What I'm Reading in 2009

This novel (458 pgs) was a Quality Paperback Book Selection that I received because I didn't cancel the shipment in time. And I'm glad because when I took this book on a trip to Chicago last weekend, I could barely put it down.

This is a family/community saga that takes place during Nixon's re-election in the early 70's. The narrator, Corey Sifter, is a newspaper publisher in 2006, who was a teenager during the events of the novel. He worked for the rich family in town, who were backing a Senator Henry Bonwiller for the Democratic Presidential nomination. Without telling the whole story, this Senator bears some resemblance to Ted Kennedy.

This is a very well written book that keeps you wondering throughout. I would highly recommend it.

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. These are the main points of Michael Pollan's latest book, which talks about food and personal health.

In this book, Pollan addresses the ideology of "nutritionism", a term coined by Australian sociologist of science, Gyorgy Scrinis. Basically, it says that the key to understanding food is to break it down into its nutritional and chemical components, taking all the fun out of eating in my opinion. When Pollan talks about eating "food", he means food that "does not contain ingredients that are a) unfamililar, b) unpronounceable, c) more than five in number, or that include d) high-fructose corn syrup." (pg. 150)

I particularly enjoyed the chapter on eating plants. Fortunately, I love fruits and vegetables but still probably don't eat the recommended 5-9 servings per day. When I read about all of the wonderful protective elements in plants, it made me want to eat a lot more of them. The most interesting statistic I read was that "In 1960 Americans spent 17.5% of their income on food and 5.2% on health care. Since then, those numbers have flipped. Spending on food has fallen to 9.9%, while spending on health care has climbed to 16% of national income." (pg. 188)

This is an easy to read and very interesting book.

The Omnivore's Dilemma is much longer and more complex, yet still fascinating. Pollan writes about how our food is grown and the ethical and environmental impact of those choices. The first section discusses industrial farming; the second, organic food, both as big business and on a small farm; and the third, hunting and foraging for your food.

I'm kind of a newbie at poetry. But, in the last few years I have been very moved by the poetry of Mary Oliver, Rumi, Hafiz, among others. This book I picked up to give to my daughter for her college graduation because she is a fan of poetry. Also, the first poem in this book is one of my favorites of all time - "The Journey" by Mary Oliver.

The author writes in his introduction that the poetry in this book "gives voice to a spiritual reality that is beyond the copyright of any religion. It voices the longings of the spirit and our deep desires -- desire for meaning, for a life of passion and creativity, for a sense of belonging, for wisdom, and as always for love." It is a beautifully written book.

Here are the poems:
The Journey by Mary Oliver
Last Night As I Was Sleeping by Antonio Machado
Song of Myself by Walt Whitman
Zero Circle by Rumi
The Time before Death by Kabir
Ode to My Socks by Pablo Neruda
Last Gods by Galway Kinnell
For the Anniversary of My Death by W.S. Merwin
Love After Love by Derek Walcott
The Dark Knight by St. John of the Cross

I belong to Quality Paperback Club and, every once in awhile I forget to respond to the monthly offerings, and get books in the mail that I didn't order. I try not to let that happen too often, but I am usually pleasantly surprised by what I get. It gives me the chance to read something outside of what I would normally seek out.

This book was one of those. Although I know Joyce Carol Oates as a very respected author, I don't usually read a lot of novels. This is a fictionalized depiction of the Jon-Benet Ramsey murder, written from the perspective of the older brother. The name of the family is Rampike, and the little girl is a figure skater named Bliss. Much of the book is quite disturbing because the family is quite dysfunctional and the son, Skyler, is very much ignored. Without giving too much away, there is some redemption in the end for Skyler.

It was one of those books that I wasn't sure I liked as I was reading it, yet I couldn't seem to put it down. And it didn't seem as long as its 562 pages would suggest.

I heard Lynne Twist interviewed by Dr. Oz (I think) on Oprah Radio and had to read her book "The Soul of Money." The sub-heading is "Transforming your relationship with money and life." What I thought about after reading this book, which I highly recommend, is that what you spend your money on really does speak to who you are and what is important to you. It would be a good exercise for everyone to examine whether the way they spend their money truly represents their values.

Lynne tells a story about a woman named Gertrude who influenced her view of money. Gertrude, who was not materially wealthy, said "To me, money is a lot like water. For some folks it rushes through their life like a raging river. Money comes through my life like a little trickle. But I want to pass it on in a way that does the most good for the most folks. I see that as my right and as my responsibility. It's also my joy."

Some of the themes of this book include: recognizing and appreciating what we already have, living in a world of abundance rather than scarcity, and knowing what is enough.

Visit Lynne's website "The Soul of Money"

This is a phenomenal book that cut me to the core. According to the Amazon review, Perkins, a former chief economist at a consulting firm called Main, was an "economic hit man" for 10 years, helping U.S. intelligence agencies and multinationals cajole and blackmail foreign leaders into serving U.S. foreign policy and awarding lucrative contracts to American business. Perkins says that "Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars."

He tells of his experiences working with governments in Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Panama, Ecuador and other countries, where he would convince them to take out loans for infrastructure building that they could never possibly repay. Perkins came to realize that what he was doing was wrong and has moved on to share his experiences and to help countries through organizations such as the Pachamama Alliance, which helps to preserve tropical rainforests by empowering the indigenous people of the area.

Visit John's website.