, I liked this one better than the whale book. Bought at a library sale.

rating: 3/5 ........ 205 pages, 1970

Wicked Plants

2011-10-24T11:51:00.000-04:00

by Amy Stewart

Wicked Plants is a little book stuffed full of data on plants that do harm to people. Whether by poisoning, causing rashes and itching, intoxicating or overwhelming the environment- noxious weeds are a real headache! It was curious to see how many plants nowadays considered very dangerous were used in times past as medical remedies (often with very bad results for the patients). And I'm no longer surprised at how new arrivals in the Americas ages ago were afraid to eat tomatoes; related plants in their family are poisonous (such as deadly nightshade). I was surprised to find how many other plants commonly grown in gardens can be toxic: sweet peas, rhododendrons, azalea, certain kinds of lawn grass, celery! Of course, you'd have to eat a ton to come to harm, and quite a few I can't see why anyone would ingest it at all- azalea leaves, really? but lots of other plants that resemble edibles or have attractive-looking berries it's easy to understand why kids put them in their mouths, or even hikers who think they know what plants are safe. There's also info in here about mushrooms. And did you know olive trees can cause terrible allergic reactions? even lime peel! I could go on and on but you should just read the book and save me the trouble. Incidentally, the part about Lincoln's mother mentioned in the subtitle (The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities) doesn't appear until near the end, so you have to read the entire book to get to that part. It's all worth it, though!

Also this book sent me googling about ten different plants to see what they look like, in spite of the delightful illustrations. Which is always a good sign of how much it triggered my curiosity, sending me online to learn more. Borrowed this one from the public library.

rating: 3/5 ........ 233 pages, 2009

more opinions:
I know a lot of you have read this book but my google reader returns nothing I can pin down and searches online yield so much stuff which aren't book reviews that I have no time to wade through. So if you're a book blogger and you've read and posted about this book let me know and I'll add a link to you here!

Relentless Enemies

2011-10-22T23:17:00.000-04:00

by Dereck and Beverly Joubert

I've been eying this book on its display shelf every visit to the library for the past few weeks, and finally I just gave in and brought it home, even though it's big and heavy (we were walking). And I'm glad I did; it was a wonderful book.

Relentless Enemies is one of those large-format coffee-table books full of gorgeous photos of wildlife. It's based on three years the authors spent living among lions and buffalo in the Okavango Delta of Botswana, studying their interactions and filming. (I really want to see the film they produced now; I really loved their film Eye of the Leopard so I'm sure I'd like this one as well). The unique thing about this area, besides that no people are allowed there (no tourists, nada) is that most of it is swampy. The lions wade and hunt and travel through water day after day. What fascinated me most was to read about how the three lion prides they studied each had their own different strategies of hunting buffalo in the water. While the pictures dominate the book, the writing is beautiful, thoughtful, even poetic and so it was just as much a delight to read through as to enjoy visually.

Rating: 4/5 ....... 175 pages, 2006

Demon Fish

2011-10-20T13:48:00.000-04:00

by Juliet Eilperin

Sharks, one of the creatures most widely feared and loathed by humanity, kill less people a year than accidents with toasters or chairs! (How someone dies from a toaster encounter I don't know). Our fear of sharks has led us to ignore what's been happening to them, but as Juliet Eilperin succinctly describes in her book Demon Fish, their numbers are rapidly plummenting. They've been killed because we fear them, killed because they get caught in equipment set to catch other fish, killed because we want to eat them to show off (the shark components of shark's-fin soup add nothing to the flavor of the dish) and killed as their habitats are destroyed. Some say: who cares? they eat us. Let them die. But as top predators in the ocean, sharks fill a very important role of keeping other species in check. Not to mention that they are beautiful in their own right, unique creatures we are just beginning to understand.

Some of the amazing things I learned about sharks in this book (I'd heard of some of these things before, but never read about them in detail)

Sharks are ancient. They predate the dinosaurs!
Shark skin is very tough, made out of the same material as teeth.
Some sharks lay eggs, others give live birth.
A few sharks even give virgin birth. That's right: no dad.
Some baby sharks eat their siblings in utero.
There are about five hundred known species of shark.
Most sharks are small, and many of them have beautiful patterns. Look at this one.

So I learned a lot about sharks, what makes them different, how scientists study them, how our actions are pushing many of them towards extinction and why we should care. And of course, take steps to halt their demise.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 4/5 ........ 295 pages, 2011

more opinions:
We Loved DC
All Fins Attached
Booked Up

an aside

2011-10-18T14:27:00.000-04:00

For the first in a long time, I have been inspired by something I read to make a purchase. Thus the presence of this post, about a food item, on my book blog!

It was from reading Honeybee, which first sparked my interest in local, or monofloral honey. So for the first time ever, I have bought some special honeys, and they do have very different flavors.

The first one I got was an orange-blossom honey from the local supermarket, Wegman's. It has a light amber color like clover honey (which is all I'm used to eating in regards to honey) and tastes a lot similar. It has a definite, sharp citrusy zing, kind of as if the honey had orange zest in it. And a nice tingly aftertaste that seems to linger in the roof of my mouth.

Then just a few days ago we went to a local produce stand at an Amish farm we like to visit, but only go two or three times a season because it's quite a bit of distance from us (at least a twenty-minute drive). I usually get eager about their homemade jams and sauces, but this time noticed there was a shelf full of monofloral honey! I got all excited when I saw the tupelo honey, which I read about in Robbing the Bees, and had a hard time deciding which other type to try. They had starthistle honey, blackberry, apple blossom and many others I can't remember now. I was intrigued by the avocado one so we got that.

You can see the difference in the colors here. The Tupelo honey is amber too, a bit darker than orange blossom. The avocado honey has a rich, dark almost red-tinted color. We tried just a bit smeared on crackers to compare the flavors.

The tupelo honey is very sweet and astringent. Its flavor reminds me of something else but I haven't been able to put my finger on it. The avocado honey has an incredibly rich, heavy flavor like molasses. It left the longest aftertaste on my tongue. I can't decide which I like best and have to figure out some special cooking or food combinations to do with these. They are a bit pricey- the tupelo jar cost $10, the others about $6 each, but we are going to savor them. I don't know if they're exactly local- I think tupelo trees only grow in Florida, for example- but I know our farmer's market has honey produced by local hives. Next change I get, I want to try some of theirs, too.

winner

2011-10-15T23:01:00.000-04:00

Hey, Lezlie! You won my Egyptian bookmarks. Let me know where to send them!

Drawings of the Masters

2011-10-14T11:12:00.000-04:00

Flemish and Dutch Drawings from the 15th to the 18th Century

by Colin Eisler

Another art book I got from a library sale recently. I picked it up because in thumbing through saw a wonderful drawing of an elephant by Rembrandt, also several awesome lions, and figured there'd be more. I was right- there was much more. Just a few are of animals: a boar's head, a scruffy-looking bull, a donkey, a beautiful little monkey with a chain on his neck, several cows in a group and quite a few horses (mostly with figures). There's also a wonderful page full of little studies of garden vegetables which made me wish I could draw plants better, and two that quite made me laugh. One is a drawing called Men Shoveling Chairs. Seriously. I was glancing at the plate titles in the front of the book and my eye wandered down the usual kind of names: Portrait of a Young Man, Virgin and Child, Landscape with a Bridge, etc. then I saw Men Shoveling Chairs. What!? I turned to that page and it was exactly that: four men with long-handled paddle-like shovels thrusting them under piles of three-and-four-legged stools and chairs. I still puzzle over what it means or why the artist drew it, but it makes me laugh nonetheless. The other amusing one is a drawing by Hieronymous Bosch called Tree-Man in a Landscape which reminds me how even centuries ago people would idly sketch fantastic things they just dreamed up: a "man" with an egg-shaped body (cut away to show figures around a table inside), his legs are trees and his feet boats, his hat has a jug on top out of which tiny figures climb on a ladder, an owl sits on a branch growing from his back. It's entirely fanciful and curiously delightful to peer at.

