Clubs Books

Jennie Shortridge introduces Eating Heaven with a quotation by Karen Sunde: "To love is to receive a glimpse of heaven". But instead of setting her novel in the clouds and giving us a glimpse of heaven, Shortridge sets her novel in Portland with erratic weather, and unpredictable imperfect human life. Her characters are as far from heaven as we are, with secrets and obsessions like our own.

Ellie (Eleanor Samuel the protagonist) is a food writer who experiments making traditional recipes into low-cal delights. Her love/hate relationship with food, which has sent her to a food-issues therapist, is a continuing thread of the novel. Her conflicted relationship with food is not the only difficult relationship she encounters. She struggles with romance--the men in her life: Stefan, her editor; and Henry the chef, her heart throb. She struggles with the identity of Uncle Benny--why is he so important to her family? And finally Ellie struggles with complicated female relationships in her life: her sisters, Anne and Christine, Yolanda, Benny's wife, and more importantly her narcissistic mother Bebe whose life is full of secrets.

Shortridge employs flashbacks to narrate Ellie's past. The flashbacks provide the reader and Ellie with a way to uncover family secrets. Uncle Benny, the beloved neighbor, more a father to Ellie than her own distant father, is often in her childhood flashbacks. Uncle Benny supports and cares for her in a way her own parents did not. But some memories of him with her mother alarm her: a memory of herself as a child, sick with the flu and covered with vomit, seeing her mother and Benny in the car in a hot and heavy embrace. What is the connection between this complex man whom Ellie loves and her mother?

When Uncle Benny gets terminal cancer and Ellie becomes his chief care-giver, she finds an old photograph album in his house, which reveals surprising new understandings about her paternity, her mother, and the lies her family has been living.

Shortridge knows the human condition. She displays its imperfection in the lives of Ellie, Bebe, Uncle Benny, Henry, Anne and Christine. Mother/daughter conflicts, death and dying, sibling rivalry, and out-of-control personal obsessions are part of the story. Through Ellie, Shortridge suggests love is the most appropriate response to this human suffering. Ellie, who expresses love by feeding those around her, learns to love her imperfect self, her imperfect mother and sisters, Uncle Benny and Yolanda, and Henry. The food she serves them is an opportunity for a taste of heaven. Rainy Portland, with its imperfect life, is not heaven, but it is transcendent. "To love is to receive a glimpse of heaven": a fine quotation for this very human novel.

Eating Heaven is a great book. I could not put it down. It was just what I was looking for.

Set in Portland, Oregon it's fun to read about real locations. The book details the struggle of the main character who is caring for and dealing with the terminal illness of her uncle. Humorously she is a food writer who has her own issues with food and weight. Of course, her mother is a skinny minnie who is concerned with appearances. The book has some great twists and turns and things happen that keep you wondering. Don't want to say too much about this because I don't want to ruin the ending for readers. Well worth the money to buy this book.

When I bought the book I was on a book buying frenzy. When I finally got around to reading it I had wondered why I had ordered it. I guess my preference choices had changed since the purchase date. Since I love to read and it was next up, I thought I would give it a try and I am so glad I did. What a wonderfully entertaining book. The main character was likeable, funny and real. Uncle Benny was lovable and his life, loves and losses left me with a heavy heart and tears. Each character was brought to life as if I knew them personally. The laughter, smiles and tears left me glad I gave this wonderful book a try.

Eating disorders, tense mother daughter relationships, affairs, and cancer are a powerful mix and yet so real that life pours out of every paragraph. What a combo, I enjoyed the book and finished it in a few days savoring it even when I had to go brush my teeth.
This is the kind of novel that makes me want to stay home with a blanket tucked in my own world and living the world of the characters.
Ellie the main character is lovable, insecure, bulimic, and has problems with her mother and father, and well with her sisters, as well as, with food.
She loves to cook and her dishes are unique. You will love her and you will feel for her and with her the pain she experiences when her uncle Benny is diagnosed with Cancer and she takes on the role of care taker.
The author uses food as a catalyst for feelings, moods, and even eras, its very creative and I can say I will not forget her characters anytime soon.
Splendid, deep and utterly real.

I loved this book. It's very well written and very informative - definitely not "dry" and "stuffy".

The book is interesting as well as fascinating with much information. Just what was needed to add to her Elizabeth Peters novels about Egypt.

