My Bit of Earth

The Kitchen Reader: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

This month's Kitchen Reader book--chosen by Karen of Shortbread South--is Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. 

The plot was not terribly new for me at this point--urban family moves the the country and eats local for a year--but I liked this book the most of any I've read in this genre, because the author is very practical about it.  

A lot of the time authors turn eating locally into an endurance contest.  (In Plenty, for example, the authors picked mouse poop out of their locally sourced wheat so they could make bread--ewww!)  In much the way I admire people who run marathons, but would never actually want to run a marathon myself; I admire that sort of dedication to eating locally, but it's not for me.

Throughout this book, Kingsolver's family eats locally where they can, takes the time to consider whether they really need things that can't be gotten locally, and then buys sustainably where they must.  This strikes me as being much more realistic for the average person.

But the most fascinating part of this book is the turkeys!

According to Kingsolver, almost all modern, domesticated turkeys are hatched in incubators.  Like chickens, they're raised until a given point where (meat) weight vs. food consumption makes economic sense, and then they're slaughtered--usually before they're even a year old.  

In one chapter of the book, Kingsolver decides to see if she can make her domestic turkeys self-perpetuating--in other words, could her turkeys hatch and raise their own young?  While the underlying concerns are serious (we've screwed with Mother Nature so much that these birds can't even reproduce without human interference), the story of how one turkey eventually figures it all out is hilarious.

All in all, a very good read!

The Kitchen Reader: In Defense of Food

This month's Kitchen Reader book--chosen by Margaret of Tea and Scones--was In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan.  

I can't quite say this book was life changing for me--because the first time I read it I was already starting to generally eat more whole, local food--but it did give me a manifesto: Eat food.  Not too much.  Mostly plants.

There's a bit more to it than that, but not much.  Mainly it's about knowing the difference between "food" and "food-like substances".  

To give you an idea, probably my very favorite of his "tells" is "Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot."  It just seems like good sense, ya know?

Sweet Husband and I have gotten to where we even make a game of it sometimes.  As in,

      "Those Fruit Loops are so NOT food."

    "Oh yeah, well neither are your Mike'n'Ikes!"

But all kidding aside, the book makes a very good case for eating real food, and it does so in a way that's not more judgmental than it has to be.  For example, although Mr. Pollan frowns on high fructose corn syrup and the like, he's very realistic about it.  I get the idea that even he has a handful of Mike'n'Ikes every now and then--just not every day.

In short, if I could recommend only one book to everyone from atop my "food issues" soapbox, this would unquestionably be it.  You can see the rest of Mr. Pollan's "food rules" summarized here, but, really, just go read the book.

Summer Movie Festival

A little knitting, a little popcorn, Cary Grant projected onto the side of a building--fun times, fun times!

The Kitchen Reader: I *heart* Ruth Reichl

I'm a bit late, but this month's Kitchen Reader book was Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table by Ruth Reichl.

This is why I love reading groups.  Because this is a book I never, ever would have picked up on my own-some, but because someone else told me to read it (thank you Jill) I have discovered a new author that I love!

For those who don't know (I didn't) Ms. Reichl was a Berkley-dwelling food writer who went on to be the food critic for both the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times.  She then became the editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine.  Sort of an impressive way of saying she's a world-class foodie, yes?

And from the early pages of Tender, it's easy to see why.  From her description of her mother's horrible, botulism-inducing cooking, to her discussion of her Aunt Birdie's Potato Salad, to her wild high school and college exploits cooking for friends late at night, you feel like you're there adventuring and eating with her. 

Additionally, although the food is obviously the show piece of the book, she mixes in the perfect amount of "life" to give the food context.  The devil's food cake she makes the first time she makes out with a boy, for example, is perfectly wicked. 

I not only gobbled down this book (which chronicles Reichl's childhood up to her first marriage )but ate up Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table (early adulthood) and Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise  (life as the New York Times food critic) as well.

Four star reading, all the way!

In Which I Photograph Musicians and Babies

(But before I get started on that, post #2 is up over at Urban Homesteading, wherein I discuss the book Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer and how the author might have just inspired me to get myself in a bunny way.  Now, on with the pictures....)