Of course there are lots of the types of drawings you'd expect to find: the portraits and madonnas, landscapes and buildings. They all show me something to aspire to, but I was really glad that I found something to smile about, too.

The style of the drawings ranges from very rough, simple line sketches to highly detailed meticulous wash studies and finely hatched pen-and-ink works. Some you can imagine the artist having spent hours working on, others just a few moments. There are lots of amazing studies of folds from the clothing people wore, and a wide variety of faces. The introductory text describing the artwork and its changing styles through the centuries and via different artists wasn't nearly as incomprehensible as I feared, actually pretty interesting. But of course, I mostly enjoyed just looking and looking at the pictures.

Rating: 4/5 ........ 140 pages, 1963

Metropolitan Zoo

2011-10-12T17:19:00.001-04:00

by Joseph Bell

This book has been sitting on my shelf a long time, picked up from a library sale who-knows-when. I read it through several bouts of nursing the baby, taking time to look closely at all the pictures. Metropolitan Zoo is a collection of images from the Metropolitan Museum of Art that all feature wild animals. There are paintings, drawings, sculpture, embroideries, jewelry and other forms of art. Each image is described, not only explaining the medium and style, the artist's inspiration (whether from life or completely fanciful) and a bit of history, but also something about the animal. In particular, the author points out when the details of the artwork show something factual about the animal's life or habits, and when they got it dead wrong! I noticed myself a few small details: in the painted screen of white-handed gibbons (shown on the cover), the male is holding some kind of insect in his clenched fist. In few pages showing lions, I saw that quite a number of them depicted the Barbary lion, now extinct in the wild, whose mane extends along the belly. And one left me with a question: what is the other, un-named animal in the detail of the unicorn tapestry shown? Next to the hyena (which doesn't look much like a hyena) is a creature with a striped tail like a raccoon (only skinnier) but the longer neck and finer face of a weasel. A civet? I keep turning to that page, trying to puzzle it out. The artworks feature lions, elephants, rhinos, deer, squirrels and many other mammals. There are also quite a few pieces depicting snakes and other reptiles, and lots of various and beautiful birds. It's a book I thoroughly enjoyed looking through, and should be very popular with anyone who loves animals or art (or both, like me!)

I want to get my hands someday on the other edition they've printed featuring cats from the museum's artwork.

Rating: 5/5 .......112 pages, 1985

Harvest for Hope

2011-10-12T11:07:00.000-04:00

by Jane Goodall
with Gary McAvoy and Gail Hudson

Concerned about many alarming trends she's noticed around the world Jane Goodall wrote this book about "mindful eating." In it she talks about all sorts of things revolving around what we, as humanity eat, and how current practices are destroying our environment and what we can do (on an individual level) to make a difference. Some of the things she talks about in Harvest for Hope include the presence of chemicals and poisons in our food, water shortages, bio-engineered crops, the awful treatment of animals in large-scale operations, overfishing of the oceans and loss of species diversity. Some of the information and predictions for the future are downright scary. On a positive note she talks about the many rich food cultures around the world, organizations that teach schoolchildren how to grow and cook their own produce, farmers that go back to using "deep organic" practices in order to heal their land and produce healthier food, the growing numbers of farmer's markets and restaurants that use local food, the importance of vegetarianism (in all its forms) for our health, the well-being of animals and the reduction of resources overuse, etc. She hasn't quite convinced me to go vegetarian but I am more determined to make an effort to buy local and organic food when I can. Even if it costs more and I can't buy as much, eating a bit less can only be good for me!

rating: 3/5 ....... 296 pages, 2005

more opinions at:
Sayin' Stuff
Becoming Green
She Writes, Right?
Cooking, Food and Wine

more TBR

2011-10-10T22:32:00.000-04:00

Rin Tin Tin by Susan Orlean- seen on Sophisticated Dorkiness
Healing Paradise by Gay Courter- noticed by Superfast Reader
One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-read about on A Work in Progress
The Gardener's Year by Karel Capek- Captive Reader
Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver- Stuff as Dreams Are Made On
The Curious Gardener by Ana Pavord- Captive Reader
Flower Hunters by Mary Gribbin and John Gribbin- Captive Reader
Sex on Six Legs by Marlene Zuk- A Striped Armchair
The Curious Gardener by Ana Pavord- Garden Rant
Second Nature by Michael Pollan- Stuff As Dreams Are Made On

The Orchard: A Memoir by Theresa Weir
It's a Long Road to a Tomato by Keith Stewart
The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels by Ree Drummond
those three from Caroline Bookbinder

The Proof of Love by Catherine Hall- Farm Lane Books Blog
A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard- We'll Always Have Books
Seeing Trees by Nancy Ross Hugo- Commonweeder
Cluck: From Jungle Fowl to City Chicks- Garden Rant
Feathers! by Thor Hanson- Sophisticated Dorkiness
Your Farm in the City by Lisa Taylor- Garden Rant
Night Waking by Sara Moss- Farm Lane Books Blog
Urban Farming by Thomas J Fox- Garden Rant
Beside the Sea by Veronique Olmi- Farm Lane Books Blog
Chick Days by Jenna Woginrich - Garden Rant
My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira- Books and Movies
A Lucky Child by Thomas Buergenthal- Diary of an Eccentric
The City Homesteader by Scott Meyer - Garden Rant
Sugar Snaps and Strawberries by Andrea Bellamy- Garden Rant

The Seventh Well by Fred Wander- Diary of an Eccentric
Making It: Radical Home Ec... by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen- Garden Rant
Bending Toward the Sun by Leslie Gilbert Lurie- Diary of An Eccentric

Four Hedges by Clare Leighton
A Countrywoman's Notes by Rosemary Verey
The Garden in the Clouds by Antony Woodward
The Curious Gardener's Almanac by Niall Edworthy
all those last four from Captive Reader

No Impact Man

2011-10-06T09:00:00.000-04:00

by Colin Beavan

I don't know why I have this thing lately for reading books about people doing experiments to change their lives and live in ways that are better for the environment. It's interesting to see how far people are willing or able to go, what challenges they come up against, how they solve them. I guess I also like to compare myself, to imagine if it's something I could do, too. Most seem to have one focus; I've read a lot of books (because I like gardening) about sustainable living and feeding yourself. This Organic Life, Farm City and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle are several titles about people who tried to only eat what they could grow or find within a short distance of home (thus avoiding the costs of food traveling far). This author has alerted me to several more; there's a book called The 100-Mile Diet whose title explains itself, and another where the author tries to do one new environmentally-friendly thing per day: Sleeping Naked is Green.

