Books I've Read Since Starting this Blog

In addition to my Environmental Literature list, I'm starting this list: Books I've Read Since Starting this Blog. (Note: Books are listed from most current at the top to my earliest reads at the bottom.)

• When You Are Engulfed in Flames, by David Sedaris
• Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time, by Greg Mortensen and Oliver Relin
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, by J.K. Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, by J.K. Rowling
• Chi Running: A Revolutionary Approach for Effortless, Injury-Free Running, by Danny Dreyer
  
• Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall
  
• The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett
  
• Into Thin Air, by John Krakauer
  
• Touching the Void, by Joe Simpson
• A Thousand Acres, by Jane Smiley
• Not Buying It, by Judith Levine
• Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity, by David Allen
• Into the Wild, by John Krakauer
• Jesus Land, by Julia Scheeres
• The Tortilla Curtain, by T.C. Boyle
• Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides
• Bargaining for Eden, by Stephen Trimble
• North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell
  

Good stuff, huh? I know I've been enjoying them. Some more than others, of course, but for the most part all of these books have been excellent reads. I think in addition to these two lists I will also add something down the road that constitutes my top 25 favorite books or something, but that will be at a later date. What are some of your favorite books that you have been reading lately? Any recommendations?

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Something New to Read

For Christmas, my aunt visited her local used book store and picked up my gift there. I'm just starting this new-to-me book, and so far I'm really enjoying it. It's called Not Buying It by Judith Levine.

It's all about this woman (who happens to be a writer, so it's easy on the reader) who decides she and her life-partner, Paul, have had it with the consumer driven society that we've built around ourselves. So, in 2004, she and Paul go a year without shopping. So far, it's been thought-provoking. It's written like a journal, with entries every so often about what they are missing and what they are learning about what it is like to break away from the expectations we have about ourselves and the stresses of the consumer market. I've only read the first two chapters, but so far I'm very intrigued as the rules start to unfold as to what "not buying it" means to this couple and how their journey will present itself.

My coworker, Andree', is doing her own sort of "not buying it" experiment where she can't buy anything new except for essentials and things that get used up. (Things like food, obviously, and like changing the oil in her car: something that must be done to maintain the car and is used up. You can't buy used motor oil!) And she is excited to read this one as well. It has been fun comparing the two missions of "not buying it."

Mostly, I'm excited about this book and I wanted to share. I'll let you know how it goes from here!

Environmental Literature

Every person who has studied or has interest in environmental science has undoubtedly read several books on the matter. I have compiled a list of environmental literature that I have read over the years. Each has contributed to and affected me in forming my own opinions about environmental issues that confront us everyday. Here are some of my favorites:

• Getting to Scale, by Jill Bamburg
• A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold
• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
• Desert Solitaire by Ed Abbey
• Blessed Unrest by Paul Hawken
• Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
• Bargaining for Eden by Stephen Trimble
• The Health of the Country by Conevery Bolton Valencius
• Wilderness and the American Mind by Roderick Frazier Nash
• Changes in the Land by William Cronon
• Locust by Jeffery A. Lockwood
• An Unnatural Metropolis by Craig E. Colten
• Plan B 2.0, by Lester Brown

I will be adding to this list periodically as I finish more books that fit into this category. I have started a column about what I have been currently reading to keep my blog a little more current with what I am doing in my life. As I finish more books that fit into the Environmental Literature category, I will be updating them here. Have you read any of these books before? What are your thoughts about them? Do you have any recommendations for other pieces I might explore?