In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

This is another book recommended by Crunchy Chicken. I've said it before, I'll say it again...she's my Oprah. I pretty much read everything she suggests and all the books change my life forever.

Ok, maybe that's hyperbole. Just a little. Very little.

Anyway, you've probably heard of Michale Pollan from The Omnivore's Dilemma. I haven't read this book, but I know the vegans are mad because he discusses his attempts to get back to nature by killing a pig and I think that's gross so I'll only read it if I ever get to the top of the library waiting list.

In Defense of Food is a great, short book about something that should be so obvious. We should be eating things that are food. Things that are food include plants and (according to him) humanely and naturally raised animals and their secretions and menstrual products (eggs), but mostly just the plants. Food does not include things that are designed to last forever on a shelf, things that are so resistant to decay that not even bacteria or mold will have anything to do with them, things that Michael Pollan calls food products.

Pollan talks in depth about the "science" and industry of nutritionism, where people attempt to reduce the benefits of food to certain nutrients - omega 3s, carbs, antioxidants - and then try to inject or suck out those isolated nutrients in processed foods in an attempt to make them seem superhealthy. His counterintuitive advice is to avoid any food that makes a health claim. The reason is that real food doesn't come in a package and, therefore, won't have a health claim on it. The benefit of plant foods can't be described by naming off the individual chemicals involved. Everything in a plant works together, from soil to consumption. It's too complicated to reduce to one chemical acting alone. Eat plants.

Pollan is way big on organics and farmers' markets. My farmer's market is only in the summer, but since reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle I've been motivated to get a CSA subscription and have started getting a box of organic vegetables delivered to my door once a week. It's fantastic and now I'm starting to believe that those organic carrots really do taste better than the bag of carrots I buy at the store. These books together have even convinced me to start growoing my own food. In my own backyard. Heaven help me.

Discussion Prompts:

Join the discussion or steal the questions from Crunchy Chicken here.

1. Will this book change how you think about and purchase food?

2. How do you think all these non-food nutritionist experiments have become so popular?

3. What is your famers' market like? Do you go? What keeps you from going, if you don't?

4. How have your attitudes about food changed over time?

5. How would your life have to change to accomodate eating the way Michael Pollan suggests?

6. Are there foods in your fridge or cupboards that your grandparents wouldn't recognize? Do you think they're ok to eat anyway or do you agree that anything unrecognizable to the old folks should be avoided at all costs?

7. Do you have a garden?

Further Resources:

Video of Michael Pollan chatting about his book.

USA Today article about the book. Pretty good overview.

One Thousand White Women: the Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus

I'm putting this in the historical fiction category because it's inspired by a historical event when some Indians suggested that they be given white brides in exchange for horses in an attempt to assimilate the two societies. The offer was rejected, but this is a story about what might have happened if the offer had been accepted.

May Dodd is a young women who chooses to offer herself for the Indian bride program in exchange for being released from a mental institution. Her family has had her incarcerated there because she was shacking up with her lower class lover and father of her two very young children. The entire novel is written journal style, with the exception of a few letters she writes back to her family but never sends.

Although I expect to have to suspend disbelief when reading fiction, this book stretches my boundaries often. The women who accompany May are charicatures. There's the noble African princess/escaped slave, the huge and crazy Swiss woman, the alcoholic Southerner, the roguish Irish twins...you get the picture. May even attempts to recreate their accents in her journal. And then there are the the events she writes about in detail, like her sexual encounters with her noble chief husband. She's supposed to be writing this journal in hopes that her baby kids will one day read it and she will be vindicated.

So this book is ok. It's definitely ok.

Discussion Prompts:
1. May's first letter to her sister compares her imagined future to the imagined life of her upper-class sister. Do you find yourself sympathising with May? Do you think her actions are commendable or foolish? Do you ever get the impression that she was in the mental institution for good reason? (Even if the mental institution is severely lacking in real medical help)

2. Why is May attracted the the Captain? Why does she pursue it? How does the Captain's fiance attempt to discredit her and why does it backfire?

3. May discovers a secret about Jimmy. Does this suggest that there were more options for women? Why is this option not realistic or attractive to May?

4. The Cheyenne plan is to create offspring that are half-Cheyenne and half-white. Why do they believe this is a good plan? Where else in the novel do you see mixed race people and how does it fare for them?