Remember Nice Scooter Friend?  The one that Sweet Husband met online who did not leave him dead-in-a-ditch?  The one whose awesome girlfriend moved here from New York last spring?  The one who threw that way-fun Halloween party?

Well, now he's started a band.  They're called The Latenight Callers, and they're really good--like, in that addictive, can't-get-the-songs-out-of-my-head-good kind of way.  Seriously, I've been humming the intro to "The Tease" for weeks now, and I love it!

(Go listen, really.)  

In advance of their first live gigs, they needed some pictures, and, of course, I was all too happy to oblige.

I have to confess, this was some of the most fun I've had taking pictures.  There was even liquor involved at one point.  Babies?  Who likes taking pictures of babies?

Oh, that's right--me!

The thing is, these Latenight Callers--they kind of exude bad-assed-ness just standing there.  All I really had to do was play with the lights a bit and push the shutter button.

But this little guy?  He made me work for every smile...but it was so worth it!

The Kitchen Reader: What We Eat When We Eat Alone

This month's Kitchen Reader book was What We Eat When We Eat Alone: Stories and 100 Recipes.  (If the title sounds familiar, I read a review of this book several months ago, and ended up testing the chocolate mousse recipe--divine, I tell you!)

The book is essentially a couple of foodies asking people "What do you eat when you're alone?  When you don't have to think of anyone else?  When your only limitation is what's in your cupboard?"

Some of the answers are a little bizarre--oyster crackers crumbled in milk?  avocado soft tacos?--but that's what makes the book interesting.  Because often it was stuff that I hadn't thought about before, but, now that I have, sounds really yummy.  (Fried potatoes with yogurt sauce anyone?)  I really want to try at least 90% of the recipes in this book.

And, of course, it got me thinking about what I eat when I eat alone.  

Like many of the people in the book my go-to, just-for-me recipe is both a little indulgent and a little bit utilitarian--i.e. made from ingredients that I almost always have on-hand.

What I like to do is make up a single serving of pasta.  When the pasta is almost done, I brown some butter in a sauce pan, throwing in some herb-y goodness if I've got it.  (Thyme, sage, rosemary...really, just whatever.)  Once the butter is brown, I add a splash of balsamic vinegar.  Then I drain the pasta and toss it in the butter mixture for a few seconds, just to coat it.  For toppings, again, it's just whatever's on hand--Parmesan cheese, capers, olives, a bit of preserved lemon....delicious!

Give me some more ideas, guys--what do you eat when you eat alone?

Confidential to My Book Blogger Holiday Swap Secret Santa....

 

....while I do not know who you are, sir or madam, you rock!

The Kitchen Reader: The Warmest Room in the House

For this month's Kitchen Reader, we read The Warmest Room in the House: How the Kitchen Became the Heart of the American Home by Steve Gdula.

This book had much more breadth than depth, but it was a nice overview of how our history has shaped the food we eat and visa-versa.  It was full of little interesting factoids--for example, according to the book, salads came into vogue in the twenties and thirties when women's clothing changed (I'm picturing flapper dresses) in a way that didn't allow them to camouflage extra weight anymore.  Hamburger Helper was introduced to make something yummy out of cheap hamburger during lean economic times in the seventies.  And microwaves came about when a defense engineer accidentally melted his candy bar by getting it too close to a magnetron.  

While it got a little tedious towards the end, I did learn quite a lot.  It's not for everyone, but I think general trivia junkies and kitchen anthropologists would all really enjoy this book.

Friday Night Snacks and a Movie

Without meaning to, we've slipped into the greatest little Friday night tradition.  

I believe it's called "staying in".

Don't get me wrong, we used to be weekend warriors when it came to going out.  A little Free State on Friday (a local brewpub), sushi and drinks on Saturday, darts and burgers at Dempsey's Sunday afternoon...and on and on.  But, in trying to cut back a little--both in budget and waistline--all of that going out just wasn't working.

Several Fridays ago, tired after a long week at work, I decided to just stop by the grocery store on the way home.  I was actually having trouble really focusing enough to put together a coherent dinner, so I just bought some nibbles--bread, cheese, figs, and a box of grocery store sushi.  (Yes, I know those don't go together.  I just didn't have the capacity to care.)  When I got home, there was a Netflix envelope waiting, and--boom! tada!--we put the two together and had an awesome time.  So nice was it, in fact, that we've kept it up for many weeks now.  

