This one's terrific!

I belong to a couple of different book clubs and have to restrain myself from ordering all the good books offered in their monthly catalogs. However, I couldn't pass up The World Without Us by Alan Weisman (2007).
In it, the author envisions what would happen to this planet if we humans were suddenly no longer here. In addition to the imagination required to produce a book like this, it also had to take a lot of research. There are chapters on what happens to the city, the country, the oil refineries, the nuclear energy plants, and more. If you're not already aware of the dangers of over-population, this book might get your attention.
As a non-scientist, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, but I'm also sure that my daughter, who is a scientist, will find it equally engaging.

Too Good to Pass Up

I realize that I haven't reported on any books for a long time.
I've certainly read a lot of them. Many were excellent (some were not), but none made me feel compelled to write about them.
At last, I've read one that touched me so much that I'd feel like a dirty skunk if I didn't share a bit of it with you.
The book is Chosen by a Horse by Susan Richards (2006).
On the cover it says "How a broken horse fixed a broken heart". That may strike you as overly-sentimental, but the story isn't.
A lonely, fortyish woman takes in a starving horse and foal. The story takes off from there. It isn't a romanticized "National Velvet" kind of story. This has horse poop, illness, alcoholism and the possibility of sex.
Bet you get teary at the end, just like Mike and I did.

This time, it's a book...

OK, no whining this time.
A good, fun book to read is Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert ( 2006).
This first-person memoir was written by a young woman who recognized that she was quite unhappy, and set out a schedule for herself to bring about changes.
Fortunately, she had the financial wherewithall to be able to afford this.
First, she went to Italy for a certain amount of time, where she learned the language and ate a lot of pasta. Next, off to India for a while in an Ashram, where the expansion was not of the waistline, but of the spirit. Finally, she journeyed to Indonesia, to be loved.
It's interesting, and worth reading.

The bad thing about blogs

If anyone besides me reads this, you'll notice a real reduction in the number of posts as time has passed.
It isn't that I'm not reading; I'm just not writing about it.
The reason is: the lack of comments from readers. My daughter told me right at the beginning to not set myself up for disappointment by expecting comments, but when there are none, I feel that no one even looks here.
I write this to share recommendations about books that I've read, as many of those books have been recommended to me. The difference is that I tell people "Wow! I really liked that book", but seldom does anyone report back to me.
So, to those few of you who do: You're treasured!

Do I have great friends, or what?

I hope that any of you that read this blog realize that I don't find all these excellent books by myself. I have wonderful friends that lend or recommend or even bring books to my house. Yesterday, I finished reading Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer (1996). You may have heard of this book, as they just recently released a movie that was based on it.
This is the true story of a young, idealistic, financially secure college graduate who gave away all of his possessions and his money to set out alone looking for adventure, self-reliance, and equality with his fellow human beings.
He eventually ended up in the Alaskan wilderness where he starved to death. I'm not giving anything away by telling that; there's been a lot of publicity.
Sounds grim, doesn't it? Surprisingly, it's not. The book is very well written, and though the ending leaves you sad, you're also somewhat awed by the single-minded resolution of this young man that any of us would have been proud to know.

Scary Title

It caught my eye in the library. A softcover in the "New Books" section with a picture of a pile of brown dirt against a backdrop of blue sky. A hand holding a shovel can be seen throwing dirt skyward, which seems entirely appropriate for a book entitled Gravedigger. It was written by Peter Grandbois, and published in 2006.
It tells the story of a man in a small Spanish village whose inherited job it was to dig graves. The unusual part is that the recently deceased visits him while he is preparing the grave to tell him the story of their life, which he, in turn, passes on to the bereft family for their comfort.
We not only hear the stories from the dead, but also we learn his story, and that of his daughter. It's a well-written book telling an interesting tale.

An Exception --- At last!

I've gone quite a while between postings because although I've been reading a lot, none of the books were anything I cared to write about. They weren't bad, just kind of run-of-the-mill.
Finally, a friend loaned an excellent book.
It's The God of Animals by Aryn (that's a girl) Kyle (2007).
This book tells the story of a young girl/woman growing up on her daddy's horse ranch. The father was a horse trainer whose big dreams got in the way of any practicality. The mother was severely depressed and confined herself to her upstairs bedroom. There was an older sister who had been the darling of the ranch community because of her innate ability to ride, perform and bond with horses.
Then there's Alice, the younger girl. Alice's sister had run away with a young cowboy, leaving Alice and her dad trying get a little financial stability out of their ranch. Eventually, they were desperate enough to offer to board horses for the wealthy young matrons of the community. There's such a contrast between the lives of the characters in this book, and I can't imagine that it would fail to hold the interest of any reader.
This is Aryn Kyle's first novel. Let's hope she writes a whole lot more.