Yeah, I know it is has been forever since I’ve finished anything. I’m sure I feel worse about it than you do but I’m starting to accept the fact that the brain is turning to mush. I just can’t wait for the day when I won’t care.
Perhaps that is why Julie & Julia is a perfect book for summer mush brain. It is another blog turned book chronicling the Julie/Julia project. One unhappy woman, stuck in annoying temp job, decides to learn how to cook French food by working her way through Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1. The real challenge: she will make all 524 recipes in one year. Every last one of them, even the aspics.
Aspics... I never thought I’d find anything more disgusting than calf brains as a culinary delight. The descriptions and the pain and horror Julie went through to complete that section of the cookbook set the bar pretty high. If you are like me and not an experienced French food connoisseur, aspic is where you take ingredients and place them into gelatin made out of meat stock. It’s jelly loaf. For some reason, it is the gelatin part I have a problem with. Why would you do that to perfectly good food? Jell-O should only be cherry flavoured and you should never add stuff to it (other than a dollop of whip cream if you are feeling fancy.) Now that I’ve got off my chest, after reading this book, I can respect the work that would go into a dish like that. If I should ever see one again, I won’t dismiss it out of hand and keep the shivers to a dull minimum.
I started the book about a couple weeks before the movie came out and was having problems getting through it but after seeing the movie this week, it helped encourage me to finish the last half. For the first time in the history of cinema, a movie actually compliments the book it was based on. The movie was great to give us more of Julia Child’s story, her life with Paul, her cooking, and her time in Paris. The book was great because it gave us more of Julie’s story, her life with Eric, her day job, her friends/family, and motivation on why would someone put themselves through something like this. You could read it as a post-September 11th look at New York and a piece of the emotional state of its citizens. Or if that is too deep for a summer read, one woman’s challenge to find her bliss brought on by impending dread of turning 30.
Personally, I’m really not a fan of cooking so I really shouldn’t even be reviewing this book. My general motto: can’t wait until all our nutritional requirements come in pill form. But I do like trying new food and restaurants so it has added to my appreciation in that sense.
Still staying away from aspics. Shiver.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Twilight by Stephanie Meyers
You’ll have to forgive me; it has been forever since I’ve written up a review of a book. But then, it has been awhile since I’ve read something I thought others might find even slightly interesting. Not that Twilight and the notion of interesting should be combined in the same sentence.
Basic story: girl moves to town to live with her father. Girl goes to school and she seems to be the best thing to hit town since the push-up bra ... She’s like catnip to all the boys. But there is one boy who doesn’t seem to like her at all and of course, he is the one she is most fascinated with. He’s different, his family is different, but she is not afraid of his otherworldly ways. He saves her life from an out-of-control car and thus begins the greatest teen romance of all time.
Sigh! I know that isn’t true. Romeo & Juliet was the greatest teen romance of all time. But there is something about this book that just makes me want to make outlandish statements and think I can get away with it. Granted, that notion is somewhat liberating but still, props to the master, Shakespeare. He knew teen angst like nobody’s business.
Twilight was so girly it freaked me out. Normally I like girly, it usually makes for good brain candy but warning: you will never get those brain cells back. I can forgive it for being girly. What I can’t forgive it for is being boring.
Once those two start having a relationship, it is as if the clock has stopped. I swear to god, there was a meadow scene where they were just sitting and it just went on and on and on. I have a friend that doesn’t like the shopping montage in movies, I personally hate the meadow scenes… I have no idea what they are supposed to represent. The spend forever getting to that damn meadow, you would have thought there would be something cool at the end of the journey… Nope, just vampire show and tell. We get to see Edward’s true nature and he has to be the most boring vampire ever put to print. He can kill grisly bears with his bare hands but we never get a sense of that fierceness. He has to be the safest bad-boy ever.
And Bella, I don’t know where to start with her. One, she is the most perfect teenage daughter of all time. She cooks, she cleans, she does the grocery shopping, and all the while maintaining top grades. If Stepford made children, they would be just like Bella. Two, her reaction to fear is non-reaction. Edward shouldn’t be mad about that, he should fear that his girlfriend has a neurological disorder. And three, she really needs to be less self-sacrificing. That death wish thing she has going on is very disturbing.
Ultimately, these books should not be read by anyone whose age is not ending in the word “teen”. As for everyone else, just don’t go there and pick up some Shakespeare instead.
Basic story: girl moves to town to live with her father. Girl goes to school and she seems to be the best thing to hit town since the push-up bra ... She’s like catnip to all the boys. But there is one boy who doesn’t seem to like her at all and of course, he is the one she is most fascinated with. He’s different, his family is different, but she is not afraid of his otherworldly ways. He saves her life from an out-of-control car and thus begins the greatest teen romance of all time.
Sigh! I know that isn’t true. Romeo & Juliet was the greatest teen romance of all time. But there is something about this book that just makes me want to make outlandish statements and think I can get away with it. Granted, that notion is somewhat liberating but still, props to the master, Shakespeare. He knew teen angst like nobody’s business.
