Henckels Steak Knives

Review of Flashback (Hardcover)

2010-01-27T19:14:00.000-05:00

The author has written a pharmaceutical thriller that will keep the readerturningthe pages of the book until the very last. It is a fairly well-written, suspenseful novel that heralds a novelist whose prose is spare, lean, and taut, moving the story along at a brisk pace. Although it is wholly a plot driven, rather than character driven, book, the two main characters are sufficiently fleshed out. Some of the secondary ones, however,are less so. Although not as good as two of the other books that the author has written, "Elixir" and "Gray Matter", both of which are five star reads, fans of Michael Crichton and Robin Cook will, undoubtedly, enjoy this well-paced thriller, as will anyone who appreciates a good story.

The story line is fairly simple. A young couple with a shaky marriage, Jack and Beth Koryan, are on the brink of changing their lives, but not in a way that they would ever have imagined. On the eve of Jack fulfilling a dream of openinga restaurant with his best friend, disaster strikes. While commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of his mother's mysterious death, Jack has a one in a million run-in with a school of rare jellyfish. Attacked and repeatedly stung by these jellyfish, Jack sustains toxic burns that send poison into his bloodstream, causing him to enter into a comatose state.

Meanwhile, a pharmaceutical lab has created "Memorine", a drug that is believed to be a miracle cure for Alzheimer's disease, and the origin of this wonder drug is the toxin of the same jellyfish that attacked Jack. Drug trials are being conducted on nursing home patients that are suffering from Alzheimer's disease. At first blush, patients are responding favorably to the drug. Some, however, begin having disturbing flashbacks into their pasts that act as a catalyst for violent, and seeming inexplicable, acts committed by thesepatients.

When a police investigation ensues into a murder committed by one of these patients, Rene' Ballard, a pharmaceutical consultant for a pharmacy responsible for providing medications to patients of nursing homes, is drawn into the picture. Sensing that things are not adding up, she investigates and discovers a web of deceit that has kept her out of the loop and caused patients to be medicated with this miracle memory drug without her knowledge. At stake are the millions that are to be made with the release of this drug into the open market. Rene' Ballard has reservations about the release of the drug, making her a persona non grata to the pharmaceutical lab sponsoring the drug trials.

The parallel stories of Jack Koryan and Rene' Ballard converge, uniting these two protagonists, as it becomes clear that much of what happens to Jack during his recovery lies at the heart of the problem with the drug. As have many of the Alzheimer's patients, he, too, suffers from disturbing flashbacks.For him, however, those flashbacks may enable him to unravel the mystery behind his mother's death.

There are those, however, who do not wish him to do so. They are the same people who will stop at nothing to prevent Rene' Ballard from interfering with the projected release of the drug. Moreover, Jack's personal quest will intersect with the pharmaceutical lab that is hell bent on releasing "Memorine", resulting in a head on collision that causes a pulse pounding series of events to occur. While the ending may come as no surprise to the discerning reader, it is, nonetheless, an enjoyable read.

This novel is multi-layered and well-researched, providing a fairly engrossing read, while proffering a whole host of ethical and public policy dilemmas for consideration. This pharmaceutical thriller provides much food for thought,buried between its lines, and is a book that educates, as well as entertains.

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Review of The Kingfisher Illustrated Dinosaur Encyclopedia (Hardcover)

2010-01-27T18:56:00.000-05:00

The Kingfisher Illustrated Dinosaur Encyclopedia written by David Burnie and illustrated by John Sibbick is a wonderful text with plenty of well captured illustrations along with the text to captivate your imagination about what dinosaurs were like.This text vividly captures you as it attempts to recreate the lives of the different dinosaurs covered in this encyclopedia.

"The Kingfisher Illustrated Dinosaur Encyclopedia" is arranged in a chronological order giving copious attention to dinosaur habits and habitats.Also, there is attention to detail about information on how fossil finds can be interpreted as the information is related to the time of the dinosaurs.The writing is easily understandable and children will wonder at the pictutres along with the prose.

I found this book to be up-to-date on a lot of information and is and outstanding guide to dinosaur life and times.There is some comparative anatomy, as the book goes into detail about the Maximum Length, Time, and Fossil finds as to location as to where these animals were found.This makes the book interesting as we see contrast to different types of dinosaurs as to location on the map.Also, the interrealtion of species to one another.

"The Kingfisher Illustrated Dinosaur Encyclopedia"is a book that can be used as a reference as well when comparing different dinosaurs to one another. The contents of this book is as follows:

Life in the Distant Past
The Age of Ancient Life
The Age of Reptiles
Plant-Eating Giants
Ornithopods
The Meat Eaters
Giant Meat Eaters
Armored Dinosaurs
Reptiles in the Air
Reptiles in the Sea
The Age of Mammals

There are subcatigories in each of these major chapters and there is adequate detail making for and interesting read.Dinosaurs are a significant part of prehistory.The more we discover about dinosaurs, the more we find out about the world we live in today.

This book rates a solid five stars for imaginative illustration and a text that is easily understood giving the reader a well-rounded view of life's past.You will not be disappointed with this book as it is unbelievably rewarding.

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Review of Keeper of the Night (Hardcover)

2010-01-27T09:40:00.000-05:00

Isabel was the first to come upon her mother's lifeless body and the empty bottle of sleeping pills.Since that day, Isabel's dad-her Tata-is emotionally haunted by the ghost of his dead wife to the point where he can no longer function as parent to his three young children, choosing instead to spend long hours our on his fishing boat.

Isabel's brother, Frank, has chosen to deal with his sorrow and anger through self-mutilation; and Isabel's little sister, Olivia, is now wetting her bed at night and waking up with nightmares.

Though she needs time to heal and find herself within the remains of her life, Isabel has discovered that her new role in life is of caretaker of the family.To make matters worse, a new American girl has arrived in Guam and threatens to take apart the comfort of Isabel's high school world, her native culture, and her traditional lifestyle-the last things that she felt she had ownership of.

The beauty of this book shows in the easy flow of the words, in the detailed descriptions of the island of Guam, and in the souls of the characters; yet it is unmistakable anguish seen in the pain of the children that stays with you long after the book has ended.The dialogue is honest, so honest that it almost feels as though the reader is invading the privacy of Isabel and her father-a father who still sleeps on the floor of his bedroom, comforted each night by the blanket his daughter lays over him once he has fallen to sleep.

There is nothing assuming or ridiculous about Isabel's thoughts on life, friends, or her mother's death.In fact, her feelings about her friendships leave the reader both annoyed with her childish ways and reminiscent of similar patterns from youth. It's hard to think of a young adult novel that uses its secondary characters so fittingly-Auntie Bernadette, Mrs. Cruz, Teresita, Mary Kelly, and even Mrs. Johnson are all responsible for moving this novel along at a pace that keeps the reader transfixed and hopeful.

While Kimberly Willis Holt is best known for her gentle southern characters, she has introduced the island of Guam with definite exotic warmth.

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Review of Perfect Parenting (Paperback)

2010-01-27T07:19:00.000-05:00

With 3 kids very close in age I find this book a very handy resource. Written by a parent educator who is also a mother it's filled with practical solutions.

Under each topic there are multiple creative options that go beyond the typical advice like time out - and they work very well!

A few examples:
Under Siblings, fighting (physcial):
Have the aggressor do a chore for the injured sibling, such as make his bed or take out the trash. (How they love this!)

Under Vegetables, won't eat them:
Sneak vegetables into other foods, such as chopped spinach in meat loaf, peas in tuna salad, grated zucchini in hamburgers or Start calling green vegetables Brain Food and let them know it will make them smarter and stronger.

Under Parents Anger:
If your anger causes you to strike your child you can control your outbursts...channel your physical reaction into a burst of applause. When you feel yourself about to strike, clap your hands, good and hard and fast while you express your feelings of anger. (It sends a very clear message to your child.)

This is a very helpful book and I would highly recommend it.

Product Description
"Perfect Parenting will give you the tools you need to feel confident as you raise your children. This handy reference book may become an indispensable part of your family's life." -- from the foreword by William Sears, MDPerfect parenting is parenting with a plan. It is based on:

action, not reaction
thoughtfulness, not anger
knowledge, not chance
common sense, not nonsense

This book is a practical dictionary of ideas. It is meant to inspire you to find the right answers for the many discipline and behavior issues you face every day. It presents you with many options and methods that can help you be thoughtful in your approach to raising your children. What you'll find here, in a handy A-Z format, are practical, commonsense solutions that will make your life easier.You'll learn what to do about back talk, dawdling, interrupting, stubbornness, whining. You'll find ways to get your kids to do the chores, stop ignoring you, and clean up their own messes. You'll even learn what to do about other people's children!Elizabeth Pantley designed a questionnaire addressing discipline problems and sent it to hundreds of parents. Their answers shaped this book to make it the most useful, practical book on discipline available today. Elizabeth Pantley is a frequent lecturer to parenting groups around the country. She is the author of one previous book, Kid Cooperation. Her informative newsletter, Parent Tips, is distributed through schools nationwide. She lives with her husband and their three children in Washington State, where she serves on an education advisory council and is the school PTA president.

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Review of Love You, Mean It: A True Story of Love, Loss and Friendship (Hardcover)

2010-01-27T05:21:00.000-05:00

After receiving my copy of Love You, Mean It, I stopped everything else in my life to sit down and read about how September 11, 2001 changed the lives of these 4 special women.I didn't stop reading until the last page was finished..

Well organized and written, I read account after account of how the Widow's Club (WC) coped with the trauma that appears so suddenly after lives are suddenly interrupted.
The women who wrote this book were linked together after the World Trade Center was attacked and after reading their many stories, it was understood by this reader that the love and support that they received from each other was absolutely instrumental in the preliminary stages of emotional and mental repair after the death of a loved one.
Hearing about the love each WC member had for their spouse, the feelings and emotions and heartbreak after "the boys" were killed and the steps taken to repair their lives was incredible..It made me focus on those friends that I have recently lost and made me understand that my feelings after these losses have been experienced and felt deeply by others.

If you have ever had someone, so special in your life, taken from you, read this book.. If you want to be better prepared on how to deal with the loss of life and all the intrinsic feelings that are a result, it is a must read.LUMI is a guidebook detailing the accounts of four women who have cried, coped with internal and external forces, questioned their own existances and somehow, found the strength to forge ahead and continue on.. the reader will understand through the written words of this book, that you can too.

To quote from the last 2 sentences in the book.. "Make the decision to live. It would be wrong not to."

Thanks Patty, Julia, Ann and Claudia for sharing these very special stories.

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Review of Welcome to My Planet: Where English Is Sometimes Spoken (Paperback)

2010-01-27T04:51:00.000-05:00

What a fabulous book, capturing the TRUE essence of being a 30 something female in the year 2000!I read it all afternoon,lying by the pool.It's the first time I have read a book of this size in one sitting.Isimply couldn't put it down!I could so identify with the main character, Shannon,a woman in her mid 20's to early 30's, who deals with gradschool, credit card debt,a quirky mom she sometimes resents and sometimesclings to,boyfriends who aren't "the one",and trying to make sense of it all in therapy. The realest coming of age story I have everread.I can't wait to pass it on to my friends to read,and I can't waitfor the author,Shannon Olson, to write her second novel.

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Review of What's That From?: The Ultimate Quiz Book of Contemporary Movie Lines (Paperback)

2010-01-27T03:10:00.000-05:00

Very entertaining and educational for us wannabee movie buffs. It reminds me of the many times spent sitting around after work in the restaurant where I waitressed, trying to identify similar movie quotes, while playing pass the pigs, and doing shots. Wonderful book, when is the next edition.

Product Description
Do you know what films have given us the following quotes?
"What we have here is a failure to communicate."
"Excuse me while I whip this out."
"Would somebody get this walking carpet out of my way?"
"I don't know why they call this stuff Hamburger Helper, it does just fine by itself."

And how are you at movie trivia?
In The Blues Brothers why are Jake and Elwood "puttin' the band back together"?In Airplane!, which dinner was poisioned: the fish or the chicken? True or False: Diane Keaton won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Annie Hall.

For the movie buff and video hound, What's that From? provides hours of entertainment.You can test your knowledge with more than 1,000 quotes and questions from more than 250 contemporary films--from Academy Award winners to cult classics.Also included are bonus questions on actors and directors, special categories on individual actors, movies, and themes (Wester, baseball, sequels), plus a section devoted exclusively to Academy Award-winning performances.

It's all here in the ultimate tribute to the great movies of the seventies, eighties, and nineties from National Lampoon's Animal House to When Harry Met Sally... So the next time you hear someone say, "It's just a flesh wound, " you won't have to ask "What's that from?"

About the Author
Jai Nanda, an avid moviegoer and graduate of the University of Michigan, lives in New York City.

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Review of Hyper-chondriac: One Man's Quest to Hurry Up and Calm Down (Hardcover)

2010-01-26T22:38:00.000-05:00

Okay, I'm a sucker for a memoir but let's face it, a lot of them are not great and most of them are not funny. Somehow Brian Frazer managed to hit the trifecta of painfully honest, brave and hilarious on his quest to stop being so angry all the time. Personally I related to this book a little too much - Zoloft, irrational irritation and a desire to get better were themes of mine as well. But I definitely didn't go to the lengths that Brian did. He shares stories of silence retreats, Tai Chi with old people, therapy and other undignified ways to spend an afternoon with such rare humor that you will find yourself laughing out loud even if you can't relate at all.

I highly recommend this book and if you don't love it, you can personally ask for your money back from Brian Frazer. He's so calm now I'm sure he'd give it to you. Okay, maybe not. But buy the book.

