Comments (29)

By kilax, November 30, 2009 5:11 am

When Steven and I attended Jonathan Safran Foer’s reading and discussion of Eating Animals we had him personally sign our copy of the book! How exciting! The only time I have ever had an author sign a book before this was when Frank Warren signed my copy of The Secret Lives of Men and Women (I also had him sign a book for my sister) – I have since lost interest in Post Secret. Ha ha.

Anyway, guess what?! I brought an extra copy of the book and had Foer sign it as well – so I can give it away to one of you lucky readers!

This book has been getting an amazing amount of press. I think part of the reason is because Foer delivers the message – that we need to start discussing whether it’s right or wrong to treat animals (for human consumption) the way they are being treated – in such a gentle, non-judgmental manner. You don’t feel put off reading this book – you feel intrigued to read more. Yes, there are some disturbing statistics, but they are not blared in your face. They’re just discussed as what they are – statistics.

A pescatarian coworker came with me to Foer’s reading. She hadn’t read the book yet, but started to right after the reading ended. When I saw her the next week, she told me she had finished most of the book and there was no way she could eat animals products every again. I was really surprised by the effect the book had on her. I didn’t feel like it pushed a vegan, or even much of a vegetarian agenda. But, Natalie Portman said Eating Animals turned her vegan as well. I’m just so surprised by the profound effect of this book!

Now, I don’t expect you to become vegetarian or vegan if you read it! I just expect you to think about it! I would love to hear what anyone else thinks of the book.

And on to the nitty gritty…

Contest Rules:

1. To enter the contest, simply leave a comment below telling me why you want to read this book. Again, you can check out my review of it here.
2. To get an extra entry, link to the giveaway in your blog, and leave me another comment linking to your post.
3. This contest is open until 5:00 PM CST on Sunday, December 6th. I will probably use the old “name out of a hat” drawing to select a winner on Sunday evening, or the Random Integer Generator. I will announce the winner on Monday, December 7th.
4. This contest is open to readers everywhere.

Comments (12)

By kilax, November 4, 2009 6:02 am

I did something I haven’t done in awhile – brought an actual book with me to read on the train! Since I bought my baby computer back in March, that is really all I have brought with me for entertainment during the hour and twenty minutes (x2) commute. I use it to check emails, and surf the internet, but mostly, just to read blogs. I try to get all of that done on the train so that when I get home I can just chill with Steven, and leave the computer off.

I feel bad though! I have so many books at home (loaned to me), and here I am, choosing to read blogs during my commuting time, instead of books (to my credit, I try to read books at home, right now, it’s Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life). Blogs and books both keep me engaged and entertained, but is one better for me than the other? Hmm…

Anyway, that is not what I came here to write about today (on my commute, on my baby computer). Last week, I read on many blogs (ha) about the new book from Jonathan Safran Foer – Eating Animals. A small excerpt from the amazon description says, “Eating Animals explores the many fictions we use to justify our eating habits-from folklore to pop culture to family traditions and national myth-and how such tales can lull us into a brutal forgetting.” Check out the amazon site for a full description.

A lot of bloggers were writing about Natalie Portman’s post on the Huffington Post about how reading it made her vegan (if you have an hour or so to kill, the comments on that post are pretty heated and interesting). I was somewhat intrigued with her post, but didn’t think much of it.

But mention of the book keep popping up everywhere! Someone even pointed out that three vegan books, including this one (the other two are on my wishlist, wink wink), are in the Amazon Top 100 list. And yesterday, another blogger mentioned that the author of Eating Animals was doing a tour. I excitedly clicked over and saw that he would be in Chicago on November 18th, at the library that is two blocks from my office! (Event information is here).

I love, love, loved seeing speakers when I was at Iowa State University. I went to see Obama, Michael Moore, Morgan Spurlock, and countless others. I miss doing things like that! Steven was really enthusiastic about going to the reading as well, so he picked up a copy of the book for us to read before (and hopefully get signed!). Last night, I told Steven I hope there are some debates in the audience – it will be interesting to see what people have to say about this book!

Whoops. That story ended up a bit LONG.

So the big question is, am I going to read this, or use the baby computer to read blogs? For this early morning commute, it looks like the book wins – this pos computer didn’t charge last night!

Comments (14)

By kilax, April 15, 2008 5:43 am

Dear JCPenney/Worthington Clothing Co.,

I don’t blame you. I blame myself for buying your shirt and taking it home, only to have to return it after getting a second opinion (thank heavens for my husband’s honesty).

But I just wanted to let you know – the Pleat detail shirt? It doesn’t look so good on us bigger girls. We like to wear shirts that make our bodies look slimmer, or at least in proportion. We don’t like shirts that make us like we’re wearing shoulder pads, ready to step out onto the football field.

It looks good on Natalie Portman. But not on me.

I appreciate that you offered it in my size. But I just wanted to give you a heads up on this one – there might be a lot of returns.

Thanks for trying,

kilax

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Today’s Idiom: the sword of Damocles – any imminent danger

Even though my boss gave me a raise, I sometimes feel like the sword of Damocles is hanging over my head – at any minute, I could be kicked out of there.

Comments (10)

By kilax, December 4, 2007 6:15 am

I am a very dedicated Natalie Portman fan. I will see any film she is in, no matter how awful (or wonderful) it might look, and poor Steven gets drug along to the theater with me. Sometimes he lucks out and ends up loving the movie – as was the case with V for Vendetta – and sometimes we leave the theater with him asking, “why did you want to see that?” (as was the case with Closer). I always tell him the same thing – that I will see anything she is in… and he always says that doesn’t make any sense. But I bet some of you are the same way, right? RIGHT?

Anyway, the newest film of hers that caught my interest is The Other Boleyn Girl, which comes to theaters in February. I knew the film was based on a book by Philippa Gregory, but I wasn’t planning on reading it. That is, until I saw this preview, and was so intrigued by the preview that I went and bought the book that day because I knew I couldn’t wait until February to know what the story is about.

Surprisingly, I ended up really liking the book. I usually don’t read novels so I was worried that I would struggle through it. But it has quite a bit of history in it, and a lot of scandal. Even though it was well over 600 pages, I finished it in a week and never grew tired of it.

And since I am clueless about world history, and had no idea who Henry VIII or Anne Boleyn were, I was actually surprised by a lot of the twists and turns in the plot.

The amazon site for the book has a pretty good review from Publishers Weekly if you are interested. I definitely recommend the book! I hope the movie doesn’t disappoint!