Again, another work where the title pretty much explains the book's purpose. In 2003, Julie Powell was on the brink of turning 30 and about to enter a midlife crisis when she decided to cook all of the recipes from Julia Child's book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking in the span of one year. During that time, she blogged about each recipe and quickly gained notoriety with a large following on the 'Net. What's nice about this book is that Powell doesn't spend a lot of time rehashing her old blog entries; rather, she gives a behind-the-scene look about what went on during her year in the kitchen (i.e. her family struggling to accept that what she was doing was actually worthwhile, problems in her marriage, her growing waistline, etc) . Powell is a very funny writer, so readers can expect some laughs along with a great deal of "food talk" Most of the recipes sounded fabulous, with some exceptions. Calves brains, anyone?
In Gruen's debut novel Water for Elephants , readers fell in love with the titular elephant Rosie. In her second novel Ape House , a similar fondness occurs with the aforementioned apes. The cast of bonobos live happily in their Language Lab under the watchful eye of scientist Isabel Duncan. They are able to use sign language to communicate and enjoy playing around with visitors and the other scientists. Everything is going great until the lab gets bombed and the apes mysteriously disappear. Once the dust settles, Duncan is horrified to find out that the bonobos have been sold to a television producer who has casted them in their own 24 hour reality tv show. Joining forces with a newspaper reporter, an exotic dancer, animal activists and other research assistants, Duncan takes on the fight of her life to rescue her bonobos and give them the proper kind of life they deserve.
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