The River Why, by David James Duncan, is one of those books that I love to re-read. I’ve read it probably ten times over the last 20 years, and it always makes me happy. Sure, I basically know the story by heart, but it does my heart good to re-read it. So, what’s it about? Well, it’s about a lot of things. And if you asked me the last time I read it what it was about, I’d probably say something different than I’m going […]
Slow Food. Any idea what I am talking about?
This book came across my radar as it was the January pick for the Slow Food Chicago Book Club. I’ll let the Slow Food International website speak for itself: “Slow Food is a global, grassroots organization, founded in 1989 to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions, counteract the rise of fast life and combat people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from and how our food choices affect the world around us.” In sum, Slow Food is the […]
By way of introduction, might I offer a rice cake?
What the hell did I just read? Okay. Let me start over. My knowledge of Ernest Hemingway prior to reading this can best be summed up by three things. First, there’s a claim (most likely apocryphal) that he once won a wager that he could craft an entire story in only six words: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Second, in response to William Faulkner saying, “[Hemingway] has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary”, Hemingway […]