The rules to this tradition?  Foods that makes dishes to wash isn't allowed.  (Although we did bend this a little for Pioneer Woman's brie stuffed mushrooms a few weeks ago.)  Foods must be able to be eaten in front of the TV, preferably with hands.  Foods need not go together, but must be yummy.  Dogs must stay on the floor--all four of us just can't quite stretch out on the couch--but snuggling is otherwise encouraged!

(Picture c/o zesmerelda / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.)

In Which I Meet the Pioneer Woman

Do you all know about the Pioneer Woman?  

Also known as Ree Drummond, she's a city girl turned rancher's wife who blogs about life in the country, food, photography, and lots else.  (If you don't know what I'm talking about, start with her Black Heels to Tractor Wheels story of how she met her husband, "the Marlboro Man"--that's how I got sucked in!)  

She recently compiled a bunch of her recipes into a book--I love bloggers-with-book-deals, it gives me hope in life--and was in Kansas City last night promoting it.  Not being able to let such a close opportunity slip by, I recruited some former co-workers who are also big PW fans, and we went over to meet the Pioneer Woman in person.

While, of course, there is only so much observation you can do in the time it takes to get your book signed, she seemed just as sweet in person as she is on her blog.  Hilarious impersonations too!  She just made me want to cancel my plans for the rest of the week and go laugh with her over coffee.

And although I've only gotten to skim through so far, the book--The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl--looks awesome.  The recipes are of the "simple-but-yummy" variety, with nice, standard ingredients that are easy to come by.  Stuff you'd have on hand on a ranch in the middle of nowhere, I suspect.  

I can guarantee we will be trying every single one of the delicious looking breakfasts!

Oh, and did I also mention she gave out cutie-cute t-shirts?  In fact, because I had two tickets for the signing, I got two of said shirts.  One for me, and one that I will give away here.  (That's me, always thinking 'bout you!)  It's an extra large (but they run pretty small), and you can see what it looks like here.  To win, just tell me why you're a Pioneer Woman fan.  I'll randomly pick someone at, oh, let's say 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

UPDATE: And the wiener--as the PW would say--chosen by Sweet-Husband-random-number-generator, is Abby.

The Kitchen Reader: My Life in France

For this month's Kitchen Reader, I read My Life in France by Julia Child.

Completely inspirational.

The only book even vaguely about Julia Child that I had read before this was Julie and Julia.  Although I flipped through Mastering the Art of French Cooking once, I just couldn't get into it at the time.  Now that I understand what went into it and all of the history behind it, I just have to try again.  (And read her other cookbooks, and watch all the episodes of The French Chef, which I now have on reserve at the library.)

Her descriptions of all the places they lived during Paul Child's years as a diplomat were fascinating.  And the food!  This is not a book to read hungry!  Although I'm sure some of her descriptions were lifted from letters she wrote contemporaneously with the meals, the amount of detail and description is incredible.  It's almost like you're there eating with her. 

And she was just such a tenacious, brave woman.  I can't even imagine walking into a famous cooking school--and one that's not even taught in your native language, at that--as a novice like she did.  Then there was the endless recipe testing and insisting on perfection for her books.  And did I mention that she didn't even really start learning to cook until she was almost forty?  It puts a whole new perspective on being accomplished, doesn't it?  

Anyone who's interested in food at all just has to read this book!

The Make-Something Mini Challenge

Welcome Read-a-Thoners!  (And others, if you want to know what the heck I'm talking about, info here.)

For this mini-challenge, tell me a story about a character in a book you've read today who made something.  It can be literal--e.g. a cake, a quilt--or more figurative--e.g. a joke, a mistake.  

This challenge will run until 1 a.m. central time, at which point I will randomly choose a winner.

The prize?  A set of nice, new knitting needles and a skein of bamboo yarn--so you can "make something" of your own!

Happy reading and good luck!

Update: Congrats to the winner nomareader!

The Kitchen Reader: Julie and Julia

I've joined a new little online reading group called The Kitchen Reader.  The idea is that every month we all read a food-related book and then blog/discuss.  Since food is one of my "soapbox" issues, I figured it would be fun and, perhaps, give me deadlines to read a lot of the foodie book I've been wanting to get to, but don't always make time for.

