bookwoods's reviews
708 reviews

 Tender is the Flesh is known for its intriguing premise: a world where we have turned to the production of human meat after a virus led to the eradication of non-human animals. And the book does deliver that premise, efficiently exploring different sides of this new society, but I felt that it does not do much more than that. There is nothing particularly surprising or engaging in the story, everything relies on the idea of showing humans in place of cattle. The effect is dramatic and grotesque but got old quite quick. Perhaps was I not already vegan and all too well aware of what goes on in factory farms, this might have been more impactful. The fact that Tender is the Flesh has resulted in people reconsidering the practices that they support and the food that they buy, makes me appreciate it more than its literary merits do. 

 Ann-Christin Antellin esikoisteos ylitti odotukseni ja osoittautui äärimmäisen koukuttavaksi luku-, tai minun tapauksessani kuuntelukokemukseksi - Sanna Majuri on ihana lukija! 1800-luvun loppupuolen Turkuun sijoittuva tarina on kirjoitettu tavalla, joka todella tuo kulissinsa eloon. Tuttuja paikkoja oli hauska bongailla ja tuntuu kuin näkisin opiskelukaupunkini hieman uudessa valossa, ymmärtäen sen historiaa syvemmin. Minulle teoksen parhautta onkin sen ajankuvaus, mutta on itse juonikin toki oikein hyvä. Se muistuttaa vahvasti Elizabeth Gaskellin North and Southia, yhtä lempiklassikoistani. Siinäkin keskiössä on puuvillatehtaan omistajan ja papin tyttären romanssi, ja tärkeänä teemana työväen olot. Ehkä tämän suosion myötä North and South saataisiin vihdoin suomennettua, en voi ymmärtää miten sitä ei ole vielä tehty. Kynnys klassikoiden lukemiseen englanniksi voi olla suuri, minkä takia se on varmasti jäänyt monilta lukematta. Onneksi siitä kuitenkin on myös loistava BBC:n minisarja – se kannattaa ainakin katsoa, mikäli tämän jälkeen kaipaa lisää jotain samankaltaista.  

 Like many have said before me: How Not to Diet really is the perfect companion to How Not to Die, which opened my eyes to the fascinating field of nutrition. The latter goes through the major killers in America and explains what kind of a diet offers the best protection, whereas this one focuses on offering practical tweaks to create an optimal diet – not only for weight loss, but for overall health. There’s just so much interesting science here and that’s why I’d recommend it for anyone interested in nutrition, not only those struggling with their weights. But as scientific as How Not to Diet is with nearly 5000 references, Michael Greger’s personality comes through in the text in delightful bursts. The only thing I would say is that this could have been more concise to make the information more accessible to those that are intimated by books of this size. Also, I want to make clear that there’s a lot of talk about calories etc., so this might be triggering for anyone who’s had an eating disorder. 

 Ilahduttava kokoelma tarinoita kahden taiteilijanaisen elämästä - pieniä hetkiä sieltä täältä, useimmiten sijoittuen heidän ullakon kautta yhdistyviin koteihinsa tai mökkiin saaristossa. Oikein muuta sanottavaa tästä ei ole. 

I’ve read and enjoyed a couple of Ursula K. Le Guin’s novels, felt intrigued to know more about the author and thought: what better way than picking up a collection of her personal essays that were originally written as blog posts? Unfortunately, although I feel like I know her better now, No Time to Spare was not a positive reading experience. 

Most of the essays are simply boring. For instance, even though I’m 100% a cat person, countless entries about the daily life of Le Guin’s pet are just not interesting. Still, I can deal with dull, but there’s one essay that made cringe like crazy. It’s making fun of vegetarians/vegans by saying how we still don’t know what plants may feel and that if we really want to minimize suffering, we shouldn’t eat anything at all. Things like this can be said jokingly, yet I didn’t find the execution to be in good taste. Instead, I couldn’t help but start finding Le Guin slightly obnoxious as her tone is quite mean. I agree that there’s much we don’t know about plants but even if they were sentient, vegetarian/vegan diets require much less plants as most crops are grown for animal feed. I also found the mentions of population growth as the biggest environmental issue problematic - blaming developing countries for the overuse of resources has a long and racist history, one that distracts us from unsustainable Western lifestyles. On the other hand, Le Guin makes important points criticizing our economic system that’s based on continuous growth. 

I skimmed through the later essays (there’s one that’s all about how she likes to eat her eggs) and I don’t think I missed anything other that further frustration by doing that. I really didn’t expect to not agree with Le Guin’s views and to find her, well, tedious. Interestingly, her novels are anything but, so I might still read them occasionally – who knows. 

 Rakkaudenhirviön kansi on tullut sieltä täältä tutuksi, mutta jotenkin olen aina olettanut, ettei tarina kiinnosta minua – voi kuinka väärässä olinkaan! Saara Turunen kuvailee ilmiömäisesti ulkopuolisuuden tunnetta ja suomalaisuutta. Samaistuin ja nyökyttelin, sain paljon irti siitä, millaisesta näkökulmasta asioita tarkastellaan. Liian pitkä tämä kuitenkin on ja joissain kohtia alkoi väistämättä vähän kyllästyttää. Sivuhenkilö onkin huomattavasti tiiviimpi ja otan sen varmasti pian kuunteluun. 

 The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative recounts Florence Williams’ travels around the world as she visits researchers trying to answer the question posed in the title, focusing on the role of different senses, types of nature and exposure times. It is a science heavy book but in an entertaining way – featuring lengths of dialogue and funny observations to even out the statistics and brain scan results. 

There isn’t anything revolutionary in the general finding that nature is good for us, yet I enjoyed this immensely, partly for subjective reasons. Finland is an insignificant enough of a country that seeing any mention of it in a book excites me, and The Nature Fix has an entire chapter about it! As with other chapters, the focus is on research relating to benefits of nature and practical actions taken to tap into those benefits, but Williams does an excellent job at giving the context: how do the country’s history and culture affect what is being studied and what do they mean for the interpretation of the results? It feels like you learn about the countries almost as much as you learn about the science, and I didn’t mind it one bit. 

The Nature Fix motivates readers to change their daily habits, but the systemic side can’t be forgotten. One part centers around children and how important it is that fresh air, exploration, play, and natural environments take a substantial role in early education. And for any large-scale improvements to take place, everyone needs access to at least some form of nature, which isn’t easily done in an increasingly urbanized world. 

 Tämän novellikokoelman lyhyet, arkipäiväistä elämää tarkkanäköisesti kuvailevat tarinat ovat kyllä omalla tavallaan ihastuttavia, mutta myös helposti unohdettavia. 

This is quite a fun and steamy historical romance between an adventurous spinster and a generic rake, but I just find rakish male characters a bit annoying – and I’ve had bad luck choosing historical romance, because I can’t seem to be able to escape them. Looking forward to reading more from Sarah MacLean though!