Farewell My Subaru by Doug Fine

I stumbled upon this book in one of Brattleboro's FIVE bookstores. It was on sale so I picked it up, thinking it looked like fun. Turns out you can judge a book by its cover, because fun it is. Doug Fine is a humorous writer and a great story teller. At 200 pages it's a quick and enjoyable read but still full of insight.

Fine moves to the New Mexican desert with the goal of kicking his fossil fuel habit and getting off the grid. He has no experience whatsoever with ranching, farming, or any of the things people need to be self-sufficient. To top it off, he's a Wal-Mart addict. But, he kicks his addiction early in the book and makes no secret of the fact that he asks for help whenever he can. He also buys two goats to help him get his other habit off-grid: ice cream.

A few solar panels, and one veggie oil run monster truck later and Fine is well on his way to reaching his goals. He plants a garden (several times, due to many crop-decimating hail storms), installs a solar hot water heater and gets himself some chickens. He almost makes the task seem simple (given the right friends and enough money, of course). He certainly makes it seem fun, especially with all of the humorous and well-placed recipes (rattlesnake stew when he discovers a rattlesnake near his home, although in this case the rattlesnake escapes unharmed).

The part that I found most interesting was his veggie oil car. I had all but forgotten about these little miracles with my secret (ok, not so secret) obsession with buying an electric car and powering it with solar panels. Of course a much cheaper option is to get an old diesel car and convert it to veggie oil. It's a great deal all around because normally restaurants have to pay someone to pick up their used oil and normally drivers have to pay higher and higher prices for their gas. The image of a massive fuel-guzzling truck roaring around town spurting out chinese food-scented emissions is almost too good to pas up!

My only criticism of this book is the lack of sources. Throughout the story Fine drops a few facts and figures having to do with energy and resource consumption, typical statistics to find in a book on environmentalism, but he sites no sources. Where did this information come from? There is no bibliography, no where to go for further reading. If he picked these facts up from the internet, what are the websites? Who did the studies? Who collected this data? I've never come across a book with facts that lacked sources and I found the whole thing confusing.

All in all, it was a great book and although it's not in my section at the bookstore now, it will soon.

Buy it Indie!

The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved by Sandor Ellix Katz

I loved this book so much that the whole time I was reading it, I just wanted to find Mr. Katz and shake his hand. And then invite him over for dinner.

The bookstore had this book sitting on the shelf for about a year and no one had purchased it. Our book buyer wanted me to pull this lovely treasure from the shelf and return it to the publishers to make room for books that might sell better. I couldn't do it. Even though I had not yet read the book, I knew that with a title like this one, it had to be good. So I promised to read the book, write a review and attempt to hand-sell the crap out of it. And although my hand-selling skills are limited, I will certainly talk to anyone willing to listen about the reasons this book deserves a spot on the shelves.

This book mixes the some of the good bits of Pollan, Kingsolver, Bittman, even a bit of McKibben. The point is, you can pick up this book anywhere along your journey to food knowledge and activism. It can be a beginning, or it can be the next book in a long series of food system information. Katz touches on environmentalism, heath, the overcomplicated food system, and even throws in some recipes.

What's even better is that Katz doesn't stop short after bringing up all of the problems, he gives examples of what others are doing to solve these problems. He cites specific organizations and people who fight the system and how they are doing it. Each chapter has several pages of resources for more information on the problems and solutions. The bibliography alone is enough reason to buy this book. Getting through it will probably keep me occupied for years.

Buy it indie!

VegFest!!!

On Sunday I packed up two vegan friends and one cyber hitchhiker and drove us all to VegFest in Worcester, MA. Why on earth would I travel three hours for a festival? Perhaps for the community? Perhaps for the free samples? Perhaps for the abundance of vegan food? Perhaps the plethora of information on veganism? Kind of. A little. I know that's why the three others in my car were excited, but I had another motivating factor: the chance to meet an author.

For months I have been jittery with excitement over Will Potter's book, Green is the New Red. How could I possibly pass up the chance to meet him and tell him in person what an inspiration his book and his blog have been? How could I miss the chance to hear him give a little talk in person? I couldn't! So I told him all of these things and shook his hand. (Yes, yes, I've washed my hands since then. Grudgingly.)