Anyway, No Impact Man describes Beavan's experiences taking his family through a year-long project to see how much they could reduce their carbon footprint on the earth. It's pretty impressive that he didn't just focus on one thing, like see if we can only eat local for a year, or only use green energy for a year. No, he did it all. In stages, which I think was smart. First, he cut out all the trash their family produced. The used nothing new. They quit buying any food that came in packaging- so only fresh produce, no take-out, not even coffee from Starbucks until he thought to bring his own re-usable cup along. Next they quit using vehicles for transportation, walking and biking everywhere (and taking stairs- they even eschewed the elevator!) Then tried to do without electricity. He flipped the circuit breaker in his apartment and took to shopping for fresh food several times a week, going to sleep when it got dark, stomping on clothes in the tub to wash them, etc.

Oh, and he did this all while living in New York City.

Several interesting things happened. He got a lot of attention for this project. His family was willing to go along with it and even found it fun. He discovered he had a lot more time on his hands and began spending it with family and friends, appreciating the simple pleasures of life. He found his limits: there's a point at which doing without in order to save the planet just becomes miserable (washing kid-vomited-on bedsheets by hand?) He also reached a point where it wasn't enough simply to reduce his own use of resources or environmental impact, but that he wanted to do something positive and so got involved with local volunteer projects to plant trees, clean up trash on the river, etc.

Can you tell I was impressed by this man?

There's been a documentary made of the No-Impact Man project (I think that's how I originally found it; saw the title on Netflix). And Beavan has a blog all about it, too.

Rating: 3/5 ........ 274 pages, 2009

more opinions at:
Switchboard
The Back Patio
anyone else?

This Organic Life

2011-10-02T15:28:00.001-04:00

Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader

by Joan Dye Gussow

Joan Gussow and her husband set out to build their retirement home, and instead they built a garden. I kid you not. Her dream home was really picked because of its location on the Hudson river and its long backyard with ample sunny space, but when they discovered the house had to be gutted (and even later, that it had to be torn down and rebuilt) they went ahead and started improving the land and planting vegetables months before their home was tenable. I am amazed already, but go on through my reading to discover that Gussow and her husband have reached their goal of feeding themselves from their own yard- veggie garden, fruit trees and berry patches- when there isn't stuff available fresh they eat stored potatoes, onions and parsnips, etc. That impresses me enough, but she goes on to live her environmentalist convictions even further, always questioning where the food she eats was produced, looking for food sources as close to home as she can get them (like Barbara Kingsolver also strived to do) as well as other measures (the book is mostly about food-related ones). One chapter in This Organic Life is all about things she's willing to do without, another is about the nextdoor community garden she helps establish, yet another is about the hard knocks nature deals them- like when the river floods their garden, when wireworms eat her sweet potatoes, when rats destroy her tomato plants. She admits its not easy and worries even more over the state of our nation's famers, who must have it even harder. This is such a conscientious, thoughtful, funny and encouraging book I'm looking already for a copy to add to my personal library. Not to mention that it's got recipes, and really good-looking ones, too! Granted, they are all on the spicy side, but my husband likes spicy food! I haven't figured out yet what to do with all the hot peppers I grew this year...

I like this author. I like her voice, I like her convictions, I like the fact that she does something about them. I want to read more of what she's written, so I'm looking in my library's database to see what they have... nothing! blah. Time to try for another swap, I suppose.

Rating: 4/5 ........ 273 pages, 2001

more opinions at
Alternate Roots
Edge of the Page
organic gardening crash

bookmarks!

2011-10-01T16:12:00.000-04:00

It's been a while, so I'm doing another bookmarks giveaway. This pair has an Egyptian theme. Simply leave a comment if you'd like to win them!

Sorry, giveaway open to mailing address in the US and Canada only.

It runs for two weeks. I'll draw a name at random on... the weekend of my birthday! Oct 15.

Dolphin Days

2011-09-28T15:37:00.000-04:00

by Kenneth Norris

This book was far more interesting and readable than the last one I tried. Dolphin Days is about several decades' work the author spent studying dolphins in tropical waters and also in captive environments. A large part of the book focuses on his efforts to help save dolphins from drowning in tuna nets. He went with a crew of scientists on board fishing boats so they could observe the behavior of the dolphins, what the crew did, even how the fish acted in the net, to figure out what could be done to save the dolphins. Their findings were quite surprising. I knew the dolphins wouldn't jump over the top edge of the net (floating just an inch or so below the surface, which they could easily clear) but had no idea why. I also had no idea how staggering the numbers of dolphins that died for the tuna industry were. And not only that- but the fishermen used the dolphins as markers to find the big tuna schools, because apparently the tuna shadow the dolphins, swimming along underneath them. How well did they think that would keep up if they continued to kill dolphins by the thousands? Anyway, other parts of the book deal with pure research, studying dolphin schools just off the coast of several different tropical islands, and also observing their behavior in captive pools. They made quite a few surprising discoveries.

Aside from the animal-behavior parts, much of the book also simply tells about what it is like to do field research- the difficulties involved working in foreign countries, what is involved in creating a research team, etc. It was all very interesting and told in a friendly, thoughtful manner that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. I want to look for this author's earlier book on dolphin behavior, Porpoise Watchers.

Rating: 4/5 ........340 pages, 1980

reading moment

2011-09-24T14:26:00.000-04:00

Older daughter was reading the baby a board book about kitty cats.

It has simple captions describing the cats doing various activities pictured on each page: Kitty running, Kitty sunning....

Kitty whining, Kitties dining....

It was all good and cute until they got to the page: Kitty puddling, Kitties cuddling... o yes snuggles are good- wait, kitty what?!

and the picture is of a kitty's little hind end with a little yellow tinkle puddle on the floor
just look at the baby's face, haha (click to enlarge it if you like)

Dolphin Mysteries

2011-09-22T09:44:00.000-04:00

by Kathleen M. Dudzinski and Toni Frohoff

A book I've been wanting to read just because every time I see it at the library the cover looks attractive. And dolphins are such fascinating creatures. But a little less than halfway through I found I was forcing myself to pick the book up again every time. Something was just not quite right with this reading experience. Dolphin Mysteries is written by two authors, and most of it is in first-person and you have no idea who is addressing you until suddenly one of them identifies themself in parenthesis, which got to be kind of distracting and annoying. Personally, I think a better way to indicate which author wrote what parts would be a simple change in font, or even segregate their writings into different chapters. But that's just my reading preference.

The book has lots and lots of facts about dolphins but it wasn't very engaging or easy reading. Not quite dry, but a bit overdone somehow. I felt like I kept reading about the same incidents or explanations multiple times. About how dolphins perceive sound, how they communicate via touch and body posture, how they interact with humans... but there was something missing, some other focus or aspect that I wanted and it wasn't there. Sorry, this is one of the times I can't quite put my finger on it, why I didn't like the book, why exactly I decided to stop reading. I was disappointed, as it was praised by Temple Grandin and Sy Montgomery, two of my favorite authors on animal behavior. O well. Maybe I'll try it again another time.

Abandoned ........ 224 pages, 2008

The Tale of Ginger and Pickles

2011-09-21T21:40:00.000-04:00

by Beatrix Potter

My daughter brought The Tale of Ginger and Pickles home from her school library. It's one Beatrix Potter she didn't recognize, as we have quite a collection at home but not this one. I do have a fat bound volume of the entire works of Beatrix Potter (all the way from the familiar Peter Rabbit through other animal stories and some poetry/nursery rhymes as well) but I've always found the small single-story volumes that you can practically hold in the palm of your hand so charming, I almost like reading them in that format better.

