Book Reviews: God is a Verb and The Omnivore's Dilemma

Library books went back today. Right. Reviews time!

( God is a Verb by Rabbi David Cooper )

Final Verdict: I think the unifying theme of the book is that the process of living and worship is ongoing, existing in an everpresent now, and we must find ways to live in the Now that contribute to the wellbeing of humanity and of the spiritual world. For me, the issue is that I've encountered a lot of these themes already, so the value I took away from God is a Verb is mainly in the rich mine of storytelling and Talmudic interpretation that I experienced for the first time. A lot of what Rabbi Cooper says makes a lot of sense, but this is one of those books where personal religious belief and experience is going to dictate whether any significant value can be found.

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( The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan )

Final Verdict: While there's a lot of moral debate and a little bit of preaching going on, the book excels at educating its readers (its American readers, anyway) about where their food really comes from, and what they can do to improve the quality of the food both in edibility and in economic and ecological terms. Pollan is an engaging writer, and there are many portions which are not only interesting but amusing. I certainly learned a lot about corn. Worth the read, but I personally wouldn't pay cover price for hardback.

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Having cashed the paycheck I thought I had lost, I decided to treat myself while I was downtown, and trekked from the library to Trader Joe's on Ontario street to buy some different food from my usual Jewel-Osco and Walgreens fare.

People kept following me -- I used to laugh at Mum when she insisted people followed her, but a foursome of teenage girls with the most annoying laughs followed me for a good five blocks, even when I crossed the street unexpectedly. Then people followed me around in the store, including a woman who wouldn't stfu about the quality of Trader Joe's brie. OMG, it's in my basket already, leave me alone.

Anyway, the checkout guy said my choice of gnocci was excellent (noh-chee or noh-key? Italians? Anyone?) and I have hot dogs and crumpets (for separate consumption) so that's all right.

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I thought I'd lost my paycheck this morning. Turns out I deposited it. Go me...

A patron brought us carrot cake when she came to pick up her tickets for today's show. It was a nice gesture, because it was a very busy, intense day. Right bang in the middle of putting the show up, a woman called to exchange eight different tickets for three different shows each. I was phone bitch (we have two people serving patrons and one "phone bitch" who answers phones AND serves patrons) so I was in the middle of doing her very complicated transaction when a mentally disabled man came to my station. Most people, of course, see me on the telephone and go to another station, but he decided that instead he would say "Excuse me. Excuse me, I want to buy a ticket" every ten seconds until I had to put the woman on hold and tell him that I couldn't help him but either of the other two people would be happy to assist.

Tomorrow I get to take my vastly overdue library books back. I should probably check on M's cat, too; I went over this morning to change her water and food. Normally my interactions with kitty are restricted to her attempting to attack me or burrowing in my backpack, but today she ran up to me and begged for pets so I spent about half an hour brushing her. Then she started trying to attack me again, so I went on my way. I totally forgot to bring back the DVD I'd nicked, too -- Hot Fuzz, which is acres more interesting and funny than Shaun of the Dead.

And that's my day.