The festival itself was fantastic. I sampled some really amazing soy-free ice cream, got a cup of vegan soft-serve ice cream, watched Terry Hope-Romero make some seitan tacos (yummmmm), ate a ton of spring rolls, “egg” rolls, and other asian treats, and got a few business cards and pamphlets of foods and organizations that were interesting. Oh yeah and did I mention I met Will Potter?

I'm glad the food waste challenge doesn't officially start until May 1st, because all of those yummy samples came on disposable plates and cups and such. We did our best to reduce this by grabbing a bowl at the beginning and having the samples put into our bowls instead of using new ones. Lunch and ice cream didn't really conform to this, but I think we did an ok job. Strange that three environmentalist vegans didn't even think to bring our own utensils to this thing. Duh. Well, it's on my radar for next time.

This time, I just enjoyed being in vegan heaven.

No Impact Man by Colin Beaven

I knew the moment I saw this book that I would love it. And I do. Beavan spends a lot of energy judging people and governments for the state of the environment, but does little to examine his own life, or even make the simplest changes. After watching Anne Leonard's video, The Story of Stuff, he realizes it's time to make a change. He devises a one year project called No Impact Man that will rid himself and his family of all possible environmental impact.

I'm a strong believer in doing all of it, or none of it, which made me really appreciate Beavan's amazing commitment. I found a lot to be inspire by in this book, even though I consider my own footprint to be fairly light. His complete refusal to create any waste really made me think about how much I waste, that I really don't need to.

The best thing about this book was that Beavan creates a more fulfilling life for himself and his family by simplifying. Instead of rushing around, they make more time for each other. Instead of take-out, they cook their own food and sit down with each other. Instead of taking a cab, they enjoy the city by waling or biking. Instead of watching TV, they play games. On top of the improvement in their health and quality of life, they saved a ton of money by not shopping, using no electricity, cutting out disposable products, making their own cleaners, and not paying train and cab fairs. Not to mention what they will probably save long-term for medical bills by taking better care of themselves.

Beavan doesn't just write about what he did, he writes about why he did it. He writes about what he got out of it. His reflections about our way of life are so simple and logical, yet we hardly ever stop and really think about the fact that we can change if we want to. He discovers that there is no reason for him to rush around when all he really wants to do is spend time with his family. There is no reason to order take out when he can make the time to cook. There is no reason to wrap his baby girl in toxic plastic diapers if they can take a few extra minutes to wash some fabric ones, which she prefers by the way.

The motivation behind every choice he makes is backed by statistics and very clear research. The facts he uses throughout the book really drive his point home. The need to get involved becomes emotional. It's not some far-off problem we'll deal with when it happens, it's something we have to address now. The fact that stuck with me most, which I have pondered every day since reading it, is this: 80% of everything manufactured on this planet today is created to be used only once. We live on a planet of finite resources. People all over the world die for oil, entire ecosystems are ruined for it, and we are throwing away 80% of everything we make with it after the first use? Why?!?!

It's no wonder his book inspired me to change my own habits. I'm not sure how anyone could read it and not be driven to change, even just a little.

That's Why We Don't Eat Animals by Ruby Roth

Kids ask so many freaking questions! I have found myself in so many awkward situations because I wasn't exactly sure of the most appropriate way to explain certain things to a child. My veganism is one of those tricky subjects. I think kids should know where food comes from and that some of it may have come from an animal, but I don't think it's ok to scare kids into vegetarianism, and it's inappropriate to step on another parent's toes. However, kids ask questions because they need to understand their world and the different kids of people that they share it with, vegans and meat-eaters alike.

This book is one great way to tackle that scary question, "What's a vegan?" It's a wonderful book about vegetarianism for kids. It's a very gentle and un-scary way to explain what vegetarianism is and why some people don't eat animals. The illustrations are very sweet, depicting happy animals in natural settings and sad animals in factory farms. I also have to say that, as an adult, I still enjoyed this book for myself and managed to learn a few things from it. Did you know that a heard of cows will all moo together until a missing member finds its way home? I didn't.

