what I've been reading lately

Hi all- I can't remember when I last posted on here, so I thought I'd share a recent phenomenon that has been happening in my life: I've been READING! Whole books! And it has taken weeks, sometimes even less than a week, to complete a book, not months. I don't think I've read so many books, with such a diverse nature, at any time in my adult life, especially since having kids.

I can't really explain why the sudden revival in reading; I think it goes along with the general feeling of awakening I've had in my life lately. I certainly don't have any more free time than before, but maybe I'm taking advantage of moments I may have wasted before- I do a lot of reading during breaks at work, for example. Sure beats conversation sometimes.

So here's a little rundown of what I've read since...I don't remember, some time last spring:

Deep Economy by Bill McKibben. A somewhat hopeful look at the economic changes we will be facing in the near future, and why such changes are a good thing.

The Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler. The other side of the coin- the dire situations we could be facing due to peak oil, climate change, and our own short-sightedness as a nation. I personally think Kunstler is a bit of an extremist in his predictions. At least I hope he is.

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. This is one of those books I thought I was wasting my time with, even though Pollan is a good writer, because it didn't convince me of anything I didn't already know. Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. I've been trying to avoid as much processed food as I can. (going out to put frozen pizzas in oven...sigh...)

Big Sur by Jack Kerouac. Not long after the fires in the Big Sur area subsided this summer, I picked this one up. It brought back memories of places I've been on the California coast, and it almost made me give up alcohol. Almost. Moderation is good.

Boonville by Robert Mailer Anderson. I was browsing the shelves of the local library and the title of this one jumped out at me. I spent a few months living near Boonville, California, probably right about the time this book came out. The locals hated it because it portrays them all as hippies or rednecks. Okay, some of the characters may have been a bit exaggerated...or not. It was a fun read, partly because it talked about places I could still see in my mind, and partly because the writing style reminded me a bit of Tom Robbins. It had me laughing out loud.

Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence. So many themes going on here- family ties, coming of age, social expectations, the dehumanizing effect of industrialization, but what really caught me was his lyrical descriptions of the countryside around Nottingham. I would almost call him a nature writer.

World Made by Hand by James Howard Kunstler. This is a good follow up to The Long Emergency- a fictional account of what small town life in upstate New York could look like in the future, as people recover from the loss of oil, electricity, ready-made goods, and supermarkets. The writing itself is not spectacular, but the ideas presented are thought-provoking. One detail that resonated with me was how the protagonist was a musician, a fiddler, and that music- live, not recorded, not amplified, played an important part in the morale of the community.

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. I somehow managed to escape being assigned to read this in high school and college, but it's probably just as well. I am half way through and enjoying this with a perspective I would not have had as a teenager. I had expected the story to be much darker and depressing, but it is more about the will of the human spirit to make it through the toughest of times. There's a lot more humor than I expected. And now I know exactly where the Kris Kristofferson song "Here Comes That Rainbow Again" came from.

I don't have anything lined up yet after Steinbeck- any suggestions?