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Review of Mommy, Why? (Paperback)

2010-01-26T18:42:00.000-05:00

Ms. O,Neill's book is one of my daughter's favorites!!! It deals with the hard issues of race in a very sensitive manner. After reading the book a child will understand that everyone is different, not necessarily "better" but different and that different is GOOD. This book should be on all the bookshelves in every school(children need to learn to be tolerant of one another, not hateful or envious or inferior)!!! This book is a good find.

Product Description
wrote this book to inspire children and parents to be open-minded and to respect diversity.The conversation between seven-year-old Anna and her mother who are Asian covers differences in appearance, family, culture, disability, marriage and love.The dialogue is direct and loving; Anna learns to understand and value her being different from others, and that appreciating their being different is a good way to grow up.Children, parents and teachers will enjoy reading this book.

About the Author
Lin Fong-O'Neill left her native Hong Kong for America at seventeen. She had a successful management career in New York's JPMorgan Chase & Co., where she was selected as a member of the Diversity Council within a major business sector. She retired in 2001 to pursue creative writing. Her work has appeared extensively in New York's Great South Bay Monthly magazine, and New Jersey's Asbury Park Press. This is her first children's book. She hopes to pass along her love of different cultures, and to promote unity through diversity.

Lin lives with her husband, Ben, and their two cats, Maxi and Tommy, in Colts Neck, New Jersey.

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Review of You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again (Paperback)

2010-01-26T17:27:00.000-05:00

In her Oscar acceptance speech for Best Picture, Julia Phillips described herself as a "nice Jewish girl from Great Neck."Well, she got 2/3 of it right.But nice?No way.

This book is one of the greatest acts of literary self-immolation ever published.It's hard not to feel sorry for Phillips at first, suffering as she does from a toxic mother, a workaholic father, insomnia and a Talmudic intellect.

But you get over that feeling in a hurry, as Phillips bullies, maneuvers, sleeps and stomps her way to the top, winning an Oscar for The Sting at the unheard-of age of 29.Her motto: overcompensate; overachieve.If you can't be best, be first.

As she notes, no young person is ever ready for massive success, and her career crashed just as quickly.After being more or less fired from Close Encounters by Steven Speilberg, her life became a broken record of drug abuse, failed relationships, financial problems and closed doors gleefully slammed by those she used and abused on the way up.Through it all she makes it all seem like a big game, but the human wreckage strewn across the landscape will give the reader pause.

It's hard to know whether Phillips' broadsides at anyone and everyone with whom she had contact are simply through spite, or whether we'd all be better off if Hollywood simply disappeared in the next big quake.Phillips claims that she's just being honest, but snide remarks about a crewmember's physical deformity make her seem only nasty.

Hate it as she did, Phillips revelled in the politics, the backstabbing, the lies and shallowness, the feeling of power that came with the title of Producer.She learned fast ("Always negotiate the height and WIDTH of your [on-screen] credit," she advises, after her on-screen credit for The Sting is "willow thin.") Her films (Taxi Driver, The Sting, Close Encounters, among others) were good, though one gets the sense it was in spite of her take-no-prisioners approach.

One wishes at the end that Phillips would "get it," but instead she reaps what she sews.There was to be no Hollywood redemption for her.Phillips' death this january was untimely, but no human being could possibly survive for long carrying around so much bile.Very much worth the read, even only as a cautionary tale.

Product Description
Oscar-winning producer Julia Phillips's work on Taxi Driver, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and The Sting made her famous. This is the memoir that made her infamous-a downfall chronicle of a private hell that could only have been written by someone with nothing left to lose.

"The hottest book of the year." (Newsweek)

"A hell of a story." (San Francisco Chronicle)

"One of the most honest books ever written about one of the most dishonest towns ever created." (Boston Globe)

"Gossip too hot even for the National Enquirer...(If your name's in here, take two Valium and read on)." (Los Angeles Magazine)

"A blistering look at la la land. A biting tale." (USA Today)

"Fuel-injected dishing." (New York Newsday)

"This no-holds-barred autobiography dissects Hollywood...in scathing detail...will no doubt bring Hollywood to its knees." (Mirabella)

"The ultimate Hollywood chronicle...the story of a life at the top." (Anne Rice)

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Review of American Film Institute Desk Reference: The Complete Guide to Everything You Need to Know about the Movies (Hardcover)

2010-01-26T11:08:00.000-05:00

"In Hollywood, anything can happen. Anything at all." ~Raymond Chandler

If you are looking for a one-volume source containing the information about movies and the people who produce them, this is an excellent reference manual. If information makes you high, this book will make you feel slightly heady. There is information on everything from film history to the biographies of major players. I enjoyed the hundreds of photos, quotes and factoids.

This desk reference is divided into five main sections:

1. Movie History - Take a journey from 1830-2002, decade by decade.

2. Movie Basics - An outline of who, what, when and where. This includes information on studios, creative people, how to break into the movies, buzzwords and coveted salaries.

3. Movie Crafts - The hands-on aspects of movie making. Producing, directing, writing, acting, cinematography, production design, costumes, makeup, hair, special effects, sound and music, editing, distribution and critiquing films.

4. People in Film - Profiles of historical and contemporary film-industry producers and players.

5. Films - Dream lists for the movie lover in you! See if you agree with the AFI's 100 Funniest movie list or read about the top 50 all-time box office hits. The movies are listed, then listed again with additional information. You can also read about the movies again in various parts of the book and page numbers are given for easy reference. Like "Some Like it Hot" is listed in AFI's Top 100 American Movies and while it is listed under AFI's 100 Funniest American Movies, they save space by referring you to pg. 383 for the detailed information.

This section also has a collection of "movie quotations" like: "I'd love to kiss you, but I just washed my hair." ~Bette Davis (Madge), Cabin in the Cotton (1932)

If you enjoy watching Foreign Films, this chapter has information about films around the globe. There are lists of films from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Greece, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Senegal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Sources - Addresses, phone numbers and websites for every facet of the film world. If you want to know about film projects in development, there are places you can find this information online.

You can find out information on:

What you have to do to sell your screenplay to Hollywood.
Where you can rent cameras if you wanted to make a film.
Why films get chosen for the Cannes Film Festival.
How the Oscar got its name.
The stars names found on the Holly wood Walk of Fame.

The main features in this book include: Lists of movies, essays, articles giving information about who's who, detailed cinema history, fascinating anecdotes, gossip, trivia and quotes from film personalities in side columns. Information on "screenplay formats and terminology" is a real bonus. It is pretty amazing to find all this information in one book! If there is another book out there that can compete, I haven't seen it.

Essential reading for any film critic and movie lover. If you are looking for movies to add to your must-see list, this book will have you adding hundreds of movies to your list. The Index is very helpful for finding movie information super fast (although I think they should consider expanding the index even further in future editions) and the AFI has gone out of their way to make this book a dream to read.

The perfect gift for anyone who loves movies.

~The Rebecca Review

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Review of Planning a Wedding to Remember: The Perfect Wedding Planner, Sixth Edition (Spiral-bound)

2010-01-26T10:07:00.000-05:00

I have bought about 5 different wedding planning books and countless wedding magazines, and none of them had EVERYTHING in them like this one.This planner has wedding music suggestions (actual songs) for the firstdance, bouquet toss and garter throw.It also includes a list of not tomiss photos for your photographer. It gives information aboout formationsof the bridal party in the procession and recession. Also it has a list ofattendants responsibilities. There are worksheets for vendors andquestions to ask each vendor.If I could give this book 6 stars I would, Idefinately recommend it to all brides-to-be.I gave it as a gift to mynewly engaged friend and she adores it also.Good luck!

Product Description
This indispensable wedding planner reminds brides and grooms to enjoy themselves as they prepare for their wedding. New to the sixth edition are new tips, quizzes to help couples identify their personal styles, and suggestions on how and when to compromise in decision-making. The book also points the way to wedding planning tools available on the Web. Details about invitations, flowers, budgeting, etiquette, music, photographers, and apparel are all presented in a way that informs - and inspires - the bride and groom. Planning a Wedding to Remember, with charts and illustrations, is completely updated for a new generation of engaged couples.

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Review of The Instant When Everything is Perfect (Paperback)

2010-01-26T09:56:00.000-05:00

What does one call a book like this?Is it a contemporary romance? It's a story of love, to be sure, but doesn't follow the rules of the romance genre.Is it women's fiction? Perhaps, but there's plenty of meat here for men to enjoy as well, if they care to look. Is it literature? The language isn't rich enough, the themes too transparent.

But in the end, who really cares what you want to call it? All that really matters is this: Jessica Barksdale Inclan's 'The Instant When Everything is Perfect' is a good book, the sort of deceptively simple story that will keep you thinking about it and its characters well after you've turned the last page and closed the book.

There's nothing really astounding about the story by itself. Inclan's tale of a failing marriage, the tragedy of cancer, and new love is one that has been told before, both in the pages of other books and in the days and years of lives lived. What made this book stand out for me as I read it, what kept me coming back to it again and again were the characters. Inclan's ability to create full-bodied, flawed, vibrant, human characters made this a story worth reading, even through the parts that were predictable or too easy.

My reaction to the book was surprising at times, and I think it had everything to do with the strength the characters. At one point I was banging my hand on the arm of my chair in frustration at the inaction of one character, at another I found myself thinking something just before another character said almost exactly what I had been thinking. In these brief pages, somehow I came to know the people within them: Mia, mother of two older boys, wife in a marriage that has never satisfied her. Robert, lonely and frightened, but kind and giving as well. Sally, Mia's mother, victim of breast cancer and rediscovering what her life means to her. Not only did I come to know these people, I came to care about them. Their story mattered to me, and when it ended I was a little sad. It ended where it needed to end, but I found myself wanting to know what came next too.

There are moments in life that seem flawless. Taken and recognized for what they are when they happen, they are wondrous and rare and beautiful, and they can sustain us through much. Jessica Barksdale Inclan sees those moments through the eyes of her characters, and she shares that vision with us in this book. For these moments alone, it is a story well worth reading.

Product Description
Mia thought she had everything-a thriving career, a wonderful husband, and two beautiful sons. But illness shakes her out of her comfort zone when her mother is diagnosed with breast cancer. At her mother's bedside, she meets someone whose presence seems to fill a void in her, a void she wasn't even aware existed.

Robert is happily convinced he's going to spend his life alone until he meets Mia, who makes him question everything. As a surgeon, he's helped many women put their lives back together. And despite his compelling feelings about Mia, he doesn't want to make hers fall apart.

About the Author
Jessica Barksdale Inclán teaches writing, mythology, and women's literature at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California.

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Review of How to Do Everything with Windows XP (Paperback)

2010-01-26T03:46:00.000-05:00

Great book, learned the in's & out's of XP in no time. I found the book to be well organized and easy to understand.Each chapter gives step by step instructions to do just about everything imaginable with Windows XP.It appears the author has taken extra effort in providing a well referenced index, so finding applications and definitions can quickly be found.Great as a reference tool. I highly reccomend this book.

Product Description
Get the most out of Windows XP using this friendly, solutions-oriented guide. See how much you can do with the world's most popular operating system--including making movies and playing music--and learn about all its new updates such as networking for both home and office, faster boot features, better security, and improved Web browsing.

From the Back Cover
Learn to run this sophisticated operating system with ease and enjoy the many features that make XP an efficient, rock-solid computing environment. Tap powerful functionality like home and small-office networking, Media Player, system security, and privacy protection. Manage files and folders, searches, and taskbar grouping with the simplified visual design. Communicate through text messaging, voice, or video through Windows Messenger. View, store, and organize digital photographs with My Pictures. Quickly change custom desktop configurations with fast user-switching. How To Do Everything with Windows XP will help you accomplish more in less time than you ever imagined.

Operate effectively in the Home or Professional environments
Configure the XP desktop and master the XP Control Panel
Use the innovative features of Internet Explorer 6 and Network Setup Wizard
Access and run a virtual desktop through Remote Desktop and Remote Assistance
Capture, edit, organize, and share home movies with Windows Movie Maker
Play DVDs, store digital music, or burn CDs with the media player
Unleash greater networking capabilities
Bridge networks, create firewalls, and use new security features
Play games with greater stability and support features
Learn the advantages of Windows 2000-generation code

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Review of Tips to Organizing a Successful Social Event: 50 Plus One (Paperback)

2010-01-26T01:05:00.000-05:00

I was in charge of planning a large (100+ guests) event for my parents' 50th anniversary, and I was a nervous wreck. This book gave me all kinds of tips that saved me money, helped me choose the right entertainment and venue, and made me look good. I got all kinds of compliments on what a great job I did with the party, and everything mentioned, from the table settings to the music, were ideas I got from this book. I'd definitely recommend it!

Product Description
Work, family, sports, hobbies, volunteering, children and aging parents all demand our time and attention. That does not mean that your social life has to suffer, does it? Of course not and Heather Hutchins is just the person to help you put socializing back into an event. 50 plus one Tips to Organizing a Successful Social Event is the perfect book you need to pull off a great party; toast a colleague into retirement; entertain the boss and spouse; and even host a grand graduation party or anniversary celebration. Even if you are not a social butterfly, you can learn what to serve, how to make the party unique and how to manage all the details and still enjoy yourself. No more sweating the small stuff-everything you need is all right here.