Well, Ginger and Pickles is a little story about a dog and cat who keep shop in a village. They give unlimited credit, and so get lots and lots of customers, but needless to say their business is doing poorly. I had to explain to my daughter what credit meant, and she paid attention to the fact that creatures kept coming to buy stuff, but no one ever paid for it! So of course when it came time to pay for rent, and licences they were in trouble, and things kept getting worse. Eventually they went hungry and resorted to eating their own goods, then had to abandon the shop. The next proprietor wasn't so foolish as to allow credit all the time!

Besides prompting a conversation about bad business models, the book made me explain quite a bit of British language to my daughter as well. Told her that galoshes are rainboots, pounds are similar to dollars, shillings are coins and biscuits more like cookies than bread, among other things.

Rating: 3/5 ........ 60 pages, 1909

James and the Giant Peach

2011-09-20T00:10:00.002-04:00

by Roald Dahl

Just finished reading this one with my kid, because she thought Little House in the Big Woods was boring! (We didn't even make it through the first chapter. I was disappointed by that response, actually). She wanted something more exciting! so James and the Giant Peach was a hit.

If you're not familiar with the story, here goes: James lives with his nasty aunts and is thoroughly miserable until one day magic happens (I'll leave you to find out how) and an ancient peach tree in the backyard suddenly grows a beautiful peach. Not just any peach, either. This one keeps growing until it's bigger than the house! When the peach breaks free and goes rolling off on fantastic adventures, James happens to be aboard- along with a handful of insects which have also magically grown to tremendous size. They're quite the characters. We got the most laughs out of the endless banter between the Earthworm and the Centipede with his many, many boots.

It really is a fun story. All the more delightful that lots of facts about the insects are working into the story, so you don't even realize you're learning about them. My daughter and I got into a conversation about it afterwards, I mentioned one of the facts about the bugs and suddenly she said: "wait! I thought it was fiction. You mean that's true?"

So I explained that even though a fictional story is made-up, usually the setting and things that occur really do exist or could happen. But you can tell the difference. Let's see if you can tell, I said to her. "Do ladybugs help the garden by eating aphids and other nasty bugs?" Yeah, she said. "And do earthworms help with the dirt?" Yeah. "And do centipedes wear boots?" She giggled, No. "See! You already know, which parts are made-up and which parts are real."

Anyway, it was fun. I was trying to think afterwards of all the other Roald Dahl books I've read. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and its sequel The Great Glass Elevator. Matilda. The BFG. Danny, the Champion of the World (which is about pheasant hunting and poaching!) and my favorite, Fantastic Mr. Fox. And he's written so many, many others. Which are your favorites?

Rating: 3/5 ........ 126 pages, 1961

Made From Scratch

2011-09-19T12:31:00.001-04:00

Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life

by Jenna Woginrich

Another book about sustainable living. This one was a bit different. In the first place, it's written in a simple, friendly style that makes it a breeze to read. The author shares her experiences learning to do many things for herself and learn new homesteading skills, then at the end of each chapter gives some general advice and pointers on doing the same for yourself. In the back is a nice, comprehensive list of books and online resources to find more information. She even has a website where you can read about her doings: Cold Antler Farm.

In Made from Scratch Woginrich describes starting a vegetable garden, raising chickens, keeping bees and learning to make things like bread, noodles, pasta sauce, jam, etc. in her own kitchen. All that sounded familiar. But then she goes on to have angora rabbits to spin their fur into yarn for her own clothes (because she couldn't have sheep, but if you go look at her blog, she has them now, I think!), trains her dogs to carry packs and pull things, and learns to play music on the fiddle and dulcimer. Another aspect I found really interesting was that she made a point of hunting down antique objects to use in her home- like an old cheese grater, or a hand-cranked coffee grinder. She likes the aesthetics of old objects, plus says they're made better, and its nicer to give them a second, useful life than buy something brand-new that might break in a few months anyways. I like that. It wasn't like the guy in See You in a Hundred Years who made himself use old stuff to follow some rule he made up. Woginrich liked and wanted this stuff.

Anyhow, her book is amusing and inspiring, and I want a copy of my own if just to try out some of the recipes.

Rating: 4/5 ........ 184 pages, 2008

The Gaia Book of Organic Gardening

2011-09-17T14:08:00.001-04:00

by Charlie Ryrie and Cindy Engel

Basic introduction to the principles of organic gardening, illustrated with beautiful photographs. The Gaia Book of Organic Gardening places an emphasis on taking care of and feeding your soil, giving an entire chapter over to identifying and nurturing different soil types, and another just to composting. There's also information on planting times and methods, interplanting crops and herbs to help with attracting beneficial insects or repelling pests, how to save seeds, and keep your garden tidy. The authors points out that since organic gardeners live with nature instead of fighting against it or outright annihilating whatever they don't like, you're bound to have a few weeds and pests around. But they note that many weeds are great for feeding your compost, and without pests around you wouldn't be able to feed the ladybugs and other "good guys".

I took a lot of notes from this book. Particularly, I was interested in the interplanting suggestions, I know I need to work better at rotating my crops efficiently, and I didn't realize before that I ought to be covering my compost pile! Mine gets rained on quite a bit.

The only downside to this book is that it was written for a British audience, so some of the advice doesn't really apply to me (I don't have hedgehogs in my garden, for example). Also, I wasn't familiar with some of the terms. I knew courgettes are zucchini, but had to look up aubergines (eggplant) and tagetes (marigolds). Another book great for my itchy green thumb!

Found this one at a library sale and brought it home. I was wondering when I first opened it up, what gardening had to do with Gaia and if it was going to have some unfamiliar ideas in it (I don't know much about the concepts of Gaia). Really, it's just the name of the printing company, Gaia Publishing. And there is a small note on the publication page that says Books from Gaia celebrate the vision of Gaia, the self-sustaining living Earth, and seek to help its readers live in greater personal and planetary harmony. That's all. There's no other mention of it.

Rating: 4/5 ...... 160 pages, 2005

In Deep

2011-09-15T13:59:00.001-04:00

country essays

by Maxine Kumin

I can't remember how I found this author; I think she was mentioned in some other books I read. She's a poet, and I struggle to appreciate poetry, so instead I looked for some of her prose and found this book of essays about country living on the steep hillsides of New England.

In Deep has a range of topics, from tapping maple trees and trying to divert the rivers of mud in spring to collecting wild mushrooms (which brought to mind the mushroom book) and growing a kitchen garden. But most of them are about horses- the first horse she rode as a child, the keeping of family horses (very large pets), one about a foal that was rejected by its mother and raised as an orphan. There's also a chapter all about mules, comparing them to poets (quite favorably for the poets, I'd say- mules are hardy, stalwart creatures!) and another about the virtues of Scots Highland cattle. Even if you're not excited about horses, there's something lively and thoughtful in these essays- from Kumin's thoughts on the weather and observations about other people to her descriptions of the animals and seasons they all pass through on the little farm.

Incidentally, a few of her poems were included in the book, as she also talks quite a bit about the work of writing poetry. I liked them okay, but I'm not sure if I'd get through a whole book of them. I do want to find more essays by Kumin, or has she ever written a novel? Have any of you read more of her works? Got any recommendations for me?

