Discouraged; Books

I know that I haven't been posting much, if at all, lately, but I am very discouraged with the Obama-Clinton contest, and have nothing new to say about the Iraq clusterfuck. I have been trying to take a "time out" from politics, which is very hard for a political junkie like me. We've even entered this "nothing will change for another month" stretch of doldrums. There's little reason to even pay attention to the news.

I think I'm beyond anger here. Resignation, perhaps?

I have been reading. I recently finished The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. Have any of you read it? It's a very interesting book about food, so not the usual fare for me. Pollan wants to trace four meals from nature to the table, to say something about the way "we" eat today. The sections on industrial agriculture (a meal at McDonald's), industrial organic (Whole Foods), local organic (farmers markets) are all good. The last section of the book on hunter-gatherer foraging is less good, because it's so incredibly narcissistic and self-indulgent. But I learned a lot about food, and recommend the book.

Then I got sidetracked and ended up rereading, in a few hours, total, The Hobbit. What a wonderful book! It's a shame that there aren't more books like that.