This month's book was Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, and 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell.  As you may know, Julie Powell was one of the first widely reported bloggers to get a book deal.  As a bored cubicle worker, she decided to challenge herself to make all of the recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I, and blog about it as she went along.  The book really isn't about the recipes--although they do make appearances--but is more about Julie's growth through the year.

A lot of the critics of this book really don't like Julie as a character, calling her whiny and narcissistic.  I thought she was hilarious.  I could completely see myself in her place, being sort-of-grossed-out-but-at-the-same-time-fascinated by things like beef marrow and tongue.  The maggots under the dish rack story was a little nasty (pick it up and wipe underneath it once a week, for goodness sakes!), but, well, I'm sure we all have our own deep-dark un-cleaning secrets?  (I once had a mouse living in my cupboard and didn't know it for awhile....have never used so much bleach before or since!)

Overall, I thought this was a fun, fluffy read.  I haven't seen the movie yet, but I've heard Meryl Streep was fabulous, as usual.  Has anyone else seen the movie and read the book?  If so, I'd be curious to hear how they compare?

Dewey's Books: Broken For You

This is my last book for the Dewey's Books challenge.  Dewey was the author of a very prolific book blog called "The Hidden Side of the Leaf".  When she died at the end of last year, some other book bloggers decided to get together a reading challenge in her memory.  The idea was to read one book from each of the six years Dewey blogged.  Dewey's blog is no longer online, and even the challenge itself seems to have fallen into that black hole that the internet can be.

I'm actually really sad about this.  It's such a rare--and often awkward--thing to connect with someone over the internet.  Even more so when the person is dead.  But, as I've said in past reviews, after reading some books with her and learning what she thought of them, I think we would have been friends.  In a way it feels like we are friends, weird as that is....

*****

For my last book, I read Broken For You by Stephanie Kallos.  I can't tell you what Dewey thought of it, of course, because her blog is down, but I enjoyed it quite a bit.  

There are two main characters, really.  Margaret is a lonely, older lady who has been diagnosed with a brain tumor and given a short time to live.  After being diagnosed, she goes to a restaurant and asks the waitress what she would do under similar circumstances.  The waitress tells her something along the lines of, "I would break all of the barriers I've put up for myself in relationships."  This inspires Margaret to get a roommate, Wanda, a young stage manager.

The rest of the story is a beautiful metaphor.  Broken--and even cursed--china making new art.  Broken people making new families.  And some sadness at the end, but sadness of the kind that makes you smile through your tears.

*****

As a recap, here are the other books I read for the challenge and my reviews.  Once again, thanks Dewey, wherever you are, for the awesome recommendations....

• 2003--Into the Forest by Jean Hegland (Review)
• 2004--Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos
• 2005--Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks (Review)
• 2006--March by Geraldine Brooks (Review)
• 2007--Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford (Review)
• 2008--How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff (Review)

Japanese Literature Challenge: "First Snow on Fuji" and "The Housekeeper and the Professor"

A few months ago, I decided to read a few books for Bellezza's 3rd Annual Japanese Literature Challenge. 

First, I read First Snow on Fuji, a collection of short stories by Yasunari Kawabata.  It was hit and miss.  I find that a lot of short stories are unsatisfying to me because they don't have a lot of forward motion or story arch.  They're often more like paintings-with-words than actual introduction-complication-climax-conclusion stories.  Sort of like, "Let's just watch these people for a few days...OK that was nice, now on to someone else."

These were worse than usual in that regard.  So much description--by the end I could smell the air in the place the author was writing from, but I didn't know or care why I was sniffing it.  Does that make sense at all?

Since First Snow was a bit of a disappointment, I decided to read another book for the challenge--The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa.  It had a bit of the same painting-like quality, but enough movement to make it a very nice story.  As a basic summary, the Housekeeper goes to work for the Professor, who is a brilliant mathematician but only has 80 minutes worth of memory due to a car accident.  Eventually the Housekeeper's son (nicknamed "Root" because his head is flat like a square root sign) gets brought into the mix, and they form a sweet little family, despite the fact that the Professor is meeting them for the first time everyday.  

