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Infinite Country by Patricia Engel | Thoughts

   Published : 2021   ||    Format : print   ||    Location : Colombia ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆   What was it about the country that kept everyone hostage to its fantasy? The previous month, on its own soil, an American man went to his job at a plant and gunned down fourteen coworkers, and last spring alone there were four different school shootings. A nation at war with itself, yet people still spoke of it as some kind of paradise.. Thoughts : Infinite Country follows two characters - young Talia, who at the beginning of this book, escapes a girl’s reform school in North Colombia so that she can make her previously booked flight to the US. Before she can do that, she needs to travel many miles to reach her father and get her ticket to the rest of her family. As we follow Talia’s treacherous journey south, we learn about how she ended up in the reform school in the first place and why half her family resides in the US. Infinite Country tells the story of her family through the other protagonist, El

Leif Reads: Coop - A Year of Poultry, Pigs, and Parenting


Leif Reads
Happy Earth Day, folks! Ideally on this day, people across the world take a minute to think about the impact our many actions have upon the world. You can choose to do anything at all today - spend an hour unplugged (disconnect all those appliances, your computers and maybe corner a sweet spot in your house with your books), convert someone in your life to actively rather than passively be more eco-aware, or you can choose to contribute online.

After a break of three weeks, Leif Reads has returned with our next book - Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs, and Parenting by Michael Perry. This time, we're doing something different and light. Rather than a purely technical book, we are reading a memoir - of a guy who returns to a rural life of farming and agriculture. I can't somehow fathom doing something like that - I am mostly a city person, but not a big-city person. I like the quiet suburban life but I can't imagine doing gardening or farming. Mainly because I never grew up in that kind of life. Besides, bugs frighten me. So reading this book is kind of refreshing - it's doable, but there are trade-offs. Besides, I have heard of a lot of people doing precisely that and come across many such memoirs (Novella Carpenter's Farm City, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver). This book is chosen not to start a mass boycott of cities and urban life (I like to overestimate my influence sometimes) but simply to learn what motivates such people and how we could do it, if we wanted to. Frankly, it's just to encourage farming/gardening (and not be scared of the wee bugs).

Slow Death by Rubber Duck

I can't wait to read this and discuss it. Ash has the first post up on her blog. Head on over there to check her post.

Comments

Nicole said…
I love books like this. Have you read The Bucolic Plague by Josh Kilmer Purcell? SO much fun.
hcmurdoch said…
I am so not a farm girl. It would probably be really good for me to spend time on a farm or in the wilderness to get me accustomed to the bugs, hard physical work, etc.
BibliophilebytheSea said…
Someone suggested this one a while back and I thought nah, but I've been reconsidering....enjoy
Juju at Tales of Whimsy... said…
O I bet I would love the audio book of this one.
Misha said…
Happy Earth Day to you! I have always been a city person too, but my father's family have a farm (in Kerala) - it's so peaceful and pretty.
Stephanie D. said…
I loved Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - it inspired me to patronize truly local establishments, ones that made most products in-house.
Kim (Sophisticated Dorkiness) said…
I hope you enjoyed Coop -- I think Michael Perry is a funny writer, and I enjoyed this book quite a bit when I read it last year.
Marie said…
Coop sounds like so much fun- so interesting and entertaining. I'm going to look for it!
Athira / Aths said…
I remember reading some awesome reviews of The Bucolic Plague, so I have it in my TBR. Thanks for reminding about it, I'm going to check it out sooner.
Athira / Aths said…
I tell myself the same thing - that I should try get more intimate with nature and stop being so squeamish about a lot of things. My ancestral home is actually set beside a farm, and the house used to be visited by slugs, snails, snakes, worms, etc very often. My cousin who grew up there barely notice them, but I run in the opposite direction shrieking like a banshee.
Athira / Aths said…
I guess this will make great listening! It does look very entertaining.
Athira / Aths said…
I can relate - both my parents' homes are beside farms - so they grew up closer to the earth. Me, not so much.
Athira / Aths said…
I love it when books like these bring about some change in us - a little bit at a time. I have heard that Kingsolver's book is very inspirational in that aspect.
Athira / Aths said…
I am still reading this one, but yes, I am totally enjoying it - it's fun!
Athira / Aths said…
It is very interesting! I wasn't expecting to be so pulled into it.