FAST FOOD FOR BOOK JUNKIES

ELLEN: Bibliophiles are like everybody else these days -- so many books! so little time! Even book critics, who allegedly read for a living (you call that a living?), can't keep up with all the good reads out there. Don't despair. Below are four suggestions that are made for readers on the go. All are short, thought-provoking, extremely readable. Pop one in your pocket or purse -- they beat listening to moldy oldies on the radio while you're sitting in your car or reading magazines you never wanted to read while waiting in the doctor's office.    

1. “Elvis Presley,” by Bobbie Ann Mason. Serious biographies often combine mountains of unreadable prose into books that would better serve as doorstops. Celebrity bios are usually a pile of fluff with an agenda, either to savage the subject or bow to his or her remarkableness. This little book by a well-known Southern writer – part of a Penguin series of short bios on famous people -- is the perfect antidote. Elvis’ talent and his bizarre behavior off-stage get equal treatment in this story of a working-class Southern boy who wasn’t prepared for success. The series covers something for every taste, from Joan of Arc to Woodrow Wilson to Marcel Proust.  

2. “The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s Eye View of the World,” by Michael Pollan. This book was what first put Pollan on the map as someone who is identified with gardening, food and sustainability, and it may be his best. Using the stories of four familiar species – the apple, tulip, potato and marijuana – he shows how plants have been cultivated to serve human needs. Science writing at its most digestible.

3. “Homestead,” by Rosina Lippi. This novel by a Bellingham writer takes you to an Austrian village as it progresses through the 20^th century. The book follows three clans in the village as their lives are altered by technological change and war. Those Nazis and their imperious ways, again! For adults and young adults, Lippi's story tells the tale of modern European history better and more concisely than most textbooks.

4. “Property,” by Valerie Martin. The system of slavery ensnared whites as well as blacks, and that’s the story Martin tells in this sensuous tale told by a slave owner’s wife. After the servant she brought with her when she married becomes her husband’s mistress and neither of them can do anything about it, she comes to a bitter understanding about the hierarchy of plantation life. The master can be humane -- or not. His call.

 

Comments

[Nancy Pate]

Hi Ellen and Margo -- Just letting you know that I keep reading -- y'all and books. This blogging thing takes more time than I realized, especially since I'm no longer a speed demon. Ah, so many books, as we say -- and you just reminded me of a few more I want to reread. Bobbie Ann Mason's Elvis is a winner.
Best, Nancy
http://patebooks.wordpress.com
On a Clear Day I Can Read Forever

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[Round and Brown]

talent and his bizarre behavior off-stage get equal treatment in this story of a working-class

[treatment of hemorrhoids]

Good post, I like to leave comments because it allows bloggers to become more engaged and for the opportunity to perhaps learn from each other.

[cure for hemorrhoid]

“Property,” by Valerie Martin seems to be right up my alley. How horrible to be married to someone that treats you like a possession and without respect. Likewise, for the servant.

It may be interesting to read a novel about the slave owner traveling through time to our present time and the evolution of his thinking and feeling about how women should be treated.

[woolrich outlet]

Every man is his own worst enemy