Author Archives: beckyajohnson
Coming to Ground Film + Connecting with Local Food Systems
I cannot remember exactly when my interest in sustainable and healthy food systems began, but it has grown as a result of reading books like In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto and watching compelling documentaries such as Food, Inc. I gave up shopping … Continue reading
Criminal Crafts + Macabre Gingerbread People
I first saw the book Criminal Crafts: Outlaw Projects for Scoundrels, Cheats, and Armchair Detectives in the gift shop during my recent visit to the Mob Museum in Las Vegas. I am a huge fan of craft books with off kilter … Continue reading
The Round House
In November 2012 Louise Erdrich’s novel The Round House was awarded the National Book Award for Fiction, beating out a rather competitive field. This was the 14th novel from this award-winning Native American author. I hadn’t previously read any of her work, but after … Continue reading
Le Divorce
While I was in Las Vegas for Christmas, my father gave me a paperback copy of the novel Le Divorce, which he had just finished reading. He said the main character–a young woman who has recently relocated from California to … Continue reading
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Of the 40+ books I read in 2012, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks has probably been my favorite. In the 1950s doctors took cells from a thirty-one year old African-American woman dying from cervical cancer, without her consent or her family’s … Continue reading
Becky A. Johnson 