Every Living Thing by James Herriot

If you're an animal lover you have probably heard of James Herriot.  But on the off chance you haven't, he's a veterinarian that practiced in England in the mid nineteen-hundreds.  And he was an animal lover himself, in addition to being a writer.

Every Living Thing is part of a series that chronicles Herriot's experiences as a vet.  But it is not the type of series that you have to read in order.  This book is a collection of short stories from Herriot's practice and can range from stories about horses, to cows, to dogs and cats, and even some of his house hunting stories too.  And it's also a book about the owner of these animals, because ultimately, they are the ones that Herriot interacts with the most.

There are a wide range of characters in Herriot's books.  He works with a lot of strange creatures, and I'm not talking about just the animals!  The people are just as varied and seemingly dependent on their animals well-being for their own well-being, so much so that at times it doesn't seem authentic, but they're still nice stories.  There always seems to be a story where a human is downtrodden because their animal is not acting quite right, but there are just as many that are quirky on their own with their animal being ok.  And the animals are amusing as well; while the cows and sheep don't have too much of a personality, all of the dogs and cats he worked with seemed to.  I did enjoy the story of his two feral cats quite a bit.  He showed a lot of patience with them. 

These are all short stories but they had some kind of tie-in for all of them.  A lot of times this was just an arching story of Herriot wanting a better house, but it still eased the transition and made the book almost seamless.  Some of them were more interesting than others (I didn't particularly care for the story about the Tailor), but overall it was a very nice, pleasant read.  That is, pleasant if one ignores all the descriptions of Herriot reaching his hands insides all sorts of places on animals all the time.  I'm not saying that it ruined the story, for me it didn't, but to those who are a little more squeamish it might put them off the book.  Because Herriot doesn't hold any description back.  But even in doing so his love of animals is evident and he's out there no matter what trying to help them, and I think that's what makes this book charming.

Definitely a cozy read and one that most people can appreciate the warmth and approachability that Herriot gives veterinary work.

Every Living Thing
Copyright 1992
374 pages

The Stand by Stephen King

The Stand is a very very long book.  I'd watched bits and pieces of the tv series before, and knew what it was about a little bit, but there was a whole lot more to the book than even the series got into (which is how it usually is).  I should note that I read the 1980 copyright of this book, as there seems to be several different ones circulating out there with changed information in them.

Because of a mistake, a deadly virus is loosed on the world and it quickly decimates the population.  The survivors are all driven by their dreams; some of a dark man west of the Rockies, others to an old woman, somewhere in Nebraska.  Based on their morals and interests they head to these two different people, meeting up with other survivors along the way.  And once they establish their own societies, it is quickly realized that both can't exist in the world.

There are a lot of standout characters in this book and there are a lot of characters that are extraneous.  I really liked Stu's character as he seemed to be a decent guy with only a few flaws and he genuinely seemed to want to help people.  I don't understand his logic at times (or a lot of the characters for that matter), but he drives the plot along quite nicely.  Frannie, on the other hand, seems to only be in the story for the use of her pregnancy in the plot.  She could have been so much more but I felt like King only used her for convenience and she wasn't really a strong character on her own.  As for the bad guy, Flagg, I just didn't find him that menacing.  He seemed more bark than bite and while he did do plenty of awful things, they were all background and his henchman seemed more vile than him.  (Yes, I suppose it could be a lesson on how true evil uses others to do its work for it, but I'm not really wanting to go that philosophical with this book).  There were also a lot of loose ends with a lot of the characters too, like the boy Joe/Leo and a few others and I would have liked to have known what happened to them.

This is a long winded book.  King likes to use a lot of words and it works for him most of the time.  I think in this particular one there might be too much to it though.  I find my interesting flagging at times (no pun intended) and had to read it in several sittings.  Especially towards the end, I really had to push myself to finish the book.  The beginning was fantastic though, just the right amount of detail and the subject was compelling as they were trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world.  It was when he started throwing in the supernatural that my interest waned as it could have been a strong story even without it.  It was still interesting, just not as intriguing as it could have been.  And the ending was a bit of a let down.  I don't want to give away too much, but it just seemed too easy after everything else that had happened.  King is known for doing the supernatural thing though, so I shouldn't be surprised that this book followed that formula.

I liked the book but I didn't think it was an epic story.  It started off strong and kind of ended with a whimper in my opinion.  3.5 stars from my perspective.

The Stand
Copyright 1980
817 pages

On the Noodle Road by Jen Lin-Liu

**This review is part of the Amazon Vine Program**

I love noodles. I could eat them every day whether it be macaroni and cheese, alfredo, filled pastas, lo-mein, well, you get the picture. There's something very comforting about them and it isn't a surprise that they are found in most cuisines around the world. But just how did they spread among all those cuisines is the question Lin-Liu attempts to answer in this book.

Lin-Liu, while living in China and working at her cooking school, decides to follow the Silk Road from China to Italy in search of where noodles originated and how they have persevered through the cultures. She'll go through all of China, Iran, Turkey, and many other countries before finally finishing in Italy. And she'll seek out noodles in each of these places although in some, they are harder to find. Additionally, this is a memoir of sorts that expresses Lin-Liu's troubles with her new marriage and search for herself in the relationship.

