go check out "the selected works of t.s. spivet" right now

I cannot adequately describe this book or recommend it highly enough.  I'm only about halfway through, so you have time to catch up if you go check it out right now.  Then we can talk about it.  I love this book something fierce.  It's like nothing I've ever read before.  It's not exciting, per se, but it is very interesting.

what I thought about "french women don't get fat"

I saw this book at the D.I. the other day for two bucks and snatched it up, because I remember the furor about it when it first came out.  I am amused by our country's ambivalent attitude toward France and all things French--either we hate them for being cheese-eating surrender monkeys or fetishize their perceived superior taste.  Obviously France doesn't have all the answers any more than America does, but what little I've read about their gastronomic culture makes me think they've got some things worked out pretty well.

I really enjoyed this book, and I think it is full of good advice.  I appreciate the French attitude about food, and I was thankful to see that no real food is demonized.  I was also thankful to have her blow the lid off the absurd perception that French people eat copious amounts of mille-feuille and duck confit while remaining tantalizingly slim--they succeed in maintaining a healthy weight by the revolutionary method of eating proper portions of a wide variety of food with a high percentage of seasonal fruits and vegetables, being physically active, and getting enough rest.  Seriously, could people just take a quick glance at the WoW?

Anyhoodle, I went in expecting an annoying hagiography of the alluring, mystical French Woman (which, to be honest, it leans a bit toward), but it was a useful, entertaining book with recipes that I look forward to trying.  Recommend.