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

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

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 Camilla's Roses (Hardcover)

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 Clean Cut [IMPORT] (Hardcover)

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 Freddy and Fredericka (Hardcover)

"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 Passing Strange: A Novel (Hardcover)

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 The Love Book (Paperback)

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

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 Fearless (Paperback)

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)

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 No Entry (Hardcover)

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 The Norbert Chronicles, Volume I (Paperback)

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 Gifts from the Kitchen for Dummies (Paperback)

This book was written for someone like me!Because I have very little in-kitchen experience, even cookbooks intimidate me, since they tend to assume at least some prior knowledge of cooking and baking.Finally, I have encountered a cookbook author who started at the beginning and who explained the basics in a clear and straightforward way!She then went on to spell out fun and interesting recipes that even I could follow!I'm so excited to be able to give gifts that take time and energy, that are clearly made and given with love, and that also look and taste impressive! -- Home-spun and polished at the same time!I am going to give this book as a pre-Christmas gift, so that my friends will be able to actually use it at Christmastime!I'm thrilled with it!

Product Description
Get inspired with tips on cooking, gift-wrapping, and presentation

Delight your friends and family with tasty, attractive, homemade treats!

Whipping up delicious edible gifts for any occasion is a snap with this fun cookbook and packaging guide. From easy-to-follow recipes to creative presentation ideas, you'll find everything you need to make special, personal gifts that taste great and look terrific.

From the Back Cover
Get inspired with tips on cooking, gift-wrapping, and presentation

Delight your friends and family with tasty, attractive, homemade treats!

Whipping up delicious edible gifts for any occasion is a snap with this fun cookbook and packaging guide. From easy-to-follow recipes to creative presentation ideas, you'll find everything you need to make special, personal gifts that taste great and look terrific.

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Review of Kaplan AP Psychology 2005 (Paperback)

The information is very sufficient and tests are excellent, but I have found better tests in the Barron's book, and the Mcgraw Hill book, but Kaplan is a good name I can trust, and has better tests than the PR book, so I give this the nod over PR.



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Review of Chief Executive Officer (Paperback)

Mark Hanson's Chief Executive Officer is an unorthodox novel about two men who, disillusioned with the roles they have played so far, switch identities in hope of improving things for the better. An urbane, business-savvy CEO dares to run a miners' union with numerous thugs and knuckle-breakers, while a labor leader who once fought in the Vietnam War struggles to do something about a rapidly failing 16-billion dollar insurance corporation. Unprepared and caught in totally unfamiliar environments, each leader must adapt to change not only to survive, but to succeed where the other has failed, until ultimately their paths cross once again - as business antagonists at the negotiation table. Chief Executive Officer is a highly intriguing, unforgettable read about being caught in the Fast World and struggling to run just as fast as you can to keep up.

Product Description
Having a bad day at the office? How would you like to be CEO of a rapidly failing, 16 billion- dollar insurance corporation and you haven't a clue about what to do? Why? Because you are there by mistake. Your real life has been that of an angry, over-the-edge labor leader with a history of battling copper mine owners with unconventional skills learned in Vietnam. What about the urbane, Madison Avenue business fellow who is supposed to be CEO of the corporation? He is up in Montana trying to do your job running a large miners' union filled with thugs, torpedoes, and other assorted knuckle-breakers.

Chif Executive Officer is the story of these two men, disillusioned with their own lives, making a stealthy switch and trying to run organizations for which they have neither training nor experience. In alien environments they battle to hold their jobs and keep their secret while facing hostile challenges ranging from computer crime to investigative reporters. Finally, an unexpected series of explosive events pit the two men against each other across the bargaining table in a struggle that can have only one victor.

About the Author
Mark Hanson is a Fulbright Scholar and Professor of Management at the University of California, Riverside. As an international consultant, he has worked on projects for the World Bank, the United States Information Agency, UNESCO, the United Nations Development Program, and the Harvard Institute for International Development.

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Review of Up Through the Water (Paperback)

In this promising first novel, Steinke creates characters that are introspective and believable, an accomplishment in itself these days.Having vacationed at the outer banks of NC a number of times, I can tellyou that this work transports you there.Steinke is efficient and poeticin her use of language, and her plot is loosely framed on the cycles ofseason and life with the time worn metaphor of water as rejuvenationsomehow freshened through her young eye.

Product Description
Darcey Steinke's first novel, now back in print, is an unusually assured and lyrical debut. Set on an island resort town off North Carolina, it tells of summer people and islanders, mothers and sons, women and men, love and its dangers. It is the story of Emily, a woman free as the waves she swims in every day, of the man who wants to clip her wings, of her son and the summer that he will become a man. George Garrett called it "clean-cut, lean-lined, quickly moving, and audacious. . . . [Steinke is] compassionate without sentimentality, romantic without false feelings, and clearly and extravagantly gifted." "Beautifully written . . . a seamless and almost instinctive prose that often reads more like poetry than fiction." -- Robert Olmstead New York Times Book Review; "Dazzling and charged . . . Darcey Steinke has the sensuous and precise visions of female and male, and of the light and dark at the edge of the sea." -- John Casey.

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Review of Can a Guy Get Pregnant?: Scientific Answers to Everyday (and Not-So-Everyday) Questions (Hardcover)

This is a really fun book!It answers some questions I've always wanted to ask (but who could I ask?) and a lot more that I never would have thought of asking.I have a particular interest in animals, and this book devotes a whole section to them. (Do dogs really age seven years for each human year?) The book is attractively designed, with many drawings interspersed.I have a busy life, so I'm constantly picking books up and putting them down. This is easy to pick up, read various questions, and save more for tomorrow!It's the kind of book anyone would enjoy.