Now, don't even ask me where to begin when a kid wants to know where babies come from. Go ask your mother.

Book Review - Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

I've always been captivated by stories of New York in the 70's and 80's, back when it was still a dangerous and trashy city, when Times Square was all smut and crime, without the Disney musicals. Let the Great World Spin takes place in that era. It has all the dirt and grime, but it is a story about people, so it also has their hope. The stories move between the South Bronx, the Upper East Side and the Financial District (the southern tip of Manhattan).

The book takes the stories of many different people, from all parts of life, and weaves them together slowly and delicately. Most of them do not even know they are connected; they may sense it, but they will never fully understand it. An Irish priest and his brother, living in the South Bronx, one to find the underworld, the other trying to get out of it, become entangled in the lives of a group of prostitutes. A rich mother loses her only son in Vietnam and tries to find other mothers to connect with. A lost artist gets into a car accident that will change the course of all of their lives and set the story fully in motion.

The stories are all fictional, but they have something very important, and completely true, in common. In 1974 Phillipe Petit strung a wire between the Twin Towers and by walking across it he created an instant network of people, all connected by the same miraculous moment. Petit created one more piece of web to connect all of these stories. At the very height of their stories, the climactic turning point, they all experience the man dancing on the wire between the Twin Towers. His 140 foot length of cable, somehow crossed over the entire city at once, From the South Bronx, to the Upper East Side and back to the Financial District.

I loved this book. It's definitely a must-read for any fiction lovers.

Book Review - Eaarth by Bill McKibbon

If it were up to me I'd make this book required reading for everyone on the planet. It's one of the most important books ever written about climate change. In fact, the only reason it's not the most important book, is because books written in the 70's and 80's predicting climate change were far more important, though mostly ignored. If we had only listened then, we would need a book like Eaarth now.

The book starts strong. It caught my attention quickly, citing specific examples of climate change and it's results on both massive and small scales. I thought the reason the United States didn't take much interest in climate change was because those hardest hit by changes in the weather lived in other parts of the world, but the truth is, we've been hit too. The major difference is that American people, supported by the US government, have the money to import food, crank up the AC and even pack up and move if we want. However, at the rate we're going, we're going to reach a point where all the money in the world won't be able to buy you food that just won't grow, or remove the pollution from your water, or save your life when a hurricane crashes into your town.

But the book isn't all doom and gloom. McKibben simply wants to make sure you're listening. He wants you to know that you're not saving your children or your grandchildren anymore, you're saving yourself. He wants you to you fully understand that the planet has been fundamentally changed and it's not ever going to change back. The most we can do is stop things from getting worse. It's a really hard piece of information to swallow.

The second part of the book is more hopeful. McKibben doesn't have all of the answers to survival, but the ideas he has are really good ones. His points are valid. I really liked his idea of communities providing for themselves and looking out for each other. Why buy your electricity from a power plant when you can generate it yourself? There's real security in being able to take care of yourself. When oil starts to dwindle and the prices skyrocket why not power your electric car and your house at the same time with solar and wind power from your own yard? His point is that we can't wait for big government to save us and provide for us, we have to show them what we want. With the world in the state is in right now, bigger is not going to be better. We have to scale down, start taking back the power to care for ourselves.

McKibbon isn't attacking the government. He praises large scale projects like highways and general infrastructure. This country grew and grew and because of that, American people enjoy a fairly high standard of living. It's time to stop growing though. It's time to adapt to the world we created. No book I've yet read makes that more abundantly clear than Eaarth.

It ends on a good note. The kind of ending that makes it easier to recommend this book. He uses Vermont as a model for sustainability, but he talks about larger-scale projects as well; things that are working. He also points out the importance of the internet. The internet, this crazy tool that can connect anyone, anywhere. For example, I'm writing this review while sitting on a bus to NYC. The wireless internet connects me to millions of people, the biggest forum ever known. Any idea I'll ever have can instantly be shared with he world. There is no need for us all to be isolated, we can figure out solutions and move forward as a group. I can instantly find information about powering my own home, growing my own food, and converting my car to run on veggie oil by just getting online. The limitless connections of the internet are a gift when most of us don't even know our own neighbors. It's a hope, in a world where hope fades more and more the longer we live the way we do.