Rating: 4/5 ....... 180 pages, 1987

Linnea's Windowsill Garden

2011-09-12T22:18:00.000-04:00

by Christina Bjork and Lena Anderson

I happened to walk to the library today, and saw this book on their sale shelf, next to another one about organic gardening. Thumbing through it for a few seconds, I knew this was a book I wanted to have. And it sounded familiar- now I recall a book my mother found at the library called Linnea in Monet's Garden, which was quite good. So I paid fifty cents, and upon returning home sat and read it while the baby fed. Charmed.

And instructed. It's all about a little girl and how she grows plants in her apartment. She grows plants from the seeds and pits of produce brought home from the supermarket. She grows plants from cuttings given by a friend. She grows from seed packets from the nursery. And tells you all about how to do your own plant experiments (did you know that a pea, urged to grow, can break out from being sealed inside a lump of plaster of paris?!), how to care for the plants, how to get rid of nasty bugs, etc. I was delighted to find info about sprouting avocado and orange seeds (both of which I've tried, my avocados succeeded and the oranges didn't- and with both I used a different method than the one she suggests) and lots of practical stuff like how to keep your plants happy when you're gone for a few days (again, not by any method I've ever used) or how to soften water for sensitive plants (just let it sit out overnight). I like that she notes that not all plants will thrive, or all seeds germinate; you just have to try again. And that the bug-ridding methods include not only pick-them-off-and-squash them or spray with soapy water but also ingenious tricks I've never tried, like putting an aphid-infested plant in a bag and blowing cigarette smoke into it! Maybe I'm silly to get itchy green thumb over a kid's book, but now I'm eager to try growing experiments again...

Rating: 4/5 ........ 59 pages, 1978

The Backyard Homestead

2011-09-10T23:42:00.000-04:00

edited by by Carleen Madigan

Beyond just a vegetable garden or keeping a handful of chickens, this book aims to show how you can raise everything you'd need to eat on your own little patch of land. Even if you've just got a tenth of an acre, The Backyard Homestead claims you can producea staggering amount of produce, fruits, grain, eggs, meat, honey, etc. It has instructions on nearly everything. Let me just make a list of the food subjects this book covers: vegetables, fruits, berries, nuts, eggs, chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, rabbits, herbs, beekeeping, sheep, goats, cattle, pigs, making wine, beer, herb vinegars, bread, cheese, yogurt, etc etc etc. It just got to be kind of mind-boggling after a while. I mean, I envision a huge veggie garden, a nice full herb bed, permanent strawberry, rhubarb, asparagus patches, chickens and maybe bees someday. I might stretch that to add rabbits. I want to try my hand at breadmaking someday, although just the idea of cheese still intimidates me. But pigs? wheat? digging dandelion roots and grinding them up in leiu of coffee? Those things I don't even dream of.

One thing this book doesn't do, is give you all the details. After reading the parts about making bread I'm almost ready to follow their recipe and try (it all sounded familiar from watching my mom make bread as a child, too) but then other sections seem lacking so it makes me wonder what they skimmed over here. I've read quite a few books on beekeeping lately and their four pages here seem woefully brief. I've tried my hand at canning green beans and making jam a few times and in no way would I sally forth into that venture again with just the information in this book. So whatever activity this volume encouraged me to attempt, I'd be sure to read up a lot more on it first. However, it does inspire and show you what kind of scope really is possible in a small space. I've already added another dozen plants to the list of what I want to add into my herb garden, and am going to try their johnnycake recipe for breakfast one day.

If you read the welcome pages, it's clear why this book lacks all the details. The editor states: It's an introduction to the best of Storey's information about food production. I hope it'll inspire you and give you a starting point, a foothold to learn a few practical skills. So in that it has succeeded admirably. I am inspired, and I do want to go forth and learn more. The Storey publications include a lot of other good-sounding titles, including a few that are already on my TBR list such as Carrots Love Tomatoes and Made from Scratch.

This is really a resource book, but it was surprisingly easy and engaging to read. Even the sections I thought didn't really relate to me I ended up reading out of curiosity. For example, I don't drink alcohol but my husband has a friend who home-brews his own beer and I was curious about the process so I read the section about making beer (sounds awfully complicated!). I have no space in my yard for a nut tree, nor do I ever envision raising a beef cow, but still I found it interesting to read about those things too.

Rating: 4/5 ........ 367 pages, 2009

more opinions at:
Mama Gone Green
Seed to Harvest
four green steps
and I think I've seen this book on Stuff as Dreams are Made on but I can't find the page now. Chris?

belated

2011-09-08T20:24:00.000-04:00

I just realized my blog turned four years old last month.

I've been so preoccupied with the baby and my husband's campaign and my six-year-old's first week of school it just slipped my mind. And I'm not quite sure what to think about it. I feel like my blogging here has really slacked off this year. I've been reading, and making notes of what I think, but am often too tired to write something really coherent or thoughtful. I've been following everyone else in google reader, but often short on time, or tied up with baby in arms, so don't type lots of comments (which means I get fewer and fewer visitors here). So it's just been very quiet over here, lately.

I'm hoping someone out there is still reading what I write here, so that when I get the time/energy to put more effort into this, it will reflect back again. I'm not going away, or giving up! just have my focus diverted elsewhere for a while.

I do have a sort of announcement, and this seems as good a place as any to say it. My husband pretty much volunteered me to be on the library board of our local branch. He said the board consists of lots of older folks and they're looking for younger people to get involved. They accepted him as a member because he was there offering his services, but he said they really want me! Of course he told them all about my reading obsession, but I hope he also mentioned I have a small nursing infant who takes up a lot of my time and won't sit quietly through long functions! I'm not much of a public person so I'm not sure what this will amount to, if I actually take the position. I like to stay in the background, and do things quietly... We'll see what comes of it! I'd love to help the library out, just not sure what I would do.

Living Like Ed

2011-09-06T11:46:00.000-04:00

A Guide to the Eco-Friendly Life

by Ed Begley

I thought I knew quite a bit about being "green." I thought I was great at recycling, in fact my husband calls me the "recycling nazi" when I chide him for tossing plastic in the trash. But I am nothing like Ed. This guy had so much to teach me. He's been a stickler for recycling and living green in general since the early eighties! He not only has solar panels on his roof, but also a small vertical wind turbine on top of his garage. He has an electric car and a hybrid car, but does most of his transportation via foot, bike or public bus. (His wife - who gets her own sections in the book- says he often refuses to even get into a gas-powered car). This guy also recycles everything you could think of, finds ways to reuse worn-out items (or give them to someone else who will), grows his own veggies in the backyard, buys organic (including clothing) and just in general does every last little thing he can to help the environment. Even when he has to travel by plane he'll buy a TerraPass to offset the carbon used for his air travel.

Granted, not everyone can be like Ed. After all, he's an actor (admit I've never seen his television series, in fact I'd never heard of him until I first read about this book on Both Eyes Book Blog) and can do all the expensive things like buy a car with the newest technology or put solar panels on his roof. But he points out all the things people can do- from the smallest increments like turning down your thermostat or buying those funny-looking twisty lightbulbs to medium-scale improvements such as buying an energy-efficient dishwasher to the big things like making your own solar energy for your home. So I'd bet anyone who reads this book can find dozens of things they could do to live more green. I know I've made a list. Already, these are all the things I could think of that I do in my house to live green:

- recycle
- turn down the heat and wear a sweater
- grow veggies in the backyard
- compost most of my organic waste
- buy those twisty lightbulbs
- walk my kids to school
- walk to the park and most nearby stores
- have an energy-efficient washing machine
- line-dry clothes outside when I can
- potty my baby (cuts my diaper use in half)
- buy organic food when I can
- shop at the farmer's market
- make my own baby food
- buy clothing and books used
- use dishwater / baby bathwater to water my shrubs and flowers
- reuse items (my daughter makes barbie clothes out of worn-out jeans, I rinse out yogurt containers and use them for seedling pots, etc.)

