Reading BIG, Reading small . . .

"I think that's the longest I've seen you take to read a book," said John the other day. 

I've been pecking away at this weighty (in both senses of the word) tome for weeks now. The ideas are so big that it works best for me to read a bit, usually after breakfast,  and have the rest of the day to digest what I've read before moving on to the next bite.

Well, what would you expect from a book subtitled A Brief History of Humankind? 

There's a lot of ground to cover--a hundred thousand years, give or take--during which Homo sapiens--that's us--emerged as the dominant life form, sending into oblivion the other humans such as Neanderthals and Denisovans, along with an appalling toll of animal species. 

Harari traces the path of this juggernaut Sapiens through prehistory and history, arguing that it was the evolution of imagination that allowed Sapiens to cooperate with one another, to believe in intangibles like gods, nations, and money and, ultimately human rights.

It's a fascinating look at where we've been and how we got where we are. It also provides some sobering questions about our future (as if we didn't already have enough.)

One of many books I also read, almost like a palate cleanser while I was consuming the banquet of Sapiens, was Elizabeth Gilbert's Pilgrims. A collection of excellent short stories about modern day Sapiens, each story is a microcosm of the human condition--the imagination and the capability for cooperation (for good or evil) that got us where we are today. 

I found myself thinking, as I often have, how much truth there is in fiction.

Two Surprises

I was one of a handful of reading women who didn't adore Gilbert's mega-bestseller memoir Eat, Pray, Love, being a little annoyed with the premise that the answer to a failed marriage was travel -- nice, if you have the time and money but . . .

So I didn't leap on The Signature of All Things which has been around for some three years, till a friend brought it to me to speed my convalescence. 

And I had to revise my opinion of Gilbert -- I loved this densely layered novel. I loved the compelling story, the lush language, the idiosyncratic characters, the beautifully rendered settings -- all of it. 

Barbara Kingsolver's review HERE is excellent.

Another book from the same friend was Ruth Reichl's Delicious!  I've loved Reichl's books about food and was fully prepared to love this, her first novel. It was readable and fun in a predictable sort of way -- awkward girl comes to New York and, after a makeover finds love, along with her inner cook. 

It was a pleasant bit of fluff but a bit more like chick lit than I normally read. There is, however, a recipe for what sounds like a terrific gingerbread cake. 

Here's a review HERE that is harsher than I would have been but that, nonetheless, seems accurate to me.