'A petting zoo where the animals have opposable thumbs'

Here's a wonderful profile of Miriam Toews, author of A Complicated Kindness, an autobiographical novel of life in a northern Canadian Mennonite community. Says the protagonist:

"We're Mennonites. As far as I know, we are the most embarrassing sub-sect of people to belong to if you're a teenager ... A Mennonite telephone survey might consist of questions like, would you prefer to live or die a cruel death, and if you answer 'live' the Menno doing the survey hangs up on you. Imagine the least well-adjusted kid in your school starting a breakaway clique of people whose manifesto includes a ban on the media, dancing, smoking, temperate climates, movies, drinking, rock'n'roll, having sex for fun, swimming, make-up, jewellery, playing pool, going to cities, or staying up past nine o'clock. That was Menno all over."

And also from The Guardian, this profile of author Edward Abbey.