review: The Death & Life of Charlie St. Cloud

i keep being delightfully and immensely surprised by fiction that i probably wouldn't have otherwise picked up!

first with The School of Essential Ingredients, that i wrote about in my last post, which i couldn't put down, to this one, The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud, which had everything going for it to indicate that i would never read it in a million years. the previews for the movie coming out this friday made the movie look like a Nicholas Sparks novel, and while many drool over Mr. Sparks work, i am, shall we say, less than impressed by both his books and the movies that get based on them.

but what rescued this from the 'never' pile for me was the title of the book. if you look quickly, you might not even catch that the words death and life are in the order they are in. {another black mark for the movie is that they shortened the title to just Charlie St. Cloud... why?!} but the order of death and life intrigued me, so on Sunday night, i found the book on Kobobooks.com, and downloaded it to my eReader.

given that i was tired, i figured i'd read a few pages before i fell asleep, but by the time i managed to turn the light out, i had gotten nine chapters in and the last thing i wanted to do was stop reading. right from the very first page the book captivated me. and as i finished the last ten chapters last night, i was almost giddy at the Cecelia Ahern-like twist that Mr. Sherwood so skillfully weaved into the story. {if you don't know of my great and passionate love of all things written by Cecelia Ahern, you may may read a bit about my love here, and also know that her If You Could See Me Now is one of my top three fiction EVER! if you haven't yet read it, stop what you are doing, yes, stop reading this, and go here to buy it now.}

about the movie, given how perfectly brilliant the book has been, not to mention what i've seen of the previews, i'm not sure if the movie is for me. to be honest, i'm not even sure that a movie could compare to the brilliance of the book, especially one the appears to veer as far from the actual story as this one does.

so it seems i am two for two in the 'fiction i cannot put down category'. do you have anything you can recommend to make it three for three?

hungry?

recently, i've noticed a theme to my reading, one i haven't seen before. usually the 'steaks' in my reading schedule have more to do with genres than topics. for a while i was reading only biographies. sometimes fiction, or even young adult fiction.

but this one is different.

the theme of my reading lately has inadvertently been all about food.

it started with Paris Sweets, a cookbook that Ang got me last year, that is so incredibly perfect, there are hardly words. while it is a cookbook, each recipe is preceded by Dorie Greenspan's thoughts and experiences on the Paris patisserie that inspired the recipe. reading this book is like having Ms. Greenspan take you on the very best kind of tour of the city of lights... one that includes all things baked and buttery.

from there, i picked up Molly Wizenberg's A Homemade Life, which i have not finished yet, but for the very best of reasons. this book of essays, all accompanied by a recipe, is like a visiting friend, the kind that you just don't want to leave. you don't want the visit to end. and for this very reason, i am purposely reading my way through it very, very slowly.

shortly after i started A Homemade Life, on a recent trip to michigan, i picked up the book I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti at Target. i had heard of the book in a review i read, so knew that it would be enjoyable. Giulia Melucci takes her readers on a memoir of her love life, the men she has loved, lost and cooked for. while i have no intention of emulating Ms. Melucci's love life, i have already used more than one recipe found in her book, and let me say that i am a great fan. it has also put in me the desire to do more cooking for friends.

and lastly, the book i just finished moments ago, The School of Essential Ingredients, by Erica Bauermeister. this one took me by surprise. Ang lent it to me when i was visiting her last month, and i picked it up on Friday night, and was delighted the way only the best fiction can do. it is so good, i even stopped reading at the last chapter last night, simply because i wanted to save some of the magic for today. The School of Essential Ingredients is a beautiful tale of participants in a cooking class, and how their past experiences brought them together to the class, and how the mixing of the ingredients of their own lives ends up creating something beautiful. i can tell that this is one that i will definitely need to get for myself, as i will definitely want to read it again!

well, that brings me up to date. The School of Essential Ingredients is book number 36 for this year, which makes me exactly only one book behind in my plan to read 75 books this year. according to the schedule, today i should have finished book 37, but hey, at one point i was seven books behind, so what difference does one make?!

as usual, i am wondering what you are reading. do you have a recommendation that will surprise me the way this last one did?

what i'm reading...