Reading Living Like Ed made me think of so many more things to do. Change the air filter in my furnace/ac more often. Look up where to recycle dead batteries instead of throw them in the trash. Consider putting a water-heater blanket on my old appliance. And of course, I've always dreamed of being able to afford solar panels on the roof or a hybrid car. Someday...

What kinds of things does your household do to live green? I bet Ed could help you come up with some more. This book is highly recommended- by me!

Rating: 4/5 ........ 240 pages, 2008

The Secret Language of Life

2011-09-03T11:30:00.000-04:00

How Animals and Plants Feel and Communicate

by Brian J. Ford

This book is all about well, what the subtitle says- how animals and plants use their senses to perceive the world and respond to it. Ford's main argument seems to be that we, as humans, have no right to feel superior to the rest of life on earth because most of them have been around far longer than us, and are just as capable of seeing and feeling things, of making decisions about how to act. First he describes in detail our own sense of sight, touch, smell, taste and hearing- and then points out how many animals have much superior senses, or possess ones we lack completely- like bats' and dolphins' ability to echolocate, or birds' ability to navigate using magnetism. Even tiny creatures like insects can see far better than us- have you ever tried to swat a fly? it sees you coming far faster than you can act. All of this was intriguing, but the part of the book that really floored me was where Ford talked about how plants perceive the world. Most of them can sense light, can tell direction (gravity), can respond to temperature changes and wind, and touch. At one point he says that plants sense each other's presence and space themselves out to even out the resources; that's why trees are well-spaced in a forest. I didn't quite get this point, though; he never really explained how that worked out. I always thought trees were well-spaced because when too close together the weaker one would simply fail to thrive.... The final chapters are about microscopic creatures and how they sense the world around them. Not only do they react to their environment and seek out food, but some apparently communicate with each other as well- insofar as they need to, in order to find mates and such. Did you know there's even a microbe that has a functional eye? Crazy stuff, that makes you really wonder at the world around you. The Secret Language of Life is really a fascinating book.

Rating: 4/5 ........ 320 pages, 1999

futile list

2011-09-01T11:44:00.001-04:00

About a week ago I got all excited at discovering a list of the John Burroughs Medal- awarded to the best natural history book of the year. This list spans the years 1926-2002, but some years no award was given, so in total there are 68 books on it. Can you believe I looked all the titles up (except for the six I've actually read already) and not a single one is in my local library's system?

Not a single one. I guess they're just too old and obscure, plus I know natural history isn't the top subject of the day. (The section in my nearby library is woefully small). Well, the titles still catch my interest, so I've been sleuthing through reviews online to see which I might actually want to hunt down and read someday, and then searching for them on swap sites. Found a few available. Discovered several new titles along the way (of course- and none of those are at my library either!)

Thus, here are all the books I've found I have an interest in, but little chance of ever reading. Someday, maybe...

from the Burroughs list:
From Laurel Hill to Siler's Bog by John Terres
Iceland Summer by George Sutton
Driftwood Valley by Theodora Fletcher
The Great Beach by John Hay
A Canyon Road by Frederick S. Dellenbaugh
The Windward Road by Archie Carr
Wilderness and Razor Wire by Ken Lamberton
Swampwalker's Journal by David Carroll
In a Desert Garden by John Alcock
The Song of the Dodo by David Quammen
Into Africa by Craig Packer
Dolphin Days by Kenneth Norris
The Island Within by Richard Nelson
Of Wolves and Men by Barry Lopez
Roadless Area by Paul Brooks
Canoe Country and Snowshoe Country by Florence Jaques et al

discovered in tandem:
Peace at Heart by Barbara Drake
The Goshawk by T.H. White

I'm particularly interested in this last title. I love T.H. White's writing, The Once and Future King is one of my all-time favorite books. And several years ago I went through a spate of reading about falconry; it's quite a fascinating subject.

The New York Times Book of Mammals

2011-08-26T22:27:00.000-04:00

edited by Nicholas Wade

Pretty interesting book, The New York Times Book of Mammals is a compilation of the best articles on mammals from the newspaper's Science Times section, spanning the years 1991 through 2002. They're organized in sections regarding which type of mammal is featured: rodents, wild cats, wolves and their cousins, primates, etc. The articles range in subject- some are about new studies into animal physiology that hope to impact modern medicine, others look at animal behavior, or the reintroduction of species to lands they've been extinct from for decades (namely the wolf; there were four or five articles on wolves alone!) I think the most interesting ones for me were to read about the social structure of naked mole rats (similar to insects'), the genetic deterioration of cheetahs, how hormone exposure in the womb influences the gender of infant gerbils, and how reindeer herds are being lost to migrating caribou who tempt them to leave their accustomed lands. Also of course the ones regarding pregnancy, birth, infants bonding to the mother, the amazingly complex components of human milk (subjects close to me right now). I'm intrigued to see if there's a newer edition printed with reports more current to what's being discovered in science today.

Rating: 3/5 ........ 302 pages, 1998

The Year of the Whale

2011-08-22T08:17:00.000-04:00

by Victor B. Scheffer

Like Moby Dick, this book alternates narrative with sections describing facts about whales. The storyline is a young sperm whale's life, beginning with its birth in autumn and following it through an entire year as it navigates the waters, shadowing its mother and learning through exploring its environment. The factual parts describe man's encounters with whales and his exploitation of them, including some rather graphic descriptions of the butchering done on whaling ships. Interestingly enough, sometimes a biologist or scientist was present on the whaling ship, hoping to get a chance to study a whale's body as it was being processed. There's also an account of the first sperm whale to be kept alive in captivity, and several stories of stranded whales. An interesting read, but a bit dry for my taste and of course the facts are outdated. The Year of the Whale won an award for being the best natural history book in 1970 (and now I have a new list to pore over- what better reading than all the years' best natural history books going back to 1926?)

Rating: 3/5 ....... 244 pages, 1969

more opinions at:
Lexivore's Lunch

Socks

2011-08-20T22:02:00.000-04:00

by Beverly Cleary

One of my childhood favorites, I just finished reading Socks with my six-year-old last week. It's a friendly little story about the daily life of an ordinary housecat. At first the kitty luxuriates in the attention of his young owners, but soon a baby arrives and everything changes. Socks has to deal with people getting up at odd hours, mealtimes being delayed, the anxiety of listening to the baby cry, and visits from well-meaning relatives, some of whom tease or criticize him. Another trial in Socks' life is battling with a neighborhood tomcat... But then the baby starts to grow up, and Socks finds that the little person in the family is no longer so annoying but can be a great playmate. It's a cute book, one we could really relate to, having two cats and a new baby. My daughter enjoyed pointing out all the ways in which our cats and baby behave similar to or differently from those in the story.