A few years ago I visited these areas and the tour guide spoke with great certainty about everything. Come to find out almost everything is subject to question. Mertz is clear on what has been established, and what is theory. The time, energy and research put into Egyptian archeaology opens new avenues of doubt and make facts more and more elusive.

Mertz warns at the beginning that this is not a text nor a complete history. She says it is an collection material that she finds interesting. The first part was a little TOO informal for me. Mertz hits her stride with Hatshepsut and keeps the narrative strong through the end.

For anyone who has an interest in Egypt or ever wondered exactly who the ancient Egyptians were and why their dynasties lasted for thousands of years, Barbara Mertz's "Temples, Tombs & Hieroglyphs" is the perfect introduction. More commonly known to readers as Elizabeth Peters, Mertz is the author of the popular Amelia Peabody mystery series.

Long before she started her career as a best-selling writer, however, Barbara Mertz began as a trained Egyptologist, with a PhD from the famed Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, the launching pad for many successful Egyptologists. These credentials make her the perfect person to write this history, as she is able to translate the rich Egyptian history of the pharaohs into something more easily understood by readers with no archaeological background, except an interest in Egypt.

This is not to say that the book is always easy reading, although Mertz tackles her subject with a passion and humor readers are unlikely to find in any other, more typical history tome. She manages to bring the Egyptians of old to life, translating ancient hieroglyphs into fascinating stories of individuals, each with their own purpose, strengths and weaknesses exposed.

She opens up the fascinating world of tomb robbers and archaeologists (which some claim are not so far apart in purpose or behavior at times). She demonstrates how information is extrapolated from archaeological findings and illustrates how history is revised over time as new facts and theories come to light.

Despite the injection of personality Mertz brings, this can be dense material at times. For anyone uninitiated in the world of the Egyptians, there are more than 30 dynasties, each with several rulers, falling into 10 eras, dating from the Stone Age Archaic Period to the time of Cleopatra and the Roman invasion. The sheer length of time and individuals and events covered is staggering.

With repeating pharaohnic names, unfamiliar landscapes and place names, conflicting historical research and theories, the book can be overwhelming at times. Yet the reward for sticking it out (dare I even say, re-reading parts) is worth the time and effort expended. Frankly, I read this book twice, cover to cover, and the second time around, I finally began to get a real sense for the overall arc of historical time period covered. And I would hazard to say that it seems even more likely that dipping in again would yield even more historical treasure and understanding.

The richest gift that Mertz offers in her overview of Egypt can be found in the simple stories of the rulers described here, in illuminating for the novice the archaeological tricks of the trade (and weaknesses of such methods) used to determine exactly (or to the best of anyone's knowledge) what happened so many years ago. Mertz's infectious passion for all things Egyptian (well, except possibly pottery shards) can't help but influence her readers to want to learn more. Through her book, she has opened the door to her own exciting world, and readers can't help but want to share in that magic.

Christine Zibas, Book Pleasures

Writing under the pen name Elizabeth Peters, Barbara Mertz started the Amelia Peabody series of tongue-in-cheek Victorian archaeological thrillers in 1975. But 11 years before then this trained Egyptologist published the first edition of "Temples, Tombs & Hieroglyphs".

Like many other books this traces of the history of ancient Egypt from the pre-dynastic to the Ptolemies. But Mertz brings her sense of humor to lighten what can be a dry series of lists of kings. She brings to life highpoints in the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms, as well as the chaotic periods in between. Moreover, she lifts the veil and lets the reader in on many of the scholarly disputes, like those over the woman pharaoh Hatshepsut and the role of Nefertiti in the succession to her heretical husband Akhenaton.

It's also nice to see someone reveal the egomaniac Ramses II for what he was, a poor leader who lost the second Battle of Kadesh, and who covered his weaknesses by pasting his image everywhere.

For anyone who has read the Peabody books, including the depiction there of Sir William Flinders Petrie (and his approach to feeding his staff), Mertz' homage here to the founder of modern Egyptology is interesting.

In her forward to this Second Edition, Mertz says she thought she wouldn't have to do much to revise the earlier work. But then, she adds, taking into account four decades of new discoveries proved to be a challenge. There are places in this book where she discusses post-1964 work, but the addition of the new material is seamless, with no sense of things just stuck in.

