Committed: A Love Story

Committed: A Love Story by Elizabeth Gilbert

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I hadn't planned to read this book because of my feelings for EPL. A friend sent it to me with a note that she thought I would enjoy it more than EPL. She was right, at least in the fact that I did not throw the book across the room as I did with EPL - several times. The book started out good, really really good. There was story, dialogue, action, feeling, it was good! And then, things became weird.

The book became this long, opinionated self-help book. EG takes us through an education on the state of marriage, such as it is in modern times, and a (so-called) history of marriage. I almost put the book down when I read her out of context translation of what the bible says of marriage. She also discusses subjects such as marriage and children, marriage and working, marriage and passion, and the marriage ceremony itself. A variety of interesting topics, certainly, but missing one necessary thing: A story. I wanted a story (in fact the title advertises the book as "A Love Story"). There were lots of little stories of other things wrapped up in all the lunatic ranting, but there was no real story of Liz and Felipe.

So, what kept me reading this non-story? Mostly her writing. She writes in such a clear voice, at times it was like sitting down for coffee with a good friend. Also, as a marriage skeptic myself, I heard a lot of things that I believed long ago to be true. Things that resonated with me on a "How can I be true to me but still fulfill my societal obligation" level.

Synopsis: At the end of her memoir Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert fell in love with Felipe, a Brazilian living in Indonesia. The couple swore eternal love, but also swore (as skittish divorce survivors) to never marry. However, when Felipe was unexpectedly kicked out of the United States by U.S. Immigration officials, the couple was faced with a strict ultimatum: get married or Felipe could never enter America again. Over the next ten months, as Elizabeth and Felipe wandered Southeast Asia waiting for permission to return home and wed, the author searched far and wide for wisom, advice, and perspective on the subject of romantic commitment.

Recommended Reading:
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Lunch in Paris by Elizabeth Bard
Un Amico, Italiano: Eat, Pray, Love in Rome by Luca Spaghetti
I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali

White Chocolate Berry Dessert

There are no pictures. Long story short, my camera took an unplanned swim this summer and has not yet been replaced. I will be updating the posts with pictures, as well as posting about my new-to-me kitchen, hopefully in the next few weeks. SOON! In the meantime, take my word for it, this cake is pretty and delicious!

My aunt gave me this recipe after she made it for her daughter's bridal shower. I've put the recipe here as she sent it to me, but note that I did make a few changes which didn't affect the cake at all. First of all, white chocolate is only available in 6 oz. boxes (or at least the stores that I shop), so I always buy two boxes and cut 1 oz. of chocolate from each layer. The other change that I often make is that if strawberries are not in season (read: expensive as hell) I use sliced frozen strawberries. I simply thaw them completely in the fridge, dump the container in a strainer to remove as much liquid as possible (I don't rinse) and follow the recipe instructions. This cake is perfect for entertaining because you can bake the cake the day before and add the topping the day of your party.

Bottom Layer:
8 squares (1 oz. each) white baking chocolate
6 tbsp butter, cubed
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
3 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a microwave safe bowl, melt white chocolate and butter at 70% power. Stir until smooth. Cool. In mixing bowl, beat eggs and sugar until lemon-colored. Beat in melted chocolate mixture and vanilla. Combine flour and salt; beat into egg mixture. Spread in greased 12x9x2 inch baking dish; set aside.

Filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 squares (1 oz. each) white baking cocolate, melted and cooled
1 egg lightly beaten
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and white chocolate. Beat in the egg, sugar, sour cream and vanilla until combined. Carefully spread over bottom layer. Cut through filling and bottom layer with a knife to swirl. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Topping:
8 oz. Cool Whip, thawed
4 squares (1 oz. each) white baking chocolate, melted and cooled
1 pint fresh strawberries, sliced

Before serving, fold Cool Whip into white chocolate. Fold in strawberries. Spread over dessert.