I have more to say about this book, and a few excellent quotes and stories to share from it, however I did not bring the book with me on the bus. I'm going to save those bits and pieces for a few weeks from now, after the book is available to buy. Check back mid-April for more on this title!

And, in the interest of saving paper, I will gladly loan you my copy.

Wicked Plants - Amy Stewart

What a charming and interesting book. I had no idea that so many common plants were so freaking bad for me and might possibly be able to kill me or my cat (this is imagining that I have a cat of course). For instance, did you know that tulip bulbs can cause blisters on the hands of people who package them because they are slightly poisonous? I mean, I always knew that tulips could inspire murder and ruin economies, but blisters? Now that's crazy!

The book isn't all poison though. It also highlights plants that are destructive, and illegal, intoxicating, unpleasant, and dangerous. Apparently Stewart's opinion is that tobacco is the most dangerous plant of all. I'd have to say I agree with her on that one, though the Australian Stinging Tree sounds excruciating.

There were so many little tid bits about the plants I see every day or even keep in my house. The book isn't set up in a way that is meant to be shocking or scary; it's interesting and fun. The author includes fun little facts and stories about most of the plants, which makes it more fun to read. It's also such a nice size and comes with a ribbons attached to use as a book mark. Why don't all hardcover book come with ribbons damn it?

I had mixed feelings about the art in the book. The etchings, done by Briony Morrow-Cribbs, were very well done and interesting. They were beautiful and eerie at the same time, very much in the spirit of the book as a whole. They also remind me of the art my friend Lisa does, which helps. However, the little illustrations, done by Jonathon Rosen, were so poor that they actually annoyed me. They look like hasty doodles. I actually checked out his website because his bio in the book had some impressive commissions. His work varies from the doodly things seen in this book, to some impressive illustrations for newspapers and magazines. Go figure.

Basically, when I was done reading this book, I wished there was a poison garden somewhere around here to visit. I have such a new appreciation for the scary power of the plant world. I always knew dangerous plants existed, but I guess I didn't realize just how common they were, and just how dangerous they could be.

I live in a Dorset horror flick

Driving home at night from the bookstore is a little freaky. The roads are dark and twisty and trees crowd in from both sides. They're the kind of roads where, if my life were cheap thriller movie, a ghost would suddenly appear in front of my car, or an ax murderer would pop out of the backseat (I guess it doesn't help that I never lock my car), or some psycho would start stalking me with his car and flashing his brights and maybe even run into me. Have I mentioned there's no police station in Dorset and no 24 hour businesses and basically no one around by the time I get home?

These are the kinds of things I was thinking about tonight while some asshole with NY plates insisted on tailgating me all the way through town all because I'm not going to speed. Sorry. Even if the roads weren't slippery, I probably wouldn't be speeding. What I don't need is a ticket, a deer plastered to the front of my car, or to slide off the road. And come to think of it, I bet that guy didn't any of those things either. Thus, I am a cautious driver. I also hate tailgating so much it's reason enough for me to just stop driving.

So I slowed down. He didn't get it. I brake checked him like nobody's business. No effect. If he had been any closer he would have been in the back seat of my car. Finally he passed me as we got into Dorset, 30mph speed limit, double yellow line. Good riddance.

The point of this post? Public service announcement. DON'T TAILGATE. It's annoying and dangerous and it will make people who don't even know you, hate you.

I know, I know, this isn't even a real blog post. But worry not! I have something special in mind for the weekend. Also I started a new book so amazing I want to memorize it and start reciting it on the streets like those crazy people in NY that are always yelling about the bible while everyone rolls their eyes and tries to ignore them. Yep, someday that nutcase you cross the street to avoid will be me. My parents will be so proud.

Ta ta for now faithful readers!

