Eating Animals - Jonathan Safran Foer

This book kept coming across my radar, so I figured that I had better give it a read. A word of warning for anyone considering picking it up - this book is a 300 page, very graphic argument for vegetarianism; so if you are militantly anti-vegetarian, or have a weak stomach you may want to give it a miss.

Basically, Foer investigates the modern factory farm and examines all of the reasons why they are bad - bad for the animals, bad for the environment, bad for our health. There are very graphic descriptions of these farms, the animals living (if it can be called "living") on them, and the high-volume slaughter processes.

This book has not convinced me to become a vegetarian, but it has reinforced my already-held beliefs about eating meat. 5 years ago or so, I stopped buying meat at the grocery store, choosing instead to purchase any meat directly from the farmer who raised the animals. I do not eat meat every day (or every week, even). For me, this decision was based not so much on the ethical treatment of animals, but more on the environmental impact of shipping food half way across the country and back again before it reached my table; as well as the taste factor (animals raised in more traditional methods taste better than factory-farmed animals).

Here in Thunder Bay, we do not have any factory farms (except for one egg farm), and our only slaughter house (which I have visited) works only on a small scale, processing one animal at a time. Therefore, by buying local meat only, I know that the animal has not been subjected to factory farming practices. Right now in my freezer, I have beef from Mile Hill Farms; pork from Sandy Acres Farm; and lamb from Little Doo's (who are too small to even have a website!). The downside of this is that I have had to eliminate chicken from my diet as we do not have a chicken abattoir and it is illegal to sell meat that has not been killed in a government-inspected abattoir. This may change in the future as there is a move afoot to build a poultry abattoir; so for now we just won't tell anyone about the "illegal" chicken that is in my freezer waiting to be cooked. Now if I could just find someone to sell me the live chicken (or if the city by-laws would change to allow urban chickens), I could do the deed myself; but for now I will just hope that some day soon I will be able to eat chicken again.

The author, Jonathan Safran Foer does admit that choosing only to eat ethical meat is another option to vegetarianism; but states that he himself has chosen vegetarianism to satisfy his conscience. His main arguments for this decision seem to be that it is the only way to be 100% sure; and that if other people see you eating meat, it can be seen as a justification that eating any meat is OK (i.e. vegetarians can set a good example for others).

There was lots in this book that I agree with (even if I am not a full-time vegetarian myself). I already knew about the environmental and ethical and health concerns of factory-farmed meat. I did find this book to definitely be written from a North American cultural bias (e.g. the opening chapter using pet dogs as a comparison standard - in most parts of the world, dogs are not considered "pets" - in fact in Swahili, the same verb is used to refer to keeping dogs as you would use for goats, cows, or chickens). And all of the facts and data are American (as in USA) in origin. I am now curious to learn more about Canadian regulation and enforcement, as I know that while factory farms do exist in Canada, our farming legislation is very different here than in our neighbours to the south.

So for now, I will carry on buying my local, ethically raised meat. When I go out to restaurants, unless I know that they are buying from our local farmers, I will usually choose the vegetarian option. My biggest dilemma comes when eating at the table of friends and family. Here, I usually prioritize fellowship over meat-eating issues; but I rarely miss a chance to bring ethical meat issues into the discussion.

Supper tonight? A lovely vegetarian chick-pea curry!

The Secret of Willow Castle - Lyn Cook

Carrying on the trend of re-reading books from my childhood, I decided to pick up this book out of my bookcase. My copy has been re-read enough times that the binding is falling apart. Given that, I was quite disappointed to discover, while searching for a cover image, that this book seems to be out of print. Lyn Cook was one of my favourite authors when I was in primary school. I think that I read library copies ofmost of her books, as this is the only one that I own; but I remember reading and enjoying Samantha's Secret Room, Pegeen and the Pilgrim, and The Bells on Finland Street. Now on to this book...

