I am in a monthly book club with some very well-read, funny, wonderful ladies. We started a few months ago, inspired by the hoopla surrounding the resurgence of Jane Austen appreciation. While I am a voracious reader (with 3 hours of daily commute time, I should be) I never quite got around to reading much of the fiction we’ve assigned. Not a little guilt inspired me to host June’s book club meeting at my Phinney Ridge-Green Lake house. One reason is that by cooking for my friends on my new grill, I could make up for missing the last couple of months of People of the Book and Storkbites (which I am sure are fascinating books). Another was that, according to our unwritten bylaws, the host gets to choose the list of 5 books for the group to vote on, the winner of which is our book-of-the-month.
My list was:
1. The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan (because I wanted non-fiction, and there has been a buzz about it for the past couple of years)
2. Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper, by Diablo Cody (because we all need a bit of the raunchy in our daily lives)
3. Mary Poppins, She Wrote: The Life of P.L. Travers, by Valerie Lawson (because it had a silly title)
4. Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery (because this year is Anne 2008 and I don’t care how many times you’ve read it)
5. The Kill, by Emile Zola (because I bought it off the Elliott Bay book club shelf and hadn’t started it)
The vote was overwhelmingly for The Omnivore’s Dilemma. I’ve been reading it for a week and I’m hooked. I won’t write about it now, but I’ll post a review of said book as soon as I’ve finished it.
In the meantime, here’s a few links from Michael Pollan’s website. It’s a good quick resource for info on Slow Food, farm bills, and alternative food production.
