Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning by George Monbiot

This book sets out a way to cut our carbon emissions by 90% by 2030 without sending us all back to the stone age. The science seems sound to my only slightly trained eye, so I'd recommend that anyone who's a political leader or who's in a position to make significant invetment in new technologies read this. Maybe if that sending-books-to-Stephen-Harper thing is still going on, someone could send him this. (The Canadian edition starts out by laying a smackdown on Canada for the Harper government's policies.) I can suggest only one improvement, and that would be to put a brief summary of all the recommendations at the end of the book. I'm sure I forgot some things by the time I finished reading it. But it's really not that big a deal for the reader to page back.

There are lots of good ideas in this book, but my favourite (just because it's so obvious in retrospect and so applicable to real-life) is the idea of appliances like washing machines and dishwashers where you load them up and then they will automatically start operating when overall demand on the power grid is low. Obviously you'd need to be able to override that, but it's such a good idea!

Reading this book did bring up one thing that has been sort of quietly bugging me about environmentalism for a while: there seems to be greater value placed on cutting back your own footprint than on having a small footprint in the first place. If you give up driving during Environment Week, and you can get points for Commuter Challenge. Give up your car permanently, and you've won the One Tonne Challenge. But if you don't own a car in the first place, you don't get any credit. Which is kind of frustrating for me as I sit here, childfree, carfree and vegetarian, in my LEED-certified apartment. Monbiot insists that everyone needs to cut back by 90%, and while he maybe means that in the macro sense (the suggestions in the book are all things that governments and businesses can do rather than personal choices - policies have to be changed, different products need to be available etc.) I still find it kind of annoying that by his philosophy, there's no possible way anyone, no matter how virtuous, can count as having already cut back their 90%.

Nonviolence: Tenty-five Lessons from the History of a Dangerous Idea by Mark Kurlansky

I highly recommend reading this book. It's not that big of a book (only 183 pages) but there's really a lot to think about in it. I'm not writing a full review just yet because my brain is still processing everything I've learned from it, but I do recommend reading it. I like the directions it's making me think in.

Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog by John Grogan

Animal books don't usually work on me (strange, I know, because I am an animal person), but this one did. It is adorable and hilarious and had me laughing and going "Awww!" on the subway. The author also handles the emotional arc of the book deftly - just as I thought I was going to have to end the book by crying (which is standard for the genre) I ended it laughing instead. I also have to admire that the author ended up coming across as sympathetic, when he's not the kind of person I'd find particularly sympathetic IRL. (Not that there's anything wrong with him, he's just not someone I'd seek out as a friend or anything.) I'm not going to actively recommend to read it for the writing because it didn't take my breath away or anything, but the author did manage to win over an unsympathetic reader who doesn't usually appreciate the genre. So that should count for something. Plus, like, it's funny and cute and has a yellow tilty-head puppy on the front.

Least memorable book ever

Just before I moved, I finished a book of short stories. I wanted to blog about it because I'm really trying to get back in the habit of blogging what I read, but I can't remember the title! Or the author! Or the contents of the stories! I think there was some adultery, and maybe a yoga class, and maybe an old man, but I'm not entirely certain.

So obviously they weren't terribly memorable stories. Unfortunately I can't even tell you the name or author so you can avoid them.

Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb

Read this book! Read it for the cultural anthropology. It's an absolutely fascinating explanation of another culture without getting all condescending or preachy.

The protagonist is a British girl who was orphaned in Africa when her hippie parents were killed in a drug deal, then brought up in a Muslim community and then taken to Ethiopia for some reason. The book explores her life as an adolescent living with a widow and her daughters in Harar, Ethopia in the 1970s. This story alternates with the story of the protagonist in the 1980s, now back "home" in London, where she works as a nurse and helps refugees.

My description doesn't do it justice. It is fascinating and compelling, but what I like best is that it describes life in Harar (and life in London, for that matter) in a very matter-of-fact way. Usually when books talk about Other Cultures, there's either a condescending colonial tone or a preachy "noble savages" tone. This one doesn't. It just describes what's happening, quietly making sure to do so in a way I'll understand while sitting in the subway in Toronto, but never passing judgement on the culture being described or on me from being unfamiliar with it. And I left wanting to find out what else happened to the characters in the book, which is always a good sign.

The Evolution-Creation Struggle by Michael Ruse

This book sets out to give a history of evolution and creationism, and tell the reader how we got to where we are now. It does that successfully, and is quite calm about it. The only problem was it didn't hold my interest while it was doing that. I think that's a problem with me instead of with the book - I found the subject matter less interesting than I thought I would. The book does briefly explore how religion in the US turned out to be more fundamentalist than religion in Europe, which was rather interesting, but as a whole it turned out I just don't care about evolution vs. creationism for 300 pages worth of text.

