I haven't blogged for awhile. Well, a week, that is awhile for me. There hasn't been much to blog about. Danny and I had a very chill Memorial weekend. We didn't travel anywhere and we didn't have any BBQs. It actually was really nice. We helped out some family members with their new home (well Danny did) and I hung out with my mom a lot. She's top notch company, that mom of mine. Danny and I also whittled down a bit of our Netflix queue list and that's about it.
I have been reading quite a bit recently, since a lot of people have given me recommendations. Now that I've made it through my pile of recommendations, I have a new pile of more recommendations, but that's ok. I've been reading a lot of memoirs recently, which has been interesting. I like to hear other people's stories (that is, if they are told in an interesting manner). This also makes me ponder if I wrote a memoir, what would I include, but that is a different post for a different day.
Bookish Review #1
The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love
By Kristin Kimball
This scenario occurs at some point during one of my and Danny's frequent trips down to Southern Utah. Somewhere along the freeway, still hours from home, while driving pass green fields full of soon-to-be food with cascades of sparkling water spraying across the spacious rows of crops from rotating sprinkler heads and a ray of sun shine peaking through the clouds upon this ideal scene, I will dreamily say, "Danny, don't you think it would be so amazing to move away from the city, buy a farm and live off the land?" Which Danny will promptly respond, "No." After reading The Dirty Life, I think I'm more prone to agree with Danny now.
The Dirty Life is about Kristin Kimball (the author) and her transition from being a freelance writer living in a small apartment in Manhattan to being a farmer's wife living in upstate New York. The book follows her life experience of meeting her husband, Mark, while working on an article, falling in love and soon finding herself trying to build/run a farm together with her new love.
I really enjoyed Kimball's writing and her honesty. Her book was a wake up call to how hard and yet rewarding farm life can be. After finishing the book, I called my good friend who did marry a farmer and lives on a farm now and thanked her and her husband for all that they do. She just kind of laughed, but agreed it is a lot more work than people think.
I grew attached to the animals as Kimball wrote about them and their different personalities, but I also appreciated how she handled discussing both the birth and the slaughtering of the animals. Her descriptions of the food she and her husband made were drool worthy. I didn't think anyone could describe deer liver in such a way that I was actually craving some by the time I finished reading about her meal. She also helped me respect organic food more as she explained the differences between the different types of farming.
Some of the down sides, the middle of the book lulled a bit, for me at least. Also, there were many side characters of people she met in town. They were all very kind, but they all seemed so fleeting, because you would hear about them once and not again for another 100 pages or so. Some stuff was a bit technical for my interest as well. Overall, I liked the book. It was an enjoyable read.
Jan's Rating:
Bookish Review #2
Eat, Pray, Love
By Elizabeth Gilbert
I hesitate even mentioning this book, because in the past I've received such strong responses concerning this book both for and against. Some people tell me they love this book, others tell me it was a waste of time. One of the reasons I read this book was to see what is in this book to illicit such strong responses.
For those who aren't aware of this book, it is about Liz Gilbert who goes through a difficult divorce and suffers major depression afterwards. She decides to go on a year long trip visiting and living in Italy, India and Bali as a spiritual journey and to help her heal from all that she has been through. She is lucky enough that her publisher agrees to this trip and is willing to give her an advance of money if she writes a book about it and this is the book.
I decided to try and go into this book with an open mind, realizing this woman has been raised very differently from me and has a different belief system. She begins the book with the very first prayer she utters in her life at age 30, because she is struggling with her marriage. I love her description of her first time feeling what I would call the Spirit or the Holy Ghost. That peace that comes and calms you to the core. It is at this moment she realizes there really is something to praying and that God is real.
I tried to not judge her for her divorce. She doesn't go into great detail of why she wants a divorce, out of respect to her ex-husband, I'm sure. Having loved ones who have gone through or are facing divorce right now, I wouldn't wish it upon anyone. It seems just as difficult and heartbreaking as Gilbert describes. I agree with my friends that she made some really unwise decisions after her divorce, but I also tried to keep in mind that many if not all of us, being the weak humans that we are, do really unwise things when we are feeling pain, particularly emotional pain.
I really did like how she describes her spiritual search during this difficult time. She writes her prayers down in a notebook and shares some of them in the book. She also shares how her prayers are answered. It kind of reminded me how it felt to be a missionary and to witness people's faith grow. It is always a privilege to see someone move closer to their Heavenly Father.
As for her world trip, which I have to admit it made me jealous, I liked the Italy section the best. Perhaps it is because I like Italian food and she describes her meals so deliciously well. Or that I've always wanted to visit Italy. I also liked the friends she made in Italy and how they helped her in different ways.
The India section was interesting at first. She attends an Ashram to focus on deepening her spirituality. I was interested in learning more about the beliefs and meditation that she describes; however, I got bored after awhile.
As for Bali, once again I was interested to learn more about the culture there. I learned a lot more about each of the countries she visited, which I appreciated. However, Bali became a let down for me. This is the "love" section of the book, so I don't feel like I'm giving a lot away by saying she finds love. This section had way too much TMI of her love life for my personal taste. Plus, after all this spiritual fulfillment she had found, it seemed like once she wasn't depressed anymore, she lost sight of what she learned and that felt disappointing to me.