This is a delightful introduction to the fascinating history of ancient Egypt.

This book and the references it makes, particularly to websites, will give you accurate and fun information about getting to the highest point in each of the fifty states. There is useful general information about hking, and each of fifty descriptions is excellent. If you buy the book and join the club, you will have something to do on vacations for years to come.

This is the second copy I have purchased as a gift. Also I have one that was a gift to me. The book is outstanding for the hiker/traveler. My copy is dog-eared from all the attention it gets. It is well organized and accurate in its descriptions and directions.

After thru-hiking the AT, my wife decided she wanted to go to the highest point in at least the continimerous 48 states (plus Hawaii as a reward). I bought a membership to the Highpointers Club and a copy of this book. We've used it to summit 13 states so far including easy drive-ups like Florida and Arkansas as well as challenges like Colorado (second highest point in the lower-48) and New Mexico.

While the book isn't a detailed hiking guide, it does contain information that is absolutely necessary to reach certain highpoints, especially those on private property. Additionally, the book contains a list of local highlights and interesting sites to see.

P.S. Our favorite highpoint, so far, is Kansas' Mount Sunflower!

Highpointing is a great way to see all 50 states and get a little exercise (or a LOT of exercise in some cases), and this book is the perfect guide. I have climbed 22 Highpoints and own 4 Highpointing books. I would definitely consider this my favorite of the 4. I would still recommend owning more than one Highpointing book, but like I said, this is definitely my favorite. This one also seems to be the quickest revised and the best kept up to date. Though I suppose you can always get updates on highpointing very easily off of www.highpointers.org.

Excellent guidebook. Provides everything you need in a few concise pages for each "mountain": Location, directions, summary statistics and comparisons, maps, alternate routes, nearby attractions, and human interest. The hiking distance and vertical elevation charts for each route are instantly helpful. The absence of errors is truly amazing for a book category that is continuously travel directions, distances, and routing. This book is so reliable that I have occasionally gone into the backcountry without procuring the mandatory real map. I own many dozens of mountain guidebooks--this may be the best for quick lookup of needed information! It is even a very convenient page size for fitting into a day pack. The authors have made these journeys a much simpler task compared to the days of the Frank Ashley book.

This is a well written, knock your socks book. If you like suspense, then this is the book for you. I highly reccomend it. It's a story of torture and murder that puts you right in the middle of all the action. Bobbie Pfeifer knows exactly what to do to grab you and take you for the ride of your life.

I love it when I read a book or watch a movie and am not able to figure out the ending. This book was so interesting and suspenceful. I really enjoyed it through and through. It truly was something I couldn't put down. I hope there are more books like this in the future.

From the moment I started reading I felt I was there with Jessie. I couldn't put the book down. I will recommend this book to everyone. Bobbie you did a wonderful job.

What a great book. It was recommended to me by my co-worker who was a school chum and friend of Mrs. Pfeifer's. I started to read it out of curosity and ended up devouring each and every word. I recommend this book to anyone who loves an "on the edge" suspense story. I liked the clean cut way in which it's written yet keeps the descriptions accurate. What a great book! I appreciate the non-wordy, not-over discriptive, right to-the-point style of writing you have. The suspense kept me racing through the chapters to very the end! I'm looking forward to your next book. Great Job!

This is a great book that keeps you reading. My mom loaned it to me and I finished reading it in 24 hours! I usually don't read suspence books but this story is told so very well. I love the way it ends! I will recommend to all of my friends!

The Fafhrd and Gray Mouser series is a great find for the fantasy reader. I highly recommend all the books in this series. Fritz Lieber is a fantastic writer, if you have never read his books you are in for a treat.

The Lankhmar series has two main characters Fafhrd the Barbarian and the Gray Mouser. Fafhrd is a barbarian and thief. The Gray Mouser is a small quick-witted thief and sometime wizard. They are best friends and go on many fantastic adventures together, which are told as a series of short stories. This book is a reprinting of two books: Swords and Deviltry (The First Book of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser); and Swords Against Death (The Second Book of Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser).

The first book describes where Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser come from and how they meet. In the second book Fafhrd the Barbarian and the Gray mouser lose their first loves to death, and they set forth on a quest that leads them throughout Newhon on a series of adventures where they finally steal the mask of death from Death himself.

To sum up, if you like fantasy, you'll like this book.

