Book Review: “Food, Inc.”

My eyes and ears always perk up when I hear about health food. It’s out there, but it’s still discreet in a society where industrial food has led them to become worried about calories and contracting foodbourne illnesses. Enter Food, Inc. by Participant Productions. This is a book that follows up from the recent documentary with various essays that touches upon the the foods that I grew up to and how it can actually make us sick if we aren’t careful.

While I will agree that healthier alternatives (such as organic foods) are expensive, I think it’s a matter of finding out what’s really worth it. In a perfect world, our food would probably be organically grown and be as lesser processed as possible. In a realistic world, can we afford to feed that many people like that? Food, Inc. argues that this is possible, and the real problem from preventing this is the corporations who are controlling our governments, science and logistics required to present the food including labor, transportation, storage, and the markets. Small and local farming can’t compete.

And then it’s not that you couldn’t probably look up nutritional labels when you go to dine out at a restaurant. They are there, but I will agree with the book as they mention that another problem is public ignorance of society. Society is ignorant of shunning healthier alternatives because they might be too expensive, so we shun them in favor of  junk food which make us sicker and will cost our health more than we ever bargained for in our lives. Our health is one of the greatest assets that we own. Why would we want to jeopardize it?

If you were ever curious about what you eat or your health, I would recommend this read.

 

Book Review: Time Traveler’s Wife.

I perused the bookstore to finish up Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I sat down in the cafe between a guy preoccupied with his iPhone and a charming artist with boyish features and Paul McCartney hair circa 1960, that was sketching in his sketchbook as I opened up the book.

Time Traveler’s Wife is an enchanting love story. The reader could tell in the story that Henry was very fond of his mother, is described as an elegant lady who goes out to the dry cleaners with her make-up done, but remains reserved. The only other woman in Henry’s small, but valuable life is the love of his life, Clare.  Henry couldn’t imagine anyone else to be with, because that’s who he spends most of his time with – when he’s not time traveling!  In this book, Henry has a disorder that nobody has before. It’s chrono-displacement disorder and he often revisits significant past events of his life. It is throughout these visits that he meets Clair. His affection for her grows stronger as they both put the pieces of this puzzle together.

Sadly, Henry’s condition makes it challenging to accept the fruits of life – like marriage or sharing his firstborn with Clare. This story is a bit of a drama on the cusp of science fiction. It’s an enchanting story that will make the reader realize that true love is real.

 

Fashion’s Night Out and Book Review.

Hope some of our readers got out to Fashion’s Night Out last week!

Audrey Hepburn’s infamous Givenchy gown was a treasure for Breakfast at Tiffany and Audrey fans alike. It just so happened that King of Prussia Mall was also hosting the dress at Tiffany (But, of course.) on the very night of Fashion’s Night Out. I’m sure it was a treat to see for Breakfast at Tiffany and Audrey fans alike. Unfortunately, work priorities prevented me from seeing the dress in person myself. But, I told a friend of mine (another Audrey fan) about this who managed to stop by the event that night and snap this lovely picture of Audrey’s gown.  I thought I would post it here for all of my other readers who are fans.

Secondly, there’s nothing better than to start the Monday off with a delightful book review. This week, I came across a book called Five Good Minutes In Your Body by Jeffrey M.D. Brantley. It’s a relatively quick read where I learned some valuable lessons in the end.  When I started, it was nothing that I didn’t know already.

As most of us operate by routine, this trains the mind to operate via habits. Good habits, bad habits, and addicted habits. All it takes is practice and the ability to listen to your body. It also reminded me of what I learned from somatic psychology: “Whatever happens in the mind, is reflected in the body.” as people will often hold different tension patterns and some acute and chronic problems can be reflected from neurological problems.

After awhile, I think the reader will strike up a healthy balance and discover how very little their body actually demands of them, instead of what we think it deserves.  Is it really our body or our mind playing tricks on us? With this interesting book, you may find that the joke could be on you. Pick it up!

 

Book Review: “L.A. Candy.”

I’m just about ready to settle in a big armchair with another book. This is when my eyes remain fixated at the very bottom of the shelf on a white small hardcover book in the new release section. I pick up the white small hardcover book, and later discover that it’s entitled: L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad. Let me just say, If The Hills isn’t your weeknight guilty pleasure, you won’t get into this. The story starts us off with nineteen years old Jane Roberts. Jane moves to L.A. where she dreams of having it all. Like magic, Jane becomes “famous” for living her life on a reality television show called L.A. Candy. She works as an intern in LA, she has boy troubles, and has a falling-out with a girlfriend. Sound familiar?

This is Lauren’s first installment in a three part series, so it’s interesting to see where she will take the plot. It will also prove what her writing style is like. Fans of her show will be pleased with this sultry, beach read, and younger siblings might like it as well (as long as they don’t take it for granted, as some of the chapter titles are quite simply titled, “let’s go spend some money!”). All others, you might want to skip this one on by.

 

Book Review: “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.”