Rating: 3/5 ........ 158 pages, 1973

more opinions at:
The Old Book Reopened
SMS Book Reviews

The Leper

2011-08-15T17:36:00.001-04:00

by Sigmund Brouwer

Set in the late 1800's, this brief heart-tugging story is about a man who contracts leprosy while serving with the military in India. He returns home and can't bear to expose his wife and young children either to the risk of contracting the disease nor to the awful sight of his ravaged face. So instead he makes arrangements to have most of his monthly stipend sent to his wife, while removing himself from her life and hoping she finds a man to provide for her and raise his children, so that he can end his own misery with a suicidal jump off a bridge. Before he can carry out all his plans, though, he unexpectedly makes contact with humanity again- discovering an abandoned child who needs his help. Despite the risk of leprosy, if he doesn't take her in she will surely die.... The baby not only touches this man's life, but also the lives of several other individuals, one being a stern unattractive woman (unfortunately named Ima Hogg) who finds her life opening up to love once she begins caring for the baby. And in a neat, tidy circle the leprous man not only finds compassion and acceptance where he only expected repulsion and rejection, but finds love again, and a reason to live.

I can't really say more without giving it all away, as the book is really quite short! It's one my grandmother had borrowed from her public library, and while visiting her this week I picked it up to read as well. It's a tender story, one that will bring you close to tears. With, granted, a strongly religious message but it's not overdone like in some books. My only quibble was the author's penchant for jumping around in time. I prefer my stories to follow a straight linear narrative; but it's not much to complain about here.

Rating: 3/5 ........ 182 pages, 2002

more opinions at:
Original Books
Flowers in my Pot
Book 'em Benj-O

the big list

2011-08-12T22:16:00.000-04:00

I may have been quiet about the blogs lately, but I'm still reading them! (I just usually have a babe in arms so it's hard to type comments.) The proof is here: a big old list of all the books I've found in your posts. Follow the links, and you can read what tempted me to add each book to my toppling TBR. I have a sneaking suspicion some of these books are already on my list, but don't have the time to double-check right now...

Through the Garden Gate by Susan Hill- The Octogon
The Righteous by Michael Wallace- Books and Pals
Urban Pantry by Amy Pennington- We Read to Know
The Wisdom of the Radish by Lynda Hopkins- Stuff as Dreams Are Made On
The Hopes of Snakes by Lisa Couturier- Page 247
The Wild Life of Our Bodies by Rob Dunn- Life is Short, Read Fast
Wicked Bugs by Amy Stewart- The Black Sheep Dances
The Bad Tempered Gardener by Anne Wareham- Garden Rant
The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy- The Octogon
In the Kingdom of Gorillas by Bill Weber and Amy Vedder- Ardent Reader
The Earth Moved by Amy Stewart - A Striped Armchair
This Life is in Your Hands by Melissa Coleman- Bermuadonion's Weblog
Season to Taste by Molly Birnbaum- Life is Short, Read Fast
Two Kisses for Maddy by Matthew Longelin- At Home with Books
Slow Love: how I lost my job... by Dominique Browning- books i done read
The Summer of the Bear by Bella Pollen- Bookfoolery and Babble
West of the Moon by Katherine Langrish- Things Mean a Lot
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs- The Lost Entwife
Left Neglected by Lisa Genova - Jules' Book Reviews
Fire Season by Philip Connors- Bookfoolery and Babble
Through the Kitchen Window by Susan Hill- The Octogon
Your Backyard Wildlife Year by Marcus Schneck- Stuff as Dreams Are Made On
The Filter Bubble by Eli Pariser- Reading Through Life
Born to Run by Christopher McDougall - Reading Through Life
Cheating Death by Sanjay Gupta- books i done read
Sheepish by Catherine Friend- Superfast Reader
Feathers by Thor Hanson- Sophisticated Dorkiness
The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance by Elna Baker - Love, Laughter and a touch of Insanity

African Cats

2011-08-11T17:32:00.000-04:00

Disneynature

by Amanda Barrett and Keith Scholey

Admittedly I brought this book home to read just because it's cover kept catching my eye from the library shelf, with its large beautiful lion's face. I noticed it a few times and declined (it's rather heavy) before finally giving in to the visual temptation and checking it out. It's about the making of the film African Cats, which I'd never heard of before, much less seen. Now I want to, even though the book has given away probably most of the major events in the film. One of the filmmakers was also involved in creating the tv program Big Cat Diary, which is one of my favorite nature shows. So I'm pretty sure I'd like the African Cats production as well.

The film portrays the lives of one cheetah trying to raise her cubs to adulthood, and the doings of a pride of lions including a bunch of half-grown youngsters, some females with small cubs, and one older male who's recently lost his partners. A lot of it focuses on how different the lives of the solitary cheetahs and social lions are. The book tells about how the film was made, the struggles of the producers to find the animals, keep track of them, keep equipment in working order, and hope the animals didn't leave the boundaries of the reserve, because they couldn't follow them without making huge detours. Most of the narrative, though, is about the lives of the cats, all their twists and turns. The text is accompanied by fantastic photographs, and also an array of lovely ink and wash illustrations by Jean-Paul Orpinas. I was enthralled to the last page.

Rating: 4/5 ........ 205 pages, 2011

What's Michael?

2011-08-10T10:30:00.001-04:00

Show Time

by Makoto Kobayashi

This is a japanese comic about a cat. I read volume 8, because that's the one I found. It's a mixture of humor involved in the daily life of the kitty and the ineptitude of his owners, plus some odd fantasy. I have to admit I didn't quite "get it" all the time. The parts that were most amusing to me were about things like the cat stealing fish off the counter, or the baby crawling around imitating the cat. I didn't get the segment about a huge fat cat in a pet store that terrified everyone who no more than looked at it. There's a part where the baby turns into adult and goes to work in an office entirely staffed by cats, who scramble to deal with her still-babyish behavior like examining the stapler by putting it in her mouth, or bursting into tears just because she's tired. I found the baby parts pretty funny, just because I have a baby in the house now, so it's all close to home. Quick, enjoyable, sometimes puzzling, and overall a very different reading experience for me.

You can see a good sample of the artwork here. One thing that really caught my attention in the artwork was the people's faces. The cats are all cute, the owners look relatively normal, some of the other people depicted have quite strange facial proportions. And the face the baby makes when it's about to cry is downright disturbing!

I chose What's Michael? off the library shelf pretty much at random. My daughter is in the summer reading program and one of the challenges was to read a comic book or graphic novel. She selected a Garfield collection, I got to this one thinking it looked cute!

Rating: 3/5 ........ 86 pages, 1995

A Country Year

2011-08-08T07:18:00.001-04:00

Living the Questions

by Sue Hubbell

Sue Hubbell lives on a farm in the Ozark hills with several thousand honeybees. She is a small-scale commercial beekeeper, stationing her hives in beeyards around her community, collecting their honey and then trucking it to nearby states for sales. Her existence is full of challenges, often scraping below the poverty line. But it is also full of beauty and a closeness to the wild things that inhabit the land with her. Unlike most of her neighbors, who consider creatures like snakes, possums and coyotes vermin and try to get rid of them on sight, she is delighted to observe them and write down the things she learns and the new questions that spring to mind upon seeing unexplained things happen in nature. Like an oriole perching on a hummingbird feeder to guzzle sugar water. Or a column of saw-fly larvae marching across the ground single-mindedly (to what goal she could not figure out). Even the snakes and roaches that invade her beehives and the termites that eat her cabin floor are treated with leniency, given space to do their thing unmolested (more or less; she used to evict roaches from her hives until she realized the bees did a better job of it themselves and their failure to do so indicated a colony weakness she had better be aware of).