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Review of Noise/Music: A History (Paperback)

2010-01-25T22:42:00.000-05:00

First off, this book is long overdue; however, what undermines Hagerty's project is his theoretically dry and unconvincing writing (something the editor should have caught, unless the press wanted to publish the philosophical meanderings of the author).Thus, the reader isbombarded with concepts at the expense of offering insights into the production of noise (by actually interviewing the artists in question).This is a major problem with ethnomusicology and musicology in general-waxing and waning about the supposed post-modern qualities about music at the expense of the musician in favor of a totalizing reading of the subject.

Here's some examples: If Japanese noise is zen, then it is also rope bondage (134). -That's really academically lazy, I might add.

On John Zorn, "If he and others are some sort of neo-anthropologists, or exorcists, they are ethnographers of a future culture, and in the meantime, engage in neither the ethno-or the-graphy (137). - Am I'm supposed to be impressed with semantics here or what?

All in all, it will satiate the need to fill the gap; however, the many gaps within this text will hopefully be filled in the near future before many of our contemporary "noise" artists are dead.

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Review of Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx (Hardcover)

2010-01-25T21:36:00.000-05:00

All of us have read many family stories but surely none as compelling or heartbreaking as this.

Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, who has written for the New York Times Magazine, Esquire, The Village Voice, and others, gained unprecedented access to those living inan impoverished section of the Bronx.For some ten years the author shared their existence as she documented struggles, defeats, and transient victories."Random Family" is an astonishing work of straightforward reportage;it is also written with heart.

A stunning picture of life in the Bronx drug trade, "Random Family"is traced through the experiences of two girls, Jessica and Coco.In Part I, "The Street" we are introduced to Jessica who lived on Tremont Avenue, "...one of the poorer blocks in a very poor section of the Bronx.She dressed even to go to the store.Chance was opportunity in the ghetto and you had to be prepared for anything....A sixteen-year-old Puerto Rican girl with bright hazel eyes, a generous mouth, and a voluptuous shape, she radiated intimacy wherever she went.You could be talking to her in the bustle of Tremont and feel as though lovers' confidences were being exchanged beneath a tent of sheets.Guys in cars offered rides.Women pursed their lips, grown men got stupid, boys made promises they could not keep."

Jessica's man of choice is Boy George, a young heroin dealer with money to spare and a willingness to do anything to earn more.He provides undreamed of escapes: trips, jewelry buying sprees, and a car that James Bond would envy.He's also free with physical abuse.

Coco, a fourteen-year-old, is the other girl."Boys called her Shorty because she was short, and Lollipop because she tucked lollipops in the topknot of her ponytail; her teacher called her Motor Mouth because she talked a lot."

But, school wasn't high on Coco's list of priorities.She has eyes for Cesar, Jessica's younger brother, who is working hard at becoming a thug.This pair also enjoys the big time for a while, if you can relish luxury while your friends are being murdered.

Teenage pregnancies are the norm, and being old at 30 isn't a surprise.Prison becomes home.

"Random Family" is a look at a part of our country we would like to think does not exist.But, it does and the awareness of it sears.We owe a debt of gratitude to Adrian Nicole LeBlanc for her honesty and dogged courage.

- Gail Cooke

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Review of The 7th Victim (Hardcover)

2010-01-25T20:21:00.000-05:00

The 7th Victim is a masterpiece! Having read every James Patterson and several Jonathan Kellerman, JD Robb and other spy/murder novels, the 7th Victim ranks up there at the top.Super character development for the lead profiler, Karen.Lots of suspense, turns and twists, and non-stop action --- very difficult to put down.

Jacobson has succeeded in creating an unsettling and suspenseful edge throughout the book --- everything that could go wrong, did go wrong for Karen until it righted itself at the very end.So many family twists that we got to know the whole family intimately by the end, like peeling back an onion, it was done layer by layer - surprise!

I can see the quality attention to detail about profiling, SWAT teams, with the appropriate language and procedures.All genuine and seemed realistic. Very enjoyable and I can see how it could be a great movie!

I also reread The Hunted and enjoyed it again!

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Review of Camilla's Roses (Hardcover)

2010-01-25T11:05:00.000-05:00

Camilla's Roses, Bernice McFadden's latest release, is told in three parts:the present day when Camilla's husband discovers a lump in her breast, a flashback to the haunting past that she would rather erase, and a return to present day to face reality and her future.Camilla's middle name is Rose and all the women on her maternal side share the same middle name honoring a one-of-a-kind rosebush that only prospers and blooms on her great-great grandmother's land in Southern Georgia despite being stolen and clipped many times over the years.

Camilla suffers from an identify crisis and abandoned her family ten years ago.However, after learning about her childhood, one can understand her self-imposed exodus.Raised in a house full of cousins by her maternal grandmother (Velma Rose) and great aunt (Maggie Rose), Camilla seldom saw her heroin-addicted parents (Audrey Rose and Leroy Brown) and when she did, the results of the visits were disappointing and heartbreaking.Her childhood experiences causes her to develop an identity crisis that leads to serious skin bleaching and lying - to her friends about her family situation and to herself which proves to be most damaging.

With her usual flair, McFadden cuts to the core of humanity and deals with raw pain, loss, and suffering.This book deals with a multitude of issues: breast cancer, the affects of drug addiction, abandonment, self-hate, infidelity, etc.Every character is fully developed with a rich history and strong role in the plot - making it a well told story.The subject matter is dark and harrowing, but there is a silver lining embedded between the lines -- despite the despair, like the rose bush planted so long ago, Camilla and her "Roses" are made with a strong constitution and we are left with a glimmer of hope that they will be all right.

(...)

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Review of A Miracle of Catfish (Hardcover)

2010-01-25T09:12:00.000-05:00

'A Miracle Of Catfish' was unfinished when author Larry Brown died unexpectedly.Because the book was almost finished, publication of Brown's last offering to his fans was possible.The book uses ellipsis to show where editing was done, and though unfinished, includes the notes that Brown left behind as to how he planned to wrap up the novel.

In Brown's languid southern prose, he explores the lives of several people living in the quiet, countrified outskirts of a small town.Cortez Sharp, a 72 year old man who's wife is disabled, decides to dig out a large pond on his property and stock it with catfish.He lives a solitary life, preferring to be left alone with his vegetable patches and herds of cows.His daughter Lucinda lives in Atlanta with her boyfriend Albert, who suffers from Tourettes Syndrome.Cortez calls Albert 'The Retard', driving a wedge between him and his only surviving child.Cortez carries a dark secret with him, one of horrible proportions.

There's Jimmy, a ten year old boy with bad teeth, who lives near Cortez's farm in an old trailer.Jimmy struggles with his father's temper, his two half-sisters Evelyn and Velma, and his desire to fix the go-kart his daddy built for him.Jimmy's Daddy (known only in the book as 'Jimmy's Daddy') is a typical redneck loser.He drives around in his old '55 drinking beer and smoking cigarettes, fights with himself over trying to treat Jimmy better, and has an affair with a woman at the stove factory where he works that turns out bad (in pregnancy) which threatens his life and marriage to Jonette.

And then there's Cleve, an old black man who used to work for Cortez, mean as a polecat, and murderous to boot.He's been in prison twice and though he swore he'd never go back, he's not quite done committing crimes.

Typical of Brown's unhurried and languorous prose, there's lots of smoking, beer drinking, and driving around.There's surprises like DUI's, tractor accidents, unwanted pregnancies, affairs, fishing, hunting, and a young boy worried about having puppies.

These aren't exactly people you would want for neighbors, but Brown brings them out fully fleshed and alive, and you know there are people out there just like Brown's characters.Everyday folk struggling with everyday problems, inner monologues that both repulse and enchant, and scenes that will suck you into the story despite their slowly building climaxes.

While I highly recommend Brown's work, I would recommend 'Joe', 'Fay', and 'Father And Son' as a warm up to 'A Miracle Of Catfish', simply because this is an unfinished work and may leave the novice Brown reader feeling flat at the abrupt end.It's sad that this is the last time we will hear Brown's voice in the literature world.Enjoy!

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Review of America's Boy: A Memoir (Hardcover)

2010-01-24T17:01:00.001-05:00

America's Boy is a brutally funny, heartbreakingly honest account of a boy struggling to grow up in the Missouri Ozarks (Wade would prefer being a Winnie the Pooh children's clothing model to gigging frogs and catching catfish barehanded!). Reading the memoir is like sitting with a good friend in front of a camp fire and trading those difficult stories of growing up and family that we all share. What sets this book apart from an inundated field, however, is the honesty and joy that the author brings to his story -- in spite of his struggles, there is a fondness and welcome brightness to his writing. He honors his past, his family and where he came from, in spite of how difficult his path was. This is a special book that will resonate with nearly everyone: Those who feel different, those who have ever felt that they had failed to meet parental expectations, those who have ever lost a loved one, those who have ever struggled to just be accepted as they are. I breezed through this book in just a couple of nights, and laughed, cried, and cheered the whole way. I can't wait to read Wade's coming books.

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Review of The Etruscan Chimera (Archaeological Mysteries, No. 6) (Hardcover)

2010-01-24T12:40:00.001-05:00

I loved this book, it is exciting, well-plotted and very well written.I was surprised that this book didn't get more attention because it is as rivetting as The DaVinci Code, maybe even more.Lyn Hamilton is quite skilled at developing a sense of place, I have wanted to visit every locale she writes about. You won't be disappointed with this mystery either, it is as good as any Hitchcock had in his best days.

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Review of Muddle Earth (Hardcover)

2010-01-24T05:58:00.000-05:00

Poor Joe Jefferson. He has a noisy family, not enough time and an assignment to write an essay on "My Amazing Adventure." Given his boring life, he's not even sure what to write about --- but soon he'll have enough adventures to fill a whole book, not just a term paper.

Joe is about to be whisked away to the land of Muddle Earth by Randalf, a truly inept wizard who knows exactly one spell. Randalf and his sidekicks --- the ogre known as Norbert the Not-Very-Big and the bird named Veronica --- have summoned Joe (and his own sidekick, his dog Harry) to Muddle Earth in order to save the kingdom from the horrid ogre known as Engelbert the Enormous.

Joe is a reluctant warrior at best, and despite his new name of Joe the Barbarian, all he really wants is to fulfill his duties and get back home again. Before Joe can even approach the fearsome Engelbert, however, he has to be outfitted with the appropriate warrior garb: the Woolly Gloves of Determination, the Wellies of Power, the War-bonnet of Sarcasm and the Trident of Trickery (which, given Randalf's pitiful budget, are actually old gloves and boots, a saucepan and a toasting-fork).

Nevertheless, despite his apprehension, Joe turns out to be a most capable hero, even when confronted not only with fearsome ogres and trolls but even by dragons, rogue cutlery and the fiercest villain of all --- Doctor Cuddles of Giggle Glade, who vows to become Lord and Master of Muddle Earth. But will Randalf, whose only spell involves bringing questionable heroes to Muddle Earth, be able to return Joe to the place he wants to be most of all --- home?

Originally published in Great Britain in 2003 by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell, the duo responsible for the hugely successful Edge Chronicles series, MUDDLE EARTH is now available to American readers for the first time. It is probably obvious from the title that MUDDLE EARTH is, in many ways, a parody of J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. From its three-part structure to its detailed maps at the novel's opening to the names of its characters (Randalf = Gandalf, Joe = Frodo, Musty Mountains = Misty Mountains, etc.), it's clear that Stewart and Riddell are having a great deal of fun at the expense of Tolkien's enduringly popular series.

It is fortunate, however, that MUDDLE EARTH has much to recommend it beyond being simply a funny parody. Its humor will appeal to all fans of light-hearted, satirical fantasy, particularly those who enjoy the works of Terry Pratchett. The book manages to combine inventive storylines with tongue-in-cheek humor: "The following day dawned bright and early --- unlike the day before, when it had been an hour late, and the previous Wednesday when it hadn't dawned until one-twenty in the afternoon."

It's hard to say which aspect will hook readers first --- Joe's "Amazing Adventures" or the antics of Muddle Earth's achingly funny characters. Regardless, this is one fantasy destination that kids won't soon want to come home from.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

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Review of Uncharted (Hardcover)

2010-01-23T19:39:00.000-05:00

As we begin this read we become familiar with the lives of six people who were college friends at one time, but now have parted to live their own lives.
One of these friends dies and the rest travel out of respect to his funeral.All have had a dream or vision of their departed friend before they knew he had died.Why?What did this mean?
Was it a warning and will they heed his frantic cries? The answer will surprise you.

It is somewhat difficult to review this work without revealing the shocking ending.I will say this; the remaining friends find themselves on an uncharted island after an accident.What they discover there about themselves and their lives will shake you up; cause you to rethink your own life and hopefully make some changes. This work has an outstanding storyline, great character development and quite an emotional ending.I give it a five star and a thumbs-up review.
This is a wonderful book, not only a great read but one that has eternal heartstrings attached to it that you will remember for a long time to come. Don't miss this one.

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Review of Batista Unleashed (Hardcover)

2010-01-23T16:35:00.000-05:00

I've been a big fan of wrestling ever since I was a little kid. I grew up with characters like Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, and The Undertaker. When the guys I grew up with slowly started to fade away I lose my interest in the WWE. For me, the new guys just didn't have the same "it" factor as the ones I grew up with.

It wasn't until the WWE started releasing books from their stars that my interest started to build again. When I was a kid there was no difference between the character these guys played on TV, and the person they were at home. I would've never dreamed that one day I'd be watching a TV show about Hulk Hogan...his wife....AND his kids?? No way.

Now that I'm a little older and understand the difference between the characters they play in the ring, and the real person they are, I've gained a new level of respect for the men and women of the WWE.