5. Helen defends her art medicine by saying that "faith in the power of God, in the power of Art, in the power of medicine men and medicine animals--it's all one, finally." What is May's response? Who do you agree with? Where else is faith discussed? Is faith itself what makes things happen or is it a higher power?

6. Gertie asks May what more she could want than her Indian life and May responds, "safety...security...love, perhaps." Gertie argues that the first two can't really be all that important or May wouldn't be here and the third is something she already has. Why does May think she doesn't have love? Why does Gertie believe that she does? And also, do you agree with Gertie that happiness comes from not having enough time to worry about whether or not you're happy?

7. Are the captain's trick with the battery and his action on behalf of May chivalrous? How does this incident change your view of the Captain? How can May forgive him for doing that to the rest of the men?

8. May's "medicine" is writing. How does this help her? Do you believe that people have their own type of medicine? What's yours?

9. What does May's child offer for the future? What does she symbolize to the Cheyenne?


Further Resources:
History of Cheyenne Indians
Another Reading Group Guide

Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross

I think I'm finally back in the fiction saddle with this one. Subtle, it was not. Entertaining, it certainly was! The cliffhangers and constant action made this a book I had to stay up until one in the morning to finish.

Pope Joan follows the life of Joan of Ingelheim, one of the few people in fictionalized late 9th Century Europe to have incredibly modern sensibilities. Of course Joan is spunky, intelligent and, like any spunky intelligent heroine, bad at womanly chores such as needlepoint. Her father is the sterotypical brutish religious man. Her mother is a beautiful pagan norsewoman who instills in Joan the ability to doubt the brutal Christian god in whose name her people were slaughtered. Joan's road to Pope-dom is the subject of most of this book. She doesn't become Pope until most of the book is over.

Joan shows herself throughout the book to have more virtue and charity than any of the religious people around her. It was a brutal time, so the gore in the book is everywhere. There's a love interest that carries the book along and it would be interesting to see what a book club would have to say about that.

Donna Woolfolk Cross also includes a section in the back about the myth of the medieval female Pope. Apparrently there's some evidence supporting the idea - like, more than there is for King Arthur. I'm intrigued.

There's also a helpful reading group guide at the end of the book as well as an author Q and A.

Discussion Prompts:
1. Joan's mother tells her the norse story of the Well of Wisdom early on in the book where the god Woden has to choose between wisdom and sight. How does this set the theme of the book? What does Joan sacrifice for wisdom?

2. Joan is repeatedly told that there are some questions that should not be asked. What are her consequences for asking those questions? Are there questions like that now?

3. Joan's parentage is half pagan and half strict Christian. How does this prepare her to be the kind of Pope that she is?

4. The fortune teller at the fair seems to have access to the only supernatural force in the story whereas most of the novel seems to appreciate scientific explanations and a more humanist approach. Does the fortune teller experience leave a door open for religiousity? Is it only pagan religiousity that is allowed in the story or is there any room for Christianity as well?

5. When Gerome leaves town he presides over a court where a girl is asked to choose spindle or sword. What is this trial and how does it affect Gerome? Is he forced to make a similar decision? Is Joan?

6. When Joan helps Gottschalk leave the monastery she reflects that he is a person who will always be yearning after that which he cannot have and always choosing the difficult path. How is he like Joan and how is he different?

7. How does the romance with Gerold figure into the story? Do you think she would ever have left Rome to be with him as a woman?

8. Is Joan able to be a people-oriented pope because of her gender? Do female leaders possess different sensibilities than male ones?

Further Resources:
Wikipedia entry on Pope Joan
Pope Joan official Web site
Catholic Encyclopedia entry on Pope Joan

Affluenza by John De Graaf, David Wann and Thomas H. Naylor

It seems that reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has sucked me of all desire to read books and the only thing strong enough to get me to read is Crunchy Chicken's book club. So sad. But it's a new year and I'm ready to hit the books again with picks of my own after this one.

Affluenza The All-Consuming Epidemic is a book that could change your life. There's so much in here that a book club could discuss. I think this one would be a great community builder. How do you make purchasing decisions? Do you buy for fun? How can companies make a profit while still marketing effectively? What's the government's responsibility in regulating all this out-of-control consumption? I'll like to Crunchy Chicken's book club discussion for more ideas, but I don't think you'll have a hard time coming up with any questions on your own.