This book is the earliest adventures of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, their early lives, how they met and adventures. The novellas are rich in detail of the surroundings and show that the world of Nehwon is well-developed. Fafhrd and The Grey Mouser's interactions are realistic (except perhaps for the high-flown language) and kept me turning pages eagerly. Lots of hack'n'slash as well as intellectual puzzles, a few moments of hair-raising suspense and some definite sizzle. Classic swords & sorcery with very little mumbo-jumbo and no complicated explanations.

Fritz Leiber is without a doubt one of the the most over-looked of a group of authors that are basically the fathers of the modern Fantasy genre. Ill met in Lankhmar is an excellent collection of short stories detailing the meeting and early adventures of the two most renowned Heroes/Rogues in the fabulous world of Nehwon Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. What is most enjoyable about the stories is the crisp action filled pace Lieber sets while still managing to describe everything in a way that gives you a feeling of immersion in the rich, exoctic world of Nehwon and the vast City of Lankhmar which is the Heroes main base of operations. The main characters are exceptional creations. Two lovable never do wells who usually emerge from there various adventures victorious but with little or nothing to show for it. There is a comic bent to their various escapades that is very enjoyable. Overall, just a great collection of short stories.

The book reads like a series of short stories. Cele Goldsmith commissioned Fritz Leiber to write a series of Fahrd and Gray Mouser stories for Fantastic Stories pulp (one of the two early plups edited by Cele Goldsmith). That says it all. They are a fast read with plenty of action and very little of the long, dreary and seemingly endless descriptions of scenery etc.. found in many other books. The stories revolve around characters and the deeds of those characters. Unlike Jordan's Wheel of time series, which provides pages and pages of explanation of the types and colours of curtains found in each room of a house, something happens on every page.

Fahrd is like a Viking big, lustful and not scared to kill. Gray Mouser is an apprentice wizard that is not scared to use the black arts to get revenge eg. burning enemies to a crisp. Forget political correctness which is expected in so much of the literature these days, you will not find it in this book. It is like the old Star Trek (kill anything that gets in your way) and unlike the Next Generation (lets us open up the lines of communication so we can have meaningful dialogue).

If you like short stories that are well written, do yourself a favour and get a copy of this book.

Poor Fritz Leiber. He has never truly received the credit he deserves for fostering the fantasy genre. Along with the old Conan stories and Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, this is amongst the most influential works of fantasy fiction.

Fascinating worldbuilding, intrigue and exciting characters abound in these tales, all told with Leiber's exceptional artistic skills. Not only are the plots and personalities compelling, but Leiber has a magical rhythm to his storytelling and descriptions. This is one of the few stories that is on my "reread" list.

Pick this up and you'll love the stories--and when you look at the copyright date of these tales, you'll come to appreciate just how much Leiber has affected the fantasy authors that have come since.

Ignatieff is at his best in his painstakingly detailed biography of that intellectual giant, Isaiah Berlin. This is how biographies should be written. Ignatieff has a wonderful ability of marrying the man and his ideas with the politics of the times he lived in. An elegantly written and honest homage to a life lived! I highly recommend this fantastic read!

This is a superb biography, and it also provides a very good survey of Berlin's ideas as they developed over his lifetime. That latter is no mean feat, as Berlin did not produce a highly organized corpus. Berlin's habit was to produce something, then proceed to the next thing, and never look back. He was also not very tidy in his scholarship, with a tendency to present "quotations" that are his remembered version of what the other person wrote. It is due to the extraordinary efforts of Henry Hardy that Berlin's writings having been gathered into various anthologies, with missing footnotes added, quotations cleaned up, etc.

If you have tried to get into Isaiah Berlin's thought and have been discouraged by his sometimes baroque mode of exposition, I would recommend starting with Ignatieff's book. Then read around in Berlin's essays for a while and, following that, pick up "Isaiah Berlin," by John Gray, a succinct critical survey of the central themes and ideas in the man's work. At that point, you will be able to pick up anything Berlin wrote and read it with complete comprehension. Promise.