That green tidbit I promised to keep up with: So this one is stolen directly from the book Sleeping Naked is Green. It's just such a damn good idea that I had to take it up. During my morning showers, I do not turn on the bathroom light. There's enough sunlight coming in the window to see with, plus I love the calm and quiet feeling associated with darkness. Somehow it makes my shower feel more hushed. Yeah, I've been spending too much time around lighting designers. Anyway it's just one more little thing that can be done to reduce energy consumption in a daily routine. If I actually showered daily that is.

Book Review - Generation A by Douglas Coupland

Douglas Coupland's writing is a little Chuck Palahniuk, without trying as hard to be clever, and a little Kurt Vonnegut, though not so cynical. This book is not his first novel, but it almost reads like one. It doesn't make me interested to read his other books anytime soon, which is a bummer because I had high hopes for this book.

The story is about the foreseeable future when bees have gone extinct. No one has seen them for at least five years. Suddenly 5 different and seemingly unrelated people get stung. The book is told from their individual perspectives. Coupland does a good job of giving them all different personalities, though the writing style for each voice is basically identical. I found myself having trouble believing that the perceptive introvert was perceptive at all in certain chapters. At times he told his story like an ignorant fool.

I had bigger problem with the pacing. The story was all beginning and end, with no middle to speak of. We start out with the 5 people getting stung and they are whisked away to underground labs to be studied for a month, without explanation as to why. Then they go home, but before anything can happen there, they are whisked away yet again to a remote island where they find out why they were stung and what the results of being locked away underground were. Why even have them go home at all? Coupland seemed to be in a rush, but nothing gets me into a book like a writer who savors the story.

But I don't want to be misleading, it's a fun book and Coupland has a smart writing style. It was an easy read and an enjoyable one. It simply wasn't my favorite and I won't be rushing to re-read this book. I still stand by it being an interesting story idea, I just wish there could have been more to it. In a way that's a compliment. It's not like I didn't finish the book; I liked it enough to want more from it.

Lemon Amazing!

One of the perks of working at a bookstore is that I can borrow books. If I'm really interested in reading a book, but I don't really want to commit to buying it, I can simply allocate a copy to myself and take it home for a few days. Of course I need to be insanely careful with it and not spill anything on it, or accidentally bend the cover. I NEVER dog ear pages, so that's no problem.

Getting to the point: Monday is The Loggers birthday. And if you are a devoted blog reader (AKA my mother), you'll remember the ridiculous lemon cake I made him last year. This year he said he wanted to be a little more low key and that he wanted cupcakes. Lemon cupcakes. There's been a major change in our lives since last year's cake, and that is veganism. The Logger isn't actually vegan (though he gets closer and closer every day), but since I am, and I do most of the cooking and all of the baking, that means vegan baked goods for birthdays.

I knew I would need to get the recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, but I didn't want to buy a copy. I was just going to email a recipe to myself while I was at work, but I completely forgot until about 5 seconds before we were shutting down the computers. Shit. So I quickly allocated a copy to myself. It was the last copy. So I'm sorry bookstore, I know I'm not supposed to take books home when there isn't another copy in the store, but I think I'm pretty much 100% of the Manchester vegan market, so I'm not too worried anyone is going to run into the store and demand a copy of the vegan cupcake book. Anyway there's a copy of the vegan cookie book, so whatever.

In order to be as careful as possible (and because I generally make a mess when baking) I copied the recipe onto another piece of paper before attempting to make anything. I transformed the basic vanilla cupcake into a lemon delight. The Logger loved them, and so did I, though I don't especially love lemons. Win.

Maybe I do need a vegan cupcake book after all...

Bees!!! and a canker sore

I have this stupid canker sore. Not as bad as the one I had at the end of last winter though. At least I can eat and talk and be alive without thinking about this one. It really only annoys me when I brush my teeth. I feel like I'm making it worse. I'm not though. These things are all the same; they show up suddenly, stick around without changing for whatever period of time they seem fit, and they they disappear just as quickly as they came. They don't get worse or better, they are either there, or gone. This one is not gone. Maybe a few more days.