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed reading A Country Year, with its mixture of nature writing, observations on humanity (she has a lot of interesting descriptions of neighbors and acquaintances) and stuff about beekeeping. Her voice reminds me a lot of my favorite gardening writer, Thalassa Cruso, and the book also recalls another one I read about minutiae in nature, Wildlings. Whatever else I can find that Sue Hubbell has written, I know I want to read it.

Rating: 4/5 ........ 221 pages, 1983

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Honeybee

2011-08-02T18:21:00.002-04:00

Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper

by C. Marina Marchese

Marchese visited a neighbor one day for a personal tour of his apiary. She was fascinated by the bees and floored by the taste of fresh, raw honey (straight from the hive; she stuck her finger in a comb cell and licked it off). Curious to learn more about bees, she started attending meetings of a local beekeeper's club, then acquired her own hive and eventually left her established job to start a new venture: keeping honeybees, harvesting their honey and marketing products she made from it (candles, skin products and the like as well as honey).

Her charming book introduces the reader to honeybees in both the broad sense- giving a little of their history with mankind, their role in other cultures around the world, and their biology for example- as well as the personal minutiae, describing incidents when she personally worked with bees and honey, and how she learned about them. She even includes recipes for foods and lip balm made with honey. I feel like I learned so much from her. I was particularly intrigued by the descriptions of monofloral or varietal honeys, made from collecting the honey after the bees have been harvesting nectar from one main plant, so that it has the distinct flavor of that flower source. I'm pretty much only familiar with the clover honey you get in the grocery store. Once or twice I've tasted honey with comb in it, or a wildflower honey, but again from the same source, so they're probably mixed to create a standard flavor. I had no idea that honeys could have such a wide range of taste. Marchese describes dandelion honey as having a hint of white pepper. Honey from mangroves, she says, have a "swampy" aroma and are used in pickle brine! Colors and consistencies also vary greatly- purple loostrife honey, for instance, is dark and looks like motor oil; ling-heather honey has the consistency of jelly and cannot be extracted from the comb but must be gently pressed out. With each honey description she also describes the plant and climate/soil it comes from, so it's like reading a little gardening treatise; pairing the land and the food that comes from it. She suggests foods to accompany each honey varietal, which might range from mixing it into a specific kind of dressing or marinade to using in certain types of baked goods, or on exotic cheeses with fine wines.

I am very curious now to try some local (and varietal, if I can find it) honey: I know there's some available at the local farmer's market we frequent on the weekends. So far, this is my favorite of all the bee/honey books I've been reading. I borrowed this one from the public library.

You can visit the author's website here: Red Bee Honey

Rating: 4/5 ........ 256 pages, 2009

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The Honey Trail

2011-07-28T10:47:00.008-04:00

by Grace Pundyk

Not sure why, but this book is just not holding my attention. It has quite a different focus than the other books about bees I've been reading lately, although it does touch some on the history and husbandry of honeybees. Mostly though, The Honey Trail is a kind of travelogue and cultural examination of the production of honey. In it, the author visits different countries to see their beekeeping practices up close, taste a myriad varieties of local honey, and learn what part honey plays in each distinct culture. For example, in Yemen supposedly the profits of honey are tied into terrorism, although after reading the chapter on it I was still confused and didn't really understand why. I made it halfway through the second chapter, about honey in Australia, before realizing that my mind was wandering wildly. It's an interesting enough book, but just not friendly or descriptive enough to keep me reading at the moment.

The other countries she visits in pursuit of honey are New Zealand, Borneo, Russia, Italy, the UK , Turkey, China and the United States.

Abandoned ......... 337 pages, 2008

The Beekeeper's Lament

2011-07-26T21:45:00.000-04:00

by Hannah Nordhaus

Journalist follows a large-scale beekeeping operation around the US to study the plight of the honeybee.This book answered all the questions I had left over after reading The Hive Detectives, and then some. The Beekeeper's Lament gives a lot of detail into the world of beekeeping. Readily apparent that this is a very complex and fragile system. So very many of our crops depend upon the bees, who are in turn dependent upon humans now, to keep them alive. Apparently all the feral hives have disappeared (honeybees were never native to the US but introduced from Europe) and those under the care of beekeepers are constantly assailed by a myriad of diseases, pests and maladies. Lots of theories on what is causing the colonies to collapse, but no real answers yet. I am full of new admiration for the beekeepers who work like John Miller (the man most featured in this book) who drive their thousands of hives all around the country chasing the flowers. He, like many others who keep bees, make most of their money off renting the hives out to almond farmers. It was fascinating to learn about how the industry has grown and changed- for example oranges used to need pollination too, but now that consumers prefer seedless oranges, citrus farmers are trying to keep bees out of their orchards. There's a little bit about the history of bees and their keepers here, but it's mostly about the workings of the industry, the failure of the bees' health, and how it is becoming harder and harder for beekeepers to make a profit at all. I was most intrigued by reading about how it all worked, like the different methods the "bee guys" use to get their bees through the winter- feed them artificial stuff like syrup, put them into hibernation, or truck them to warmer climes.

Very intriguing, and alarming, stuff to read about. Sorry this post is so jumbled, I'm typing it out in a hurry while the baby sleeps. Read a few of the reviews linked to below, for something more comprehensive! Or better yet, just read the book. I borrowed my copy from the public library, when curiosity on the subject just made me search the catalog.

Rating: 3/5 ........ 269 pages, 2011

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winner

2011-07-25T18:02:00.000-04:00

A few days late, but here we go. Random.org says the winner of my latest giveaway is commentator #6, Sarsafrass! Happy reader, send me your snailmail and I'll post these bookmarks off to you within the next few days. Congrats!

The Dirty Life

2011-07-21T23:27:00.003-04:00

on farming, food and love
by Kristin Kimball

Another book about farm life. In The Dirty Life, the author describes how she made the decision to leave her busy, affluent New York City existence for the backbreaking labor and intense involvement of starting a farm with her new fiance. Not just any farm, but one that would provide a full diet to a small (at first) community of members who bought into "shares" of the farm's produce at the beginning of each year. Other farms that provide for people this way usually only grow vegetables, but the Kimballs' farm aimed to give everything a person would need for a well-rounded diet: milk, eggs, dairy products, meats, grains, etc. Even (eventually) other things such as wood for fuel. But the book isn't really about how this kind of farm works (it was the only one of its type when they started).

It's about the tough work of putting a functional farm together out of a neglected piece of land. It's about planning, planting, sweating, fixing things, learning animal husbandry, dealing with setbacks, getting to know the neighbors, battling weeds (on an organic farm they must all be hoed or pulled by hand!), desperately trying to prioritize chores, falling to bed exhausted, and rejoicing in the growth of plants, the birth of new animals, the taste of wonderful food two steps from its bed in the soil. A wonderful read, one that really takes you into the heart of what it's like to grow and raise the food to feed an entire community. It's about the soul of a farm, and how it won one woman's heart, through all the difficulties and small joys.

I discovered this book in a Friday Finds post on At Home with Books. Borrowed it from the public library.

Rating: 4/5 ........ 276 pages, 2010

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