The obvious question in the story is whether things need to be remembered to have meaning. The obvious answer is that no, they don't.

Small Happies

1.  Our new, pretty little birds-on-a-wire painting courtesy of Enrouge.  In addition to being a talented artist, she did not make fun of me when I asked her if she could make me a special one with the birds on the right side of the wire.  (So that it wouldn't throw the balance of my whole room out of whack--yes, I'm getting OCD with age.)  It's not a photography trick, the colors really are that fabulous.

2.  The easiest chocolate mousse recipe ever.  Part of what makes it easy?  Very basic ingredients.  Nine days out of ten I have all of them in my house.  (And if you don't have cardamon, throw in something else--I'm thinking of experimenting with ground up lavender or rosemary, but I'll bet cinnamon would be awesome too.)

3.  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.  I finally started reading it for-reals on Friday night and have spent the weekend devouring it.  Definitely going to be read a  million times, and one that I'll be recommending to everyone!  (So go read it!)

Japanese Literature Challenge

Again, thanks to Nice Veens, I've found another book blogging event--the Japanese Literature Challenge.

The goal is to read one book of Japanese origin before the end of January--very do-able, even with my towering to-be-read pile.  I'm going to read First Snow on Fuji, a collection of short stories by Yasunari Kawabata.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

(Interrupting my normal blogging activities for a moment to talk about one of my other passions--Harry Potter.  The sixth movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was released at midnight last night, so for all you other Potter fans that are readers, let's discuss!)

So much for people losing interest after the last book--apparently Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince made 22.2 million dollars last night!  I was there, of course.  Not much beats going to a Potter movie on opening night in my book.  It's like watching a movie with a hundred of your best friends--lots of cheering and clapping and laughing....and usually some crying too!  

And as for the movie itself....(leave now if you don't want to know)....I was left at the end trying to decide whether it was well-done or not.  

There were changes from the book--perhaps the most changes in any of the movies so far.  I know they have to cut stuff, but this was more like outright substitution than cutting for length--it just didn't make any sense to me at all.  

For example, instead of the "The Other Minister" chapter or the scene at the Dursley's (perhaps some of the funniest in the books), Dumbledore finds Harry flirting with a waitress at a restaurant in the subway because Harry now rides trains for fun?  Then there was this whole weird bit about how Lily Potter gave Slughorn a pet fish?  It was very "WTF?"

The added "attack on the Burrow" scene was scary, but I'm not sure if it was necessary.  The stated reason for adding it was to show how dangerous the wizarding world was becoming, but I think it really would have just been better to do it as Rowling did in the books--with a mention here and there of someone dying or disappearing from Hermione reading her Daily Prophet.

And then Harry and Dumbledore get back to the Astronomy tower after the bit in the cave.  I knew that the battle scene had been left out, and I think that by itself would have been OK, but they also left out many of the lines that are what made that part of the book so poignant.  I so missed Dumbledore's "I'm not worried Harry, I'm with you."  And when Harry gives chase to Snape and calls him a coward, I almost wanted to shout back the, "Don't call me a coward" line instead of whatever drivel Alan Rickman said in its place.

Then Harry goes back to find all the students starting at Dumbledore's fallen body--geez, you don't think maybe someone would have thought to pick him up or straighten him out or something?  I kind of understand why they left out the funeral--most of the interesting parts of that happen in Harry's head, after all--but the funky wand-lighting thing and later awkward conversation between Harry and McGonagall had to take up almost as much time.  Then later, Harry, Ron, and Hermione discuss not coming back to school (again, minus the "We've had time to turn back" bit).  The movie could have ended with Hermione's line that "of course they weren't going to let Harry go hunt horcruxes alone", but instead they start waxing about how beautiful Hogwarts is.  It was just...flat.

But other than the strange changes, the movie was actually really well done.  Slughorn was perfect!  And Tom Felton, whom I've been annoyed with in the past, also did an excellent job of showing Draco's inner torment.  The scene with Katie Bell and the necklace was incredibly spooky.  And the scenes with Ron playing quidditch and the bits showing the teenage romance were just hilarious.  Even Michael Gambon has improved.  Although it only took him four movies to do so, I can't find fault with his Dumbledore at all in this one.

