Book Club

Even though it's been sunny and 80 for the past week, and it looks like it will continue to be so for the foreseeable future, it is January. And where I come from, January means curling up with a good book and cup of hot chocolate. Some habits are hard to break. I've read a lot this month--and not just sheep books. A few books worth a glance:

Peace at Heart: An Oregon Country Life, by Barbara Drake. This is a collection of short, charming, and interesting essays about life on a small sheep farm. The author and her husband moved to the country after living most of their lives in the city.

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein. This Malcolm Gladwell-esque book sheds light on how we make choices and, thus, how to prevent making mistakes (financial, social, and health-related).

Still Life with Chickens: Starting Over in a House by the Sea, by Catherine Goldhammer. This memoir traces the author's move from a manicured suburb to a ramshackle New England town with her teenaged daughter and their six chickens.

Growing a Farmer: How I Learned To Live Off the Land, by Kurt Timmermeister. The author owned several cafes in Seattle before moving an hour outside the city and starting a small dairy farm on 13-acres.