recent (good) reads...

I've been munching on some delicious morsels lately....

 (oooo how I love being able to read just for me -- and not for research!)


just finished or still sitting beside my bed (partly digested) are these treats:


This Changes Everything - Naomi Klein

I admit that I finished this one late last year - not long after its release... 
it is a thoroughly researched tome - even if you aren't interested in what's going on in environmental/climate change circles, 
its really worthwhile reading this - if you can borrow from the library or a friend - give it a crack


Our Only World - Wendell Berry

this is a smaller book of ten recent essays --- 

I admit I just love love love anything Berry writes - he just drills down and nails the agrarian connection of land to life 

- naturally I found his latest offer a total joy

The Good Life - Hugh MacKay

Easy to read, comfortable to digest - this one tries to answer the question 'what makes a life worth living'? 

(hint -- MacKay is very keen on the Golden Rule) -- its a pleasant book to munch through 

Feral - George Monbiot

Feral is all about rewilding 

- although I got frustrated at times trying to follow Monbiot's meandering logic and his open hostility towards all farming was often annoying,

 there is enough nice stuff in this to make the journey worthwhile --

 I particularly liked the chapter 'Bring back the wolf' which had a great explanation of keystone species and trophic cascades 

- oooooo and I loved the point of view of Welsh small-holding farmer Dafydd Morris-Jones 

(I'd love to read a book by this fellow if he ever got around to writing something - a very astute guy).

The Cottage Under the Big Pines - Sue Southam

This is the second book from local gal Sue - her first, Velvet Pears, was all about building the Foxglove Spires garden 

(12kms up the road from here at Tilba Tilba) 

- this one concentrates more on the sweet weather board house in the middle of the garden 

--- lots of piccies and a handful of recipes 

I've added two more reference books to my growing collection from publishers Chelsea Green -

The Organic Medicinal Herb Farmer - Jeff and Melanie Carpenter

&

Farming the Woods - 
An integrated permaculture approach to growing food and medicinals in temperate forests -- 
Ken Mudge & Steve Gabriel 

I haven't had the chance to do anything other than skim these 

-- they are both very detailed and refer primarily to North American conditions 

- Chelsea Green offer some terrific titles -- I have their books Resilient Farm and Homestead and The New Horse-powered Farm

Although the contents of CG's reference books are excellent they all have terribly flimsy covers (damnation!)

There's one other book that I'm going to tell you about and this one is completely different 

(its also the only one that was NOT purchased from my local independent bookseller)

 It's Drag Down to Unlock or Place and Emergency Call  - a book of poetry by Melinda Smith
- who is this year's recipient of the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Poetry

I have to admit that when it comes to poetry I feel like I have 2 left eyes and a head full of straw.... 

it's unusual for me to purchase a book of poetry 

so I'll tell you a little tale of how it is that I came to purchase this one 

- directly from the hands of the poet no less! 

I met Melinda last year - and had no idea that she was a poet 

 we had a mutual friend who was astonished to learn that both our sons had been diagnosed 

with the same condition, were admitted to the same hospital with the same team of specialists 

just weeks apart from each other (!!!!!)

our mutual mate figured we should get to know each other and I'm very glad we did connect.  

A few weeks ago Melinda dropped into Bega for a poetry reading and I lugged EJ along for the night. 

It. was. FABULOUS! 

We both loved all the poems and I'm now determined to purchase all of Melinda's back catalogue.

soooooooo

That is a little of what I've been reading (non-fiction still eh...)

EJ meanwhile has been devouring novels at an alarming rate!

(there's nothing like a looooooong bus trip to school to get a girl child thoroughly switched on to reading booooooooks) 

and sass remains a devotee of 4WD magazines (dawg bless the boy)

how about you? 

read anything great lately?

** although I've linked book titles to their publisher or to Amazon -
I purchase all my books from my local independent bookseller - Candelo Books 
- or directly from the author. 
GO INDIE BOOKSELLERS!

****