The book I have chosen to review for the campaign is Sustainable Sushi, a guide to saving the oceans one bite at a time by Casson Trenor.
I have mentioned a couple of times here how I am a sushi lover. If fact, I could eat sushi every day and live happily ever after. Except the oceans wouldn't be as happy as my tummy. The truth is that the way many of our favourite sushi staples such as the bluefin tuna and the eel have been heavily overfished to supply for their ever-growing demand have affected the ecosystems and are in danger of threatening their survival.
This is something anyone could have guessed. After all we are used to being told that the our world is being squeezed out to its limits and it's running out of resources. But did you know that it's not just wild fishing to blame and that fish farms (or at least some types) are just as dangerous? Do you know the difference between trolling, purse seine and long line fishing? Have you ever wondered where your delicious maguro sashimi come from and how it has been caught?
Personally I knew little about these issues before reading this book. I had a sort of idealistic idea in my head that eating fish is better than eating meat, because it's less polluted, or because it doesn't involve industrial farming. Clearly I was wrong. Very wrong.
This little but informative - and surprisingly entertaining - guide does a wonderful job in debunking these myths and in providing an unforgiving view on the state of our oceans. Thankfully, at the same time, it provides us with a choice. It doesn't tell us "Stop eating sushi now". Instead it offers valid alternatives which promise to be just as good. It also invites us to be more inquisitive at the sushi bar counter. If you want to know whether your salmon is wild or farmed, the only way to find out is by asking!
Ultimately, it encourages us to be more aware. To think with our minds and not just with our gluttony.
The format of the book is an A to Z to the most popular shushi choices. For each it gives a concise but well-researched profile which includes informations on how and where they are caught, whether or not they're an endangered species, and whether or not they are at high mercury risk. It also has great colourful illustrations for each fish.
At the end there's a short section on sushi packaging and its recycling. Again, I found myself realising how little I know about this topic.
But my favourite part was, possibly, the very last one. A small section called "Taking it further", where the author suggests some vegan and vegetarian options for our handmade sushi rolls. Some ideas include sweet potatoes, mushrooms, and even strawberries. I can't wait to try them all out.
Even though I agree with the author when he says that changing the eating habits of few individuals isn't the magic solution for every problem, I also agree about what he says after: The point of this book is to help you start thinking about sustainability in all aspects of life.
I think it has worked on me so far. I feel like there's a big dark hole in my knowledge that needs to be filled. I want to be more aware of how our world works and what I can do to make it work better. I hope it will push lots more people to do the same.
My only complain is that this book is very much US-oriented. It has been written by a North-American guy for a North-American audience. And although I am interested in knowing how fish farms work in the US, it doesn't always help in making a responsible choice here, at my local sushi bar. It's still a valuable introduction on the topic and I will treasure it for this, but I will have to make my own research locally, to know more details.
A bit of information on the author:
From saving the whales of the Antarctic to studying the salmon of Alaska, Casson Trenor has worked to support stewardship of our marine resources in all five oceans and countless seas. Trenor has extensive experience and expertise: he has stalked the fetid warehouses of Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, spent two months journeying by ship along the Antarctic coast, berthed on leaking wrecks off Central Pacific islands, and gone octopus fishing with holy men on the Island of Yap. In thousands of conversations with fishermen around the world, he has heard one statement repeated: “The fish are gone.” Born in Seattle and living in San Francisco, Trenor speaks five languages, has traveled to over forty countries, and holds an MA in International Environmental Policy from the prestigious Monterey Institute of International Studies. He is a top consultant for the first fully sustainable sushi restaurant in the United States: Tataki Sake and Sushi Bar in San Francisco. Sustainable Sushi is a culmination of Trenor’s life work.
If interested, you can purchase Sustainable Sushi at this link
And now head to the other 99 reviews that will be posted today for the campaign! That's a lot of reviews:)
Tuesday 10 November 2009
Green Books Campaign: Sustainable Sushi - a Guide to Saving the Oceans One Bite at a Time
Sunday 1 November 2009
NaNoWriMo - Day 1!
It's started! I've joined the National Novel Writing Month for the first time and I'm really excited about it!
I couldn't wait to start writing, I've been itching to see where my story will bring me for the past two weeks, and now the wait is over! Needless to say the reading and the blogging this month will be down to almost nothing (which is not a big change from what I've being doing to be honest! lol).
I know Chris and Amanda have joined. Has anybody else? Let's be buddies:)
Thursday 29 October 2009
More mini reviews
I was first drawn to this book after it won the National Book Award in the US. Then the cover and the post-war "noir" setting did the rest.
But as much as I enjoyed reading it, it didn't stay with me for long. I suspect that this is one of those ones that I'd have loved more at 13 or 14. It definitely reminds me of the YA books I used to read at that age anyway.
It wasn't so much a mystery as a coming of age story ( and aren't they all?) of a girl, Evie, who discovers first love, first heartbreak, and first painful clash with reality.