How can such a great book have such a low sales number? Or such a cheap price and only available used? I found it new for less than $4 in a book store during Christmas break in Cape May, NJ. Of all the books I was reading this one grabbed my attention and was most frequently the one I chose to read until I finished it. Gems! This book is loaded with them. Getting to know Sir Isaiah Berlin has been wonderful. An example: Teaching in an American University in January 1949 "His students didn't seem to know how to read or write, at least `not as these activities are understood at our best (British) universities'." (p. 190) His course was at Harvard! Now I can't feel a sense of connaissance since I was a student no sooner than a decade later. How do I know I know how to read?

Reading p. 188: "individuals must have secure cultural belonging if they are to be genuinely free." It occurs to me while reading the book that without such a book about Isaiah Berlin a great deal of what he thought would not be obvious in what he published. He often did not say what he thought. Was this because he was not very secure in his sense of cultural belonging? (Yes).


I had not realized how much Sir Isaiah was a philosopher of the sort I would like to be some day. Because of his experiences he was a polyglot. He spent time in the service of his country using his intellectual and social skills. His philosophical views bridged the Western analytic tradition, engaging Wittgenstein in argument for example, but at the same time applying the Continental philosophy of the Hegelian tradition, his excellent introduction to Marx for example. I personally find so much to like. I have found another soul mate.

I also thank those who took the effort to write such good reviews, often including other information to make the experience even more worth while, and leave me with little to do than mention a few quotes as a reminder for myself. This book ought to be read by more people than are apparently reading it.

Twentieth Century philosophers in England fall into two groups. The bigger is the one whose members engage in analyzing the meanings of words and the ways that we use them. While this is undoubtedly an important enterprise, it is often rather arid and does not touch on what is really significant to most people. These philosophers tend to teach us cleverness.

The other, rather smaller group, to which Isaiah Berlin belonged (after having started as a member of the first group), addresses itself chiefly to human concerns, to how we ought to live. I maintain that men like him teach us wisdom.

Isaiah Berlin certainly did not live in an ivory tower; and in Michael Ignatieff's immensely attractive biography we can follow his engagement in the great world. Like many other academics, he worked in government during the Second World War: at the Ministry of Information in New York and then at the British Embassy in Washington and (very briefly just after the war) at the Moscow Embassy. As a committed Zionist, he played a minor but not unimportant role, acting as an intermediary between his friend Chaim Weizmann and American politicians during the period when American attitudes towards the aspiration for an independent Israel were being shaped. Weizmann and Ben Gurion both asked him to move to Israel and play a part in shaping the nascent state; but Berlin declined. One reason for this was that he felt himself temperamentally unfitted for the intrigues, infighting and abrasiveness that such a role would involve.

Ignatieff shows repeatedly how, although Berlin had political commitments - particularly to Zionism and to anti-Communism - he shied away from being put into a confrontational position. He did not like making enemies; he liked to please; he was uncomfortably aware of his dual allegiance when working for a British government which was unsympathetic to Zionist aspirations. There seems to me no doubt that the philosophy which would develop in due course was a sublimation of his psychology. It should go without saying that this is not said in denigration of his philosophy: some of the greatest achievements in creativity have been driven by personal needs of this kind. One must judge the value of a philosophy by the quality of the end product, not by its psychological origins.

One of Berlin's essays is entitled The Hedgehog and the Fox. The fox, so an ancient Greek once said, knows many things; the hedgehog knows one big thing. Ignatieff argues that Berlin indeed knew many things but that he had been in search of the one big thing that would make sense not only of the tensions he felt within himself, but also of those which any open-minded person must feel when seeing that in so many important conflicts, whether in personal life, in the history of ideas, in politics, or in philosophical situations, there is so much to be said for each side. He found this one big thing in the notion of Pluralism.

Pluralism means that every individual and every society must accept that there is never one absolute value to which other values must be subordinated. There are many values in life which all command respect; but the most important of these - freedom, justice, equality, tolerance, compassion, loyalty - often must collide. Take, for example, Liberty and Equality. Both are rightly sought after; but equality can only be achieved by curtailing the liberty of action which, if granted, will result in some people pulling ahead of others. And even a single value, like equality, has tension built into it: do we look for equality of opportunity or equality of outcome? Again, if we want equality of opportunity, the result may be inequality of outcome; if we want to ensure equality of outcome, we cannot also have equality of opportunity. There are occasions when unavoidable collisions of values - of allegiance or of moral duty, for example - are the very stuff of tragedy.

