The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet

The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet by Alicia Silverstone is half non-fiction and half cookbook.  The book is informational about vegan/vegan macrobiotic diet and is broken up into three parts.  The first part is information about "Kind vs Nasty" foods.  The second section is about different levels of the "Kind Diet" which Silverstone labels as "Flirting, Vegan and Superhero".  The third part of the book is recipes.

Being a semi-vegetarian/pollo-pescetarian (the only meat I consume is poultry and occasional seafood), I have always been interested in veganism.  It seems so very hard to me (since I LOVE my eggs and cheese) so I thought this book would be an opportunity to learn more about it. 

 

I really enjoyed part one of this book.  A lot of vegetarians are vegetarians because of the cruel treatment of animals in our country's factory farming system.  This of course is reason enough to become a vegetarian, but Silverstone also discusses the impact that the meat/dairy industries have on our environment.  She has some really great arguments about how cutting out meat and dairy will not only be kind to animals, but kind to our environment and our own bodies.

 

I also enjoyed part two of this book, since it broke things down into different levels of veganism.  The Flirt kind of dabbles with things, the Vegan abstains from all meat and dairy and the Superhero is hardcore.  While I don't plan on being a Superhero anytime soon, I found some information and products in the Vegan section that I might try at some point. 

 

Part three focused on the recipes and I'll admit I did not read all of the recipes word for word.  Each has a little intro and a list of ingredients and then goes into the details of how to make the recipes.  I found some of the ingredients would be something I wouldn't use/would be very hard to find in my area.  Some of the vegan recipes looked pretty good though!

 

I enjoyed Silverstone's writing style, very light and easy.  It felt like you were chatting with a girlfriend but getting a lot of information at the same time.  The Superhero "diet" isn't something I'm interested in and a lot of the vegan things she mentioned included soy products (which I am wary of) but I feel like I learned a lot and could make some changes in my diet to eliminate some of the dairy I eat. 

I'd recommend giving this book a read if you are interested in healthy living, veganism or just learning more about how consuming meat and dairy is harsh on animals and our environment.  I also highly recommend watching the moving Food, Inc. if you haven't yet.  Very eye opening to our nation's food industry.

The Potty Mouth at the Table

The Potty Mouth at the Table by Laurie Notaro is a collection of humorous essays about the many everyday things Notaro finds infuriating, hilarious, mortifying and mind boggling.

I have been a big fan of Laurie Notaro for many years now and love the majority of her books.  All of her collections of essays are funny and relatable, which is why I like her so much.  She has a very sarcastic, dry and wonderful sense of humor.  She thinks things we all think and says things some of us only wish we could say. 

The Potty Mouth at the Table is another hit for Notaro in my book.  I'll keep pre-ordering her books and devouring them as long as she keeps writing things to make me laugh, gag, get misty-eyed and nod in agreement.  Highly recommend this book and all of the other essay collections she has written.  (Note:  Notaro has also written two fiction novels.  They are okay, but I prefer her essays).

After Visiting Friends: A Son's Story

After Visiting Friends: A Son's Story by Michael Hainey is the story of a man who went on a quest for the truth about his father's death.  Michael Hainey's father died when he was just six years old and after years of no one talking about it and things not adding up, he decided to seek the truth for himself.  He does this by digging up old files, interviewing people who knew his dad, ect.  In the end, he learns more about his father and himself.

The plot summery of this book immediately caught my attention.  My mother passed away when I was young as well and I've always had a lot of unanswered questions about it.  I was intrigued to see what this man would be able to discover and what he would do with those discoveries.

The book itself was a little wordy for my taste (lots of descriptions of places, people and time periods) but overall was well written.  The author takes the reader back and forth in time, and in doing so paints a very clear picture of what life was like when he was growing up. 

I was a bit disappointed in the story after he finds out what really happened to his father.  I wish it revealed more about how he and his immediate family felt after the discovery was made, but perhaps he didn't want to go into detail about that and wanted to keep the emphasis on his journey rather than the results.

Overall, it was a pretty good read.  I won't be adding it to my list of favorites, but it was a well written and interesting book.

The Buddha Walks into a Bar...: A Guide to Life for a New Generation

The Buddha Walks into a Bar...:  A Guide to Life for a New Generation by Lodro Rinzler is a introduction of sorts to Buddhism for a "new generation".  It discusses meditation techniques, how to cope with today's world, etc.