It's kind of frustrating actually, because when the writers and directors work with Rowling's original material--and let the actors work with Rowling's material--they make great movies.  It's like I just want to write a note to (screenwriter) Steve Kloves, 

"Dear Steve, 

J.K. Rowling? Better writer than you!  So use her stuff instead of making up your own, K?  Thanks!"  

Do you think that would be helpful?  :)

Overall, I'm too much of a fan not to like just about any Potter movie that gets made, but I certainly don't think this one was "the best Potter yet" as the critics are saying.  I definitely like Goblet and Phoenix better...and maybe even the first three, although this one was certainly funnier....

Anyone else seen it yet?  Thoughts?

Of Schwinns and Starships

Would you look what followed us home yesterday?

Such an awesome find!  I was looking at the garage sale ads in the paper Friday afternoon, when I found one for a "Vintage Bike Sale".  A guy from Wichita--Geoffry Benzing, check out his artwork, which I absolutely love, here--apparently collects these old bikes, tinkers with them, then sells them.  We got these two for a song.  And they are so old-school-cool!  Sweet Husband's even came with a bell (which I'm planning to steal at first opportunity).

In other news, we went to see the new Star Trek movie last night.

I'm not a hardcore Trekkie by any means.  I remember watching the original movies with my Dad as a kid.  I love "The Next Generation".  But I never really got into any of the other spin-offs, and I don't go to conventions or speak Klingon or anything like that.

Nonetheless, I was practically squealing out loud with delight many times during the movie.  They did such a great job with the characters.  Kirk was Kirk.  McCoy was McCoy.  Spock was...not quite Leonard Nimoy, but the differences--rather than being annoying--were interesting.  There were several references to the original movies, for example, Spock gives one of my favorite lines ever from "The Undiscovered Country" ("[W]hen you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.") 

But what's really fun is, with the way they started it (it won't be too big a spoiler I don't think, to tell you that time travel and a sort of "alternate destiny" is involved) they're now free to basically re-write the stories of the original characters.  And I can't wait!  

Dewey's Books: Into the Forest

For my fourth "Dewey's Book" I read Into the Forest by Jean Hegland.  

As a quick aside, the further I get into this challenge the more I feel like I would have loved Dewey.  I didn't know her at all when she was alive--I wasn't and still really am not part of the hardcore book blogging community.  But following in her footsteps, reading some of the books she read, seeing what she thought of them, and then comparing her thoughts to my own....it's almost like we're having a conversation.  And it's a conversation I'm very much enjoying.  Last week I went back through her entire blog and added several books to my to be read pile, in addition to the books I'd already picked out for this challenge.

This particular book seems to have been one of Dewey's favorites.  In answering a meme she once said:

Is there a book you absolutely love, but for some reason, people never think it sounds interesting, or maybe they read it and don’t like it at all? 

I really, really liked a book called Into the Forest by Jean Hegland, and it had great reviews, but whenever I tell someone about it, they generally don’t seem interested. 

She summarized the plot as follows:

The story is narrated by Nell, one of two sisters who are left alone in their house in the Northern California redwood forest after society virtually shuts down. Their mother dies of cancer before the loss of electricity, gas, stores, etc. After months of living off whatever they have stored and their garden, their father has an accident with his chainsaw and dies. The sisters have to figure out how to survive in complete isolation while waiting and hoping that things will get back to normal. Of course things never do get back to normal. Their gradual transformation from dependent teenagers to independent women living off the land is fascinating.

This is a book that's a little bit hard to describe for me.  It just....has a soul.  Does that make sense?

And maybe it's because I could see myself so vividly as Nell...the worrier, the planner, the one who reads books to make sense of the world.  

And I loved the way both sisters eventually grew--I get so frustrated with characters that don't!  At first they both continue their passions (for one sister, studying, for the other, ballet), as if the world will be normal and the "lights will just come back on" one day, but they gradually realize that's not going to happen, and the forest is now their world.  It seems like it might be boring, but watching them grow to accept their new lives, and watching their relationship change--well, it just did all the things to me that a good book should!

Thank you Dewey, wherever you are, for introducing me to such wonderful books....