Affluenza confronts our national obsession with aquiring cheap stuff at any cost. We work and highly automated and unfulfilling jobs for more and more hours every year to buy things that don't really make us happy. We're further and further away from nature. All this production and consumption is destroying the planet. And we measure the success of our country by how much money is being spent, not by how high the quality of life is for the citizens.

The authors discuss the history of this culture of accumulation and the toll it's taking on us now and then they present ideas for curing the problem, both on a personal level and as a country. They heavily favor social plans in Europe and Canada that encourage shorter work years and governmental redistribution of wealth (i.e. taxes). I'm sure everyone has an opinion about that.

I read this book over several days and found myself constantly talking about it to people I was around. It's a great book for this time of year when I find myself wanting to resolve to focus on things that are most important and discarding those that are harmful.

Discussion Prompts:
Follow along with Crunchy Chicken!

Further Resources:
See the back of the book for tons of suggestions for further reading
PBS documentary that started it all
Affluenza PBS site

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

I thought Barbara Kingsolver's hit novel the Poisonwood Bible was boring and I have absolutely no desire to raise chickens or grow a huge garden, but I loved Animal, Vegetable, Miracle It's a mixture of memoir and journalism that covers the author and her family's year of eating as locally as possible. They raise chickens and turkeys and grow as much of their own produce as they can. What they don't raise themselves they buy from neighbors or establishments that use local food and labor with a few exceptions. This isn't a "see how crazy we can be for a whole year" effort, but a realistic (for them) approach to food. They aren't trying to deprive themselves. They still buy organic free-trade coffee and spices from out of their area, but they stick to local foods almost exclusively.

There isn't any personal drama going on here. There really isn't a story in this book in terms of conflict and resolution. They basically plant, weed, harvest, slaughter, cook, eat and preserve. They make it seem possible and comfortable and even delicious. The most interesting stuff in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is probably the journalism. I didn't know what a heritage vegetable was before this or how corporations are manipulating plant genes so that they can't reproduce and you have to keep buying seeds year after year. I never thought too much about the environmental impact of buying produce out of season or relying heavily on produce sprayed with pesticides.

After reading this book I'm determined to get involved in community supported agriculture next summer. I even took on a few apple preserving projects (applesauce and apple butter) to take advantage of the in-season fruit. Maybe I'll get into canning other stuff next spring and summer.

The only thing structure-wise that bugged me about this book is that there are little bits and pieces by Kingsolver's husband interjected right in the middle of the chapters, like sidebars. I find this jarring when I'm in the middle of a chapter and have to either interrupt a thought to read the sidebar or hold my place to come back to it at the end of the chapter.

The only thing content-wise that bothered me was the overbearing defense of meat-eating. Ok, they eat meat and kill it themselves. Ok. But Kingsolver and her family take a lot of time trying to justify it. Kinsolver herself does a lot of poo-pooing of the sentience of animals - referring to their thoughtless chicken brains and making them sound like mechanical robots - while upping the drama of vegetable life. Sometimes it seems like she's going for hyperbole, but there are a lot of other times when it seems like she really does confuse vegetable life for animal life and even maybe have more reverence for it.

I still liked this book. I found myself talking about it to friends a lot. I still don't want to go all rural, but this will affect my food choices in the future.

Discussion Prompts:
Crunchy Chicken is hosting a great discussion of this book with chapter-by-chapter questions and several people commenting.

Further Resources:
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle has it's own Web page with recipes, resources and links to help you find local options in your area.
NY Times book review

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

I liked this book a lot. It has a horrible first sentence (think, wannabe chick lit in the most obvious horriffic way), but the rest of it is good. There's a lot to think about here and a lot to discuss. It could be a great pick for a close-knit book group or one that wants to become more close-knit or one that's interested in spirituality at all.

Elizabeth's story begins at the end of two ugly breakups. Her deep depression leads to a kind of nondenominational spiritual epiphany for her. Her epiphany doesn't end all of her problems or "fix" her personal issues. But it does get her thinking about spirituality and seeking it out. After her divorce is finalized she resolves to spend the next year seeking to heal herself. She spends four months in Italy seeking pleasure (mostly food pleasure), four months in India seeking devotion and four months in Indonesia attempting to balance the two. Whether she really reaches a balance or not is up for grabs, but her journey is very interesting to read.

