Customer Reviews

We Could Almost Eat Outside: An Appreciation of Life's Small Pleasures

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This slim volume offers up simple wisdoms of life. Translated from the French, there are very few things that do not universally carry over into my American sensibilities. Each brief essay presents one of the small and simple pleasures of life....driving at night, autumn sweaters, picking blackberries, the first sip of beer, and hearing a loved one's voice over the phone, among others. The essays on ordering and eating a banana split and paperweights are priceless. The insight offered. that we perch on the brim of possibility, the "make-believe world pitted against the real world" awaiting our decisions While this book points out the obvious, it is never too sweet or cloying. The use of language and phrasing is beautiful; the imagery it conjures up is a joy to read. I marked many of the pages, so I could find the wonderful phrases which caught my attention and imagination. This is a writer of rare talent. This is a book I will read over and often.

If you are looking for a light but meaningful book you can read over and over, this is the right book you're looking for. Delerm's writing helps his readers explore the trivial but tender details in life, from a banana-split to reading on the beach; from a pullover in autumn to highway at night... he uses condensed language to depict some trinket but magical moments in ordinary living. You won't regret it.

If you have read 'Joie De Vivre' by Robert Arbor and enjoyed the concentration to detail and the concept of savoring those things which we identify with our lifestyles, you will definitely want to pick up Philippe Delerm's little book of small thoughts associated with moments in his life. If you have read Clower's "Fat Fallacy" and are intrigued with the French diet and its supposed inconsistancies with current nutritional advice, after reading "We Could Almost Eat Outside", you will perhaps understand better the concept of small bites full of flavor that stay with you and rekindle memories from childhood and other stages of life. Think the anticipation on Christmas morning or the anticipated crack of freshness in the air after a new snow and comprehension will dawn -- its not the food (or whatever) its the emotion it evokes.

Delerm writes down his memories about objects and moments in time, that some readers will find difficult to relate to only because they are seemingly specific to the French culture. However, if you eliminate the brand names and the high-speed trains, these simple poetic essays will trigger Proustian thoughts in your own mind and you will seek out your own croissant eaten in the street and your own taste of Turkish Delight purchased in a bag and not a box.

Thoughtfully and beautifully rendered. If you can, read it in its original language.

Today we're going to go a little left field with the post. As I have mentioned, I studied French in college and even managed to spend a semester in France. One of the many reasons I love the French language so much is because of their literature. Who could forget classics like Les trois mousquetaires (The Three Musketeers) or 20,000 Lieues sous la mer (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea)? I love to read both versions of these stories to catch the little cultural innuendo that can often be over-looked due to poor translation and editing. Today though, I am discussing a more contemporary book that is more like short stories.

Do you remember what that first sip of beer tastes like? Or how about how green beans crunch when you snap them? La Première Gorgée de bière et autres plaisirs minuscules by Philippe Delerm was originally written in 1997, but I have a feeling that it will never fall out of favor with most people. Everyone can find at least one story in this little book that they can relate to and that will bring a smile to their face from a distant memory.

Delerm goes on to tell tales about when life was simpler and more enjoyable. There are no blaring electronics, no hustle and bustle; there's just life, in its purest form. At times we all say we need to just "get away from it all" and "unplug." This book is your way to do that without ever having to leave. While I think the translation loses something that can only be captured by the original French, the book is nevertheless a fabulous way to enjoy a nice afternoon.

Check your local libraries or bookstores for this gem. You won't regret it.

We had the chapter 'We could almost eat outside' read at our wedding. It is pure, life affirming prose which really does make you appreciate the potential and the beauty in the seemingly mundane. How could you fail to like this. Just wish I could read French as I bet it is poetry when read as it is really meant to be read.

I haven't read it and just bought it to see what it felt like in English ; I just leafed through it and thought it seemed properly translated - at first sight, of course. Yet, I do know the original, in French, and it is amongst the loveliest things I have ever read ; not "great literature" (but then, what is great literature if not a label stuck on a book by some people whose tastes and interests you might not share ?), but truly well-written, very finely observed and incredibly charming. However, I'll admit that you have to be French to fully appreciate some of the chapters, though not all of them, fortunately. I strongly recommend it !!!

This book held tangible vignettes of everyday things. It was a pleasure to read, but not a book that stayed with me after I finished reading it.

Mindless dribble, pompous musings over obsolete things and experiences.
Un-original, pretentious, empty, un-interesting, un-entertaining.
No insights, no enlightenment, no humor.

There's nothing here.