The writing was excellent, and so was the characterizations. I probably wasn't crazy about the story, as I was always waiting for something more exciting to happen, which it never did. Maybe that's why I was a little disappointed. Nevertheless, a good read.
How can you not love Paddington? He's a cuddly fuzzy little bear from Peru! And he loves jam sandwiches. And he's messy and curious and tries hard to be a good bear but he's always in trouble. I want to keep him! Enough said.
In the Hand of the goddess is the second book in the Song of the Lioness series by Tamora Pierce. Last year I read the first one, and although I wasn't crazy about the writing I enjoyed reading about a strong young woman who disguise herself as a boy to become a knight. I have a soft spot for fighting women (see Buffy to name one!) so I couldn't skip it.
A lot happens in this second book. Alanna takes part in her first war, faces the chamber of the ordeal, survives countless attacks from Duke Roger, both Prince Jonathan and the thief lord George fall for her, and she even tries on her first dress willingly!
There's so much happening that everything feels a bit rushed and sketchy. Times flies and before you know it Alanna is eighteen and almost ready to leave the school. Also, the fact that Duke Roger is behind everything bad that happens at court and beyond is so obvious that it's puzzling how anybody can't see it, even Alanna at times. But if you don't ask for anything deeper than a bit of "sword & sorcery" fun, then Alanna's adventures aren't the worst.
Done! Next time I'll try to post a proper, articulate and insightful review. Until then, goodnight:)
Saturday 17 October 2009
Lots of catching up to do
I'm still here! Gawwd I don't even know where to start! I've been reading great books lately and I can't wait to share my thoughts about them, but first I'll try to do a very speedy weedy catching up cause I can't bare to not say something about some of my favourite reads of the year. I wont' even pretend to post proper reviews, just residual impressions on stuff I've read up to 3 months ago...
I'll start with The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.
It's just every bit as good as everyone is saying. I started reading it on the plane to Sicily, and those two and a half hours passed completely unnoticed! This rarely happens. I'm nervous at every shake, and can't wait to get down. This time though, it went so smooth, I kinda wanted it to last a bit more so I could keep reading! It wasn't just about the story. The writing was just as captivating. So clever. And so heartbreaking. The movie didn't completely do justice to it, but it could have been much worse!
Next is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Another book that, if you haven't read, you probably are tired of hearing about. Gripping it was. Exciting, fast and moving, too. The only thing it wasn't was being unpredictable. You can pretty much guess the ending, although this won't stop you from frantically keep turning those pages. 
Catching Fire was just as exciting. I probably enjoyed it a bit more because I knew the characters and cared for them. And I honestly didn't know where it was going. I'm definitely looking forward to the third one, because the ending left it veeeery open to anything!
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I'm so not ready to talk about this book now. All I can say is that it was beautifully written and I didn't expect that. Also I don't think I understood it completely, especially the final part. It was bleak, melancholic, suffocating, but lyrical too. I think I should read it again one day, when I'm ready to take everything in.
This summer I've started reading a (kind of ) new author to me, Sandra Scoppettone. I read a couple of her young adult books when I was younger, but nothing more. She's more well known for her series centred around the lesbian detective Lauren Laurano and that's what I've been reading. Unfortunately the Italian publisher hasn't released them in the proper chronological order, so I didn't follow the time line, but even then, I completely enjoyed them. There's something about the summer+beach+crime fiction combination that I can't explain, but that just works so well for me. These books were especially easy to enjoy in the sun, although they deal with tough subject such as rape, aids and violence against women. They are always socially conscious, but also ironic and funny. The writing style wasn't very polished, but it didn't matter much. I loved reading about Lauren and her love of her life Kit. In the first book I read, Everything You Have Is Mine, they had been together for 11 years and still rocking it. It's not usual to find such attraction and intimacy in a long-term relationship, not even in fiction. I loved their relationship so much that the mystery didn't even matter that much in the end. In the second book I read, Let's face the music and die, the mystery was an utter disappointment because I guessed it from the start. But Lauren's personal story made it worth reading. There was so much tension, what with her dealing with the man who raped her years before, and at the same time dealing with her growing attraction toward a much younger woman, while Kip is away. I think Sandra Scoppettone put so much into these story-lines that forgot to put some mystery into the mystery itself!
In the first story, I loved seeing Lauren trying to come to terms with computers and technology. The book has been written during the early days of internet, and I have to say the word "bulletin board" didn't mean anything to me, but it has a central role in the story so I had to look it up. Seriously prehistoric internet stuff! She becomes an internet junkie later on, and with that I can relate:P
I recommend these books as a light read with some edge and some good gay romance. Unfortunately they're not easy to find in the shops, but maybe libraries still stock them?
OK, I'll finish here, cause I'm tired. I hope I'll manage to finish the catching up part soon, so that I can talk extensively about the latest amazing reads!
