Silent Spring

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson is one of those books you always hear about, but never read. I knew it was groundbreaking and important... it had to be to show up so many times in my science textbooks and I never took the time to read it, because I totally knew what it was all about. Like water quality and stuff. Turns out, I never quite knew what Silent Spring was about... until I read it.

For some reason, I always thought the title referred to a spring of water, and it was silent in the "silent but deadly" way because the water was secretly poisoned. Um, you probably already knew this... but "silent spring" refers to the season of the year and its silence... because the insecticides have killed off all the wild life. I'm glad to have gotten that all cleared up.

Alright, so Silent Spring was/is an amazing look at how arrogant humans are in their dealing with nature. How humans have disrupted the natural workings of the ecosystem in an attempt to manipulate a system that has developed over millions of years. How humans most often attempt the "easy fix" of using harsh chemicals to fix an otherwise minor nuisance. More than once I wanted to bang my head against the wall and shake the shoulders of the decision makers of the 1950s and '60s. In some communities, dead wildlife and pets covered the land in the days after spraying... but some other culprit was to blame. Seriously?

This passage on sheep (taken from the Natural History Survey) really got to me, not to mention the robins.

The sheep were lead to graze in a pasture across the road with one that had been treated with dieldrin.

"They lost interest in food and displayed extreme restlessness, following the pasture fence around and around apparently searching for a way out... [They] refused to be driven, bleated almost continously, and stood with their heads lowered; they were finally carried from the pasture... They displayed great desire for water. Two of the sheep were found dead in the stream passing through the pasture, and the remaining sheep were repeatedly driven out of the stream several having to be dragged forcibly from the water."

All that... and they were only NEXT TO a treated pasture. Shocking proof that chemicals cannot be contained and have a larger impact than calculated.

Recommendation: Naturally on the list of any environmentalist. I would have liked to read the anniversary edition, because I suspect it might mention the fallout of Silent Spring's publication over the years.

[I can't turn off the italics, it's driving me crazy!]

Youth in Revolt

Youth in Revolt: The Journals of Nick Twisp by C. D. Payne starts off with a bang and takes you on a wild ride. The first two parts I couldn't stop reading it... did not want to put it down. The third and final part took a little more effort... but that could be a matter of taste. I've never been entertained by crossdressing.

Nick is your typical 14 year old loser who very diligently keeps a journal. We are lucky enough to read his entries from July to January. The entries reveal that Nick is longing for independence and most desperately a girlfriend. When his mother and her truck driver boyfriend take Nick on vacation to a lakeside trailer park, Nick meets the girl who will soon become his unraveling. In a matter of days Nick is in love... although it's not quite clear how Sheeni feels about him. The remaining 350 pages detail the lengths Nick is willing to go to .

Although the story was entertaining and wildly far-fetched, it's difficult to empathize with the main character (Nick) when he's ruining his life for a highly annoying and phony character (Sheeni). Yet, it is clear that Payne intends for Sheeni to give this impression, perhaps to highlight how motivating love can be?

Good news for Michael Cera fans! Youth in Revolt is becoming a movie with Cera taking on the role of Nick (I would assume). This follows Cera's role as Nick in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, another young adult novel. I'm a little curious how producers will manage to take a nearly 500 page book and movie-ize it when large chunks went missing in the 200 pager.

Recommendation: Teenage angst is teenage angst but it's even more entertaining to read about teenage angst circa 1993.

The Willoughbys

The Willoughbys is a delightful little book by the ingenious Lois Lowry. I first came across it while browsing in a Scholastic catalog. The cover alone was enough for me to put it on my to be read list.

The Willoughbys are old fashioned children trying their best to become old fashioned orphans. Lowry pokes fun of classic chidren's literature by drawing on common elements to create absurd situations in her latest novel. I read this book on a plane ride (finishing right as we landed) and noticed myself laughing out loud several times. A few favorite parts include the Willoughby's reaction to a baby being left on their doorstep and Tim's (the eldest) cleverly devised games.

Lowry's word choice is delightfully old fashioned and sophsitcated. She provides a kid-friendly glossary at the end, which was a pleasure to read. There are always those words that you know the meaning of... but could never explain. Examples include: obfuscate, odious, irascible, and lugubrious. Beautiful words we don't hear very often.

In addition to the glossary Lowry includes a bibliography of all the books she references in The Willoughbys. My favorite was her description of Little Women:

"Sisters Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy live with their mother, whom they call Marmee, while their father is off in the Civil War. They have many adventures and some misfortunes. Meg is mature and sensible. Jo is literary and boyish. Amy is vain and foolish. Beth is saintly and dies."

How matter of fact. I love it.

Recommendation: Do read it. You'll find yourself chuckling along.