Book Thing

Go me! I finished a book! I've been working on this puppy for a while. I really enjoyed our visit to Pompeii on our honeymoon (over a decade ago, good lord, how did I get so old?) so I thought I might enjoying reading a book about daily life pre-eruption.

I did enjoy the first half of the book quite a bit. But the second half kind of dragged. That might have been me more than the book though because for some reason the topic of art can bore me like nobody's business. Once I hit the "art in Pompeii" chapter, I think I checked out and never really fully came back to it. Probably because the art chapter was followed by the politics chapter. Even more fun! (No. Not fun.)

But still, there were neat bits in it and I did learn things, which is always good. My biggest takeaway? Archeologists make things up. A lot. Second biggest? They ate mice. Little bitty, big-eyed mice. Apparently this is a well-known thing but I did not know this thing. Now I do. I consider myself a fairly adventurous eater (or at least I used to be when eating was more friendly to me) but I'm not entirely sure how I feel about eating mice.

Speaking of eating things, have you heard of the new "alternative" protein source that is apparently gaining headway? Crickets. No, really. Crickets.

I have not tried cricket anything (yet?). I'm honestly not sure I'm brave enough. Crickets kind of creep me out (I blame this on a massive cricket infestation the summer I worked at the mall. Crickets everywhere. You could not walk without constant, loud crunching. It gives me the chills just thinking about it now.) and this creep-factor apparently transfers to food made from crickets. I think it would be easier for me to sample cooked mouse than cooked (or ground) cricket.