'Walden' by Henry David Thoreau

Walden is a book that doesn’t really need to be reviewed at this point – it is well-known enough that many have already read it, or at least they know a lot about it. Walden is the story of Thoreau's time living in a small cabin on Walden pond in Massachusetts. He contructs his own home in the most affordable way possible and lives by eating the most economical foods available, for example he grows his own field of beans. A common misconception may be that some people believed that Thoreau lived in isolation in his cabin, though the truth is that he had frequent visitors and he walked to town nearly every day.

I feel compelled to write about Thoreau's experience, because his life was in many ways an inspiration for other books that I've read recently. Both Siesta Lane and The Dirty Life are books about people who want to simplify and connect with their environment in a more meaningful way. Are you interested in living more simply or naturally? Walden is a great starting point.

Walden is available in the Lincoln College Library!

‘Dead Reckoning’ by Charlaine Harris

The most recent installment in Charlaine Harris’s Southern Vampire series has been eagerly anticipated by fans. This is likely due in part to the fact that HBO’s True Blood, which is based on the series, has become incredibly popular. Most of our recurring characters are back as we expect them, many with problems that we’re already familiar with, some with new problems.

Sookie Stackhouse, of course, is at the center of it all. The book begins with disasters at the bar, conflicts with the new ruler of Louisiana, and Sookie’s boy problems. Loyal readers will probably feel comfortably familiar with the plot and setting, as nothing much changes. Unfortunately, there were instances in the book in which Harris attempts to throw in some annoying new slang – like ‘twoey’ for the two-natured shape-shifters – the result is completely underwhelming. But this is minimal. Most will finish the book wondering what will be next for everyone’s favorite cocktail waitress.

Sadder than it should have been

Joshua Ferris’s first novel Then We Came to an End (PS3606 .E774 T47 2008b), about office workers at a failing advertising agency, was a donation from a former Florence instructor. When I finally noticed it, how could I ignore the front-cover blurbs: “Entertaining”; “Engrossing”; “Very Funny”? I took it home and pleasantly wasted about three hours with it.

The most useful thing I learned was the phrase “walking Spanish down the hall,” which is the agency’s office slang for walking down the hall to your boss’s office at the request of an email. For some people, the request comes as a huge surprise; others pretty much expected it. While you’re in the boss’s office getting laid off, your email and intranet access are being turned off, and Security is preparing a box so you can take home your personal stuff.

At this office, the people being fired don’t respond that well. One ignores the firing and returns the next day to attend a meeting. One comes back a few weeks later dressed as a clown and evades the guards who have been specifically assigned to keep him away from the now nearly empty (because of the lay-offs) fifty-ninth floor.

The layoffs end—for no reason I can tell—on September 10, 2001 (get it?), and then the book flashes forward to 2006. There’s been some death, but most of the characters have moved on reasonably happily with their lives, which is reassuring though perhaps more credible as a plot device than as something that would happen in life.