When Batista first came to the WWE he was all but entertaining. Since then I've watched his character grow and become World champion on numerous occasions. I had no idea he was releasing a book, and at first I was a bit skeptical about reading it because in the ring Batista isn't known for his overwhelming personality.

I gave in and purchased the book on Mon 10/22, and I've already finished it. Dave Batista (or Bautista)is actually an interesting, fairly deep guy with a lot of stories to share about his less than perfect past. His stories about growing up, bodybuilding, and life on the road actually had me laugh at loud at some points.

What I really enjoyed was that while Batista obviously had help in writing the book, at no time did I feel like I was reading someone else's words. The entire book made me believe that he actually sat down and wrote this which I can't really say about a lot of other biographies I've read. The book is candid, revealing, and very interesting. Personally, I couldn't put it down, and I would highly recommended it to anyone who's looking for an interesting book they can finish in a few days.

Even if you're not a fan of wrestling, the stories of Batista's life before he entered the ring are worth the purchase alone.

Product Description
People around the world know Dave Batista as World Wrestling Entertainment's "the Animal," the rope-shaking, spine-busting World Heavyweight Champion, one of the most popular Superstars in recent years.The crowd turned Batista from heel to babyface after they were electrified by his awesome physique and physical wrestling style.

Few fans, however, know that Batista didn't join the profession until he was thirty years old -- an age at which many wrestlers are thinking about hanging up their boots. Nor do most fans know the tremendous toll the climb to the top has taken on Batista's personal life. While successfully staying away from hard drugs and -- usually -- liquor, he found sex too tempting to resist.

"Women were my drug of choice," the Animal confesses. That addiction cost him his marriage, destroying a relationship that had helped him climb from poverty to the pinnacle of sports entertainment in less than two years.

Now, in Batista Unleashed, the WWE Superstar comes clean about the choices he made and the devastating effects they had on his family. He talks about the injury that stripped him of his title -- an injury he blames on Mark Henry's carelessness. While being sidelined cost Batista untold hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost income, it also set the stage for a tremendous comeback that cemented the Animal's reputation as a true champion.

Batista talks about growing up in the worst part of Washington, D.C., where three murders occurred in his front yard before he was nine. He speaks lovingly about his mother -- a lesbian -- and how hard she worked to keep the family not just together but alive. He talks candidly about his own criminal past: a conviction on a drug charge and another, since overturned, on assault. He speaks of his days as a bouncer and a lifeguard, and tells how bodybuilding may have saved his life.

Once he made it to the WWE, Batista realized he wasn't really ready for the big time. His career seemed headed for a fall until Fit Finlay took him under his wing. But his real education came when he joined Evolution and rode with Triple H and Ric Flair, two of sports entertainment's all-time greats. Batista talks about what they taught him, and details some of their wild times on the road.

But the champ also reveals a kinder, gentler side. While his soft-spoken manner in the locker room has sometimes been misinterpreted as arrogance, in truth Batista's always been somewhat shy and quiet. Emotional by nature, he reveals for the first time that the tears fans saw at WrestleMania 21, when he won the World Heavyweight Championship for the first time, were very real. And he speaks movingly about his problems with his ex-wives and teenage daughters, and how it felt to become a grandfather.

While his straight-shooting mouth has occasionally gotten him into trouble -- most notably in a backstage confrontation with Undertaker after some remarks about SmackDown! -- Batista is his own harshest critic. He explains his early limitations as a wrestler and the work he has done to overcome them. Interspersing his memoir with accounts from life on the road, Batista lightens the narrative with a surprising sense of humor. An Animal in the ring, he reveals himself as an honest and even humble man in everyday life.--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author
Jeremy Roberts (cowriter) has written on a variety of subjects. His nonfiction work includes biographies of Mussolini and Joan of Arc for A&E Books.

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Review of Beyond the Blues: A Guide to Understanding and Treating Prenatal and Postpartum Depression (Paperback)

2010-01-23T09:01:00.000-05:00

"Contrary to popular mythology, pregnancy is not always a happy, glowing experience! Approximately 10 percent of women experience depression. Of these, about 15 percent are so severely depressed that they attempt suicide."

During a time when you would imagine most women would be happy and fulfilled in their new roles as a mother, many women experience the nightmare of postpartum depression. While many of us have heard of postpartum depression (PPD), I was unaware of prenatal depression. In fact, this book presents five postpartum mood disorders that can also occur during pregnancy.

Since depression can have fatal results, it is essential to get counseling. This book is not intended to be a replacement for individual counseling, medical assessment or group support. "Beyond the Blues" shows the reality of Prenatal and Postpartum depression. It is one of the most well-organized books I've seen on any type of depression. You can quickly assess the condition and find help, treatment options and support.

The authors wrote this book to help provide critical information to psychotherapists and clients. Shoshana S. Bennett, Ph. D., founded "Postpartum Assistance for Mothers in 1987" and also holds her second masters degree in Psychology and a doctorate in Clinical Counseling. Pec Indman, Ed.D., MFT has a doctorate in counseling and a masters degree in health psychology.

Our Stories - Shoshana and Pec show how they became aware of perinatal mood disorders. You soon realize the lack of sensitivity out there in the "real world" and can't believe we humans are not more nurturing. For some women, becoming a new mom can be a shocking experience when they start feeling suicidal.

Pregnancy and Postpartum Psychiatric Illness - An excellent chapter showing how perinatal mood disorders are caused by hormonal changes. The authors explain a variety of mood disorders. Some are not "considered a disorder" but can be experienced by 80 percent of mothers. What I found interesting was the "risk factors." PMS and PMDD are risk factors. This chapter contains stories of women who went through one of the mood disorders. I was shocked at how much I didn't know about pregnancy even after reading numerous books on the subject.

Women With Postpartum Mood Disorders - Once you have analyzed your behaviour or the behavior of a friend/client, you can then find a therapist, website information, find people to support you, understand the value of medication and develop a healthier lifestyle. The section on "myths" was enlightening.

Partners - You will be especially encouraged by the "What to Say, What Not to Say" comments. Learning to be encouraging should be an essential life skill.

Siblings, Family, and Friends - A great chapter on how you can explain this disorder to children, family and friends. Love the list of "What you can do to help."

Health Practitioners - The authors present answers to the questions they have been asked over the years. They deal with signs, symptoms and treatment. This is just an excellent chapter for doctors who are going to be asking the pertinent questions. Later, in the Appendix, there are Medical Terms with definitions.

Treatment - Yes, there is hope. Read this chapter to find out how you can use a combination of therapies to encourage a more balanced mood. It was interesting to consider the "impact of medication vs. the impact of illness." It was very comforting to know that SSRIs or TCAs can be used during pregnancy. This was news to me and will give you a sense of security, especially if you have realized the risk factors involved in getting pregnant in the first place. The authors also discuss drugs that should not be taken during pregnancy. You can even use sleep aids? Who knew! This was very helpful. There are even charts showing what treatment should be used during what stage. Doctors need this information!

Resources - A collection of websites and organizations to help you take care of yourself and do more research. You may also want to read additional books on this subject. A list is provided. The book ends with a helpful index.

If you have ever been depressed, you know that sometimes just knowing someone understands what you are going through, can be very healing. "Beyond the Blues" is a beautiful gift to women struggling with pregnancy-related mood disorders. This is literally a book that could help you save your life or the life of a woman who needs your emotional support.

Highly Recommended as essential reading for the human race! If you know someone who is pregnant or if you are pregnant, you should read this book. You know, I even think this book will be helpful for anyone dealing with a situation in which they are caring for someone experiencing depression.

Especially Recommended to:

New Moms taking charge of their health
Anyone who is considering becoming pregnant and wants to evaluate the risk factors.
Primary Care Providers
Pediatricians
OB/Gyns and Midwives
Psychiatrists
Doulas
Nurses
Lactation Consultants
Childbirth Educators
New Parent Group Leaders

~The Rebecca Review

Product Description
Beyond the Blues contains the most up-to-date information about riskfactors, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mood disorders inpregnancy and postpartum. Straightforward yet compassionate, it isrequired reading for all who work with pregnant and postpartum women,as well as for those suffering before or after the baby is born.

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Review of Calder Born, Calder Bred (Calder Saga's) (Mass Market Paperback)

2010-01-23T05:50:00.001-05:00

Out of all the calder series, I love this one the best.Jessy is the woman all of us would love to be....feminine, tough, ladylike, loyal, beautiful in the way the land needed, not just "prissy". Ty needs someone to stand with him, not to be a "trophy". The loss of Maggie is so difficult; Chase just isn't the same without her; I love seeing Cat grow up and the changes in all the characters.I have even learned to like Culley. The love he has for Maggie and Cat is wonderful and touching.I have been through 2 copies already and will choose this one when i want a real look at the calder's.What a wonderful way to escape.....

Product Description

Ty Calder was a stranger to the mighty empire that was his legacy -- the ranchlands that rose to meet the Montana skies. He learned the ways of ranch life from young Jessy, who knew the landher own heart.

But Ty worshiped dark, glamorous Tara, scion of the new "corporate West," of vast power and big money. Tara lured Ty on, greedy to be mistress of the Calder kingdom. Yet when her world rushed in to plunder the fortune beneath the prairies, it was Jessy who fought for Ty, defying death to save a birthright that was Calder Born, Calder Bred.

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Review of Calder Born, Calder Bred (Calder Saga's) (Mass Market Paperback)

2010-01-23T05:50:00.000-05:00

Review of Dining Room & Banquet Management, 3E (Paperback)

2010-01-22T22:19:00.000-05:00

This has great fundamentals for service the only down side is the price.Buying it through Amazon.com was a good way to go.

Product Description
If you are responsible for the efficient and profitable operation of a dining room or banquet facility, this revised manual is a handy reference and training resource to help you meet your goals.For service training programs in organizations providing banquet and/or dining room services, this is a thorough and clearly presented manual on the finer points of outstanding service, the distinguishing factor toward creating and maintaining a profitable business.The manager who trains his or her staff using this manual and the techniques presented here will provide excellent service to their guests.New diagrams concerning table and station assignments have been added to this new edition.Also included are step-by-step instructions on how to serve a typical meal with an individual server and how to enter orders and close out checks using a MICROS Point of Sale Computer System.Information about reservations, priority seating, and reservations systems has been updated as well.New techniques such as how to set guarantees for an event, the use of grazing stations and combination meal plates (vs. offering selections) are detailed in a section dedicated to banquet management.Your staff will learn confidence and skills that will serve them well as they serve your guests professionally and efficiently.

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Review of Clean Cut [IMPORT] (Hardcover)

2010-01-22T17:53:00.000-05:00

Lynda La Plante is well known to mystery/suspense readers.Her BBC television series, PRIME SUSPECT, ran for seven seasons and starred award-winning actress Helen Mirren as DCI Jane Tennison.In addition to being an actress herself and writing movie and television scripts, La Plante has written several stand-alone and series novels.

The author's latest book, CLEAN CUT, is the third in her Anna Travis series.RED DAHLIA and ABOVE SUSPICION.I hadn't read either of the previous books, but I had no problem diving into this one regarding backstory.La Plante delivers well-developed characters with a tremendous amount of internal conflict.What I needed to know about the two primary characters, Anna and her lover Detective Chief Inspector Jimmy Langdon, was quickly supplied, and I was immersed into the new problems that faced them as a couple and as police officers.

After a rather slow-paced launch at the start of the book, though deep in character complications, Anna starts questioning her relationship with Langdon.She's gotten irritated at the way she seems to have turned from lover to caretaker for him, all without appreciation.Then she gets the phone call that turns her life inside out:Langdon was attacked at his latest crime scene.She's told that even if he lives, Langdon will probably never walk again.

The book centers at the outset on the test of the two wills of Anna and Langdon.She wants to help, but he's so cynical and bitter that she can barely stand to be around him.Not only that, but she finds out that Langdon is going behind her back to get information about the man that attacked him.Anna fears that Langdon is engaging in a vendetta that will land him in trouble with the law.If the wheelchair doesn't get Jimmy Langdon, it looks like prison will.

I liked the characters a lot because they have obvious history and "feel" real.I hated the way Langdon treats Anna, but I totally understood where Langdon's mind is while in the hospital.People in situations like Langdon's strike out at those that love them because those people are the only ones willing to put up with them.This bitterness spreads throughout the novel as Anna's own murder case suddenly intersects with the investigation Langdon was pursuing when he was nearly killed.

La Plante uses the novel to point out how vulnerable countries are these days.Transient populations drift through major cities, like London in this novel, and bring a lot of danger and crime because that's a big part of what those people have to rely on for employment.The presentation of La Plante's views may be unsettling for some, but there's now denying the existence of the problem.

The book remains steady throughout, and its solid police work that breaks the cases wide open and connects them.There are no car chases, martial arts battles, or shootouts.The action La Plante relays in her pages is propelled by emotion and the reader's driving curiosity to find out what's going to happen next.The author has a great ear for dialogue, and her police characters talk the way those people do, in rough vernacular tinged with black humor.

CLEAN CUT is a good book, but it's made even better by the stress on Anna and Langdon's relationships.The final few pages will come as a shock to some.And it will leave readers wondering what's going to happen for Anna in the next book.