Twilight was so girly it freaked me out. Normally I like girly, it usually makes for good brain candy but warning: you will never get those brain cells back. I can forgive it for being girly. What I can’t forgive it for is being boring.
Once those two start having a relationship, it is as if the clock has stopped. I swear to god, there was a meadow scene where they were just sitting and it just went on and on and on. I have a friend that doesn’t like the shopping montage in movies, I personally hate the meadow scenes… I have no idea what they are supposed to represent. The spend forever getting to that damn meadow, you would have thought there would be something cool at the end of the journey… Nope, just vampire show and tell. We get to see Edward’s true nature and he has to be the most boring vampire ever put to print. He can kill grisly bears with his bare hands but we never get a sense of that fierceness. He has to be the safest bad-boy ever.
And Bella, I don’t know where to start with her. One, she is the most perfect teenage daughter of all time. She cooks, she cleans, she does the grocery shopping, and all the while maintaining top grades. If Stepford made children, they would be just like Bella. Two, her reaction to fear is non-reaction. Edward shouldn’t be mad about that, he should fear that his girlfriend has a neurological disorder. And three, she really needs to be less self-sacrificing. That death wish thing she has going on is very disturbing.
Ultimately, these books should not be read by anyone whose age is not ending in the word “teen”. As for everyone else, just don’t go there and pick up some Shakespeare instead.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Serenity, Vol. 2: "Better Days" by Joss Whedon & Brett Matthews, Illustrated by Will Conrad
I know, I know... I haven't posted a review in forever and I know for a fact that I read almost 30 books in 2008, thanks to my list in GoodReads. Surely some of them were worthy of the InCoHerEnt book review treatment. (And for the record, all books deserve some kind of book review.)
I'm just lazy.
But 2009 is a fresh start and I'm hopeful that I'll get back into the groove. Not sure if this is the right book to get me there.
I can never resist a graphic novel by Joss Whedon. No matter what it is, I must have. I think it comes from missing his television shows so much. This one was like getting a lost episode from the archive that was never filmed but just story boarded. This volume takes three Serenity comics and binds them together to form the Better Days story arc. The basic story: the gang is hired do a heist, they heist, they deliver, but the guy can't pay. He pays them with information on how to find a stash of currency, they find it and there is a lot of it. Now they have someone even bigger chasing after them.
In a lot of ways, this one reminded me of one of my favourite Firefly episodes, "Ariel", and the fall-out in the episode "War Stories". Because of that, I didn't find this turn really gave us anything new. It pokes at the mysteries that I sometimes feel will never be answered. My other problem was that it takes place before the Serenity movie. It was nice seeing Wash and Shepherd again but I want to know what is going on with characters since the movie. It didn't feel like a progression of the story arc, just a retread of old material. It was an okay story, with some laugh-out-loud dialogue, but I didn't have a wow moment.
It would be remiss not to mention the artist, Will Conrad. He's very good at recreating the facial features of our beloved actors who he got spot on, especially the guys. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, the women might have been harder to render with their softer features. Anyway, I was less annoyed here than I normally am with comics where I can compare the art to an actor's face.
So, I can only recommend this to the die-hard Firefly/Serenity fans who are looking for anything new to add to their encyclopedic knowledge of the series. Otherwise, you might be a little disappointed.
I'm just lazy.
But 2009 is a fresh start and I'm hopeful that I'll get back into the groove. Not sure if this is the right book to get me there.
I can never resist a graphic novel by Joss Whedon. No matter what it is, I must have. I think it comes from missing his television shows so much. This one was like getting a lost episode from the archive that was never filmed but just story boarded. This volume takes three Serenity comics and binds them together to form the Better Days story arc. The basic story: the gang is hired do a heist, they heist, they deliver, but the guy can't pay. He pays them with information on how to find a stash of currency, they find it and there is a lot of it. Now they have someone even bigger chasing after them.
In a lot of ways, this one reminded me of one of my favourite Firefly episodes, "Ariel", and the fall-out in the episode "War Stories". Because of that, I didn't find this turn really gave us anything new. It pokes at the mysteries that I sometimes feel will never be answered. My other problem was that it takes place before the Serenity movie. It was nice seeing Wash and Shepherd again but I want to know what is going on with characters since the movie. It didn't feel like a progression of the story arc, just a retread of old material. It was an okay story, with some laugh-out-loud dialogue, but I didn't have a wow moment.
It would be remiss not to mention the artist, Will Conrad. He's very good at recreating the facial features of our beloved actors who he got spot on, especially the guys. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, the women might have been harder to render with their softer features. Anyway, I was less annoyed here than I normally am with comics where I can compare the art to an actor's face.
So, I can only recommend this to the die-hard Firefly/Serenity fans who are looking for anything new to add to their encyclopedic knowledge of the series. Otherwise, you might be a little disappointed.
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