Even though I haven’t completely abandoned paper books, I would like to buy fewer of them. Just one more thing I can do to be green, and one huge reason that the Kindle is awesome.

Books I’ve read on it recently:

No Country for Old Men and The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. A friend at work loves Cormac McCarthy to death, and the movie adaptation of the first novel won Best Picture at the Oscars last year, so I decided to try him out. I think he’s really kind of brilliant. Old Men was a fascinating portrait of a middle-aged man watching himself become obsolete. Yes, there were some incredibly violent moments (which turned a lot of people off the movie), but the core story was absolutely worth telling. The Road was a different kind of story – it takes place some time after a nuclear war of some sort. Part of what makes this novel quite haunting is that none of the characters or locations have names. The two main characters are simply “the man” and “the boy.” Oddly enough, this does not hamper the reader in getting close to the characters and caring about them. It’s a devastating story, but beautifully written.

The Gunslinger, by Stephen King. I’d already read this one, but decided to give it another try, Kindle style. Plus, King has updated the book and edited it a bit since my initial reading of it. I think I liked it better the second time. More importantly, I felt compelled to get the next book in the series (The Drawing of the Three), and read more about Roland the gunslinger. We’ll see how it all turns out.

Revolutionary Road, by Richard Yates. I was curious about this one because the movie with Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio was a critical success. The movie was compared to the TV series Mad Men, one of my favorites, so I thought I would like it. It was a great portrait-of-a-dysfunctional-relationship type book. Unexpected ending as well.

Beloved, by Toni Morrison. This is our latest book club read, and after reading it, I can’t decide what I think of it. I get that there are people out there who worship Toni Morrison; I’m just not sure if I get her as an author. There are certainly things about the black experience in America that I’m never going to truly understand, and so that can limit my grasp on her books. I thought Beloved was interesting, but I felt sort of stupid while I was reading it, because I didn’t get most of the symbolism she used. It will be good to go and talk with other smart people about it.

What is odd about the Kindle is that I feel as though I read more quickly on it than I would a physical book. I don’t know if this is because I am still gooey-eyed over the awesome gadgetyness of it or what, but I read 5 books in 2 weeks on it. I realize that wouldn’t be a record for some, but that is a lot of books for me to read in a short span of time. We’ll see if I sustain that pace. In any case, it was a great purchase.

The long and short of it is, this is a great book. Not for the faint of heart, since it requires some dedication, but worth the read.

1. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins: This woman is an author of adolescent fiction. She wrote a series about a boy named Gregor that was really great (okay, so I only read the first two books, but they were great). This new book of hers blew me away. I think this is my year of post-apocalyptic reading (The Stand, Fahrenheit 451). The Hunger Games takes place in a post-climate-crisis world, a world in which millions have died off. Society is tightly controlled, of course. I don’t want to say much more than that, but it is a great read. I would recommend this book to adults and teens alike. It’s got a compelling protagonist, conflict up the wazoo, and a horribly unsatisfying ending (guess I’ll have to read the next book in the series when it comes out…).

2. Once Upon a Time in the North, by Philip Pullman: This is a companion volume to Pullman’s His Dark Materials series, one of my favorite series of all time. It’s a quick read, only 95 pages or so, but a kick in the pants for those who are familiar with the original series. Its events take place before those of The Golden Compass; specifically, it relates an adventure in the life of Lee Scoresby and his daemon, Hester. I’m not sure I’d recommend it to those who haven’t already read the series, as the book doesn’t take the time to explain the concept of daemons, but if you have read the series, pick this one up for a short journey into Pullman’s universe.

3. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver: First of all, let me say that Kingsolver is an incredible writer. I know everyone’s already read it and said this about it, but The Poisonwood Bible is truly an amazing novel. So I was interested to read this book of hers, which chronicles her family’s “year of food life.” Kingsolver, her husband, and her two daughters sold their house and moved from Arizona to a farm in the southern Appalachians. They resolved to eat nothing but what they grew or raised and/or what could be found grown or raised within their own county for an entire year. This challenge was both easier and harder than it seemed. They had to give up favorite foods such as bananas, since that fruit is not native to the eastern United States. But they had the pleasures of eating produce that they had lovingly tended themselves from seeds. Quite an experiment, no? 

After reading Michael Pollan’s two books, Kingsolver’s was a bit anti-climactic for me. I felt like I was hearing a lot of the same philosophies and facts over and over again. For someone who hasn’t done any reading around the growing popularity of eating local and organic, this book would be interesting. However, even others in my book group who have been reading it have said that it’s not something they race home to read every night. Instead, it’s the type of book you pick up and read a chapter out of from time to time. One great thing about the book is that it’s full of recipes and meal plans for the different months of the year, according to what foods are in season. This alone makes it a great resource for someone trying to eat in season but who has no clue what’s in season when (like me).

4. Picture Perfect, by Jodi Picoult: I was a little skeptical when I picked up this book. The only other Jodi Picoult book I’ve read, My Sister’s Keeper, was good, but it wasn’t the amazing work of literature I’d come to expect from talking to Picoult’s fans. However, while I wouldn’t call Picture Perfect an amazing work of literature, it was very good. It tells the story of Cassie Barrett, a famous anthropologist, and Alex Rivers, Hollywood’s hottest film star. It’s unclear what their marriage is like at the beginning of the story (for reasons I won’t reveal at the risk of spoiling the story), but as details emerge, the narrative is gripping.