Berlin was a liberal and believed in rational discussion; but he thought that no amount of rational discussion can resolve these conflicts of values; and for him it was certainly not a solution to give to any one value absolute priority over others which have as good a claim to be universal.

Berlin was as fascinated by those ideologies which he regarded as inhuman as he was by those he shared. He once said that he would never describe Nazism as mad. It did indeed rest on totally perverted axioms, but upon these axioms its theorists did erect an intellectual structure: how else could one explain that fascism was espoused not just by thugs, but by many academics at universities and by thinkers in other walks of life? Even more so was this the case with Marxism: he detested it, but he truly understood it from within. Ignatieff comments that "Berlin was the only liberal thinker of real consequence to take the trouble to enter the mental worlds of liberalism's sworn enemies." And although liberalism and nationalism, usually allies in the first half of the 19th century, parted company thereafter, Berlin was also one of those rare modern liberals who had respect for nationalism. The freedom to give expression to national identity was an important freedom, but of course it must not itself become oppressive of other people's national identity.

As the book's title suggests, this is a biography that focusses most strongly on the philosopher's life. An exposition of his ideas is skilfully woven into the narrative; but it is not until we are two-thirds of the way through the book, when Berlin had reached the age of 40, that we come upon the chapter headed "Late Awakening" - awakening, that is, to the ideas for which he became famous. But I cannot praise highly enough the loving and vivid portrait of Isaiah Berlin that Ignatieff has given us and the fascinating account of his private and public life.

This is the life- story of the most important historian of ideas of the twentieth century. The story is told with clarity and sympathy . And something is caught of the tone and spirit of the person considered to be ' the greatest talker the English language had ' since Coleridge. Berlin was a person not only of remarkable learning, but of tremendous intellectual enthusiasm. His understanding of how it may be impossible to reconcile ' ultimate value claims' is at the heart of his championing of liberal democracy. The story is a remarkable one including not simply his climbing to the top of the pole of the English intellectual establishment ( despite his Jewishness) but his able service in the cause of freedom during the Second World War. One of Berlin's great volumes ( edited by his devoted student Henry Hardy)'Personal Impressions' tells of Berlin's warm friendships with many of the greats of the twentienth century. One such friendship was with Chaim Weizmann first President of Israel. Berlin was a 'Yom Kippur Jew' and ardent Zionist who contributed much to Israel . On a recent walk on Keren Ha- Yesod street in Jerusalem I took special pleasure in seeing a quiet little square named after him. This book should be an introduction to reading his own collections of essays which Hardy put together. They are the remarkable record of a most remarkable mind.

Better then most books about a group of women that come together with a common interest. In this case, Bunko. This story demonstrates the power of friendship that rises to the occasion regardless of the deed. Women who know each others weaknesses, complain about each other behind each others backs but love each other anyway. It is so typical and right on.

Bunko is a dice game that is more common than one would think, even if one doesn't know what it is. "It's Not Your Mother's Bridge Club" is a novel telling of one of these clubs, containing what you would typically associate with a bridge club, middle age and class women. Focusing on the stories of the women in the club, Cozzens hopes to paint a vivid picture of Americana through her tale, with realistic characters people can relate too. "It's Not Your Mother's Bridge Club" is a fantastic piece of writing, recommended.

Let me start by saying that I'd never even heard of Bunko nor have I visited Arizona. So, it was really entertaining for me to learn about this dice game and be introduced to this world through wonderfully colorful descriptions. Many of these women are going through some complicated issues from alcoholism, infertility, the loss of a child to rotten ex-husbands. It's a very intimate portrait of their lives, losses, imperfections, disappointments and, most importantly, friendships. This is tough stuff and the author does a masterful job of telling the story from EIGHT different viewpoints.

I felt completely transported right into each character's mind. It was fascinating to connect with a character like Tara, who was such a beautiful talented artist, but then have to deal with her drinking problem. Like the group, I completely disapproved of her behavior and yet I was able to sympathize with her at times. I love the way journalist and soccer mom Shona Bartlett writes her column- very clever. As a mother, Amanda's story was hard to read. She's going through every mother's worst nightmare- the loss of a child.

This is both a fun and funny read for women (even if you don't play dice) and yet it tells a much deeper story about the complexities and disappointments in life that all women face. At the core of it all is friendship and understanding and what we all need- a girls night out!

