Blight: Alexandra Duncan

This was a great Young adult book about a world where Monsanto basically rules the agricultural land and children are raised in societies to protect the genetically modified foods. suddenly there is an explosion and a blight destroys the one facility and continues to spread. Tempest Torres is one of the only survivors and struggles with what to do next, work with the next facility or become a fugitive and try to warns small farms of the spreading doom.

The Turncoat's Gambit: Andrea Cremer

My Empire of Dirt: Manny Howard

This was an amusing story of one man's journey to feed himself for one month from only his suburban "farm" which I think was 40 feet. He battles with first his yard, which is clay and seemingly toxic based on his neighbor's soil sample, and then the animals. He is frustrated with his inexperience of farming and at times I feel sorry for him, until he kills the rabbit out of anger because it is biting him- there seem to be so many useless deaths that is was heartbreaking. It was also bizarre that his wife is so upset with him during his "experiment" but then there was the picture of the maggot infested rabbit on their kitchen floor that I realized he really didn't understand why his wife was upset. I would have been even madder than she was as I assume there were a lot of those type episodes, dragging all kinds of crap in the house. In the end I think he is able to get through the month after a week of food poisoning, and then a tornado destroys most of his plants. I especially liked his relationship with Caleb while they try to figure out what to do at times. This was an enjoyable read, but not for one who is knowledgeable in animal husbandry as they'd feel extremely helpless, sort of like Manny.

Edible Exhile: Carl Hiaasen

This was a very short story about the racketeers during the Nicaraguan revolution and the Iran-Contra affair. The head man's side kick happens to meet another black market person who is able to actually get food to the freedom fighters when his boss couldn't. Suddenly he realizes his boss is pocketing most of the money. He takes his boss and his boss' banker and drops them in the ocean.