Whatever, that's not what I wanted to talk about. I wanted to talk about the weather I think. There's a January thaw happening right now and it feels nice. The weather has been above freezing for most of the day and then everything gets icy again at night. The news man on the radio said that bees need a warm day or two every month to leave their hives and take a dump. I feel like my brain might need sunny days like that as well to take a spiritual dump. Whatever that means. I clearly need more sun.

I'm reading a book called Generation A (yeah, I put the plant book on hold and didn't update my website. Oh hush, you don't even care). It's all about the not-distant future where bees are extinct. No bees. None of those pollinators we've come to rely so heavily on. An exotic species in this country, but so are most of the crops we grow, so it makes sense. We've changed our eco system and it's working out. Except bees really aren't doing so well, so this book isn't so unbelievable. It's fiction by the way, not some kind of apocalyptic sustainability book.

Anyway this brings me to my next point: honey. I know, I know, honey is not vegan. I got it. But put the whining on hold for a second and let me point out my thoughts on my own personal honey consumption. I eat honey. I eat it rather frequently. I realize the issues with large-scale commercial honey farms (if you don't, then you might want to check this out). I agree with honey being an animal product that is collected in ways which I would consider cruel. I won't buy silk because I think silk production is cruel, so why include honey in my diet?

The reasons, which I have thought very hard about, are simple. I have terrible allergies in the spring. I can not function as a normal human being without medication. Medication is tested on animals in the cruelest ways possible. However! eating local honey in the winter can help your body become immune to pollen in the spring. It's like a delicious and sweet allergy shot to go with my morning oatmeal. If eating some honey in the winter, which I get from a beekeeping friend (who does not kill his bees, or clip their wings, or burn their hives) will mean that I won't need to purchase allergy medication, then I'm going to eat honey. I'm not buying honey from anyone else. I don't buy pre-packaged food which might contain honey and I pretty much cook all of my meals, so the honey thing doesn't come up often in my life. It would be awesome if, in a few seasons, I didn't need allergy medication or immune system building honey, but right now I'm certainly choosing the lesser of two evils.

I realize I'm probably going get a huge lecture on this at some point. The honey debate is a huge one in vegan communities and I would say that I agree with the non-honey eating vegans. I do agree with them. I also think that bees are important pollinators and if they do disappear (which they have been doing, though we don't really know why), we are pretty much fucked. So if my local friend (who worships his bees by the way), can raise a happy, healthy colony, then more power to him. He's an incredibly irresponsible guy and his hives will probably end up swarming and creating wild hives anyway.

Bzz

Book Review - Vegan Freak by Bob and Jenna Torres

This book is a must have for any vegans, vegetarians, or people somewhere in between. It's kind of a how-to guide to surviving in a very non-vegan world, where you will probably be looked at as a freak.

It deals with the obvious question of "why vegan?" and also the less obvious question of "why vegan and NOT vegetarian?" It also deals with the parts of veganism that involve non-food items. I especially like the chapters about how to handle non-vegans, specifically family and friends.

I really identify with and needed something like this book. It explains the importance of having vegans friends and a vegan community. I live in a small town and I'm lucky to know even one other vegan. I spend a lot of time reading vegan blogs and I communicate with my vegan friends in NY whenever I feel like I need a vegan ally. Part of the reason I have this blog is for and outlet for my life and my veganism is part of that. It's frustrating to feel like you're the only person around who sees the very serious cruelty involved in the non-vegan ways of the people around us, especially the people we love.

The only major criticism I have about this book is the editing. In this case, it seems like the major part of the editing process was done by a spell checker and not much more. I found so many major grammatical errors in this book it drove me mad. Simply sending the book to anyone else and having them read it cover to cover would have solved so many of the editing issues. Oh my god I have never read a book with so many typos. Even my college papers had less problems than this book. Bob and Jenna, if you're reading this, I adore you guys, but please fix this stuff before the next printing. (For all you people out there who would argue that my own blog is full of errors, I'll remind you that I openly admit to not proofreading mot of this, it's not a published book, and I make absolutely no money from it. It's a hobby, not a job and is in no way professional.)

I don't want to make the book sound amateur, it's not. It's so clear that a lot of thought and research went into it. They include many other books to refer to for more information and help on any of the many topics they touch on in the book. It's a starting point, and an important one. So, if you're vegan, or thinking about it: go buy this book! Or borrow it, whatever.