Murder on the Ile Saint-Louis {Cara Black}
i love this series of murder mysteries all set in my very favorite city. if i cannot be in Paris, these books, each set in a different area of the city are a good substitute. this one, set on the Ile Saint-Louis, is special to me, as i have spent a good amount of time on this little island in the middle of the Seine, and have even dreamed of one day calling one of the apartments here my home.

A Homemade Life {Molly Wizenberg}
this series of essays and recipes is perfect summer reading. the author writes beautifully of her home life, and the way her family, especially her father, has shaped her into the person she is today. the author writes of one of my favorite blogs, Orangette, and checking out her blog will help you understand how very much a treat the book is. this is one that i will be very sad to see end, so i am reading it purposely slow.

The Liturgical Year {Joan Chittister}
this is one that i started a while ago, but it got shelved for some reason that i cannot remember. but i am excited to pick it back up, and get going on it again.

what are you reading?

review: Plan B by Pete Wilson

Plan B by Pete Wilson is a book that at some point or another, we are all going to need. the subtitle "what do you do when God doesn't show up the way you thought he would?" pretty much sums up why. regardless of what the moment we are currently in holds, there will come another moment when something happens and it feels like all the air has been sucked out of life, and we are left wondering what on earth just happened.

a cancer diagnosis.

you spouse wants out.

your job ends without notice.

a loved one dies.

or any other of the myriad of ways that our daily lives can be instantly tossed into a blender and no longer seem recognizable.

Pete Wilson's book is preparation of sorts, for these times.

in each chapter, he uses not only personal examples, but also biblical ones of lives turned upside down and fully in need of a Plan B. Job, Joseph, even Jesus' mother Mary {among others} all have situations in their lives where what they had originally planned didn't work out, and a new reality was born. how they handled the change, the situation, and their response to God are the focus of these chapters, and help the reader understand how we, when faced with similar situations, need to respond.

as someone who has her own control issues, worries more than she wants, and is far more driven by fear than she would like, this book spoke to me on many levels.

trouble comes, on many levels, usually when you least expect it. of this we have no control. but what we can control are our actions and reactions when we need to abandon Plan A for what comes next. Plan B is excellent hope and wisdom to help us do just that.



Book has been provided courtesy of Thomas Nelson and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available May 2010 at your favourite bookseller.

what i'm reading...

with vacation over, it's time to get back into the swing of things. i find it odd that during a time designed to vacate your usual life, that you can have even less time to read than during the usualness.

Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher is my relaxing book. this is probably the seventh time i've read it, and it, as all Rosamunde's novels, never fails to weave its magic.

i am reviewing Pete Wilson's Plan B. the subtitle is 'what do you do when God doesn't show up the way you thought he would?' hmm... should be interesting.

on my last trip to Chapters, i found a delightful little book in the 9-12 year old section called The Sisters Grimm: The Fairytale Detectives. it is definitely lighter than the Percy Jackson series, but the writing is good, and being a lover of fairytales, i am enjoying it immensely.

there are others on the horizon, but as always, i want to know, what are you reading?

derailed...

i'm sure you've been here before.

probably around the end of january, early february. when the resolutions you made on new year's day find themselves more forgotten than remembered.

that is where i am with my 75 books this year goal.

but all is not lost. i will recover. i will return.

very, very shortly...

strange

when people find out that you are planning to read 75 books in a year, you wouldn't believe the strange looks you get.

and the strange things people say.

        "how are you going to fit in the rest of your life?"

well, i do plan to continue to work. it helps support me in the manner to which i have become accustomed. and i still plan to travel a fair bit this year, not to mention the friends that i see weekly, if not more often. i've chosen to fit reading into my life, cramming it in. it does mean that i am watching less television, and wasting less moments. but since i always have a book with me anyways, it just makes sense to me.

       
        "are there even that many books?"

come on over and take a look at my bookshelf...


        "do you know how guilty that makes me feel?"

here, borrow a book.


        "don't you have more important things to do with your time?"

do you mean like watch countless hours of mindless, creativity zapping television, or waste countless hours looking at Facebook pictures of people that i went to high school with and and haven't seen in a couple of decades? then no, i don't.

* * * * *

i guess there will always be people who don't understand when you decide to undertake a project. but this one, i am doing for me.