What I like about this book is her honesty about the process. I've heard some complaints from other readers who felt like her spirituality didn't mesh up nicely with theirs or that this is a superficial story about a priviledged white girl interested in a selfish type of buddhism, but I think it's valuable. I think spirituality has to be about yourself before its about helping others. Which reminds me - the climactic ending where Elizabeth attempts to offer charity is really something else. I'd be interested in hearing what other people think that this exchange means in terms of her search for spirituality and her attempts to act as a kind person.

Discussion Prompts:
1. Which three countries would you pick if you were able to take a year off to travel for personal enrichment?
2. Elizabeth undertakes her journey after jettisoning her romantic relationships. Is it possible to have this kind of transformative spiritual journey without leaving everything for a year?
3. Giulio tells Elizabeth that each person and each town have a word that describes them. What word describes your town? Which word describes the town you grew up in? Which word describes you?
4. Why does Elizabeth pick pleasure as her first pursuit? What kind of pleasure does she indulge in white in Italy?
5. Do you meditate? Have you meditated? How does your experience compare to Elizabeth's?
6. What do you make of the incident where Elizabeth jumps out of her bedroom in the Ashram because she's locked in her room by her roommate who dreamt that she jumped out of a window?
7. How does Elizabeth define faith? Is this how you define it? Is faith necessary?
8. How does Richard from Texas fit and not fit your idea of the sort of person who would be visiting an Indian Ashram?
9. Elizabeth says that her friends back home are looking for something to believe in. Do you think people seek out faith in something as they grow older?
10. Does Indonesia give Elizabeth the balance she's looking for? I mean, she's still meditating a couple of hours a day (among other things she does for several hours a day after she meets Felipe) and doesn't technically work. Is this balanced?
11. What prompts Elizabeth to raise money for her friend? Does she do the right thing?
12. Wayan uses her religion as an excuse for why she has to put off buying a house - attempting to manipulate Elizabeth. How does this affect this story about religion?

Further Resources:
Official Elizabeth Gilbert Web site

Youtube video of Elizabeth Gilbert discussing her book

NY Times review

Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert

It's been over a month since I posted a discussion guide because I simply couldn't bring myself to read a book. I just didn't want to and I didn't feel like it. I blame Harry Potter. I think the book drought may be over though with Daniel Gilbert's book, Stumbling on Happiness.

Stumbling on Happiness is about why normal, intelligent people fail so miserably at knowing what makes them truly happy. Our imaginations fail to capture a real picture of future moods and our memories truncate our past experiences so we can only remember the highs and lows and not the mundane feelings of our lives. As a result, we attempt to plan for future happiness based on faulty past information or we fear future events that might make us happy (or at least not as sad as we anticipate)based on faulty imaginary information.

At first I felt like Gilbert was trying to be funny too often, but his goofy jokes grew on me after a while. Reading this book made me feel more forgiving of my past self - I don't remember her as well as I thought and her misguided attempts at setting me up for my present happiness were well-intentioned. To be clear, I am generally happy now, but for much different reasons than I anticipated. I was also able to use the info in this book recently to ease my fears about some upcoming medical procedures. Maybe they won't be that bad after all and I'll recognize that the rest I get from them benefits me in ways I don't see now.

Discussion Prompts:

1. How did you expect to be living your life right now 10 years ago? 20? More? Did you plan well for your present happiness?

2. How do you view your past self 10, 20 or more years ago? Were you truly happy then? Do you think your memory is reliable?

3. What things are you doing now to set yourself up for future happiness? Have your plans altered at all after reading this book?

4. Gilbert says that people tend to regret inactions more than actions. What does he mean by that? Is this true for you?

5. I was interested in the section on our psychological defense mechanisms. It seems that we're able to rationalize the truly horrible before the merely annoying. Do you do this?

6. Now that you know that after a certain point more wealth won't significantly bring more happiness, are you willing to stop working for more wealth? Are you the sort of person who would retire after winning the 10 million dollars in the lottery or would you keep on working? How about a 2 million lottery?

7. Lets talk about that graph that shows how happy people raising kids report themselves to be during the actual time they're raising the kids. Where on the chart are you in terms of your family situation. Would you rate yourself similarly to the way the participants did. Are you freaking scared now for your kids to be 12-16?

8. Gilbert recommends asking others who are living through your intended life path to tell you about their happiness leve before embarking on it yourself. Do you think that this is a good way to predict happiness? Why or why not?

Further Resources:

Stumbling on Happiness the blog

NY Times review