Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

Stars: 4.5/5
Author: Barbara Kingsolver with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver
Subjects: vegetables, farmers, local food, gardening, cooking, farmers' markets, the industrialized food market
ISBN: 0060852569 or 978-0060852566
Copyright Year: 2008
Other Comments: I would have given this book five stars if it weren't for a few comments about Christians that struck me as offensive.  Other than that, it is a plethora of information about food.  I learned a great deal about the industrialized food industry and also about the sufficient advantages of buying from local farmers and growing your own food.  This book reminds me of some of the claims Kevin Trudeau mentioned in his book Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About.  This book inspired me to visit my local farmers market and I was pleasantly surprised by my findings.  I would recommend this book to anyone.  It does include personal liberal views including themes of evolution.  However, these personal views didn't really take away from the information in the book.  And there was a lot of information!  Barbra also adds personal humor , which enhances the memoirs of her family's one year adventure to grow or buy local food.  Her husband and daughter also contribute their personal essays, which greatly contribute to the work.  I also loved the argument about eating meat, with which I generally agree.  In conclusion this work was well put together, informative, and a entertaining read.

The Kitchen Daughter

Stars:4/5

Author: Jael McHenry

Subjects: Family, Loss, Death, Asperger's Syndrome, Cooking, Coping, Ghosts

ISBN: 978-1-4391-9169-9

Copyright Year: 2011

Other Comments:

This is a heartfelt story about a young college graduate with an undiagnosed case of Asperger's Syndrome and her attempt to cope in a world filled with grief. The story begins at her parents funeral, the people that sheltered her from all of the problems in her life as well as the world. She did not have a problem or anything wrong with her, she had a "personality" and her own definition of what is normal. The story is about how she copes with the loss and learns how to assimilate into society and her own. Her coping mechanism is cooking. She is an amazing cook, and soon learns her cooking has the power to "call forth the ghost of any dead person whose dish she prepares" (McHenry). This is the way she learns of her past and then learns how to move past this and on with her life. I thought this book was easy to read and touched on some delicate topics very well.