Getting paid five dollars a week and penny candy stores might not seem like a deal for our crowd, but it’s the life that Francie Nolan knew in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. The story is set a in turn-of-the-century Brooklyn, where work was sparse and very hard. Poverty and struggle overruled all, as this story is about the Nolan family in early Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Katie and Johnny meet and fall in love with each other. At first, they seem like opposites. Johnny is a drunk who can’t keep a steady income, and doesn’t know much about raising children. Neither of them finished high school or grade school, but they were determined to have children and give their children a better life than they had.

This is when Francie and Neely are born. Francie and Neely spent most of their lives struggling in poverty with the rest of the family, only looking forward to one day of the week. And that day was a Saturday. Betty Smith describes Saturdays back then, as a day where the streets of Brooklyn becomes alive with the laughter and excitement of children playing in the streets. Little Neely is one of them, but little Francie usually held back by retreating to the library later on. As Francie grows up, she survives poverty, lack of formal education, sexual assault, extreme loneliness, a loss of love, she learns to live a solitary life. But, like the tree in the story, she is also ready to bloom.

She chooses her own elementary education, earns her grade school diploma, is ambitious about starting high school with the other girls that autographed her yearbook.

Instead, times are still tough at home and she works to save up her own money. She finds herself crossing what once seemed to her as the magical bridge from Williamsburg into Manhattan, and works so hard that she starts receiving equal pay like a college graduate would.

This was when she realized that she might be moreso ready for college than high school and she starts saving for her college education. Francie is the first in the Nolan family to go to college. Despite her hard life, she has been very innovative which has truly been an inspiration for me to read about, that it is one of my favorite books.

This story also reminds me of what my grandparents had to go through. They are not here today, but at times, it was heartbreaking to read about. I know what it’s like to struggle, but I like how this story reveals that, even and often in times of struggle, like Francie, it’s important to be resourceful and creative in order to make it.

 

Book Review: “Twenties Girl.”

It’s not much of a challenge to find this one. Twenties Girl by Sophia Kinsella is a relatively new release that stands out in the front of the bookstore. The cover is intriging and is twofold. On the front cover, there is a picture of a Roaring Twenties flapper girl in a dragonfly necklace which makes the reader think that this book might take place in another era. But, on the other side, there is a picture of a thoroughly modern twenty-first century girl wearing the same dragonfly necklace. Which is the story about?  A Roaring Twenties flapper girl or the story of an average twentysomething in the twenty-first century?

Why both, of course.

And the dragonfly necklace is the focal point of the story.

Lara is a twenty-first century modern day twentysomething. Life is okay, but things could be better. She runs her own company, until her partner abandons her for the beaches of the Goa and she has an on again and off again romance with her boyfriend.  Until her great-aunt Sadie comes along.

Sadie is Lara’s 105 year old great-aunt who passed away, and Lara finds herself seated at her funeral with her family. But, something is odd. There are no flowers and there is hardly any family members there. Everything feels like a secret. This is before Lara starts hearing the voices of Sadie’s ghost that start making demands of a dragonfly necklace that Sadie must have before she can finally be put to rest.

This is Sophia Kinsella’s first shot of writing an actual ghost story, as she was told she should write one.  It was a slightly different perspective, but with Sophia’s bubbly and quirky writing, a hilarious one at that. The dragonfly necklace leads Lara on a quest where she learns more about herself and her family before her life changes for the better. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll also root for the gentleman instead of the boy that she falls in love with too.

 

Book Review: “How Starbucks Saved My Life.”

Photo Credit: Google

How Starbucks Saved My Life by Michael Gates Gill isn’t a new release, by any means, and was probably written somewhere before the recession. I only knew vaguely about it, and what I did know saved me from reading this too early. It’s a story that explains that sometimes bad things can happen to good people. Like when the recession hit the American economy last November. It reminded me of so much of what I’m going through right now, and with how many recent lifestyle changes I am making over this past year. I couldn’t have read it at a more perfect time.

I plucked out a seat by the window in Border’s just as the sky turned a pinkish cotton candy swirl and the sun began to fade between the clouds. I set my clear plastic cup (from Starbucks. Sorry, Border’s cafe!) down and already found myself lost in the first few pages. Basically, a middle aged New Yorker seems to have it all: He is a Yale graduate, he has a white collar job, and a nice house in suburbia. Life is groovy, before he ends up with a diagnosis of a brain tumor and the fact that he gets laid off from his previous job. Despite the circumstances, he also has no health insurance now. Desperate to seek help for his brain tumor, he applies for a job at his favorite coffee shop, Starbucks, which offers health benefits, in an African American neighborhood of the city. He then proceeds to narrate his work experience from the other side of the fence (or counter top) with his thoughts on education and race from the life of a working class Joe.

The more I read, the more I became captivated into a wonderful story about an adorable character that you want to root for. I’m also aware of a few people that still wouldn’t root for a character like this. They’ll often say that they don’t know the meaning of the word “struggle” because they haven’t not started with anything themselves. But, this book isn’t so much of a happy one. As much as we wish for life to be smooth, it doesn’t stay that way. This book proves that there are a medley of setbacks and challenges that test our strength and see how far we will go for life, liberty, and the pursuit of…well, that depends on what we want to fight for.

Available at Border’s at KoP, or wherever books are sold.

Expect more book reviews every Monday!