Chapter 1: In Which A Secretary Conquors The World... With Food

"Oooh, Julie and Julia." I stood snooping around my roommate's desk after I'd killed my internet catching up on Glee and Bones, looking for some new entertainment. "I saw the movie . Is the book good?"

"Dunno," she mumbled from behind her newest used bookstore find, "haven't read it yet. You can borrow it if you want."

I hardly think she intended for me to hold onto it for two years, long after we'd moved out of that suffocating dorm and into separate states of our own. Though considering she's still holding onto a couple books of mine as well, I don't feel all that bad about it. It took me a loooooong time to get into it. I'd pick it up every few months, read a few pages, and then put it down again a few days later when something else caught my attention. Honestly I can't be sure whether this is due to a problem in writing style or a problem of my own attention span but when I picked it up as my last resort (after a particularly traumatizing book experience involving some graphic werewolf snogging that interrupted a perfectly nice Victorian setting and... *ahem*) I was determined to give it a decent chance.

Either way, once I got into the story, I was hooked. Julie Powell's narrative style can be both hilarious and heartbreaking within the same sentence. As I continued through the book I'd almost get this eerie feeling that her emotions were my own. In parts of the book where she was irritable and stressed, I would be irritable and stressed. When good things happened to her, I was happy. I'm not sure my fiance, Sab, appreciated these unexplainable mood swings so much but it was definitely one of the more extraordinary reading experiences I've had.

NOTE OF CAUTION: I don't know how many of you have seen the movie but if you have, you may remember how big of a deal it is for Julie to cook a lobster, she essentially freaks out and receives sympathetic help from her husband (accompanied by the song Psycho Killer which cracked up my brother and I in ways only an inside joke can). The movie did not, by any stretch of imagination, capture the horror I felt while reading the book. I visibly cringed, my skin crawled, and I almost could not continue reading her descriptions of cramming the still living lobsters into the too small pot and trying to crush the lid down onto their twitching heads. Let alone the part where she had to dissect one while still alive... I almost lost it. As if I wasn't already certain of my distaste for eating a food that looks like a giant cockroach, this books has successfully assured I never, ever will. I feel nothing but pity for those beady black eyes as I pass them in the super market. Oh the horror...

Julie & Julia is an amazing, true to life story of a woman, like so many in our day, who grows up and still doesn't know who or what she is, questions that she finds answers to in one of the most unlikely of places. In stories, the end is always graduation or marriage but Julie shows us there's no shame in getting to that point and still not having everything figured out. I think this books deserves its place as my first review her because in a way, it inspired me to start this whole project. Not that I'm expecting that kind of drastic change and surge into fame from this blog but I want to challenge myself to do something new and maybe in the end I'll be better for it

Julie & Julia by Julie Powell (362 pages)
Judgement: Emotionally Stimulating (8 out of 10)

The Prologue: Once Upon A Time...

I can't really tell you what possessed me to take on this project other than being an exhasperated English Major who's tired of the fact that the only thigns she reads any more come out of 5,000 page anthologies, most of which she's sure would be infinitely more interesting if they were written in a bigger font than size 2. I've found myself staring longingly at other people reading best sellers and romance novels on the metrotrain. I've missed that feeling of being able to hold a book in my hands instead of awkwardly trying to balance it on my lap while still making it close enough that I can read it's ridiculously tiny print.

So here's the goal I'm setting mysef: 10,000 pages. I don't want to set an expiration date for myself, mostly because I don't want to stress myself out about it. This is supposed to be fun, a kind of lighthearted project, not semething to pressure me more than school already does... So here's a few rules just for me, mainly things to keep me from slacking off and cheating (which I might do anyways, just warning you you).

The Rules:

1. No Rereads = As much as I would love to rant to you fellow readers about my love of Hunger Games or Fahrenheight 451 or Cottage Witchery, I feel in all fairness to the project, I must refrain. This 10,000 page journey should be a new one. In novels the hero only gets to return home once the quest is done and that is a tradition I intend to honor.
2. All Recommendations Must Be Read At Least 1/2 Way = I have a bad habit of dropping books about 20 pages in if they don't immediately catch my attention. I feel particularly bad about this if it's something I've heard raving reviews about from friends. If I'm going to tell them they have bad taste I might as well have 1/2 a book's worth of evidence to support it. to facilitate this I have set up an entirely new Goodreads account so I can keep up with what I've read for the project as well as recommendations made by you guys.
3. Variety is Key = Upon seeing my bookshelves I'm sure, due to enormous amounts of young adult literature (and occasionally picture books, no judgement right guys?), the casual onlooker might mistake me for a braces-wearing, 16-year-old, geeky teenager. However I am a 20-something English Major and though John Green may speak directly to my soul there is no reason something by whatever author graces the best seller list this month can't do the same. This whole project will be a failure if I don't find something worth reading in every genre.
4. School Reading Counts = I know some of you may believe otherwise but given that I am an English Major, 90% of my homework consists of reading. Sometimes this leaves no time for simple pleasure reading. Also, I'm being assigned to read some of the most influential literature that exists in the world, it would be a shame to ignore it just because at some point it may be a test question.
5. A Minimum of 1 Post per 2 Weeks = Whether I finish a piece of writing or not there are plenty of liter-related subject matters I can touch on. I'll try and reserve Fridays for non-review entries and you can look forward to a spattering of author/release news, me geeking out about books-->movie trailers, humerus pic dumps, book lover merch, and more.

Seems like a pretty fair start to me! I've gotten my first project book read so look out for Chapter 1 coming out soon. If you guys have any more rule suggestions or book recommendations go ahead and comment or visit My Goodreads. See you on the next page!