Wow, this book was not for me.  It took me over a month to finish this 207 page book which makes it pretty clear it was hard for me to finish.  When I read the info for it on Amazon.com I thought it would just be a light read about Buddhism, kind of a into to what it was all about or something. 

Though it was described as not preachy, I felt it was.  The book is definitely more for someone who is interested in becoming Buddhist or is Buddhist, IMO.  I find different religions interesting, but as one who has no intention of meditating or changing my spiritual beliefs (I'm agnostic), I had a really hard time getting into this book. 

If you are into learning about religions or are interested in Buddhism you might enjoy this book, but if you are looking for a light intro or thought this was going to be humorous due to the title, grab something else off the bookshelf.

Drop Dead Healthy: One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection

I loved Drop Dead Healthy: One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection by A.J. Jacobs!  It is a non-fiction book that follows Jacobs on his quest to become "the healthiest man alive" after he gets tropical pneumonia while on a family vacation.

Over a period of two years, Jacobs does a ton of research and tries to become healthier.  He tries different forms of exercise and diet.  He meets with leading health experts and everyday people who are committed to health.  He does all this with a sense of humor and personal stories that motivate you to make your own health changes as well.

I really enjoyed this book.  Jacobs is an excellent writer, who mixes facts, stats and expert interviews with humor, family anecdotes and stories of his own health triumphs and failures.  He breaks things down by focusing on one body part each chapter (heart, brain, stomach, etc) and giving the reader a monthly "checkup" with some stats on how he's doing. 

I feel like I learned a lot reading this book (he researches some things I'd never thought too much about) but he is so real it isn't at all textbooky.  The book is filled with stats and expert information delivered in a way that is really fun, entertaining and engrossing.  I highly recommend reading this book!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke is a quick, easy and fun murder mystery.  If I recall correctly, this book was recommended by a facebook friend of mine.  It looked like a nice light read, which I was looking forward to after my pretty involved other reads so far this year.

The story is about a woman named Hannah Swensen who lives in a small town in Minnesota.  She owns a cookie shop called The Cookie Jar and since it's a small town, knows anyone and everyone who stops into her shop.  One morning she goes outside her shop to discover a murder right outside her back door.  She teams up with her brother-in-law, who is a local cop, and sets out to catch a killer.

This book is the first in a series of many that have Hannah Swensen as the main character.  I enjoyed this book since it was a quick and easy read.  I used to read murder mysteries ALL the time (Patterson, Higgins Clark) so this was a nice return to that but on a much lighter, less violent side.  An added treat to these books is they come with cookie recipes!  I haven't made any of them, but they sure sounded delish.  I recommend giving this book a read.  It's a fun read with lots of quirky characters and it will keep you guessing until the last few pages.

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail - Cheryl Strayed

This was a good book, I did enjoy it.  I think that it had a lot of different elements in it which each served a different purpose, but some days  I hated it, some days I loved it.  The first few chapters are just sad.  I know I'm a crier anyway, but I cried.  A lot.  Reading about how Cheryl's life was falling apart was difficult.  She lost her entire family over the course of 47 days and I couldn't help but to think about my life, my family, and my losses.

After her losses, she decides that she needs to take matters in to her own hands.  After losing her family, her life spiraled down hill for another few years, and she couldn't handle it any more.  She walked past a book at a hardware store about hiking the PCT.  And just like that, she made the decision.  She was going to hike the PCT.  She'd been camping, how much harder could this be?  Hiking over 1000 miles from mexico to Canada through California, Oregon and Washington?  No big deal.  She spent the next several months selling belongings, buying backpacking gear, and saving every penny she had in order to prepare for this trip.  She did not train, she did not turn on her camp stove, she did not fully pack her backpack until she was on the trail.  Until it was too late to make any adjustments, or learn that camp stoves don't take regular gasoline.  She struggled over the first few weeks, but eventually caught on.  She made friends along the trail and learned that she was not alone in this world.  She learned how to use some of her gear, and learned what she could live without.

By the end of her hike, she had found her safe place.  She knew that she was strong enough to handle everything that the world threw at her.  She learned to not be afraid.  Overall; a good book.  It reads quickly and her dialogue is clear and easy to follow.  It's a good easy read and left me feeling a bit more inspired to get out of my comfort zone... and plan my next backpacking trip! Life is an adventure, lets make the most of it!

~ Kelly Lynn