Thr3e

Thr3e by Ted Dekker

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


I'm struggling writing this book review. I'm struggling with my decision to not finish the book. I wanted so badly to love this book - to even LIKE it, but it failed me. Or I failed it. I'm not sure. The book starts out with a brief and shallow discussion on the nature of evil in mankind. I think this was meant to be a foreshadowing device, but there was nothing profound in the discussion so nothing resonated or stuck with me. Right away we're thrown into some action by immediately being introduced to the bad guy and his twisted little game. The author won points for not wasting time with that. My problem is with all the things the author did waste time with. Analyzing and detailing every.little.thought, motivation and response of each character. The language used in the book... I appreciate the author's attempt to avoid over using profanity, disturbing imagery or sex, but there were a few cases where the absence of it was completely out of character. And speaking of characters, the main character is a seminary student - and he doesn't once pray to God. It was like ... I don't know. The character occupation note was to give him some kind of innocence or good, but the author didn't back it up. I did skip to the end and read the last two chapters just to see how the book played out. I was quite disappointed. I've seen this plot before, it's a movie called Fight Club - watch it and save yourself some time by not picking up this book.



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Distraction

*Sigh* It's beautiful. And seriously distracting. I've spent several hours looking through this book since I got it on Thursday.

To say that the pictures are beautiful simply isn't adequate. The colors, the scenery, the characters... it's leaving me speechless.

I can't wait for this book to get my full undivided attention, but right now, I need to put it down. Probably in a locked drawer. And give the key to someone I can trust.

Game Plan

Nobody Panic. I have a plan. Maybe.

My TBR shelf is creeping up towards 70 books again.

I'm not sure I should challenge myself again, but I'm going to try it. This one is going to be a little different in that I'm going to challenge myself to read for 30 minutes every day. Doesn't sound too hard, does it?

Up next:
Thr3e by Ted Dekker. I'm faking enthusiasm about this one.
Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert. Kind of looking forward to this one.
Lenz by Georg Buechner. This one is going to be a project book over the course of a few months.

Oh The Glory Of It All

Oh the Glory of It All by Sean Wilsey

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hmmm... well. I enjoyed some parts of this book. It seemed to take forever to get through the boring stuff at the beginning of the book and get to the part where I couldn't put the book down. The beginning was filled with a lot information that I thought was neither pertinent nor really very interesting. So really, condense the first 150 pages down to ten, make the book 350 pages and it's a five star for me. So what I liked: this guy writes amazingly well. He was funny, and honest and sometimes his story was so heartbreaking, I had tears swimming in my eyes. The guy can really write. Sometimes I had no clue what he was talking about but I could still SEE it. I highly recommend this book with the advice to just "suck it up" and get through those first 150 pages. It's worth it.

Synopsis: Sean's blond-bombshell mother regularly entertains Black Panthers and movie stars in the family's marble and glass penthouse. His enigmatic father uses a jet helicopter to drop Sean off at the video arcade. The three live happily together “eight-hundred feet in the air above San Francisco; in an apartment at the top of a building at the top of a hill: full of light, full of voices, full of windows, full of water and bridges and hills.” But when his father divorces his mother and marries her best friend, Sean's life blows apart. His memoir shows us how he survived, spinning out a “deliriously searing and convincing” portrait of a wicked stepmother (The New York Times Book Review), a meeting with the pope, sexual awakening, and a tour of “the planet's most interesting reform schools".

Recommended Reading:
Them: A Memoir of Parents by Francine du Plessix Gray
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Running With Scissors: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs
Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Tired of Complaining?

Anyone tired of hearing me complain about not being able to read? Anyone?

And has anyone looked at this list recently?

It's ridiculous how much this situation stresses me out.

Here's what is on the reading plate:
Oh The Glory of it All: This is a good read, I recommend it for anyone who likes memoirs, but it was slow reading in the beginning. I'm finally to the halfway point and I can finally read for more than ten minutes.

Thr3e: This one is up for Book Club. I totally cheated and read the last two chapters of the book. I have a feeling that I'll be doing quite a bit of skimming on this one.

[insert random fluff novel here]: Looking forward to one or two Flipsides after reading the above mentioned books.

Committed: The Captain sent me her copy (that she got from The Queen) with the comment that I would enjoy this more than I enjoyed EPL. As EPL was also a read in Book Club, I may suggest this one for the next read (and thereby killing two birds with one stone, go.me.).