I'm always so sad when I get to the end of a book that I've been enjoying. I slow down my pace of reading the final few pages, not wanting the book to end. It's been a while since I read a book like that, but tonight I got to experience that again as I finished Farm City by Novella Carpenter. As I said in my Facebook update, who knew that a book about squatter backyard farming in the Oakland ghetto could be so interesting? (I almost called it engaging, bit I'm not sure if it's correct to describe a book as engaging?)Anyway, lately I seem to be reading books written by Bay Area people (last week I finished Manhood for Amateurs by Michael Chabon), or books having to to with food (like Cleaved by Julie Powell). I liked the Chabon book, but I did not really enjoy Cleaved. I think that as a happy newlywed, I just can't relate to the story of a woman who has an extramarital affair and stays with her husband, who knows about it and starts having affairs himself. The parts about her apprenticing at a butcher shop in upstate NY were OK - there are some interesting and likeable characters at the shop - but my eyes did glaze over as she went on and on and on and on about meat and butchery. Even the latter part of the book where she travels was not that interesting. I found myself feeling the same disdain for the author that I felt when I read Eat, Pray, Love. And she was so likeable in Julie and Julia! Somehow I don't think they're going to make a movie starring Amy Adams out of this.
So back to Farm City: it does make me look at the semi-accessible backyard of our building in a new way. But shoot, I've always had a black thumb...maybe I'll have to settle for encouraging Dave to start up his window herb garden again.
No comments:
Post a Comment