Lin-Liu and her husband aren't the only people featured in this book though. She encounters so many people in her travels that they are all included here as well. And she offers a commentary on their lives as they are bound by their customs and rules of the countries. She expresses her vehemence quite often at some of the traditions that bind women to their homes and their kitchens, even as she enjoys the tasty food that comes out of them. Her relationship with her husband is less interesting though, and while I can appreciate that she tried to make this a memoir in addition to food writing, I just don't think it was the right mix to make it interesting. I cared more about the food and who made it than I did about her personal life, right or wrong as that may be.

There was a lot of food in this book (recipes too). And the majority of the book was luckily about food, because as said before, I wasn't as interested in the memoir part of this book. I do think that China was probably my favorite region that Lin-Liu described. All of the noodle dishes sounded wonderful and I think I'll definitely make good use of that recipe section (all the recipes are at the end of the chapter for each respective country). Iran, the people she spoke with were interesting, but the food didn't hold as much appeal for me. The same goes for Turkey. And Italy wasn't described near as much as I thought it would be, considering they are known for their noodles. And while the writing was a little choppy, with less than smooth transitions between the countries, it was still approachable writing and easy to read. Lin-Liu writes like she probably talks, and it is easy to get absorbed, although long-winded at times.

I enjoyed the book but I don't see myself going back to it again and again (unless it's to use the recipes). It offered a unique perspective on noodle dishes and nice descriptions of foods for any foodie, but was a bit too meandering to be a repetitive read.

On The Noodle Road
Copyright 2013
384 pages

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

This memoir combines both running and writing; two subjects that I'm definitely interested in.  And Murakami is apparently a well known author, although this is the first I've read of his works.  And I can see why, it was interesting and well written.

Murakami was running a jazz bar and in college when he first got the notion to run.  And it stuck.  And then he decided to sell the jazz bar and take up writing.  And that stuck too.  From then on it was a passion that would spread over decades for him, although lagging at times when he developed other interests.  And running is weaved with writing for him so that both have a place in his life.  Although triathlons are taking hold now as well.

This is a translated work, but I think it was done very well.  Murakami has a nice approachable voice to his writing and while he doesn't really describe anyone but himself in this book (it is a memoir after all), the few that he does are approached kindly and with positive attributes highlighted.  For himself, he does show all his strengths and weaknesses.  He isn't shy about sharing his success in writing, but nor is he shy about showing his less than stellar run times and goals that he didn't make.  It shows him as a very balanced person.

The running is what really interested me in this book.  In fact, Murakami does such a good job of describing running and its effects on the mind and body that it made me feel rather guilty that I haven't been running lately, but blamed it on moving and work and other things in my life.  In fact, if I hadn't already packed my running clothes, I probably would be out there right now the book inspired me so much.  And I liked the way he tied it in with writing.  This book was actually written in short little pieces and then combined together, but the transition was easy and you'd never know it started out that way if he hadn't of told you.  And it was a quick read so it never had a chance to get boring either.  I did think that maybe this book would offer some tips on how to cure my short attention span while running, but Murakami just says that most runners don't always want to run and you can feel that way sometimes.  It apparently is more natural for him and while he does admit that he thinks about all sorts of things when he runs, he is never very precise because he says his thoughts are never very precise.  Not feeling that way when I run, it is hard to relate in a way.

But regardless, that fault lies with me, not him.  And this was a very good book to read, although maybe a bit limited in audience.  I don't really see non-runners getting into this book, but that's ok.  For those of us who want to run, it's there for inspiration.

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
Copyright 2008
174 pages

Chicken A La King & The Buffalo Wing by Steven Gilbar

This has to be one of the driest books on food I've read. And usually I like anything about food and "devour" any type of book about it. But this one, well, it was a struggle to get through with hardly any little nuggets of goodness in it.

This book is a list of food names and the people and places that inspire them. It's broken down into dinner, breakfast, and lunch and several sub-categories within those categories (i.e. grains, drinks, etc.). Some are brief blurbs of only a few sentences while others encompass a paragraph of information. And at the end, there are several recipes cards for some of the dishes mentioned in the book.

A lot of the stories are really dry and uninteresting. There were just only so many times I could hear that this piece of food was believed to be from such and such place, and that was it. The few that were good were those that expanded a little on the story and gave more background and story type of telling than just a brief sentence with the location. The stories that said it was believed this person did it for their beloved (insert type of person here) were much more engrossing. But sadly, they were far and few between.

The recipe cards were different. They came attached in the book and you could break them out to put them in a recipe card holder. I've not seen a book come with that type of recipe collection like that and I appreciated how it was put together. Although there were only a few I would actually consider making. The organization was also ok, although I thought it weird they started with dinner, then went to breakfast, and then to lunch. It just seemed out of order.

I can't say I'd recommend this book. It just wasn't something I got real excited about and I'm not even going to rip any of the recipe cards out before giving it away. Maybe someone who prefers dictionary types of books would enjoy it more, but it just wasn't for me and it probably wasn't for a reader who would want entertainment value from it.

Chicken A La King & The Buffalo Wing
Copyright 2008
168 pages