I wanted to take a minute to highly recommend Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad.

I came across this book in a fairly serendipitous manner. Having driven to the airport much earlier than expected, I found that I forgot to pack a book for my flight. I spent a good 15 minutes scanning the titles in the airport version of Powell’s Books. I finally ran across Goon Squad on a display, announcing its recent reception of the Pulitzer Prize for 2011. I decided to give it a shot.

I knew I had done right by myself when, while checking out, the store attendant gushed, “I just finished this. It’s so good.”

Goon Squad is, in essence, a coming of age novel. It is centered around a mid-size punk rock record label owner in NYC, and branches out to various associates and acquaintances of his.

I say branch out because what is truly remarkable about this book is its novel structure.  You find yourself bouncing from character to character, back and forth through time, all while piecing together each and every character’s puzzle.

You’d think that this kind of structure would limit the character development, and in turn, limit your empathy for the many characters you encounter, but it truly doesn’t. This is a testament to Jennifer Egan’s talent.

Please pick up this book.  You won’t be sorry.

In a word, The Dark Side by Jane Mayer is shocking.  It’s shocking even for the hardest cynic and fiercest Bush critic.

Jane Mayer has compiled the most comprehensive and damning exposé of detainee treatment during the Bush Administration.  The level of detail and inside knowledge that was presented on the inner workings of the CIA, DoD, State, DOJ, and the White House is nothing short of astounding.

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I actually finished this book quite some time ago, but never found the time to do the review, so here we go.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan is one of those books that, once you’re finished, you wish you never read (but in a good way).  This book is part chilling expose, part utopian idealism, and part novelty.  The entire first section of the book on the industrial food chain will definitely scar you for life, and be a perpetual thought in your brain during every subsequent McDonald’s visit.  It’s also a very clear, and compelling, indictment of current farm subsidy policies.

The second portion of the book deals with the special case of a farmer named Joel Salatin and his farm, Polyface, Inc.  Joel considers himself a “grass farmer,” and uses the grass to raise chickens, cows, and pigs.  This is the utopia portion, and man, is it sweet, especially after the horror of the preceding section.

The final part of the book I found completely fascinating.  It dealt with a modern hunter-gatherer food chain, but mainly consisted of his encounters with mushroom “hunters” (yes, hunters), and his own personal experience hunting feral pigs in northern California.

The lessons from this book are clear, but the solutions do not immediately present themselves.  Pollan makes a very compelling case that the industrial food chain is really awful.  It’s bad for farmers, it’s bad for the local environment, it’s bad for global warming, and it’s bad for your health.  The problem is there’s no clear path out of this mess we’ve made.  The bottom line is that if we want to move away from “growing” meat on the bones of animals, it’s going to end up costing more.  That’s the hard fact to swallow.

What is very clear after reading this book is that something definitely needs to be done about farm subsidies in this country.  The way the system is currently set up is plain ludicrous, and we should revert back to our pre-1970′s legislation, that actually encouraged farmers to adjust their crops to fit market demand, instead of encouraging them to grow as much as possible no matter what.

I found this book extremely enjoyable and I highly recommend it to y’all.