Agnes – my good friend from France who stayed with our family for a year – gave this to me as a going away present before she returned home to Europe nearly fifteen years ago (!). I finally got a chance to read it these past couple days on a vacation to Medford, OR to visit our family friends. Grotesque and surreal, it began terrifying but finished amusing, if not frustrating.

I finished reading this yesterday morning up on Decatur during a weekend vacation with both sets of parents for the Forth of July. There were many good laugh-out-loud moments in this book, as well as some terrific sounding recipes. So far, since we’ve arrived up here, we’ve made “Trouble Monkey” – a knock-you-off-your-feet cocktail, and “That Egg Stuff That Goes in Tortillas” – a delicious and filling breakfast burrito recipe, made even better with fresh argula from the market. Besides being entertaining and delicious, this book makes me long to visit the South.

I got this book for Christmas from my parents quite a while ago. I finally got a chance to read it on a business trip to Sacramento. I think I would have enjoyed one of the many biographies on Sinatra more thank this (a diatribe on ‘why Sinatra matters’: musically, culturally, etc.), but I enjoyed the read all the same. When I returned home, I was inspired to rent “From Here to Eternity” – which I also enjoyed.

Having just read “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There,” this was a good- if accidental- follow-up read. (Although- for assholes- a better order would be “The No Asshole Rule,” followed by “What Got You Here…”) For victims of assholes, I drew parallels with “Stumbling on Happiness.” It’s interesting how the more of these types of books you read, the easier it is to connect their messages.

Other random facts about my experience reading this book:
Firsts: This is the first book I’ve borrowed from a public library since primary school.
Comfort: I finished reading this book on a weekend vacation at Whistler with a couple coworkers. (Awkward!)
PMBA: Technically not a PMBA book.

I started and finished this book on a trip to Washington DC that I just got back from yesterday. It was worth the read now, and it will be worth the read again.

Having received this for Hanuka from Mark & Diane, I just finished reading it today up on Decatur. Now I just need to decide which cheese to make next!

For some ungodly reason I woke up at 5:30am this Saturday morning up on Decatur and proceeded to accidentally read this, cover to cover. Nana gave it to Mike & I when we were living in Philly, but last night was the first time we actually used it. If the first recipe is any indication, this will prove to be a very delicious cookbook.

In February Sam bought me my first romance novel- the latest in the Cynster series- and not long after I finished it did a box show up at my apartment containing the previous 12 books in the series. I didn’t think Devil’s Bride was quite as good as What Price Love, but I’ll still probably read the next one. ((Damn you Sam! – Don’t you know I’m supposed to be focusing on my PMBA readings?!?))

The last travel guide I used was Rick Steves’ for Rome. That experience was so exceptional that using this book was almost painful.

I began reading this also on the plane to Pittsburgh. The first 20 pages were hilarious. Laugh out loud funny. The rest of the book has been good too, but not as clever, surprising, nor entertaining as the introduction. Which really just goes to prove Gilbert’s point. Read the book to see what I mean.

Continued to read on plane trips to DC, LA, and back to Seattle, but still have another 50 pages or so…