Quick, before I get Sidetrack'd

We are a little over a month into the Fall Into Reading challenge and so far things are going pretty well with my reading list. As it stands now, I have five books to finish and just under two months to accomplish my goal. Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly to date:

The good – Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, et al.

I began reading this book back in the summer but had to set it aside when morning sickness set in and I could no longer handle reading about food. I was anxious to pick it back up as I really enjoyed what I had read and was not disappointed by the remainder of the book.

This non-fiction book records the efforts of Kingsolver’s family to eat locally for a full year. They accomplished the task by gardening, raising poultry (they live on a farm in Appalachia), visiting the local farmers’ market, and dealing with other farmers in their area to procure the food they needed. I found her stories about small-scale farming, canning, dealing with animals, and working with her neighbors to be both good reading and food for thought.

If you are interested in learning more about eating locally (either through growing your own or using local resources), eating organically, or just have an interest in how the modern American food business works I would recommend this book. It is well written, easy to read, and prompted many discussions between Matt and myself.

The bad – The Butterfly Effect by James Swallow

I don’t know that this book is bad per se, but it has been removed from my list. I’m not sure exactly how or when this book was added to my master reading list, but as I looked more closely at the book I decided it didn’t really interest me. I will probably add a book in place of this one; I just haven’t decided on one yet.

The ugly – Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Have you ever looked at a book numerous times over several months, been excited about reading it when you finally get to it, and then been disappointed when you started reading? That is how I felt with this book. I’ve wanted to read it for a couple of years now, so for a while I tried to trudge through it. When I realized that I had only read about 40 pages in almost two weeks and really had no interest in picking it back up, I knew it was time to let it go. Disappointing, yes, but there are too many books to read to get caught up on one I don’t enjoy.