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Review of Why Don't Cats Like to Swim?: An Imponderables Book (Imponderables Books) (Paperback)

2010-01-22T17:21:00.000-05:00

This is the first of the Imponderables series of books.For people like me who love to accumulate useless but fascinating information it is a wonderful book.It asks the questions (Why do we itch, why are there holes in Swiss cheese, why does an X stand for a kiss, etc....)and then proceeds to answer them.If you ever wanted to be a know-it-all (or want your know-it-all to at least have the right answers) then read this book and become the authority on useless information with your family and friends.Much more fascinating than trivia books (after all you might want to know why cashews are not sold in their shells but who really cares who the runner up for the 1998 Ms America was?).
Each piece is a short question and answer so that you could pick it up and read one in a minute or two, but if you are like me then once you have read one you have to keep on reading the next and then the next until you have consumed an hour or more of fascinating reading.

Product Description

Why does an "X" stand for a kiss?
Which fruits are in Juicy Fruit® gum?
Why do people cry at happy endings?
Why do you never see baby pigeons?

Pop-culture guru David Feldman demystifies these topics and so much more in Why Don't Cats Like to Swim? -- the unchallenged source of answers to civilization's most perplexing questions. Part of the Imponderables® series, Feldman's book arms readers with information about everyday life -- from science, history, and politics to sports, television, and radio -- that encyclopedias, dictionaries, and almanacs just don't have. Where else will you learn what makes women open their mouths when applying mascara?

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Review of The Food Service Managers Guide to Creative Cost Cutting and Cost Control: Over 2001 Innovative and Simple Ways to Save Your Food Service Operation Thousands by Reducing Expenses (Hardcover)

2010-01-22T15:52:00.000-05:00

I am not an accountant. Just thinking about the bookkeeping associated with profit planning and cost cutting intimidates me. The Food Service Manager's Guide To Cost directed me to accounting software and tools such as Tasty Profits and the National Restaurant Association's Chart of Accounts to keep my books in order. I thought Point of Sale systems were items of convenience and style. The book showed me that POS systems monitor inventory, staff performance and schedules, and even reports possible theft. Tricks of the Trade, testimonials from established restaurateurs, give a wealth of insight. The book reveals thousands of cost cutting secrets such as using a celebrated chef to design your menu, but not actually cook it. There are also must-see tips for decreasing profit-loss of theft and an inefficient staff. The book is humongous and every page of it is filled with applicable tips to improve your bottom line without sacrificing quality.

Product Description
This is one of the very few books written for existing operators in both the commercial and non-commercial sectors. You will find over 2,001 practical, insider techniques and tips that have been gleaned from successful operators from around the world and tested in real-life food service businesses. You can put this information in place today to reduce expenses and expand profits. Easy to read and understand, this step-by-step guide and will take the mystery out of how to reduce costs in four critical areas: food, beverage, operations and labor.

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Review of Freddy and Fredericka (Hardcover)

2010-01-22T09:34:00.000-05:00

"Though it is hard to be a king, it is harder yet to become one."Thus begins Mark Helprin's hilariously wacky fantasy "Freddy and Fredericka".

Freddy is the Prince of Wales. In private he is a fit and intelligent man approaching middle age who tests his physical skills by hiking across the wilds of Scotland with nothing but a backpack.He is thoughtful and well read.In public, he is ungainly and misunderstood. His rather large ears and his penchant for making malaprop-riddled public utterances make him a laughingstock to the British public. His wife, Fredericka can do no wrong. Considerably younger than Freddy, she is beautiful but empty-headed. Despite that, no matter what she says, no matter how vacuous or wrong headed the public eats it up.Freddy's mother, Queen Phillipa, abhors Fredericka. The Queen's relationship with her daughter-in-law is dysfunctional to say the least. Freddy has a sizzling relationship with an older yet extraordinarily passionate woman, the aptly named Lady Phoebe Boylinghotte. Freddy and Fredericka's relationship is strained to say the least.Sound familiar yet?

As the story opens, Freddy is in the Scottish Highlands trying unsuccessfully to get a falcon to fly at his command.This is no trivial matter. The falcon will only fly for someone with the qualities to be a king and no Prince of Wales can succeed to the throne unless can make the falcon fly.Freddy has failed in his first three attempts.He has one more to go.

After a series of hilariously funny misadventures that makes Freddy look like an insane clod a mysterious stranger, a wizard in fact, is summoned to Buckingham Palace in what can only be described as a royal intervention.Mr. Neil, who claims to be old enough to have first-hand knowledge of the earliest Kings of England, with the blessing of the Queen, commands Freddy and Fredericka to go out on a quest to prove they are worthy of the throne. Their task is to reconquer America.To that end they are stripped of their clothes and money and flown to the States in a military aircraft. They parachute out of the aircraft and find themselves in "Hohokus" a wet swampy area just west of New York City. Their subsequent journey takes them through the United States. They hop rail cars, do manual labor and see a side of the U.S. and the world that no royal has ever seen. As they discover America they also discover themselves and, more importantly each other. By this point it becomes clear that any similarity between Helprin's fantasy Prince and Princess and any real royal persons is superficial; just a jumping off point for an exploration of what lies below the surface of those we only know through the media.It is also a nice jumping off point for what lies below the surface of all of us.Helprin does this without ever slowing down the pace or humor of the story.

A mere description of the outline cannot describe the enjoyment I derived from reading the book.Helprin's writing style is funny and frenetic.It is also thoughtful.Some readers may not find the Dickensian names Helprin gives some of his characters particularly witty. I found them endearing.Some may think that some of the humorous set piece fall flat.For example, the linguistic confusion Freddy experiences in discussing the relationship between one Dewey Knott and his uncle Arwe Knottrevisits Abbott and Costello's classic "Who's on First"routine. Some may think it derivative.I thought it worked very well. Some of humor did not work for me butthat is only a minor complaint when viewing the book as a whole.

The most enjoyable part of Freddy and Fredericka was the fact that the book evoked so many different reference points for me.The snappy one liners, word-playand somewhat less than dry British wit that marks the first portion of the book seemed one part Yes Minister (a Britcom that poked fun at British politicians and civil servants), one part Dickens and one part Monty Python.Freddy and Freddy's journeys through the U.S. to reconquer America contained some (distant) echoes of Mark Twain; the old movie Sullivan's Travels (a pampered Hollywood movie star goes on a quest through Depression-era America in the guise of a hobo), and Kipling's The Man Who Would be King.

All in all, despite a couple of flaws and false notes, I enjoyed Freddy and Fredericka immensely. The book turns reflective as it nears its conclusion but I think the zany adventures that precede the conclusion renders the change in tone and pace more effective.

Shakespeare's Richard II demanded people to "let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kings!"In the case of Freddy and Fredericka you won't go wrong if you sit upon the ground (or preferably the beach) and read this zanily-realized fantasy of the birth of a king.

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Review of THE INDIAN ROSE (Paperback)

2010-01-21T21:26:00.000-05:00

A beautiful love story well worth reading. Particularly loved the time travel aspect of how someome from the past could possibly deal with some of our modern conveniences, like TV and cars. And then the twist of someone from today ending up in the past. Nice touch that Jessica just won't accept it until she's really faced with it. Totally lovable hero and very realistic, modern day heroine.

Product Description
Having recently lost her father to cancer, the last thing Jessica Hart needs is to come across a confused and injured stranger on the beach near her home. Not only does Patrick O'Hara believe its 1778, he also thinks Jessica is a boy. As a psychologist, she wonders how he came up with his ancient sea-faring life. As a woman she can't help being drawn to his charming old fashioned ways.Patrick talks her into taking out her family yacht, and Jessica soon realises she's made a big mistake when a storm sweeps them both overboard and into the path of The Indian Rose. Rescued by his own crew, Patrick knows they have returned to the past, but Jessica is convinced The Indian Rose is just an authentic reconstruction complete with crazy sailors willing to go along with their insane captain's desire to live in the past. So begin Jessica Hart's adventures into the past.

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Review of Passing Strange: A Novel (Hardcover)

2010-01-21T19:09:00.000-05:00

I love debut novels, the books that took years to write, that have the culmination of the best ideas a writer has saved for a decade or a lifetime.Because it isn't long before the publisher asks them to squeeze out a book a year and the writing gets bland.In that capacity, I loved Passing Strange, a superb debut novel.

Strange is the story a young woman blessed with a perfect body and a highly imperfect face.Her body has enough to draw the eye of a young socialite who convinces her to marry him-and get plastic surgery post-marriage.But once she agrees and she has the face to match the body, her world changes and she begins to views others (specifically the black community near and within her home) as the disenfranchised group to which she used to belong.The story moves and is written with a beautiful and clever voice in our narrator.

The only place the book came up short, which is why I only gave it four stars, is the ending.I almost feel that Sally MacLeod had started writing the book but forgot how she would end it.The story goes down a path and gets stuck there (the murder of her husband) and seems to abandon the writing and voice of the earlier chapters.

That said, it is still worth a read, and worth a purchase.This is an excellent debut novel overall and I will be keeping my eye on her next novel.

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Review of Eliminating the Middleman (Paperback)

2010-01-21T17:55:00.000-05:00

Forman has done what few other authors have accomplished: kept me up all night reading his book.I may have lost some sleep, but once I picked up Eliminating The Middleman, I had to sit riveted to my favorite chair until I was finished.

As in the first book of this series, Dead Men Don't Jog, the engaging Maria Hart is recruited by her "sometimes" employer, Northeastern Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance Company, to investigate another suspicious insurance claim.With an apparent serial killer on the loose, Maria enthusiastically takes the case, while at the same time helping the police to track down a murderer.The victims are all television infomercial stars, and Maria must travel from Chicago to New York to Milwaukee, viewing crime scenes and interviewing multiple suspects.With the intuitive Maria Hart relentlessly pursuing them, the bad guys always seem to get a little nervous.As a result, her own life is placed in imminent danger on more than one occasion, only this time we see the housewife-turned-sleuth emerge as something of an action/adventure hero.With the agility of a teenage gymnast, Maria maintains her cool, calm demeanor as she outmaneuvers a knife-wielding schizophrenic in Chicago, only to find herself facing the business end of a gun a week later in Syracuse.How does she get out of that one?Is this the end of the road for the resourceful and loveable Maria Hart?

Read the book and find out.And if you're like me, by the time you finish this book, you'll develop an insatiable craving for a lettuce and tomato sandwich.

Product Description
In her second adventure Maria Hart, Chicago's plucky redhead insurance investigator, is hot on the trail of someone who is killing off the infomercial stars. As she travels from Chicago to Oswego, New York, to Milwaukee, to the Hudson Valley of New York, and finally back to Oswego, she gets the feeling she's climbed down the rabbit hole.Join her as she meets Curiouser and Curiouser characters in her bi-coastal (Lake Michigan and Lake Ontario) adventure. Along the way, she helps her husband with an employment issue, and helps her new friend out of a jam.

About the Author
Chris Forman is a high school teacher and lives in the Hudson Valley region of New York State with his lovely wife Teresa. They have four children, all grown now, and two grandchildren. His hobbies include playing with the grandchildren, grilling and reading mystery novels. Dead Men Don't Jog is his first entry in the Maria Hart mystery series.To find out more about Chris, and Maria Hart, log on to www.mariahartmysteries.com

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Review of The Love Book (Paperback)

2010-01-21T17:04:00.000-05:00

These stories of sex and death, attraction and repulsion, men and women, start out in a gritty mode, exposing the less pretty realities of some of life's unfortunates. One triumph of The Love Book is the tenderness Wohlrob reveals in the course of writing each relationship, a raw and recognizable humanity he brings to the surface in places the reader least expects: Compassion for just the characters with whom I was most uncomfortable crept over me in absorbing Wohlrob's deft and distilled prose. The stories in The Love Book are never veiled autobiography, but add up to an original vision all Wohlrob's own, one that has been piercingly and wisely lived, felt, and imagined.

Product Description
Five gritty, absurd and darkly comic tales. Five characters at a crossroads in their lives. While recovering in a New Jersey motel room, an obese female pro-wrestler is confronted by the demons of her past, as old memories she long ago wanted to bury keep surfacing. An Italian man who has a fetish for Asian women meets his match when he starts dating an Asian woman with a fetish for Italian men. A woman who loses her right arm in a car accident tries to return to normal life and subjects herself to the horrors of online dating. A man obsessed with time has recurring dreams that he is always late for odd events and struggles with his psychiatrist to figure out the source of his fixation. An epidemic of suicide hits a retirement community in Ohio and one couple begins to question the value of their final days together. These are very modern fables, with a great heart, a very biting sense of humor, and fully-fleshed out characters that you can sink your teeth into. Hear the audio version at www.kenwohlrob.com.

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Review of A Few Corrections: A Novel (Paperback)

2010-01-21T03:51:00.000-05:00

Midway through this exquisite novel the narrator recalls, through an alcoholic mist, that, "the most distant object visible by day--the sun-- lies some eight minutes away at the speed of light.The most distant visible by night--the Great Andromeda Galaxy--lies two million light-years away.In terms of visible boundaries, then, night is some 100 billion times bigger than day."Clearly (or murkily), that leaves much to explore.The primary object of exploration in A Few Corrections, Wesley Sultan, the quintessentially American salesman, has departed for the great darkness beyond life, and the obituary of the man is less than illuminating.The narrator methodically seeks to shed light on this mystery.

While the novel is organized around the attempt to make a few corrections to the memory of this rather ordinary Midwestern life, Brad Leithauser makes more than a few fascinating connections, extending to the extraordinary.Some connections work as metaphor.Of Wesley's sister, the babbling Adelle, he writes, "Her monologue is a wandering creek of so gentle a propulsion, you have to take on faith the notion that you'll eventually get out of the woods and into open waterways."The connections work at the larger structural level of the novel, which will have the careful reader returning to the beginning of chapters and earlier parts of the book to confirm the revelations.For fans of Brad Leithauser, there are even connections to his other works of fiction and poetry.I'm anxious to see where this novel will connect to his future work.

