On the Pile: Summer Reading

I finally finished all three papers. The last one got done just in the nick of time. To celebrate, I've been hitting the bookstore to stock up for the summer. Except, I'll be gone all summer. Oops. I leave in 9 days to spend 10 weeks in Malawi.

In the meantime, though, here's what I'm reading:

Now reading: Plenty by Alisa Smith and J. B. Mackinnon. A couple of crazy Canadanians (is there any other kind?) decide to eat only foods that originate within a 100-mile radius of their home. The book is highly readable and informative, although I'm starting to find that, like most things, the more I read on any topic, the more redundant each reading becomes. And I think I like Alisa's chapters more than J. B.'s; she seems to be a little more honest about how hard this 100-mile diet is.

I'm definitely not ready to jump on the 100-mile diet bandwagon; eating locally is a great goal, but it is also time consuming and expensive. But, in a crazy coincidence, just a few days after I bought this book, the UW Web site posted a story about some students who created a 100-mile diet map for Madison. Maybe when I get back from Malawi and I'm feeling nostalgic for the local markets there, I'll check out some of the places on the map.

On Deck: Detective Story by Imre Kertesz and Before I Die by Jenny Downham. I started both of these about two months ago, but school stuff got in the way.

Added to the Pile: In some sort of fit of optimism that I would have time to read this summer, I recently picked up All the Sad Young Literary Men by Keith Gessen and Maps and Legends by Michael Chabon. I have to admit that I picked up the Chabon soley for the cover and the acknowledgments page.

For Malawi: I've started setting aside a few books to take with me for the summer. I've resolved to be realistic and take only 10 books---one for each week. I'm also trying to be practical by packing only paperbacks. Here's what I've got in the Malawi Pile so far:

1. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
2. Animal Farm by George Orwell
3. Encountering Development by Auturo Escobar
4. Orientalism by Edward Said
5. Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen

I've got five slots left. Any suggestions?