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Review of Queer Chronicles: The Flaming of Atlanta (Paperback)

This book was a great, fun read!Fast paced and as funny or funnier than Bridgett Jones (sorry Helen).

At the start of "The Flame" I was feeling kind of like "Oh blah, blah, blah another book about an angry, pushy, flamed out gay man. Another diary format too. ACK! Why did I buy this?" But I very quickly got hooked on Blocker's quips and Kenneth's almost daily adventures. So much so that I found myself saying... "What the heck was he doing the last (insert number of days here) days???!!? Doesn't he know I need that information???!!??" whenever there was a break in days.

What I liked best was how I felt about Kenneth by the end of the book. While I started out not too flattering ("angry, pushy, flamed out gay man") by the last page I could see Kenneth's growth and transition from one dimension into three. It's really nice that Blocker doesn't rest on the typical stereotypes. At least not for long!!!


Product Description
A great coffee table book. But I prefer to keep it on my nightstand.-Dr. John Moore, Atlanta, one of the most beautiful people in the world"From seeing Jesus in a picture of spaghetti to suffering through dates where he'd be better off blind, Kenneth's notes on the REAL underground Atlanta will make you laugh till your nose runs. THIS is the Real Thing."-Karrie Beebe, Attorney-Wife-Mother, Florida, honorary fag hag "I picked up this book and couldn't put it down."-Ian Rafael Titus, Library Manager, NYC, gay writer of speculative fiction"Enjoying Kenneth's life through the pages of his book. Now that's what I call safe sex."-Rochelle Burdine, Writer-Actress-Artist, Atlanta, trashy French girl"Smart and Sexy. Queer Chronicles bears one gay man's soul and other less spiritual 'body parts' in a highly interesting, creative, imaginative, and very real manner-sometimes a little too real for some readers."-Jerry Payne, Atlanta, Consultant, the "X".

About the Author
Webmaster/author of semi-biopic QueerChronicles.com, honored as ?A Site Worth Seeing? by Atlanta radio station 99X in its first two months of web presence. Winner Turner South Short Story Competition, published Whosoever.org, ?vented? in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and his poetry appeared in the AFA National Finals.

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Review of Still Hanging In There: Confessions of a Totaled Woman [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

I read this book last month and I am still laughing. Jan handles so many subjects including doctors, exercising, not exercising, football reruns, makeup for men, politics, advertising, television, sex and all family matters including dogs and gophers with great humor and philosophy. While I yell at my kids for not doing their homework, she contemplates an excuse note, since she's run out of excuses, claiming that since her little Boris is an alternate astronaut he needs to be alert and not start his homework if there is a chance he would not be on earth to complete it. Of course she does not really let him get away with it. She believes everyone must be responsible for their own lives including the kid who wet his diapers and claimed his daddy did it. She knows he couldn't have since dad works downtown. She declares that while she became a liberated lady and let everyone do "their own thing" her family and the nation started to fall apart. Now that she is back doing what she does best, "Nagging", everything is back on track, She has advice for the lovesick in a chapter called, "HOW TO TELL WHEN IT'S OVER". Here are a few subtle signs there may be trouble brewing, according to Jan: When he joins Parents WITHOUT Partners, If he introduces you as his "former wife"When he advertises on a giant billboard, "I love you Myrna" and your name is not Myrna, If you return home to find him napping with an army buddy and the towels read HIS and HIS, it may be time for a little chat at Starbucks. Good advice. She handles it all with such fun and insight. The problems that usually annoy me, she sees totally differently in an amusing way. It has taught me to approach my life in a lighter manner. How could I not like someone who claims as I do that "Pasta is her life." Among her fantasies: Diving into an Olympic size pool filled with spagetti and eating her way out. She also reveals how she turned flab into dollars. Jan Marshall is a very funny lady. I would absolutely recommend buying this book.

Product Description
A lighthearted manual for getting through each day with humor and giddiness. It is a delightful look at some of our minor, daily irritants that includes marriage, motherhood, football reruns of highlights of last year's game and the men we love who watch them... again and again.

The book is filled with astounding anti-diet/anti-exercise advice in the chapter "How I turned flab into dollars." While Jan was jogging she thought she heard applause. Regretfully it was simply her thighs hitting together. She was paid extremely well to leave the neighborhood. Franchise anyone?

There are time management tips "If you do not polish silver for six years it begins to look like pewter. Pewter is nice!" This joyful philosopher notices most human absurdities, ponders, reflects and then answers such questions as "Can we really leave nagging to strangers? Why is it that for every light on Broadway there is a runny nose? She agrees with Hemingway that though the sun also rises, it also fades the drapes.

This witty book will have you shaking with glee (67 calories expended) as you realize the stuff that really annoys you can be thought about in a more amusing, tolerable and weight losing manner.

About the Author
Jan claims her overbite is from hanging in there by the skin of her teeth. Founder of the International Humor/Healing Institute she is a Certified Master Clinical Hypnotherapist, humorist and speaker. A frequent guest on radio and television she actually believes not a shred of evidence exists that life is serious.

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Review of Blue Moon Rising: Kentucky Women in Transition (Hardcover)

Having the privilege of editing Jennie's book is one of the best experiences of my life. Working with her was a pleasure and I am thankful that our paths crossed in this way.

The stories in Blue Moon Rising are incredible. These are amazing women who have overcome so much. But they are women just like you and me. It takes courage to share your story. It is my hope that all of these women will continue in the direction of their dreams and find serenity in God. I also hope that abused women who read this book will find strength to make the changes in their lives to take care of themselves and their children and that women who have been through similar trials will realize that they are not alone. --Dayna Spear (Williams), editor



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