Book: The Secret of Willow Castle by Lyn Cook. It is the story of Henrietta Macpherson, age 11, of Napanee, Ontario in 1834. She is dealing with lots of problems as she is growing up - a secret friend who is a servant for her father's political adversary; the social expectation for her to act like a "lady"; a beloved cousin, John Alex who is rising in the world (and later became Sir John Alexander MacDonald, first Prime Minister of Canada); slavery as it is being abolished in the British Empire; and just day-to-day life for a well-off family in rural Upper Canada in 1834. An interesting note - Henrietta's father, Allen Macpherson, was a real person (I haven't been able to find out if Henrietta was real or not), and their house really exists in Napanee.

First Read: I don't remember. Probably around grade 3 or so, when I was devouring "chapter books" like crazy. I enjoyed it enough to re-read it countless times between then and now.

Original Impressions: This was the first Lyn Cook book I read, but it lead me to read many of her other books as I mentioned above. As with Shadow in Hawthorn Bay, I loved reading books set close to where I lived, and Napanee was less than a half hour drive away.

Current Impressions: It is still an enjoyable read as an adult. I enjoy the pen and ink drawings that accompany each chapter. Henrietta is believable as an 11/12 year old. And I love historical fiction written for any age group - it is a window into a different time.

And that is about all I have to say about this book; other than I wish that it were still in print.

This is my 5th Canadian re-read for the Canadian Book Challenge at The Book Mine Set.

A Red Herring Without Mustard - Alan Bradley

This is the third Flavia de Luce mystery (there is a fourth one that came out just before Christmas - I am Half-Sick of Shadows - but this is one series that I tend to wait for in paperback). I was mildly entertained by the first two books (The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag), so figured that the series was worth sticking with.

What I liked and disliked about this book is pretty much the same as the other books. I thought that Flavia was just a bit to precocious to be believable as an 11 year old; and yet I loved the relationship between the 3 sisters and thought that was quite believable (as one of 3 sisters myself!).

As in the last book, there are several mysteries some of which are loosely tied together in the end. A gypsy woman is attacked in her caravan. A local fish-poacher and sometimes antiques-dealer is found murdered at Buckshaw (Flavia's home). And there seems to be something suspicious going on around an antiques shop.

In this book, Flavia does more active detective-ing than in the last book - rather than just overhearing gossip, she is out actively searching for clues. However, the longer that this series carries on, the more one has to wonder just how many murders can take place in a small village like Bishop's Lacey, and specifically Buckshaw. This is the same question that is always lurking in the back of my mind with successful mystery novels or television series (think Miss Marple or Midsomer Murders)...

So a pleasant, easy-reading diversion this week; and I will continue to follow this series, and I suspect that I will continue to enjoy it.

Death Comes to Pemberley - P. D. James

I have wanted to read this book ever since I heard about it. I love P. D. James' books. I love Jane Austen's books. Therefore a P. D. James written sequel to Pride and Prejudice must be right up my alley!

As an aside, it seems as though Pride and Prejudice spin-offs have become an industry of their own. I was in a bookstore in Minneapolis with a friend back in December, and we lost count of the P&P sequels, fan fiction, and other various and assorted spin-offs. Other than an unfortunate encounter with P&P&Zombies, this is my first experience with this quickly expanding genre. I suspect that the popularity of the movie versions may have something to do with this trend (I myself am a fan of the 1995 BBC version, but not so much the more recent one with Kiera Knightly).

It was a pretty easy read, but I came away from it with mixed feelings. Parts of it really felt like they were written by Jane Austen herself, with her distinctive voice and sense of humour. But parts of it read very much like a P. D. James mystery. The overall effect was very much a patchwork of the two styles - I never knew what to expect at the start of each chapter (or even each paragraph at times).

The mystery itself, and the solution were a bit predictable. I had guessed most of the ending by part way through the book. But isn't that the fun of a mystery - trying to guess the end, and seeing if you are right?

It was fun visiting with all of the characters from Pride and Prejudice again, and meeting some new characters. I thought that P. D. James stayed very true to the original characters. And it was fun spotting characters from other Austen novels. Mr. and Mrs. Knightly make a cameo appearance, as does the friend of Mrs. Knightly (née Emma Woodhouse), Mrs. Martin (née Harriet Smith). And James has Mr. Wickham working for a time as the secretary to Sir Walter Elliot, meeting up with his daughters.