Book Review - The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

I can't review this book. How could I review this book? I feel like a fraud. What right do I have to write anything about this amazing story? It's a classic for a reason! It's so perfect and meticulous. Dumas created the most amazing and perfect characters and had no trouble whatsoever bringing them to life. There's not a speck of laziness in his writing. He takes no shortcuts, creates no miracles without explanation, and he runs the reader through every possible emotion throughout the story.

Edmond Dantes is wonderful. He's an honest and good person and he's perfect in so many ways. If he's slightly conceited, it is only because he is too young to know any better. When he becomes the Count of Monte Cristo he is conceited because he has learned to know better. He is the ultimate instrument of revenge and wrath. He is so perfect and adept at his revenge that at times it gets away from him, it takes on it's own life. He forgets that he is human and I found myself forgetting as well. However, Dumas reminds his readers before he reminds The Count. We see what is about to unfold just before Dantes and just after it is too late to stop any of it. The revenge is so perfectly plotted, no detail is left out. However, it is impossible to know the full extent of it, only because it impossible to know any person to the fullest extent. Who knows just how far any one character will go? No one but Dumas it seems.

The ending. Oh the ending. Of course I would never reveal the ending. But, oh is it perfect. Amazing. A believable fantasy, just like the rest of the book, but somehow even more so. And just like the rest of the book it is impossible to say just what happens after the last page. The story will never rest, because, like life, there are no tidy endings. Like life, you can never really know what path people will choose, or what tomorrow will bring.

This is a post in which I rant a little

So some cattle rancher decided to follow me on twitter. How on earth did that guy even find me and why would he think it was a good idea? Was it the fact that my profile states that I'm vegan? This cattle rancher is an "animal welfare specialist" according to his profile. Right. What part of breeding and raising animals specifically to kill them for human pleasure is to be considered humane? Just because animals weren't raised on factory farms doesn't make it ok to kill and eat them. Listen, you don't NEED meat to live, and you don't need it to be healthy. Therefore, when you do eat meat, it is only for pleasure, and nothing more. That means that you raise and kill animals for pleasure. End of story. There's no animal welfare in that.

So I checked out his tweets and he put up this article about vegetarians who eat meat. Um... what? Sorry, vegetarians don't eat meat. Not to mention that the word flexitarian means absolutely zero to me. It means about the same thing as an animal welfare specialist cattle farmer. I'm so fucking sick of hearing about "happy meat" and how it's morally ok to eat it. How about I come over to your house and kill your dog and eat it. I mean, you gave it a happy life, so it's ok right? That makes it ok!

ugh.

Also, I read Michael Pollan's new book, Food Rules. Awful. It's just a (really)watered down version of In Defense of Food. Don't waste your time or your money on that one, especially if you already read his other books. It was kind of a sell-out thing to do; publish a book that takes exact passages from the last book he published, increase the font size, add a ton of blank pages and big pictures and then sell the thing for $11. Um... why? He should have just published an article in the NY Times magazine instead of a whole book. Why waste all that paper?

OK, I'm don't ranting now. On a lighter note, we may have found some roommates who want to rent the other rooms in our house but not actually live here. That is so awesome! What more could you possibly want in a roommate?

Book Review - Sleeping Naked is Green by Vanessa Farquharson

Vanessa Farquharson is a movie critic for the Canadian newspaper National Post and doesn't care too much about the environment, until she sees "An Inconvenient Truth," and finally feels that she needs to do something. But what? She decides to take on a challenge of making one green change in her life every day for a year.

The book is divided into chapters by month and each month starts with a list of the changes she made each day. It starts out simply: Changing to recycled paper towels. But she soon starts to become desperate and shuts off her freezer, then her fridge. The order in which she makes her changes is... well, odd to say the least. For example, she turns off her fridge before putting a brick into her toilet tank. She gives up toilet paper before she gives up her vacuum. She also waits until day 198 to sign up for CSA.