The novel is filled with humorous vignettes and is beautifully written.(It's better when you read it aloud.)Though Wesley Sultan is elusive, the narrator reaches small epiphanies with those who aid him in his quest.Leithauser treats his characters with great warmth and understanding.He also effectively evokes an earlier and lost time.A Few Corrections is fast-paced: it's a good read.At the same time, its richness makes it a good re-read, too.

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Review of Momma's House (Kara's Eyes) (Paperback)

2010-01-21T03:19:00.000-05:00

I am an avid reader. Books, words are my greatest passion.This book grabbed me from the first page!I found myself waking up in the middle of the night wanting to read more.The characters are so real, so much so that I felt I knew them and wanted to see how things turned out. I became totally involved.The main character Kara is fascinating, being so young and so determined, I found myself actually rooting her on!
I cried, I laughed, I was enraged. Momma's House is an emotional rollercoaster.I am recommending it to all my girlfriends as a must read!

Product Description
Set during the mid-1960s through the early 1980s, Kara, a girl of multi-racial, multi-culturalbackground, has taken on the task of caring for her family despite her tender years. Blessed with a genius IQ and street smarts. Kara struggles to survive in a household governed by a violent, domineering andphysically abusive mother with an interest in the occult and a chronically alcoholic and self-loathing father. The inner turmoil of Momma's house is in sharp contrast to the outer appearance of the family's seemingly picturesque life.Kara must contend with the horrors of molestation, rape and modern day slavery with a resolve that belies her young years. With an innate sense of God and purpose, Kara is determined to "bend but NEVER break,"Kara's sense of strength is constantly reenforced by her friendship with her one true friend and seemingly guardian angel, herblack German Shepherd Prince, and the only love she's ever truly known or recognized; that of her older sister Dee Dee.Due to necessity of creating something fromvery little to nothing, she discovers a connatural ability and passion for cooking! Many view Kara as an "old soul" in a young body, perhaps it is this possession that enables her to realize that life is about choices and one can either choose to be a victim or not!

From the Author
This is a story about one young girl's struggle to exist; it's her life as seen through her eyes. Narrated in a mature voice, one has but to peel off the many layers that conceal in order to discover or see the child within the child. Although graphic at times, it is a poignant piece about determination, the quest for love, self-acceptance, and the strongest instinct of all, to survive!

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Review of Going Coastal (Mass Market Paperback)

2010-01-21T02:34:00.000-05:00

I loved this author's previous book Smothering.I was eagerly looking forward to this one.

Going Coastal is about our main character -working in a diner and hating it - or so she thinks.

Basically, this book is about finding yourself and what you truly love.There are many wacky characters as you would imagine in the diner and our main heroine has some hilarious interactions with most of them. The writing style is fun and breezy and although there is a "morale" to this story, the overeall tone is about being who you should be.

While this book wasn't as "sweet and innocent" as Smothering, I still enjoyed it thoroughly.Great chick lit reading.

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Review of The New Pioneers: The Men and Women Who Are Transforming the Workplace and Marketplace (Paperback)

2010-01-21T01:03:00.000-05:00

Reading The New Pioneers is a pleasant occupation.On theother hand, reviewing this book for people who have not yet read it isa challenging task.This is primarily because the book is written to be read and understood at many different levels.

The simplest and most obvious level is as a series of charming stories in the best humanistic tradition that demonstrate that there is good business in being a good human.

At a deeper level, Mr. Petzinger is also telling us that the economy is changing in a fundamental way because of the experiences of small and middle sized business leaders, such as those cited in the book.

Beyond that, he is suggesting something fundamental about human civilization and its potential to create astonishingly positive results.

At whatever level you consider the book, you will be well rewarded for reading it.

I must admit that it is tempting to ignore the book's shortcomings, but that would shortchange the principles that Mr. Petzinger is exploring...

As heart-warming as this book is, it is a scrapbook rather than a vision for individual entrepreneurs. Its value for entrepreneurs is, nonetheless, quite substantial.The benefit comes from stimulating ideas among readers by showing new business examples that have not been widely published and discussed before. I hope all entrepreneurs will read this book for that important benefit.

A fine effort from a talented journalist!END

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Review of Brand X: The Boyfriend Account (Hardcover)

2010-01-20T21:50:00.000-05:00

One sick day changes Jordie's life. The day she's sick is the most important day for determining the required school internships. She really wants the newspaper intern, but misses out on the interviews. Instead she's offered one of the more unique internships, which comes directly from the principal's brother. He works for an advertising agency that makes toys for fast food meals. Fighting to let out her creative side, Jordie is happy to take the position. She just needs to get her mom on board.

Once the position is officially hers, Jordie's mouth gets her into a tad bit of trouble. She lets out some personal information about the "perfect" boy in her pre-calculus class. Convinced that she has a zero chance of dating him, she agrees to try different techniques her bosses suggest. Shared milkshakes, a sombrero, a fake pizza delivery, and a push-up bra episode all end up humiliating Jordie. Can she figure out a way to juggle both her personal life and her internship without becoming a social outcast?

BRAND X: THE BOYFRIEND ACCOUNT takes a typical internship and adds high school drama, creating a book not to be missed. In a strictly science and math school, Jordie struggles to fit in and accept her differences. In understanding herself better, Jordie's outlook on life gains a fresh perspective.

Reviewed by:Jennifer Rummel

Product Description
Landing an internship at an ad agency isn't what her principal or her mother wanted for Jordie Popkin, aspiring journalist. At sixteen, Jordie is glad of the chance to collect "real world" experience and finds working with the "creatives" at the agency a nice break from her math and science curriculum. And the team likes Jordie, too. When her new colleagues decide to make Jordie's business their business, Jordie is flattered but skeptical. They will come up with a plan to market Jordie to the hottest guy in her grade. From situation analysis to "sex sells," the team assures Jordie that they know what they're doing.She shouldn't get upset if their ideas cause her an embarassing moment or two. Jordie knows that the course of true love never did run smooth and that the ad game isn't a simple set of rules to follow but she can't help wondering about the advantages of letting professionals try to turn her from Brand X into a hot item. The principles of marketing might apply to a bar of soap, but finding the right guy...?

In this humorous novel, Laurie Gwen Shapiro reveals with candor how one girl who feels like "Brand X" not only learns the secret of a successful marketing campaign but also discovers how to assess her true market value to become the brand of choice.

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Review of The Corporate Cult: More of What Men Know That Women Don't (Paperback)

2010-01-20T21:32:00.000-05:00

Who is Zubaty you might ask?Good question.Zubaty followed the American dream: house, kids, business, and he even helped his wife through school.When she graduated, she filed for divorce and got half his stuff and probably most of his dignity.So what does he do?Cut a hole in a trunk of a car and shoot people at gas stations? No.He does what all of us wish we could do under the circumstances and got the heck away from the confused culture we are marinated in every waking hour.He spends his days traveling from country to country, island to island, with not much more than he can carry on his back.
By now you're thinking he's a nut, that he can't cope.Major publishers will not touch his work.He is refused any publicity by the major media conglomerates.So Zubaty is considered not "Disney worthy" and people have attempted to elbow him from the status of, well, being known.
Rich says it best on the book:

"You can't judge a book by lookin' at the cover...
And you sure can't trust reviewers you don't even know!
So flip open to any page and read any sentence.
Yes, NOW!"

Quite a bold statement when most authors just want a flashy cover.So I took his challenge.He's right.You can start on any page, any paragraph, and just read and read.I would classify Zubaty as a social Galileo of our times- he knows the score but people refuse to listen.They refuse to listen because he tells the truth in its dirty, raw, and sobering form.It's too much reality for those who haven't been tested in life.
I spend my days making good money designing tools and parts on the computer.Zubaty calls me a "manhole", a man who spends his days in front of the computer all day, worried about money and toys.And the nut was right.And I like him for his honesty. And I keep reading.
Zubaty goes on to explain that corporations are no longer treating people as people and instead as "units".No new news here, but he keeps going and going, paddling his way further and further from political correctedness, ending up in a place where you are free to think for yourself without worrying about offending anyone.He speaks of a village girl who goes to town every day to try to get a loan approved.She gets her family involved.She lies to her friends.She forges papers.Zubaty hones in with laser-like precision to the observation she's acting like a greedy dimwit who is taken over by American idealism.She wants the money but has no use for it.And then there's Joe the fisherman.
You can decide to not like Zubaty, but I don't think he minds as he's sipping coconut milk or fishing for the families who let him in.Read the book.You'll understand.

Product Description
Are corporations cults? Do they control our behavior, thoughts, information and emotions? Zubaty makes a pretty good case for that. Should the legal status of corporate ?persons? be challenged as a religious violation ? a gross infringement of the supposed boundary between church and state? He makes a pretty good case for that. Have we done a good job of keeping religion out of government but a miserable job of keeping government out of religion? He makes a pretty good case for that. Is Darwinism a science? Or a religion? You?ll get vertigo over his take on that.

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Review of Want Some, Get Some (Paperback)

2010-01-20T19:14:00.000-05:00

Street tale novelists better move over and make room for this gritty and edgy debut novel by Pam Ward! Want Some, Get Some is an urban tale that centers around Trudy aka Trudy with the Booty, a twenty year-old woman who knows that the streets of South Central LA are not all that life has to offer and wants out of living her daily nightmare.

Life has truly dealt Trudy a funky deck of cards. Her slick and shady ex-boyfriend, Lil Steve, hustled her into a relationship and making a sex tape only to turn around and sell it around the neighborhood, leaving her to face constant ridicule and unwanted sexual advances. Trudy's mother, Joan, turns her back on her only child and kicks her out of the house, leaving her to face life on the streets, living in seedy apartments and with even more seedier people. Joan tries to use the excuse of the tape as the reason for kicking Trudy out, but it is really her own personal motives that she puts first instead of her daughter. Trudy finds the only thing that keeps her sane is singing on stage at Dee's Parlor, a rundown juke joint that serves as a true black hole for all the shady players, hustlers, ballers, and shot callers.

Trudy knows that revenge is truly best served cold so she drums up a bank heist plan to not only get out of her nightmare but get back at Lil Steve. Working at Dee's Parlor surrounded by some of the best of the best in the underworld gives her a perfect opportunity to put this plan into action.The only thing Trudy did not think about was that everyone has something that they want and will do whatever it takes to get it.

Pam Ward writing is very blunt and not for the faint of heart. There are plenty of characters in this novel that might confuse you at first but as the story progresses all of them intertwine to create one firecracker of a novel. Not only is there plenty of action and suspense, but there is also a hint of romance. Readers might need to buckle their seat belts and hold onto their seats, because this novel will take you on an intense ride that you will surely not forget!

Reviewed by Angelique
APOOO BookClub

Product Description
A Gritty Street Tale Bristling With The Muscle And Teeth Of Iceberg Slim And Donald Goines

Trudy, a.k.a. "Trudy with the Booty," knows what she wants and how to get it. But a better life far away from the jacked-up streets of South Central L.A. needs to be financed, and she can't think about leaving without handing some sweet payback to Lil' Steve, her slick talking ex. Ever since he started selling nude videos of her to the neighborhood men, Trudy can barely walk the streets. His demise would be the icing on the cake. But Trudy's plan to get even and escape the ghetto is more than risky--it may be the worst mistake of her life. Having recruited a crew of hustlers, car-jackers, and homewreckers who hang out at the seedy nightclub, Dee's Parlor, where she sings nights after working days as a bank teller, Trudy is ready to put her scheme into action--a heist that can make them all rich. There's just one problem: Jimmy, a stone-cold killer who doesn't like being ripped off. And while the best laid plans often do go awry, no one could have guessed where this wild, crazy ride takes this cast of bumbling lawbreakers and heartbreakers as they scramble over and under each other to get what they want.

A fast-paced, exhilarating drama with sharply drawn characters, sultry writing, and a fierce intensity of emotion, Want Some, Get Some is a brilliantly assured debut. A promising new talent, Pam Ward brings a woman's sense of bravado to a boy's game.

About the Author
Pam Ward is a Los Angeles native. Her work can be found in Best American Erotica 2002, Men We Cherish, and poetry in Catch the Fire!!! She's the recipient of a California Arts Council Writing Fellowship and a New Letters Award for Poetry. This is her first novel.

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Review of Confessions of an Internet Don Juan (Paperback)

2010-01-20T16:13:00.000-05:00

Confessions of an Internet Don Juan is a tour de force.Chambers doesn't just push the envelope, he gives it a swift kick.He may just well be one of the most inventive writers on the planet.His story has a worthy place in a society that perks up at the opportunity to pruriently observe or divulge all things private.

Product Description
Confessions of an Internet Don Juan tells the story of Cast Hughes, a handsome, well-to-do, middle-aged failure. A former bit player on the bicycling pro circuit, nothing in Cast's life goes as planned. The tricky item that has proved a success is his seduction of women and Cast's modus operandi involves the Internet. He meets exotic beauties from around the globe. Although Cast wants to settle down, he is thrust deeper into a world of treachery and deception by his innumerable affairs. The novel will shock and outrage as it relates an inelegant excursion into the private life of a reprobate who adores women and will go to any length to pursue them. Pathos and humor underscore Cast's provocative confession, concerning Internet dating, sex, and relationships.

Confessions of an Internet Don Juan is an adventure and dark comedy, and a paradoxical celebration of life and love.