There were some good aspects to this book and Gilbert is a very witty writer. However, there were some parts I could have done without, which would make me hesitant to recommend the book. That's kind of a shame, since there are some really sweet experiences she shares as well.
Jan's Rating:
I have been reading quite a bit recently, since a lot of people have given me recommendations. Now that I've made it through my pile of recommendations, I have a new pile of more recommendations, but that's ok. I've been reading a lot of memoirs recently, which has been interesting. I like to hear other people's stories (that is, if they are told in an interesting manner). This also makes me ponder if I wrote a memoir, what would I include, but that is a different post for a different day.
Bookish Review #1
The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love
By Kristin Kimball
The Dirty Life is about Kristin Kimball (the author) and her transition from being a freelance writer living in a small apartment in Manhattan to being a farmer's wife living in upstate New York. The book follows her life experience of meeting her husband, Mark, while working on an article, falling in love and soon finding herself trying to build/run a farm together with her new love.
I really enjoyed Kimball's writing and her honesty. Her book was a wake up call to how hard and yet rewarding farm life can be. After finishing the book, I called my good friend who did marry a farmer and lives on a farm now and thanked her and her husband for all that they do. She just kind of laughed, but agreed it is a lot more work than people think.
I grew attached to the animals as Kimball wrote about them and their different personalities, but I also appreciated how she handled discussing both the birth and the slaughtering of the animals. Her descriptions of the food she and her husband made were drool worthy. I didn't think anyone could describe deer liver in such a way that I was actually craving some by the time I finished reading about her meal. She also helped me respect organic food more as she explained the differences between the different types of farming.
Some of the down sides, the middle of the book lulled a bit, for me at least. Also, there were many side characters of people she met in town. They were all very kind, but they all seemed so fleeting, because you would hear about them once and not again for another 100 pages or so. Some stuff was a bit technical for my interest as well. Overall, I liked the book. It was an enjoyable read.
Jan's Rating:
Bookish Review #2
Eat, Pray, Love
By Elizabeth Gilbert
For those who aren't aware of this book, it is about Liz Gilbert who goes through a difficult divorce and suffers major depression afterwards. She decides to go on a year long trip visiting and living in Italy, India and Bali as a spiritual journey and to help her heal from all that she has been through. She is lucky enough that her publisher agrees to this trip and is willing to give her an advance of money if she writes a book about it and this is the book.
I decided to try and go into this book with an open mind, realizing this woman has been raised very differently from me and has a different belief system. She begins the book with the very first prayer she utters in her life at age 30, because she is struggling with her marriage. I love her description of her first time feeling what I would call the Spirit or the Holy Ghost. That peace that comes and calms you to the core. It is at this moment she realizes there really is something to praying and that God is real.
I tried to not judge her for her divorce. She doesn't go into great detail of why she wants a divorce, out of respect to her ex-husband, I'm sure. Having loved ones who have gone through or are facing divorce right now, I wouldn't wish it upon anyone. It seems just as difficult and heartbreaking as Gilbert describes. I agree with my friends that she made some really unwise decisions after her divorce, but I also tried to keep in mind that many if not all of us, being the weak humans that we are, do really unwise things when we are feeling pain, particularly emotional pain.
I really did like how she describes her spiritual search during this difficult time. She writes her prayers down in a notebook and shares some of them in the book. She also shares how her prayers are answered. It kind of reminded me how it felt to be a missionary and to witness people's faith grow. It is always a privilege to see someone move closer to their Heavenly Father.
As for her world trip, which I have to admit it made me jealous, I liked the Italy section the best. Perhaps it is because I like Italian food and she describes her meals so deliciously well. Or that I've always wanted to visit Italy. I also liked the friends she made in Italy and how they helped her in different ways.
The India section was interesting at first. She attends an Ashram to focus on deepening her spirituality. I was interested in learning more about the beliefs and meditation that she describes; however, I got bored after awhile.
As for Bali, once again I was interested to learn more about the culture there. I learned a lot more about each of the countries she visited, which I appreciated. However, Bali became a let down for me. This is the "love" section of the book, so I don't feel like I'm giving a lot away by saying she finds love. This section had way too much TMI of her love life for my personal taste. Plus, after all this spiritual fulfillment she had found, it seemed like once she wasn't depressed anymore, she lost sight of what she learned and that felt disappointing to me.
There were some good aspects to this book and Gilbert is a very witty writer. However, there were some parts I could have done without, which would make me hesitant to recommend the book. That's kind of a shame, since there are some really sweet experiences she shares as well.
Jan's Rating:
The Dirty Life sounds like a book I would be interested in. I wanted to be a farmer's wife (I was always jealous that both of my mom's sisters married farmers and my dad was just a businessman), but after having spent the greater part of the day out in the yard and vegetable garden and seeing that my bean plants have some little bug eating the life out of them and noticing that the squirrels (or something else) bit into all three tomatoes that were just starting to get ripe, I can vouch for it being pretty discouraging work. At least we won't starve if the squash plants continue to wilt and die and I was able to make Garden Casserole today with what beans that were left.
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