So an in-between review of this one. If you are a Jane Austen fan, you will either enjoy the time spent with old friends; or you will be horrified at the liberties taken with the original. If you are not familiar with the original story of Pride and Prejudice, but are a fan of P. D. James or gentle mysteries, you will probably enjoy this one. But if you don't know Pride and Prejudice and aren't a mystery fan, you probably won't turn to this book anyways!

Shadow in Hawthorn Bay - Janet Lunn

Here is my 4th Canadian re-read for the Canadian Book Challenge over at The Book Mine Set. Is it cheating that I've picked a YA novel this time around and finished it in under 24 hours?

Book: Shadow in Hawthorn Bay by Janet Lunn. It is interesting to note that my copy is so old that the publisher has been out of business for 20 years, and forget trying to find a website for them advertised anywhere on the book. It is labeled as a First Edition from 1986. My physical copy of this book is beautiful - thick paper, and beautiful artw

ork on the first page of each chapter.

First Read: Probably not too long after it was published - I suspect that it was a birthday present from my parents either that year of the next. I read it in the summer time when I was probably 10 years old or so, and just truly falling in love with books and reading. I went camping for the week with one of my friends from Girl Guides and her family. I was the kid that always got homesick even if I was away for just one night, so I made sure that I packed books that I thought would keep me distracted. That week saw me read and fall in love not only with this book, but with another one of my life-long favourites, Emily of New Moon (by L. M. Montgomery).

Original Impression: I fell in love with this book the first time I read it, and continued to re-read it regularly through the years. It fell out of frequent rotation when I started university, but I still come back to it on occasion. It was written as a follow-up to her better-known book The Root Cellar. I have read her other historical YA novels and love to see how the same families that she created keep popping up through history, but this book has always been my favourite of hers.

Current Impression: I still love this book. The characters seem so real to me. The story is beautiful - a hit of mystery and the paranormal, a quiet romance, and very real human emotions throughout.

It is historical fiction, which I loved reading when I was growing up, and still enjoy reading. The story is of Mairi, a 15-year old girl in the Scottish Highlands in 1815 with the Second Sight (interesting to note that Emily, the other heroine from that camping trip also has the Second Sight...), who hears her cousin and best friend calling her from Upper Canada, the other side of the ocean. Mairi leaves her family, and the land she loves, and the only life she knows to travel across that ocean, only to discover that her cousin has died and the rest of her family has left to travel back to Scotland. She is then faced with the dilemma of what to do and how to survive.

What struck me this time was how descriptive this book is. I hadn't noticed before the contrasting descriptions of the Scottish Highlands with Upper Canada as it was 200 years ago. I was born and lived the first 18 years of my life just north of where this book is set, in what is now known as Prince

Edward County (or "The County" for those of us from the area!). It is hard to imagine the open farm lands of today described as being "dark with forest." Mairi's journey west from Montreal towards Kingston is described as "giant pines rising a hundred feet and more into the air, their trunks over six feet across, their branches starting only thirty or forty feet from the ground and meeting high above the rough road." I guess those early settlers did their work well clearing the land, because no hints of that forest remain today.

The emotions remain real throughout this book, and even though I have read it countless times before, I stil

l caught myself tearing up at the end. This book will definitely stay in my re-reading rotation, any time I need an easy yet engaging read.

Reading the Bible Again for the First Time - Marcus Borg

This is the next book that I've read for the Lay Worship Leader course that I am taking.

The subtitle of this book indicates the audience that this book is written for - "Taking the Bible Seriously but not Literally". If you are a fundamentalist who reads the Bible literally, this book is not for you. (I should probably tread carefully here, since this is a major source of division amongst Christians, as I have experienced in my own life.)

The lens through which to read the Bible presented in this book is a metaphorical reading, which made perfect sense to me. After all, Jesus taught in parables, which are essentially metaphors. As the author states early in the book, "metaphors can be profoundly true, even through they are not literally true. Metaphor is poetry plus, not factuality minus. That is, metaphor is not less than fact, but more. Some things are best expressed in metaphorical language; others can be expressed only in metaphorical language."