About the Author
Cameron H. Chambers was educated at Grinnell College, the University of North Florida, and Nova Southeastern University. He holds a BA in Communication and an MS in English. He has traveled extensively and especially enjoys traveling to Latin America. One particular point of interest is San Miguel de Allende in the mountainous central region of Mexico. Mr. Chambers would like to drive the Pan Am Highway into South America. His novels include For the Love of a Madman and The Stone Cabin. He resides in Jacksonville, Florida.

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Review of Fearless (Paperback)

2010-01-20T13:49:00.000-05:00

There are two things Colton Wheeler loves, being a lawman and his lover Dr. Diego Del Rio.If he had to choose between the two it was no contest, Diego was his world.When his world is turned upside down, leaving him in the hospital and Diego hurt, scared and on the run for murder, Colton will stop at nothing to right his world again and bring his lover back home.
Fearless was a story of twists and turns that had me anxious to see how it would end.The attack on Colton and Diego's world was sadistic and even more sadistic was the discovery of the attacker and why.Even though I figured out the 'who' very quickly, the 'why' certainly wasn't for the reason I thought.Colton was a strong character that saw the big picture and his actions were the result of that.As he would say he sees in gray where some people only see in black and white, and going by this story narrow-mindedness can be very disturbing.Colton was Diego's protector and it was obvious how much he loved Diego, I wished Diego had trusted more in Colton's strength instead of continuing to run, then maybe we would have gotten more of a feel of their relationship together.I liked what Sarah Black was trying to accomplish with Fearless but I felt it was too great a storyline for the length of the book, the wrap up felt too rushed.

Ley
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

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Review of Remind Me Again Why I Need A Man (Hardcover)

2010-01-20T11:11:00.000-05:00

I just finished this book two days ago, and, though I was a bit irritated with the ending, it was worth the ride. It took reading the first two pages for me to be very intrigued and buy it.

Amelia is like many women - smart, forward-motion hard-working and after the big bucks, until 37 hits and she is sick of being alone. Her circle of friends is a major reason for the aloneness - it's eluded to several times, but she never really grasps that - some sweaters can be knitted so tight that water (men) can't be poured through - that's Amelia & her friends.

Anyway, she takes a Harvard marketing-based course to get married in a year, keeps doodling herself in a Vera Wang with a faceless groom, and the ride through her past loves is really fantastic - it seems you really couldn't make this stuff up, yet each character is developed and 'real' to the reader, you can't wait to see what went wrong in each of the past relationships.

I loved the format and would recommend it as great summer reading or to lighten-up a winter's eve.

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Review of The X-Rated Videotape Guide V: Over 1,000 Reviews of 1993-1994 Adult Movies (No. 5) (Paperback)

2010-01-20T07:28:00.000-05:00

Riley's and Rimmer's guide is a must-have for serious comsumers of pornography, covering, as it does, the years when (arguably) porn first skirted the crusted fringe of mainstream pop-culture. True, pornography perhaps first demanded critical scrunity whenVHS brought it out of the ... booth in the 80s; but such a demand was, at best, muted. But when "Ass Rage 3" and "Natural Bone Drillers" (both given 5 stars in this guide) hit the shelves we witnessed an artistic reclamation which enabled the soi-disant culturally savvy elite to buff the chubster and bandy about terms like "Gen-X kitsch" and "post-PC irony." This tremendous guide is alive to that seminal shift, and indeed provides video-still evidence of several graphic examples of it. Hats off to the authors for such a perceptive treatment.

Product Description
Patrick Riley reviews over 1,000 X-rated videos produced in 1993 and 1994, plus an additional 1,000 from earlier years that weren't included in previous volumes.

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Review of No Entry (Hardcover)

2010-01-20T07:24:00.000-05:00

NO ENTRY has moments of real brilliance. If you care anything at all for hell for leather story telling, put your money down and take this book home. In the traditon of Harry Crews , NO ENTRY is both a black comedy and a deeply spiritual novel of the modern South. Rex Dupree, an over the hill All American Florida Gator linebacker, living the sleaze of an souless life, is put on the path of Parsifal's journey to discover the Holy Grail of compassion and to the heart of true manhood. He is stripped of all his bourgois connections by the trial by fire in court by a demented judge, and using the method of Jungian psychology, is reduced to soul dust, and makes his descent and rise as the pheonix. NO ENTRY is peopled by extremes- an eccentric judge, a hapless lawyer,a lustful proctologist, a hypocritical minister - sad and funny examples of the American ruling class, who conspire to undermine Rex Dupree, and in doing so, unwittingly provide him with the means to save himself.

Product Description
A former college football star watches his life quickly decline when all of the important people in his life turn against him, and having lost everything, he discovers the freedom of starting over with a clean slate. IP.

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Review of Paris: True Stories of Life on the Road (Travelers' Tales Guides) (Paperback)

2010-01-19T16:06:00.000-05:00

Ahhh Paris.As a graduate student fortunate to be studying in Paris, I found myself falling into the dull routine of class and studying.I was failing to appreciate one of the prettiest cities on earth.This book opened my eyes to the multitude of interesting "trucs" around me in the Latin Quarter.Although some of the stories are more interesting than others, there is genuinely something for everyone's taste in this book.I now often study at the "Deux Magots" cafe due to its history and popularity with Jean Paul Sartres and Simone de Beauvoir that I read about.This book is wonderful for anyone interested in Paris, wanting to take a mental journey there, or a seasoned traveller who thinks they already know Paris.Anyone armed with "Paris Traveler's Tales" can discover the "Joie de Vivre" en Paris!

Product Description
The stories in Travelers' Tales Paris throw open the creaky door of history and let the light of this marvelous city flood out. Just a few of the many authors found in the book are John Gregory Dunne, Ina Caro, Herbert Gold, Jan Morris, Edmund White, and Mort Rosenblum.

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Review of The Norbert Chronicles, Volume I (Paperback)

2010-01-19T15:20:00.000-05:00

My family and I all enjoyed Norbert. We laughed out loud alot. You already know Norbert whether you have been in his shoes(and are wondering what is going on around you) or you come across some of the same characters that he does ( and are still wondering what is going on around you). Great book that's easy reading when you want a quick scenario or want to lose yourself in Norbert's world for a while.

Product Description
Norbert. He's bewildered. He's befuddled. He's frightened. He's flatulent. He's on a quest to seek enlightenment, but he has to stop off at Dunkin' Donuts first. He hitches up his underwear when no one is looking, and toddles along to Cubicle City, dragging a pail lunch and a brick-pak of Hawaiian Punch. He's fighting the corporate system for the return of his soul; he's leaving his pee cup in the wrong window. He's dreaming big dreams, while stuck in a cubicle-infested nightmare. Along with Smelly Larry, Tonia Murkwater, Mr. Babaganoush, Madame Fu-Fu the Tarot Card Reader and Hinkelmeyer the Nerd Shaman, Norbert has high hopes that life will someday be better. Or at least, a lot less perplexing. ******* From the wild mind of Louisa StrongBear, comes the book you've all been waiting for: the unabridged, uncensored, and completely unprecedented NORBERT CHRONICLES!! Herein lies the untold true story of Norbert Dortmunder, Nerd Extraordinaire, who toddles into his cubicle each morning and ends up in an alternate realm free of corporate dogma and his butt-compressing cube chair. There Norbert can be a hero, become enlightened, or get pelted with lard, all depending upon where he lands in the otherworld. Join Norbert as he leaves no stone unturned in his quest for answers. But first let him remove the wedgie he has caught in his Bermudas, okay? Norbert Dortmunder: Cubicle City's favorite nerd!

About the Author
Louisa StrongBear is a shaman, poet, clairvoyant medium, teacher, artist and witch, all at the same time, and in no particular order. She loves chocolate, as was mentioned in her first book, as well as the beach, books, the colors yellow and gold, all kinds of animals, thunderstorms, cemeteries & other spooky stuff, dancing & singing & laughing as often as possible. Louisa is also known as "Louisa the Psychic" and does clairvoyant readings. The Norbert Chronicles is Louisa's second book. Her first is: Journey By Night: A Solitary Journey, which is told as a shamanic journey, and does not contain any lard or fart stories.

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Review of The Messy Gourmet Cookbook: Fun, Adventurous Cooking (Paperback)

2010-01-19T12:19:00.000-05:00

I have a large collection of cookbooks, but this book has rapidly become my favorite.Instead of being the usual dry collection of precise receipes, this book attempts to make cooking fun.It encourages the reader to experiment with the receipes, to make substitutions, to play with the measurements.In keeping with the spirit of the book, I found myself looking for ways to inject a little of my personality into the dishes I was making.

This is the most fun I've had with pots and pans, since the days when I was first learning how to cook.

Product Description
Introducing The Messy Gourmet Cookbook, from the creators of the award winning Web site Messygourmet.com. Created to promote fun, adventurous cooking--and removal of the inevitable stains that result--Messy Gourmet has garnered accolades from the venerable (Encyclopedia Britannica) to the irreverent (Yahoo! Top 50 website).

Now you can experience the thrills, chills and spills of cooking with The Messy Gourmet Cookbook!From Cream of Dracula soup to pine nuts, this book is chock-full of scrumptious, messy creations, and stain removal tips.Cast off your cooking fears, experiment, and experience the joy of accidental cuisine.

This unique messy outlook is shared by the seven Messy Gourmets--Bloody, Sexy, Smelly, Smokin', Tacky, Tipsy, and Trendy.And don't forget Pot Luck--recipes and tips that are just too good to leave out.

So whether you've got a dinner party to cater or just want an entertaining read, you're bound to find a lot to love--The Messy Gourmet Cookbook is a smorgasbord in book form!

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Review of To Be Chosen (Paperback)

2010-01-19T09:57:00.000-05:00

How to begin?This is a book I picked up after an author e-mail/press release in January '08.The tagline "Ask yourself what you would do if you were chosen to better humanity...because you were," sets the expectation that this book is going to go somewhere.I plodded through the child-like text and choose-your-own-adventure plot and closed this book gladly.Despite glimmers of deeper thought that step out of text sporadically - the appearance of the green man, phrases like "a living statue of gold and volcanic glass", the inference of Nietzsche (the abyss gazes into you), right up to one of the closing concepts of an Earth on which "the freed slaves from a hundred worlds were equal in number to the surviving humans" - are few and far between.Despite the books promise, "profound thoughts are provoked," by and large the story is a mish-mash of Wikipedia-like entries and badly chosen grammar, fragmented sentences and in many cases the repeated use of the incorrect word (wonder vs. wander, passed vs. past in particular).Child-like telling is consistent throughout: a constant switching between highbrow concept straight to gutter talk and unending references to any one of the character's butts, packages, pecs, biceps, etc. become an uninteresting dull roar.The diary of a peeping Tom.Unthinkingness - to quote Samuel Delany.The entire book should be culled to the choicest of its concepts and then smartly edited and re-issued.

Product Description

They never asked to be chosen. They didn't want the weight of the world on their shoulders. But God had selected them for a mission only the three of them could carry out.

A grieving father with a superficial and materialistic lifestyle, a lovely witch, and a gay college boy are united by newfound supernatural powers and an ever-morphing spiritual guide to battle a demonic invasion from another world and Earth's own past. A motley group of friends and even the ghosts of loved ones join these outcasts, chosen to be God's Hammer, as they fight in city streets and farmyards to save mankind and each other. Love, sex, violence, spirituality, mystery, suspense, magic, and humor combine in an adventure that provides a glimpse at the hardest and sweetest human truths.

This contemporary fantasy will appeal to fans of every genre of speculative fiction. The surprising bonus is that the thrilling action on every page is a reminder that even a freak like you is loved without limit. Ask yourself what you would do if you were chosen to better humanity. because you were.

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Review of Remembrances of Times Past, A Nostalgic Collection of Stories and Photos Recalling the Way Life Was in the 20th Century (Paperback)

2010-01-19T09:53:00.000-05:00

This is about the 20th century in America, at home, around the radio, in front of the TV, at the dinner table, in the garage, behind the wheel, in the kitchen.It's about what we ate and what we listened to and watched.What we bought, what we wore, how we behaved and what we did for a living.Marta Hiatt does an amazing job of weaving nostalgic black white photos of people, places and things with her own beguiling narrative interspersed with quotes from ordinary people who lived during these times.The result is book that I literally could not put down.In fact I put aside some other books to read it.

Remember doing the dishes with soap that wouldn't make suds in hard water? I do.The grease wouldn't get emulsified.It just got moved around.It took 10-year-old me hours to do the dishes from a big meal.Remember the washboard and the wringer that you were warned about getting your fingers caught in?Remember margarine, white like lard in a clear plastic bag, but with a little red ball that you broke and kneaded into the margarine to make it yellow?Remember corsets and garter belts and stockings that got runs in them?Leopold and Loeb, Al Capone, Patty Hearst, and Charlie Manson?Manual typewriters and the milk man?Or when the iceman did cometh and you put a square sign in the window with a chosen side up showing how much ice you needed?Popeye and spinach?Walking a mile for a Camel, and this ad on page 239: "No curative power is claimed for Philip Morris but--...An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure!...Call for Philip Morris"?The ad is from 1934.It is interesting how the tobacco companies projected their fears and revealed that even then they knew that cigarettes may cause disease.

Hiatt remembers all this and a lot more.You will find yourself turning the pages--which is to be expected since photos of those old ads, movie posters, people in quaint clothing, etc. are just so much fun to see; but what surprised me is just how readable the prose is.Hiatt's direct, unpretentious style and her knack for picking people to quote who are also straightforward make this one irresistible read.If there is any single theme that stands out, it would be the liberation of women, or truthfully, the partial liberation of women that has taken place most profoundly in the twentieth century. Hiatt does an excellent job of chronicling this momentous development and she points to some of the changes it has brought about.

