In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan

I wanted to read a book about nutrition this year, and this book was certainly the right choice for me. It wasn't too long or too difficult of a read, but more important, it basically gave a lot of scientific evidence for a lot of things I've believed about food my entire life.

I think proper nutrition is important, but I've always been skeptical of counting calories or carbs or even nutrients. I admire people who forsake average food in order to eat weird health recipes with wheat germ or acai, but I never wanted to do it because food is important to me for much more than just staying alive. I love food not just for the taste or nutritional value, but for the cultural side of things. I've always felt that you really lose a lot when you narrow your food choices so far that you can't even enjoy a regular meal with other people. 

And it's always bothered me how the supposed "authorities" on nutrition constantly change their minds about which foods are good for you. Take milk, for example. People never used to question the nutritional quality of milk. They said you should drink a certain amount of milk a day. But then milk was too fattening. And now milk is good again...or maybe it's not? I don't even know anymore. 

A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg

Pretty cover, eh?

I chose this book because, from the inside cover flap, it seemed that it would fit both my Books on France challenge and my Foodies Read challenge (not to mention my Nerdy Non-Fiction challenge). Well, it didn't quite have enough about France for me to include it in Books on France, but it does meet the other challenges.

This book is a collection of essays, accompanied by recipes, about stories from Molly Wizenberg's life, mainly about how she learned to deal with her father's death.

I mentioned before that this book had all the warm-fuzziness of a foodie read that Julie & Julia just didn't have. And it's true. After my disappointment with Julie Powell, Molly Wizenberg was just the thing.

This book, to use a food analogy, isn't the meaty main course. It's a collection of dainty appetizers, salads, and desserts. It reads a lot like a blog, as though Wizenberg just pulled posts straight from her blog and slapped them into a book (and for all I know, she did). If I were going to read this book the way it ought to be read, I would maybe keep it on my bedside table and read an entry or two in an evening when I'm having trouble sleeping. (But it's a library book, and I'm too book-obsessive to do that sort of thing.) Wizenberg's writing is light and sweet. She doesn't bog you down with long descriptions or affected prose; she just tells it like it is, simply and thoughtfully.

Julie & Julia by Julie Powell

Well. Finally, the book I'd been waiting so anxiously to read.

Julie & Julia, by Julie Powell, documents the outcome of Julie Powell's crazy idea to cook all the recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one calendar year. She laughs, she cries, she kills lobster, she scrapes marrow out of a bone, as well as many other wild cooking endeavors.

I'd been wanting to read this book ever since I saw the movie--when it came out, a year or two ago. (Or three? When did it come out?) I really liked the movie, and my mistake was expecting the book to be similar.

Well, the book was no warm-and-fuzzy foodie read, if you ask me. In fact, I believe it was aimed at the demographic of 20-30-year-old hipster women who enjoy reading about other people's sex lives. (Although I'm the right age, I don't think I fit the demographic.) I read in another review (don't ask me where, I can't remember) that Julie Powell was a little too self-obsessed. Understatement.

Powell seems to be operating on the assumption that her readers care about her secretarial job and her friends' lives. I guess that's a pretty normal assumption to make when you're writing a memoir, except I didn't enjoy it as much as other memoirs because frankly, I didn't really like Powell. She's just, well, not very nice. And again, that's an understatement.

Nerdy Non-Fiction Challenge 2013

I'm reeeeeeally excited about this challenge! I love non-fiction and I was glad to see a challenge dedicated to it! There have been lots of non-fiction books I've been wanting to read but they keep getting smothered by classics and school stuff. Now they shall have their own lofty place in my TBR pile!

The goal is to read lots of non-fiction in as many different categories as possible. Since I'm such a fan of non-fiction, I'm going to commit to the "Dork" level (7-10 books in at least 4-5 different categories) and try to go for the "Dweeb" level (11-14 books in at least 6-7 different categories). I'd like to reach the "Nerd" level (15+ books in 8+ different categories) but we'll just see how things go.

Here are a few of the books I've been wanting to read:

• Make the Bread, Buy the Butter by Jennifer Reese
• My Life in France by Julia Child
• Julie and Julia by Julie Powell
• How to Build a Dinosaur by Jack Horner

However, my true non-fiction way is to wander the stacks at the library and pick up whatever looks interesting. I'll probably pick up several biographies, maybe some history, and I've been really wanting to read a book about nutrition. I always like self-help and books and relationships. I'll definitely be reading more cookbooks. Travel books are always a must; probably some of them will include books about France for my Books on France challenge. And I can't possibly go a year without reading a few memoirs.

Anyway, this is one of the challenges I'm most excited about!

Books Read (by category):

* Health, Medicine, Fitness, Wellness
--In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan
--The Truth About Food by Jill Fullerton-Smith
* History- US, World, European, etc
--Versailles: Biography of a Palace by Tony Spawforth
--Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard
* Religion, Spirituality, Philosophy
--Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers by Anne Lamott
* Technology, Engineering, Computers, etc
* Business, Finance, Management
* Sports, Adventure
* Food- Cookbooks, Cooks, Vegan Vegetarianism, etc
--A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg
--Make the Bread, Buy the Butter by Jennifer Reese
* Autobiography, Biography, Memoir: 
--Julie & Julia by Julie Powell
--Night by Elie Wiesel
--My Life in France by Julia Child
--Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
--In Short by Judith Kitchen and Mary Paumier Jones (editors)
--My Lost City: Personal Essays by F. Scott Fitzgerald
* Art, Photography, Architecture
* Music, Film, TV
* Self Improvement, Self Help, How To
--The Jackrabbit Factor by Leslie Householder
* Home, Garden
* Science-Nature, Weather, Biology, Geology
* Anthropology, Archaeology
* Animals-Insects, Mammals, Dinosaurs, etc
* Family, Relationships, Parenting, Dating, Love
* Crime, Law
* Poetry, Theatre
* Politics, Government, Current Affairs
* Literary Criticism/Theory
* Cultural Studies
* Travel
* Crafts