Here you will find a list of books I have read, and ones I am reading. For simplicity’s sake, this list will only include those books I’ve read recently, though I may decide to retroactively include past reads in the future. I’ll update as I start and finish new books. Each entry will include a brief description or review, or in some cases an extended quote if I don’t have much to say about a book, or if I think the author should be allowed to speak for himself.
Currently Reading
The Egg and I by Betty MacDonald
Our Farming by T.B. Terry
[available free on Google books here.]
Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Lord of the Rings
I’m not sure I need to say much about this one. It is the pinnacle of it’s particular realm of fiction. If you haven’t read it yet, please do. I wish I had the 1-volume edition pictured, with illustrations by Alan Lee. It gives you extra nerd-standing if you know Lord of the Rings is actually one book, frequently published in three volumes for convenience. You can imagine the eye-rolling that occurs among a particular set when someone says, “My favorite Tolkien book is The Two Towers.” Oh, yeah. Some serious eye-rolling going on. Anyway, if you like fantasy, stories, or the English language you should probably read the Lord of the Rings.
Completed
Works and Days by Hesiod [finished 3/28/10]
The Works and Days is an epic poem by Hesiod (ca. 700 B.C.), one of the lesser known of the ancient Greek poets. It differs from the more common epic poems in that it doesn’t tell a mythological story, like The Iliad, The Odyssey, or The Aeneid. Instead, it is an exhortation given by the poet to a man named Perses, in which he urges Perses to work hard in order that the gods may show him favor. The poem’s chief interest for me lay in it’s description of ancient farm life, and specifically the degree to which it was interwoven with nature’s cycles. Much advice is given to Perses on when and how to plant, with the times usually referencing some celestial or earthly event (i.e. “When the House-carrier [snail] climbs up the plants from the earth to escape the Pleiades, then it is no longer the season for digging vineyards, but to whet your sickles and rouse up your slaves.” or “But when Orion and Sirius are come into mid-heaven, and rosy-fingered Dawn sees Arcturus, then cut off all the grape-clusters, Perses, and bring them home. Show them to the sun ten days and ten nights: then cover them over for five, and on the sixth day draw off into vessels the gifts of joyful Dionysus.”) Highly recommended, and you can read it in only an hour or two.
The Farmer’s Market Book [finished 3/21/10]
Got this one for Christmas. It was informative and slightly more scholarly than these hippie books tend to be. The book begins with a brief discussion of historical markets, and then moves on to dissect the more modern resurgence of these markets. It focuses on the Bloomington, Indiana market, that being the one in which the author participates as a vendor. It was interesting to see a farmer’s market from the other side (as opposed to seeing it as a customer). The text is punctuated by full color photos of the Bloomington Market and farms in the surrounding area that participate in the market.
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