Modern and Normal by Karen Solie

Usually poetry doesn't work for me, but this one did. It wasn't over my head, I got it. All of it worked for me, but what I liked best was the found poetry. She took text from packaging and textbooks and other ephemeral sources, and arranged it as poems. Ever since I read it, I've been viewing everyday texts in a more poetic way, which makes the act of translation far more interesting.

So Cancer Ward is a very important book, it was important that I read it and I learned a lot from it. But it was not fun to read. It brought up a lot of unpleasant facts and ideas, and the way sexuality was portrayed made me uncomfortable (can't quite articulate why yet).

Plus it brought up the whole issue of mortality. It made me think about what I would do if I were dying, and I was faced with the distressing fact that I have no idea. I mean, I know I'd get married and put my affairs in order, but what would I do with my time? I've had the last month off with no obligations, and I've been reading, gaming, cooking, etc. If I were dying I'd probably have more sit-down restaurant meals and more wine, but I still don't know what I'd do with my time. Most of my normal past-times just seem like ways of eating away your time. I don't particularly like to travel, and though I'd love to see Paris and Venice I'd only want to spend a couple of days in each place. Would I read? Very selectively. Would I watch TV? The thing preventing me from doing so now is the price of a decent cable service, but while money is no object when you're dying, watching TV tends to be a bit of a timewaster (although I'd certainly find a way to see the last episode of MASH). Would I work out? Why bother? Would I game? A nice way to relax sure, but it also eats up time. I really can't think of what I'd do!

The verdict on Harry Potter: SO FUCKING GOOD!!!! Harry Potter is the Star Wards of children's books! I read each book straight through, I could not put them down, and now there's starting to be magic in my dreams. I can't believe some people think these are inappropriate for children! Why? Because there's magic in them? Um, look at any fairy tale...

Parents with kids who can read but don't like to should read a couple of chapters of the first Harry Potter to their kids, stop at the first cliffhanger, and leave the book in the kid's room. Within a week the kid will be begging for the next book. These books are on part with Pippi Longstocking, Narnia, and Roald Dahl. Even adults will enjoy them! They are a bit fluffy for adults, but while they are a touch formulaic the ending is always a surprise!

They do have instances of spiders in them, there's at least one instance in every book, although some have more. Ditto for snakes. I found it was manageable if I started skimming as soon as I recognized what was going on and picked up after the danger had passed, and I did find I could avoid visualing here (I couldn't in LOTR). If you are as phobic as me, skip the chapter entitled Aragog in Chamber of Secrets. Otherwise, enjoy!

So I've been reading A Girl's Gotta Do What a Girl's Gotta Do by Kathleen Baty, and I'm not too impressed. The vast majority of the book is stuff I already know, and some of it is utterly ridiculous. Remember that email that was circulating around the internet a couple of years ago that said women wearing overalls are most likely to be raped? Well, she put that little factoid in her book - that women wearing overalls are likely to be attacked because the attacker could quickly snip the straps of the overalls. Has she ever tried cutting 2 or more layers of denim? Not quick and easy. Besides, in what world do overalls fall right off if the straps are cut? Most women have hips, and hips tend to keep pants from falling off. Remember about 14 years ago when the fashion was to undo the straps of your overalls, pull down the bib, and loop the straps under your crotch? And were overalls falling off left and right then? No! That one false factoid destroyed the credibility of the whole book for me.

But overalls aside, a lot of this book reeks of paranoia without thought. For example, she says that when you are travelling, you should only carry a purse that can be worn diagonally across your body. Question: why is your normal purse and method of carrying your purse suddenly DANGEROUS when travelling? If my purse serves me well in the major city I currently live in, why would it not be suitable in any other major city? She also advises travellers to dress inconspicuously and avoid "flashy" clothing and jewellery. I'd imagine dressing in a "flashy" manner would attract unwanted attention at home too, so why would someone need to be told this? Or are there people who actually think "I would never wear this ridiculously short skirt at home because it attracts too much negative attention, but I'll be perfectly fine wearing it to walk alone through the streets of New York City." And if people do dress in an attention-getting manner at home, they'd doubtless be used to the kind of attention they're going to get, no?

She tells you to look out for suspicious or unusual happenings and individuals when leaving your building. So I walk out to my front doors, looking left I see Crazy Homeless Guy with that device around his head to keep it from falling off, looking right I see Creepy Old Man who always walks around in shorts and is very free with his gaseous emissions. You know what? This is normal. But I'd be more worried about being raped by some former frat boy in khakis.

Overall, this book is not for me. The fact that she talks about being on the subway as a New And Different Experience, and the fact that she has to explicitly tell the reader to fight back against a rapist makes me think that her target reader is more sheltered and cowed. If you aren't nervous walking home from the bus stop at 10 pm, don't bother with this book.