I love books. And by “book,” I don’t mean iBook, or kindle, or anything having to with a screen. I mean real, live books, with smooth pages, crinkly spines, and that ethereal smell. Something to curl up with.
I love reading a good book. Almost nothing sweeter. But even beyond reading, I just love books. This is something My Man and I have always bonded on. You can never have too many books. A sprawling bookshelf makes a perfectly sumptuous wall covering.
We aspire to having a library when we’re old. His side will cover environmental and social politics, anarchist theory, civil disobedience, Jack Kerouac and zen buddhism. Mine will cover every possible aspect of homesteading and homemaking, food politics, wilderness theory, and of course every book ever written by John Steinbeck. Our library will have two giant comfy chairs, facing each other, so we can keep each other’s toes warm as we read away our elderly days (in between cross country road trips in our homemade gypsy caravan).
In the meantime, I try to slip book reading into my already bursting life whenever I can. As you may remember, I gave up an illustrious morning blogger career earlier this summer, and made the pact with myself to instead give whatever morning time I might be afforded to books. It’s been great. Although the Babe’s budding routine of letting me get up 40-60 minutes before him has not been sustained (weep) I usually manage to get in 15 or 20 minutes of reading before he gets too fussy.
Enough that I burn through books faster than I can afford to buy them. So, recently I turned to an old friend– Inter-Library Loans. ILLs for short. If you’ve never heard of this, it’s one of the few brilliant things America does with it’s tax dollars. You can get more or less any book ever published delivered to your local library, for free.
I just got my first batch of four books (they arrive so much faster here than in Alaska!)
Goat Song by Brad Kessler is a lovely morning read. I can’t decide if it makes me want to have goats more or less. He is certainly poetic about being a goatherd, but also makes no bones about the work and heartbreak involved.
Cradle of Flavor by James Oseland looks like I might have to buy it. I love this kind of food, but it’s not something that I have any instinct for. I need recipes. And his recipes look to be better explained than most (there’s nothing I hate worse than a too spare recipe. It’s all about technique, baby).
I also got To Buy or Not to Buy Organic: What You Need to Know to Choose the Healthiest, Safest, Most Earth-Friendly Food by Cindy Burke and Cooking Under Pressure by Lorna Sass. Nothing to report on these two yet.
What are you all reading and enjoying lately? Any recommendations for my ILL list?
calamity jane 
Leave a Reply to brandi Cancel reply