12. Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer

Since finals are finally finis (get it? I crack myself up), I can rededicate myself to this reading endeavor. My other New Years Resolutions were quickly forgotten, as they usually are, but this one I refuse to give up on.

Jonathan Safran Foer, husband of my favorite author Nicole Krauss, is known primarily for his fiction, but in this book he discusses the ethical implications of feeding his son meat.

In the book, he writes about how when people found out he was writing a book about eating animals they assumed he was writing a defense of vegetarianism. The same thing happened to me – everyone assumed that any book about eating animals could not come down in the practice's favor. I agree with him that this speaks volumes about the way we relate to omnivorism. People don't expect to hear good things about it, and Foer's book brings little good news.

I really enjoyed this book. Foer's skills as a novelist serve him well. He frames the story within his own life – his own memories of holidays and family dinners, his own concerns for his son. This keeps the book from getting too preachy.

But in the end, the picture is grim. Factory farming sucks guys. I'm not sure how you can read this book and still eat meat. Foer provides plenty of selfish and selfless reasons to stop: Surely one will hit you.

Read this book if you want to be challenged. Sorry, I feel like this is all coming off as slightly pretentious, but this is one of those books I want everyone to read so no one can plead ignorance. It's too important.