I really appreciated the author's clarity of thought and language in this book. What disappointed me was that in trying to cover the whole Bible in 300 pages, some things were bound to get left behind (pun partially intended for anyone who gets it!). There is a whole chapter dedicated to the first 2 chapters of Genesis; and another chapter to Revelation. And yet the 4 gospels are crammed into one chapter; the prophets (another 21 books of the Bible) are given another chapter; and several books (e.g. Psalms, the non-Pauline epistles) are skipped over completely. I guess I have unrealistic expectations - if as much attention was given to the whole Bible as was given to the first 2 chapters of Genesis, the book would have been too long for all but the most dedicated readers! But still, I felt cheated.

But don't get me wrong - overall, I did like this book, and agreed with most of what was in it. There was particular attention paid to the themes of social justice that run through the Bible as a whole; and anyone who knows me (or is a regular reader of this blog) will know that social justice is something that I am passionate about. To quote the author in the epilogue of this book, "(t)he God of the Bible is full of compassion and passionate about justice."

I have always enjoyed reading the Prophets, and this book helped me realize why. It also made me long for prophets in our own time - people equally passionate for God and for social justice; and who are willing to break with convention to get their message across.

I figure that I'm on track with my required reading, with one book left to read before the next session at the end of March. I'm going to take another fiction break now, and get through some titles on my "for fun" TBR list. I've booked a week off work in February, and am planning a "stay-cation" with nothing but books, music, and the gym in my schedule!

Barbara Kingsolver - The Bean Trees and Pigs in Heaven

I first read The Bean Trees several years ago when I was living in Tanzania and would read any book that came my way if it was written in English. If it hadn't been for that, I probably wouldn't have picked it up, since I had previously read and strongly disliked Barbara Kingsolver's better-known book, The Poisonwood Bible. But I'm glad that I did pick up and read The Bean Trees because I absolutely loved it.

It features a cast of very likeable characters; it touches on some serious topics (child abuse, human rights violation and so-called "illegal" immigration, human trafficking) while maintaining a light tone and a sense of humour. I found myself especially drawn to Taylor, the main character, for her spunk, her innocence, and her determination to do what she feels is right. And Turtle, the child that she adopts - who wouldn't love her?

I knew that there was a sequel, but had never read it; however on a trip down to the US back in December, I managed to pick up copies of both The Bean Trees and the sequel, Pigs in Heaven.

Re-reading The Bean Trees, it was just as good as I remembered it; though there were parts of the plot that I had forgotten, or remembered differently than they were.

Pigs in Heaven starts 2 years after the end of The Bean Trees; and it picks up on the one tread at the end of The Bean Trees that had disturbed me (SPOILER ALERT if you haven't read The Bean Trees) - the irregular nature of Turtle's legal adoption.

The conflict at the centre of Pigs in Heaven have to do with the adoption of a Cherokee child by a white mother. Who is the better person to raise a child - her tribe or the outsider with whom she has formed an attachment? There is lots of emotion in this book (as there was in The Bean Trees), and both books are so gripping that I had trouble putting them down. Along the way to the resolution of the primary conflict, other issues are addressed - the injustice of the cycle of poverty, racism, the history of the Cherokee people (of which I knew very little of before reading this book), and feminism, just to name a few. But the humour is always there, even when Taylor hits rock bottom and begins to question herself.

Taylor and Turtle are still the same likeable and engaging characters; Taylor's mother Alice has a bigger role in this book; some of the characters from The Bean Trees make an appearance (Lou Ann and Mattie - though I would have loved to have found out what happened to Estevan and Esperanza, the Guatemalan refugees); and there are a whole new cast of characters to get to know. Both of these books seem to have achieved the perfect balance of plot and characters.

I'm not going to spoil the ending by revealing it here; but I just want to say that it was satisfying. I would love to have another book featuring Taylor and Turtle, to find out what happens next; but I am also happy to leave it at that, knowing that things are going to work out for everyone.

I'm so glad that I discovered these books, because if it had been dependent on my reading of The Poisonwood Bible, I would have never picked up another book by Barbara Kingsolver. As it is, I read and loved her non-fiction book describing her family's effort to eat locally for a year - Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. And since Pigs in Heaven lived up to my memories of The Bean Trees, I will probably look up more of her fiction now.