Food for thought.

I am reading two books sort of at odds with each other, but both extremely good. The Tenth Muse My Life in Food by Judith Jones and American Idle: A Journey through our Sedentary Culture by Mary Collins. Both are non-fiction and I had to stop the Tenth Muse as American Idle is due at the library sooner.

So if you want to read about a young woman just out of college who ventured off to France after it’s occupation and found a career in food and publishing. This is the book for you. Warning: it may make you squirmishing when she talks about sweetbreads (are those guts or brains?) or drool when she talks about a loaf of bread and cheese in great detail. Let alone the challenges of a single woman in the late 40s making her way in the world. It continues back to the United States with a husband where she experiences everything from being targeted during the communist scare to having a boss a bit jealous of her success and her many triumphs along the way. I can’t wait to finish it.

American Idle is an autobiography about an athlete, a bicyclist who is in a life changing accident. Mary Collins goes from the daily workouts to a still life while she pushes through physical therapy and lives live with an ankle and hip that were shattered/damaged extensively. She starts her journey dicussing how our bodies are designed for the hunter/gatherer lifestyle. She proceeds trying to understand how/why Americans are choosing sometimes involuntarily to not move. Ms. Collins covers everything from her daughter’s organized sports to workers at a potato chip plant and a Harley Davidson factory. Her research also delves into government, urban planning and funding. Areas that honestly I never thought of affecting health. Her research covers income levels and cultures, churches and schools, and the vast array of gov’t programs and non-profit profit and how programs work or don’t. It is one day over due, ok 2 now, but I have to finish it and I am very close to done. Well worth the late fines, but my apologies to the people waiting for the book.