5. Currently reading: Ahab’s Wife, or, the Star-Gazer, by Sena Jeter Naslund. Stay tuned for details.

First off: The Stand, by Stephen King. This is another one of those if-you-haven’t-read-this-you’re-crazy books. Stephen King is one of those authors (like Jane Austen) who ranks simultaneously as guilty-pleasure reading and true literature. Unfortunately, many people are only acquainted with the first of his reputations. But the second is just as fitting, and it comes through most clearly in The Stand. (For you rabid fans of Stephen King, no, I haven’t read the whole Dark Tower series. Only the first one. Maybe I need to try again, but I wasn’t horribly impressed.) If this book doesn’t scare the bejeesus out of you in a psychological/what-if-this-really-happened way, nothing will. It’s got amazing characters, unique turns of phrase, musical references galore, and a bad guy that makes Hitler look as sweet as the old man who lives next door. Read it now. And don’t be scared by the unabridged version – it’s worth the extra 400 pages (for a total of about 1100). 

Next, a book I actually finished before The Stand: The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova. No offense to Dan Brown, but I’m going to rip on The Da Vinci Code for a minute. Don’t get me wrong – I devoured that book just as quickly as the rest of the world. But at the end of that journey, I was a little underwhelmed. I enjoyed all the historical and religious and art-world references, and I could never have come up with a plot like that one. However, it was a little fluffy, if you know what I mean. Kostova’s book is The Da Vinci Code for the more studious reader. It takes a little more patience, but I believe it’s worth the effort. The Historian is a vampire mystery. That sounds cheesy, but the main characters in the book are all stuffy academic historians who really know their myths (which turn out to be not quite so mythological). The main character goes on a quest to find his missing mentor, and in the process falls in love and comes very close to becoming a creature of the night himself. I won’t say any more than that, but it’s a good read at a pleasurable, slow-burn pace.

In a different vein, I also picked up Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth, which is a recent Oprah book. But don’t let that dissuade you. If you’re ready to start looking at yourself in a different way, try this out. I can’t describe it better than that. You’ll have to see for yourself. I can say that it’s changed the way I think.

Okay. Now for the two books I’ve just devoured in the last two weeks: The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food, both by Michael Pollan. These were recommended to me by Amanda, a good friend who is a self-acknowledged foodie. I told her I was interested in changing my relationship to/with food. But how? First, I had to start acquiring some knowledge. Her suggestion that I read these two books was spot-on. The first is a detailed look at food’s journey from a field to your plate. Pollan traces the industrial food chain, the organic food chains (both industrial and local), and then finishes by tracing a meal from the forest to his plate, via hunting and gathering. I’ll warn you: after reading this book, you probably won’t want to eat corn-fed beef ever again. It’s not that Pollan gets graphic with his prose, it’s that the bare facts are just that ugly. In Defense of Food is the logical next read after Omnivore’s Dilemma. Pollan writes about what we as omnivores should be eating, in the end lining out a short list of perfectly practical rules for eating better (and thankfully, they don’t involve counting calories or carbs, only the number of ingredients – more than five and your food’s too processed). I highly recommend both these books to truly anyone – they’re fascinating. 

Next up: Richard Russo’s Empire Falls, a Pulitzer winner.

Pamela Aidan has gone inside Darcy’s head, partially in an attempt to explain his strange behavior in P&P. For much of the original novel, we aren’t allowed even to see Darcy. We’re relieved when the man finally comes to his senses and proposes to Elizabeth in earnest (and when she comes to her senses and finally accepts), but I for one am always left wondering why. Or, maybe more appropriately, when? When does Darcy come round to the idea that it wouldn’t be a mortal sin if he and Bingley married for love rather than fortune and connection? How does that happen? And why is he such an insufferable jerk before that point? Aidan does a nice job convincing us of Darcy’s true motivations. It’s also enjoyable to read that it isn’t just the women who do the swooning over a love interest. While the male version may be more…masculine, it isn’t any less extreme or ridiculous. While this book isn’t a groundbreaking piece of literature, it is a pleasant new take on a beloved novel.

One of my favorite things about this book is its opening line:

I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice– not because of his voice, or because he was smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument in my mother’s death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany.

Everything you need to know about this book is contained in that one magnificent sentence. So why read the book, when so much of the plot is given away with its first words? Because the journey is incredible. John Irving is one of those writers who has a gift for both the tragic and the comical, and he blends the two with great success. He is also a very purposeful writer; you can be sure that nothing is accidental or unintentional in his novels. I like reading a book in which I get a sense of the writer’s mind and art. I don’t want the writer’s intentions to be completely transparent (that was the major problem I had with the Anita Shreve book I read). I want to see how gifted the writer is without being able to imagine how they’ve done it. John Irving satisfies my craving.

In other news, the book club I’m a part of is reading a book I’ve suggested, A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving. We read this book in 11th grade at my high school, and I was absolutely fascinated by it then. I’d never read anything with that scope before. Now, ten years later, it still surprises. It has one of the best first lines I’ve ever read: “I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice–not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother’s death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany.” How can you put down a book that begins in such a compelling fashion? I’m anxious to see what my fellow book club members think. My hunch is that they’ll love it, and that it will provide rich topics for discussion.