The book is organized into chapters concentrating on various aspects of our lives, beginning with "Lifestyle," followed by "Sex and Social Mores," to "Household," through "That's Entertainment," "Fashion," and "Science and Technology," ending with Chapter Twelve, "A Potpourri of Changes."

Reading this is a bit like seeing the changes that have taken place in our lifetimes as in a newsreel (remember them?) sped up and vivid, perhaps like our lives passing before us...Irresistible book.

Product Description
A nostalgic journey back to a time of Model-T Fords, stay-at-home-moms, vinyl long-playing records, telegrams, radio days, strict rules of etiquette and manual typewriters. Here are the personal memories of the enormous changes that occurred in the twentieth century; a trip down memory lane for the older generation and, perhaps some surprising insights into the way life was, for those who are younger.

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Review of Steel Bolt Hacking (Paperback)

2010-01-19T07:53:00.000-05:00

The book's intended purpose as stated is to sell lockpicking as a competitive sport, or club.While I agree with the message, several problems made the book very nearly unreadable, and left me wondering why I'd spent money on what is so obviously an amateur web-page in bound form.

As mentioned, much of the information is copy/pasted from one chapter to the next, up to and including diagrams and pictures, with no real reason for the repetition.I suppose the author might have wanted to illustrate how similar different types of locks are in function, but this is a poor way at best to do so.Additionally, numerous spelling and grammatical mistakes broke up whatever flow the book had, from the rapidly (and incorrectly) changing tenses in the author's anecdotes, to simpler mistakes such as 6this. [sic]

If you find this book used, it might be worth the price.Still, if you have any idea already how a lock works, you're better off searching the web for How-To's and FAQ's.It's obvious the author does know the material, and that's what makes me most upset about the book.If he'd bothered to hire an editor, or even a proofreader, he would have improved the book's quality immeasurably, and perhaps made it more saleable.

Product Description
Steel Bolt Hacking is a lock picking book for those that want to learn the art of picking locks as a hobby. With such annual events as DefCon, the annual hackers convention, more and more computer people are becoming interested in learning lock picking. Lock picking sports groups are springing up all over the world with little or no books to support it. Typically the art of lock picking is passed down from locksmith to apprentice and rarely are there any material to help those interested in lock picking, that don't necessarily want to become a locksmith to learn it. Steel Bolt Hacking will teach you more than just the basics, you will learn to pick padlocks, deadbolts, push button combination locks, and how find the number on combination padlocks.

About the Author
Douglas Chick is the author of, What All Network Administrators Know, and creator of the computer professional website, TheNetworkAdministrator.com

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Review of The Darkening (Mass Market Paperback)

2010-01-19T06:09:00.000-05:00

This is a bit of a hybrid when it comes to a horror novel. It reads more like a tom clancy with supernatural players in it not to mention some Lovecraft.The story centers around a man named Dylan that is plagued by awful dreams that he can't remember and he wake's up in a different part of his house not knowing how he got there.The other central character is Lucy who feel's as if she is missing something but doesn't know what.

The villains in this book are none other than lovecrafts old ones and the cult that worship them. Opposed is a group called rex deus who try to thwart them at every turn. Both groups want to get there hands on lucy and dylan. The old ones are trying to break through and only lucy and dylan can put a stop to them.

This novel is good but lacks genuine scares and relies more on action. Not that that is a bad thing but when i read a horror novel i want to be a little creeped out so that is my main complaint. Also the ending was abit of a let down when you consider where your being led throughout the book. I reccommend to most out there and i look forward to reading some more by this author.

Product Description
IT BEGINS WITH A BLACKOUT.

All electrical power ceases to run. Even the sun seems a little dimmer. Cities come to a halt. And then their inhabitants vanish.

But a small, clandestine group of warriors has been preparing for this moment for centuries. Their hopes rest on two strangers, a thousand miles apart, who hold the keys to the world's salvation: Dylan Barnes, a martial arts instructor who teaches his students the art of inner balance but is plagued by shadows only he can see and voices muttering in a language only he can hear; and Lucy Devereau, a private investigator who earns a living by prying into the lives of others but is haunted by her own birthright-and the mystery of her true parents.

The world around them-our world-is slipping into darkness. Now, as fate and blood push them to the front lines of an extraordinary battle, Lucy and Dylan must stare into the face of something ancient, something impossible, something that has come to blot out the light-forever.

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Review of Bum Steer (Jenny Cain Mysteries, No. 6) (Paperback)

2010-01-19T05:55:00.000-05:00

This was the final book by Nancy that I had to read, and I think that itwas by far the best one! As she's getting involved in yet anothersituation, our murder-prone heroin struggles with some deeply personalissues. She had me intrigued to the very surprising ending! Note: Thelanguage in this book is a lot stronger than in any of her others.

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Review of Dinosaur Wars (Paperback)

2010-01-18T17:20:00.000-05:00

If you like disaster and alien-attack novels, dinosaur resurrection novels, survival novels, crazy-wild sc-fi\fantasy that reads fast and fun, with a cliff-hanger feel from chapter to chapter, Thomas P. Hopp's DinoWars story is a great night's escapist feast. It is a first novel, so there are issues of polish that I anticipate will disappear in subsequent offerings by the author.

The unexpected plot builds well around believable characters. And there are great lines throughout that makes you feel like you are somewhere between a Flash Gordon or Edgar Rice Burroughs episode and an "Aliens" movie. For example (from page 56):

Chase was dumbstruck. Seeing his confusion, the man spat some tobacco juice. "You been up in the hills or something? That's some sort of alien death ray up there." The man cast a worried glance at the moon. "The whole world's under attack. That's what's wrong with the radio.Moon ray took out the radio station. Good country music. I'm gonna miss it."

With T-Rex's "blood-curdling roar" in the front yard, a real "death ray from space," and a friendly family of hay-eating parasaurolophuses waiting for their next meal to be dropped to them from the hayloft, Thomas Hopp pulls off a great addition to the growing sci-fi/fantasy dinosaur subgenre. The second book in the series is available, "Dinosaur Wars: Counterattack," and a third is in the works. I look forward to reading more. Visit his website at: http://thomas-hopp.com/

Product Description
A 65 million year old civilization, buried under a mountain in Montana. A space invasion of intelligent human-sized dinosaurs returning to claim their home world. M1A2 Abrams tanks and Apache attack helicopters in desperate counterattacks. And young lovers caught at the epicenter of a battle for the Earth. Dinosaur Wars is a military science fiction novel with an overload of stories: Chase Armstrong, the Yellowstone wolf biologist who finds himself dead-center in the greatest wildlife restoration project ever, as dinosaurs return to the high plains of Montana; Kit Daniels, a cattle rancher's daughter who is swept up with Chase at the center of the conflict; Captain Vic Suarez, Abrams tank commander and leader of America's last best hope, Fox Troop; and Gar, the Kra, dinosaurian second-in-command of the invasion force, with a soft heart for the creatures he has vowed to exterminate -- humanity. Dinosaur Wars brims with action, adventure and romance.

From the Publisher
The time is tomorrow morning. The place is Earth. You wake up to the sonic booms of an invasion fleet from space, and the stage is set for Dinosaur Wars. Science fiction novelist Thomas P. Hopp has created a gripping, fast-paced chiller of the ultimate in wildlife re-introduction programs, when creatures who fled the asteroid impact that ended the Age of Dinosaurs return to claim their home world -- our world! Not an alternative history, not a time-warp story, Dinosaur Wars takes off plausibly with Jet Propulsion Laboratory space scientists discovering 65 million year old ruins in a crater at the south pole of the moon. From there, mankind's fortunes go downhill as astronaut explorers of the moon base trigger an automated program to invade the Earth and repopulate it with creatures from the Cretaceous Era, including a species of human-sized, intelligent carnivorous dinosaur. Faced with a massive invasion, America's aircraft and tanks are suddenly hard-pressed to save humanity from extinction.

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Review of Fruit of a Poisonous Tree (Paperback)

2010-01-18T10:07:00.003-05:00

Filled with suspense, intrigue, and memorable descriptions of the sea's beauty, and her treachery, Norm Harris's 'Fruit of a Poisonous Tree' launches US Navy surface Captain Egan Fletcher and JAG lawyer Commander Faydra Green on their individual star-crossed careers in an outstanding nautical yarn. This is a book with a great premise and a book with all the tension of a really good suspense novel. It's one of those on-the-run stories that features both appealing officers and lower-echelon military personnel for whom God, duty, honour, and country are not just words but credos.

The plot is complex but tightly knit and well controlled, with devastating subplots erupting in, of all places, a quaint (?) little third world nation know as Chosun (actually North Korea -today's powder keg). Naturally, the book bristles like a raging sea battle with intricate military hardware, from ghost ships to top-secret spy planes - like the Aurora, which the US Air Force still denies exists. Trailing in the wake is a whole bundle of intrigue and even a touch of romance that floats just below the surface, like a submarine waiting to rise when the moment is right. And when it did finally break out it happened with such suddenness and with such tenderness that I found myself reaching for a tissue (metaphorically, of course! I'm a doctor - I'm used to these things!)

Don't go away with the impression that this is a Clancy lookalike (though it's difficult to avoid the similarities in a novel of such depth and accuracy). In 'Fruit of a Poisonous Tree' author Harris sets his own course and spins his own tale of piracy, deception, high treason, and murder - though maybe Clancy will be forced to step aside soon and make way for some younger blood.

A great story with a great plot. You shouldn't miss it.

Product Description
When a young Navy SEAL is savagely murdered in a Seattle alley, presumably by a Marine Corps war hero,Navy lawyer Faydra Green is ordered to investigate. Although this is her first homicide assignment, it doesnot take Faydra long to decide the accused man is innocent.

Someone wants her investigation to quietly disappear, but Faydra is determined to clear the accused man'sname, discover why she has been made an accessory to a cover up, and find out who is responsible. Butshe will need all her wits about her to unravel the intricate web of lies and deception that stand between herand the answers she seeks.

Faydra's quest for the truth launches her on a heart-pounding voyage across the world in a desperate raceagainst time. Along the way, she will contend with the murky backwaters of governmental dirty deals andinternational intrigue, follow every lead, and risk her life in a bid to halt a catastrophic conflict that has threenations on the brink of war.

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Review of Fruit of a Poisonous Tree (Paperback)

2010-01-18T10:07:00.002-05:00

Review of Fruit of a Poisonous Tree (Paperback)

2010-01-18T10:07:00.001-05:00

Review of Fruit of a Poisonous Tree (Paperback)

2010-01-18T10:07:00.000-05:00

Review of Godplayers (Paperback)

2010-01-18T02:46:00.000-05:00

Sorry to be wrench in the works but I hated this book...even though I did finish it.It had me hooked when the first few pages contained some very cool concepts:Super beings looking in on a collapsing universe and rooting for the hyper-evolved intelligences contained therein to achieve a sort of godhood--I'm loving all that.Somewhere near the middle I realized with dread that the author was going NOWHERE with any of it.

The book changes reality frames so randomly and often that I just couldn't believe any of it.That kind of thing can work if the author lays the groundwork to make it feel plausible (so masterfully done in John C. Wright's "The Golden Age"), but Broderick just doesn't bother with the legwork.The tech is never explained or even differentiated from fairy tale magic. The characters hardly have a chance to interact before they're hurled off into another reality and have to deal with it.It's hard to get involved with any situation when you know the carpet can be pulled out at any second.

If someone asked me to explain the plot I really couldn't tell them.It's one of those books where a bunch of stuff happens and the characters react to it.The main character certainly has no plan other than exploring and scoring with babes, and the superintelligent players of "the game" NEVER explain what "the game" even is.This is actually what kept me slogging throught to the end.Surely he'll tell me what "the game" is since that's the very reason the characters even exist.But I guess that was asking too much. I had a feeling it involved apposing the "K-machines", but the book pretty much ignores that angle in favor of jumping around "Sliders" style.

Most frustrating of all was the main character who I grew to hate passionately. He gets hurled into a multiverse of super beings and acts like he's at a neighborhood barbeque. He NEVER asks the kinds of questions an actual person would.At the rare occaisions when he gets a chance to talk with friendly characters I'd be mentally screaming at him, "Ask what the hell is going on, you fool!" but he always managed to find other distractions more important than the things crucial to his survival.By the end I was rooting for his death.If we had a Darwin award for fictional characters, he'd be a shoo-in.

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Review of The ReExamined Life: What is Possible After Job Loss? (Paperback)

2010-01-18T02:28:00.000-05:00

Mr. VanSteenis has been a huge help to me in organizational issues, decisions, and remedies for years. He goes beyond the average professional in his field.Reexamining life at the time of a job loss is essential to making the right decision going forward.In my personal situation, I lost my executive position in June 2005 and with Mr. VanSteenis's help, decided it was time to try my hand at consulting and teaching.After four years, I could not be happier or more fulfilled.Give this book a read if you have lost your job, could lose your job, or (most importantly) should lose your current job!Sincerely, John Zarb

Product Description
The ReExamined Life is a manifesto for those that are losing not only a job, but a career, and possibly the dream of retirement as well.It is a call to action for anyone who finds themselves facing unemployment and an uncertain future.It is a guidebook for the journey that begins the day the job is lost.It counsels the newly unemployed to not become victims, but to take control of their lives, to form a plan and to walk through the steps of finding a new job.Van Steenis gives hard-hitting advice on how all of us can all become more valuable, productive and content.He urges us to reclaim our heritage and become the Next Greatest Generation.

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