She soon finds that being just a little green suddenly makes her want to be as green as possible. She wants to be the greenest in the green movement and often finds herself jealous and competitive of other environmentalists. At the same time she struggles with frustration over making certain changes and exhaustion from having to think new ones up. Some might be seen as a cop-out (writing only haiku poetry, signing up and then promptly taking down her profile on greensingles.com) but you have to give her credit and cut her some slack, she's making 366 (leap year) changes.


She whines endlessly about how hard it is to be an environmentalist, but when it comes time for her challenge to end, she keeps almost all of her green changes. This book is just further proof that anyone who is educated about the changes they can make and why they should make them (not to mention how easy it can often be), will make them. And they will start to care about it too. It's easy to claim ignorance about the environment and do nothing, but once you do know, it's harder to forget. She even manages to green her family a little, even though they were adamantly against environmentalism at the start.

This book is inspiring. And funny. And down to earth. Plus it's a great read. It's good information for environmentalists or just people curious at where to start. The green movement is often seen as either too extreme or just not enough, but Farquharson struggles to find a middle ground. Reading this book made it more apparent to me just how easy it could be to step up my own greening. It's nice to see all of her changes in a list in each chapter, because although she doesn't talk about each one, you still know what kinds of changes she is making.

Because Farquharson is a journalist, her writing is interesting and engaging. She talks about the changes and why she made them, but also what the result is on her life as a a whole. Not to mention she's hilarious. The book isn't just a list of changes that you can make, it's a story about making a difference. At the end Farquharson isn't a preachy environmentalist. She sticks with her own changes, because she sees no point in going back. But there's no denying that the story is an inspiration to those who read it. It's a story about how little changes can make a big difference, not just to the Earth, but to your entire life.

Ice House - Dorset, VT

My computer finally crashed for real. Dead. Do not resuscitate. I took a day off of work to drive myself and my poor little laptop to Albany, an hour and a half (two if you get lost, which you know I did) to the nearest Mac store. Turns out the hard drive had gone completely useless. I failed to ask if this could be because of all those times I dropped it, accidentally tripped over my backpack while it was inside, or jostled it on the subway. But that does seem rather likely. Turns out that even though my warranty was up, there is still a warranty on the hard drive, so I didn't have to pay for it to be replaced. The bad news is, I lost all the stuff on my hard drive. I did back most of it up over the summer, so I didn't lose much. Yay.

You may have noticed that I've taken down the daily-ish photo. I really haven't had time to deal with my camera (read: I'm too lazy to take it out and take pictures), and I've always been terrible at recognizing photo ops. I replaced it with books! Wonderful, wonderful books! Books you should be reading! Now that I work at the bookstore I am constantly reading (except when my computer is working and I'm giving in to internet addiction). Any spare time I thought I might have is devoted to reading (and the internet). But I like it. Anyway you can click on the link to get to a mini (very very mini) review of what I'm reading.

Other goings on include the mice in my kitchen. We caught three over the last few days and I dropped them off int he woods on my way to work, far from my house, and I hope far enough from other people's houses. I gave them a little talk about staying out of the road and other people's food. Just so they can't say they didn't know when they run into trouble. I hate hearing people say that humane traps don't work. Of course they don't work if all your doing is catching them inside and then tossing them into your back yard. They already know how to get back in. You have to take them far away. Or you need to make sure you seal up all of the holes where they are getting in. The Logger and I are going to make a trip to the basement and see if we can find where the little buggers got in. For the meantime we appear to have rid ourselves and our kitchen of daily mouse droppings.

I never really thought snap traps were ok. Even when I ate meat I would never have used a kill trap. For one thing, I'm terrified of them. But that's probably because my parents always told me to be terrified of them. My family used humane traps for a long time and to keep me away from the snap traps they instilled a deep fear in me. Even now when dealing with snap traps I tend t just drop things on them and then leap backwards at the moment of snapping. Yes, I've intentionally set off many of these traps when I find them in my own home. They're not only cruel to mice, they are down right dangerous, and don't try to get me to believe otherwise. Rat traps can break your fingers!!! So basically, live catch traps are the best. Besides getting a cat. And you just try talking the Logger into that.