Book Review: The Princess Bride: The Official Cookbook by Jenn Fujikawa

The Princess Bride: The Official Cookbook by Jenn Fujikawa features more than 50 recipes for dishes seen in, and inspired by, the film, including: Buttercup Buttermilk Scones, Hash You Wish, Farm Boy Breakfast, Six-Fingered Sandwiches, Chips of Insanity, MLT, The Grandson’s Soup and Sandwich, Vizzini’s Sicilian Meatballs, Fezzik’s Stew. The Spaniard’s Paella, Bread Pirate Roberts, Twu Wove’s Kiss Cookies, Iocane Powder Punch, and Inigo Montoya’s Taste of Revenge. Perfect for fans, families, and Brute Squads, this cookbook is a way for home cooks to plate up the adventure, comedy, and romance of everyone’s favorite film.

The Princess Bride: The Official Cookbook is a fun novelty cookbook. It has some good recipes with punny titles. I liked the movie quotes, pictures, and information that was included in the text as well. Most of the recipes are ones you can find elsewhere- with a title change. However, I did like that they were labeled, both in the table of contents and at the start of the recipe, for if they were gluten free, vegetarian, or vegan and sometimes included suggested modifications to make it vegetarian if it was not in the recipe. If you prefer metric measurements, here you are out of luck and will need to do some conversions since it is all in imperial units. 

The Princess Bride: The Official Cookbook is exactly what it promises- a cookbook for fans of the movie that might want to put together a pun filled meal (or series of meals) to share.

Early Book Review: A History of the Undead: Mummies, Vampires and Zombies by Charlotte Booth

A History of the Undead: Mummies, Vampires and Zombies by Charlotte Booth is a nonfiction book currently scheduled for release on January 31 2021. Are you a fan of the undead? Watch lots of Mummy, zombie and vampire movies and TV shows? Have you ever wondered if they could be 'real'? This book unravels the truth behind these popular reanimated corpses. Starting with the common representations in Western Media through the decades, we go back in time to find the origins of the myths. Using a combination of folklore, religion and archaeological studies we find out the reality behind the walking dead. You may be surprised at what you find.

A History of the Undead is an informative, entertaining, and engaging read. I like that the author acknowledges the amount of information of the subjects in the world, and that they are only tackling a fairly small segment of it. By focusing only on the subject in one part of the world she was able to get a great deal of detail about the undead in Western culture. If they had tried to tackle the whole world this would have had to be a multi-volume set. Although, I would not mind seeing this fleshed out to a more inclusive and expansive series including all cultures. I enjoyed seeing stories I knew from history, and some of the entertainment items I have enjoyed get mentioned. I was sad to see some things I thought would have added to the book left out (particularly a couple zombie books that stood out to me) and mentioning certain movies (like Dark Shadows) without referring to the television series that it was based on. However, I also got a chance to get the names for some books, movies, and games that I have missed over the years and will now get to enjoy. These subjects are vast, and while there where some missing things along the way, and some chooses in wording of information here or there that had me less than thrilled, I think the author did a good job of getting the information compiled in a readable and engaging fashion. The recovered English major that I am, I was thrilled to see proper citing of sources, et all. Way too often I see nonfiction materials for a variety of audiences that fail to do so. 

A History of the Undead is a well written and researched introduction to the evolution of mummies, zombies, and vampires in western cultures, entertainment, and media.

Ten Terrific Trip Tales- Great Roadtrip Movies

We have all had a horrible or utterly fantastic roadtrip. They tend to go to an extreme and are very rarely somewhere in the middle. In a departure from my book-centric lists, here I am thinking movies. These are the best movies that capture the horror and joy of being trapped in a car for an extended period with other people.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles is a classic travel disaster movie. Steve Martin as an uptight executive and John Candy as a bumbling boob are trying to get to their destinations as crisis after crisis comes their way. Granted Candy's character is often the cause of said crisis. The movie is funny, has a great soundtrack and a terrific ending. What more could you be looking for?

Thelma and Louise is another classic roadtrip movie. Great cast chemistry makes this story of a weekend out of town gone wrong a fantastic flick about women, friendship and freedom. Great chase scenes help this movie transcend the label of chick flick.

Midnight Run is full of great action sequences and exchanges between the two main characters, played by Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin. De Niro plays a bounty hunter and Grodin is his prisoner as they head cross-county, but mobsters want Grodin too.

National Lampoon's Vacation is the first and best of a collection of Lampoon roadtrip movies. This movie introduces us to the Griswald family. Chevy Chase plays the well-intentioned patriarch of the family and leads them on a crazy, disaster filled family vacation.

Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle is an over the top comedy about two guys on a quest for their favorite burgers. It is silly and depraved, but sometimes you are just in the mood for that sort of thing.

The Darjeeling Limited is a comedy about three brothers on a spiritual roadtrip through India. The brothers are quirky and well played. Disasters fall upon the brothers one after another, and they reforge their bonds.

The Muppet Movie is a roadtrip movie that makes me smile just think about it. Kermit and the gang heading out to Hollywood. Things go wrong and critters get crazy, the result is a fun film for everyone. 

The Gumball Rally is a hysterical comedy from 1976. It is about an illegal cross-country race with only bragging rights and a gumball machine for the prize. The cars and the action scenes are all phenomenal, and I do not believe that a better movie of this sort has been made.

Smokey and the Bandit is another great example of a road trip movie done right. Bandit and Cletus are hauling beer to win a bet, but pick up a run away bride hitchhiker. The jilted groom just happens to be a sheriff's son, and the chase and all its misstep begin.

The Motorcycle Diaries is based on the memoirs of Che Guevara, leader of the Cuban Revolution. The movie focuses on his journey in the 1950's across South America with his best friend.