MobileRead April 2010 Mobile Read Book Club Vote

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by thinkpadx

Iceland might be hard sell, I thought they were more into Icelandic horses and fish . The closest I've gotten to a chicken farm was when I worked on a Kibbutz for 5 months. I saw the big barn where they kept all the the chickens but that was about it. I was tremendously releaved that I wasn't the one who had to chop off there heads.

Okay now you've done it. Squeemish need not read the rest.....


















I grew up on a (chicken) farm. And one of the annual tasks was to kill, clean and freeze chicken for the family. There was no chopping involved, dad would grab the chickens by the head and whirl them around literally wring their necks pulling the head from the body, they'd flop around spurting blood everywhere til they were completely dead and we'd then clean, butcher and package. I was just a kid, maybe 8/9 years old and wasn't really strong enough to emulate my dad so all I could do was stand on their head and pull to get the same result!

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by thinkpadx

I'm ready, haven't read through the whole book yet and I'm starting to wonder when the comedy will show up. Reading about chickens has a somewhat limited fun factor

Are you on Jon's payroll?

Originally Posted by thinkpadx

I'm also having a hard time to relate since I'm not from the U.S. The surroundings of the book are unfamiliar to me.

I spent about a month in the area she writes about, and it is one of the most beautiful areas in the country. Mt. Rainier, Mt. Olympus, and Mt. St. Helens are incredibly breath-taking. If you ever get the chance, be sure and see them before Global Warming steals their icecaps. I've tried to interest my wife in visiting more than once.

The people there are also extremely outgoing, friendly, and open. Some of the nicest I've met anywhere.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by kennyc

I grew up on a (chicken) farm. And one of the annual tasks was to kill, clean and freeze chicken for the family. There was no chopping involved, dad would grab the chickens by the head and whirl them around literally wring their necks pulling the head from the body, they'd flop around spurting blood everywhere til they were completely dead and we'd then clean, butcher and package. I was just a kid, maybe 8/9 years old and wasn't really strong enough to emulate my dad so all I could do was stand on their head and pull to get the same result!

Ouch! I hope you were heavy enough to at least squash the brain quickly enough to render them unconscious.... Honestly, it does sound a less than ideal way of slaughtering chickens.

The chicken farm we lived on when I was six, was more like modern ones (it was in '78/'79) and the chickens were taken away for slaughter. Before we had the chicken farm, my father kept dwarf chickens on a hobby basis which he'd slaughter himself, but I've later learned my mother was squeamish enough to keep me and my brother away when he chopped their neck At that age, I'm pretty sure I would have been fascinated But, at least I never learned to think that food comes from the supermarket

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by thinkpadx

Is there a link to a thread for discussing this book, or is the discussion taking place in this thread?

I was planning to start it on the 18.th... but I can start it now if you want. Doesn't matter to me.

BOb

[Ea]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I was planning to start it on the 18.th... but I can start it now if you want. Doesn't matter to me.

BOb

Nah, isn't it kind of tradition to wait until around the 20th? The 3rd is kind of early - for example, I was planing to read it in a week or so.

@thinkpadx: you can take notes - I do that Can't properly remember a thing anyway if I don't.

[thinkpad]

Originally Posted by Ea

you can take notes - I do that Can't properly remember a thing anyway if I don't.

Yes I've started marking some sections from the book I found interesting.

I was planning to start it on the 18.th

Probably not such a bad idea to wait. I mean I haven't finished reading it either so perhaps I should wait hauling out comments before I've reached the end to draw my final conclusions.

[thinkpad]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I spent about a month in the area she writes about, and it is one of the most beautiful areas in the country. Mt. Rainier, Mt. Olympus, and Mt. St. Helens are incredibly breath-taking. If you ever get the chance, be sure and see them before Global Warming steals their icecaps. I've tried to interest my wife in visiting more than once.

Yes so much I've gathered from the book: that the scenery looks beautiful.

I tried to find the area from the book on a map but there seems to be some confusion I get more hits for Crested Butte than Butte itself.

If someone knows the area and could point it out on a map I would appreciate it.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by thinkpadx

Yes so much I've gathered from the book: that the scenery looks beautiful.

I tried to find the area from the book on a map but there seems to be some confusion I get more hits for Crested Butte than Butte itself.

If someone knows the area and could point it out on a map I would appreciate it.

Try Googling "Olympic National Park".

Here is the Wikipedia link.

Alternately, you could head down to Zürich, take a right, drive 8,470 km, and get off on the exit marked "Olympic National Park". It's in the upper left-hand corner of the U.S.; you can't miss it!

[beppe]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Try Googling "Olympic National Park".

Here is the Wikipedia link.

Alternately, you could head down to Zürich, take a left, drive 8,470 km, and get off on the exit marked "Olympic National Park". It's in the upper left-hand corner of the U.S.; you can't miss it!

Left?
the poor guy will end up in Novosibirsk if he doesn't get lost crossing the Urals!
You have to make amend now.

That part of America is Heaven. I remember the first time I went to Seattle. Getting off the airplane, right there on the tarmac I could smell the pine forest.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by beppe

Left?
the poor guy will end up in Novosibirsk if he doesn't get lost crossing the Urals!
You have to make amend now.

That part of America is Heaven. I remember the first time I went to Seattle. Getting off the airplane, right there on the tarmac I could smell the pine forest.

You're right! And I meant to say right since he's coming from Norway, I just got turned around. It's corrected now. It is to the left of Zürich as you look on the map, but he would be making a right turn from Norway.

[beppe]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

... he would be making a right turn from Norway.

Good man!

I feel much better now. Imagine the poor guy all the way in first gear across the Siberian meltdown surrounded by a thick cloud of black flies. With you and me on the beach, leisurely sipping frozen Margaritas, or whatever pleases you. Be my guest.

[thinkpad]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Try Googling "Olympic National Park".

There comes a section in the book where Mount Olympus is mentioned when they're out on a field trip.

[kennyc]

I'm about 30 pages in, started it during my lunch-time walk. Quite interesting characters so far!

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by kennyc

I'm about 30 pages in, started it during my lunch-time walk. Quite interesting characters so far!

A bit over halfway.

[dreams]

Finished and now starting P. G. Wodehouse's, Love Among the Chickens.

Approximately, 20 years earlier and a UK comic fiction.