Saturday 26 September 2009
Slowly but surely...
I've finished a book! After starting I don't know how many books and never finishing them, I'm very proud of myself. It was the second volume in the Song of the Lioness series by Tamora Pierce, In the hand of the Goddess. It was alright, nothing earth-shattering, but it was such an easy read that I finally made through the last page. So for the next book I've decided to scrap the rules, and forget about Mt. "To be Read". I've picked The Knife of Never letting Go and so far it's going good. I still don't feel great, I'm going through some pretty hard times, but knowing that I can read again makes me feel a tiny bit better!
Saturday 19 September 2009
The Electric Picnic 2009
After few days away from the blogosphere, it's scary to come back and try to fit in again. So much it's been going on and I haven't been part of it. Not that I'm much of a blogger socialite, but looking at my 1000+ unread posts on my Reader, I feel overwhelmed and intimidated. I'll take a step at a time and just post some photos of the festival I was telling you about. It was so much more than I expected. It's not just about the music, even though the thing that will stay with me forever and which is standing out from the whole experience, was seeing Florence and the Machine live. I tried to get tickets to see them again in Dublin but it was physically impossible. They sold out in minutes. So here's few photos I took personally:
I also really enjoyed Julie Feeney. She's so unique, and such a great performer, even though ever so shy when it comes to the talking bits.
Another gig I loved was the Flaming Lips. Such a show!
But if I have to be perfectly honest, the reason that made me decide to go was the presence of my beloved drag queens. They had their own tent, called Poptopia, and they were amazing.
Photo taken from Facebook, can't remember from who!
Especially Veda Beaux Reves. She should be a huge rock star, she looked stunning on that stage and the reviewer on The Irish Times loved her too!
I was saying there was so much more than music. It's not called Music and Arts Festival for nothing.The whole festival was so artistic. It looked to me like a big fun fair for adults. Everywhere you turned there was something to photograph, especially in the Body and Soul Area. It was so pretty!
This is a part of the stage there.
This is me inside the sculpture of an elk!
This is Natasha's food stall. She makes everything completely raw, with no dairy, no wheat, no gluten, no sugar. And it's delicious. The chocolate cake was the best chocolate cake I've ever had. No kidding.
The rest of the food stalls were also really good, if not cheap. The tofu burgers at the Vegan and Vegetarian place were a favourite. So were the "bloody mary" crumpets at the Strumpets with Crumpets stall. I wish I took a picture of those. But my camera battery barely lasted to take pictures of Florence on the last day.
More pretty things on the stalls.
A new thing I tried there was the silent disco. SO MUCH FUN!
I bought myself a wholly hat because it was freezing at night. Here it is, where is sort of makes me look like a hobbit.
So many parents were carrying their kids around in these carts, and so many kids were dressed up as fairies. So cute:)
The ground was very very very very veeeeery muddy, sometimes resembling quick sands. It was great fun. You would have been very brave (or very foolish) not to wear a pair of wellies. I don't think I've ever seen that many people wearing wellies all in one place. The variety was incredible, I was jealous of basically every other girl who passed by me. I had nice pink flowery ones, but they leaked so I in the end I had to buy sensible green farmer-style ones, which weren't fashionable, but they kept me dry and warm!
I only have good memories about this festival. Even though the last day our tents got flooded, and we were covered in mud from head to toe and had to leave the tents there. Even though at night I barely got any sleep because the wankers beside us stayed up 24/7, drinking and being really annoying (I wondered if they saw anything else in the festival beside their gazebo). Even though I was freezing at night, and I didn't take any shower for 3 days, and my hair looked horrible all the time cause there was no power to use straighteners and if you wanted to use 10 minutes of hairdryer you had to pay 10 euro!
So despite all this, I can't complain one bit. It was awesome. I'd do it all again tomorrow. (although I'd bring warmer pjs, stronger tents and would find a quieter spot to camp!)
Thursday 10 September 2009
Blogging Break
I haven't written anything in a while. I haven't read much either. I start a book and then I put it down, and start another another one. I'm definitely not in the mood for reading, let alone talking about books. I hope this feeling goes away quickly because it doesn't feel like me. I want things to go back to normal, but I'm in such a state of internal turmoil these days, that I don't know when it will happen.
On the other hand music is easier, it makes me forget about things, and it heals.
I have been to a wonderful festival of music and arts called Electric Picnic last weekend, which happens in Ireland, in a big country field, like Glastonbury. It was my first time and it was amazing. I was walking in mud with wellies most of the time. We were camping out and barely got any sleep for three days. And it was all worth it!
I feel in love with Florence and the Machine. Such a powerful voice. I listen to her music on repeat now.
If you don't know her yet, check her out, but keep in mind that she sounds a million time better live. Mind-blowing!
Gotta go now, I'll be back to post some photos of the festival. And when things get calm again, I'll be a bookworm again.xxx