I have to say this is not normally a book I would read. I know nothing about bunko other than I've heard it spoken of once or twice before. But was super pleasantly surprised because even though the story is about a group of women who play bunko together and a lot of the major things that happend in the story are when they are having a bunko night, it is bottom line at the end of the day about friends, about the important people in our lives. Yes, it can get a little confusing figuring out who is who because the book switches from one character speaking to another but the author did a great job of "repeating" what's going on with the next person who spoke so that you could definitely figure out what was going on. My favorite thing about the story of these women is that not all of them necessarily started out as such close friends but really more as acquantances who were invited to join in their dice club nights but in the end, they all meant more to each other than they ever thought. I believe there is at least one character whom everyone can find some connection with because they are similar to her in one way or another. On a not so serious note, I looooved how descriptive the author was when describing certain things... ie, the parking lot at the plastic surgeon's office--looking around for a car she might recognize and describing to a "t" how the women dressed, acted, etc..... It really put me there. I really knew these ladies!

It's Not Your Mother's Bridge Club, - instead it's Snake Eyes Dice Club. That's what the eight women of Rattlesnake Valley, Arizona call their monthly bunko (bunco) night out. Bunko is a popular, easy dice game that even has The World Bunco Association. Author Michele Van Ort Cozzens belongs to such a group, and from its members she got inspiration for the characters in the book.

The women in this story come from a variety of backgrounds: Canadian Chloe, Hispanic Blanca, artist/alcoholic Tara, sophisticated boss's wife Sylvia, her oldest friend Brandy, Sylvia's husband's assistant Amanda, former model Tootsie, and writer Shonah. Most of them do have a connection to Sylvia, who started the group. It seems they are friends, but a year's worth of gossip and unfortunate circumstances cause them to doubt their loyalty to each other and then to prove it. The women pick on each other behind their backs, but when the chips are really down, they also come through for the others in a major way.

Cozzens has put together a fun novel. Yet it isn't simply humor. There are real problems discussed and dealt with-particularly alcoholism, but also infertility, job loss and personal insecurity. She deals with the problems in a manner that feels quite realistic, like these women could be anyone's neighbors.

Cozzens is also donating proceeds from this novel to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and that plus a good story, is why I recommend it.

Armchair Interviews agrees.

I thought about writing a long and detailed review of this book. But the following will suffice: I have bought three copies of Moondog, as previous purchases have been loaned to freinds who adamantly refuse to return them! One of the funniest books I have ever read. Don't read it on a train, you'll have everyone staring at you as you burst into fits of laughter. Can the stories be true? Who cares...

Great book. Couldn't put it down. A must read !!!
Funny if you are a pilot. It might not be for young children, though, due to a few words used however, it is a great book and I highly recommend it.

Most books that are self published or turned over to a POD service have a deserved stigma attached to them. Mr. Fusco's engaging account of the first part of his aviation carear from flight instructor to charter and cargo pilot defies any such preconception.

This book is about pilots and flying, not in the technical sense of _Stick and Rudder_, or in a philosophical way like _Fate is the Hunter_. It's a reminder of a time when engineering safety margins were there to be used and confindence counted alongside experience. Although the book is humorous, it pulls a little at the heartstings to read about planes being broken for salvage-- made slightly better when you realize that these planes are being flown right up to the end.

This book is also a good picture of an industry that isn't the same and never will be. Current charter and cargo operations operate under FAR part 135, which effectively requires a pilot to have 1200hrs of flight time. Most pilots get this by being a flight instructor, but the days of a $50 solo in 4 hours are long gone (and that's a good thing!). Still, it doesn't hurt to remember our roots.

Probably the funniest flying book I ever read. Found myself laughing out loud over and over. Especially for people who learned to fly in a Piper Cub. I've given many copies to my old flying buddies.

If you enjoy good humor, you should read this book. If you are a pilot, you should definitely read this book. If you are a pilot who enjoys good humor, you MUST read this book. I laughed aloud so much that my wife bought a copy for our friend, a retired airline captain. He laughs aloud continually as he reads it. The vignettes are over the top, but within each chapter are aphorisms that you will recall with a grin long after you have finished the book. The plot line is aviation, but the humor is universal. Those who are not pilots will enjoy it; those with any aviation experience will love it.

What a clever and easy way to entertain. We used the ideas in this book for a large gathering and offered multiple tastings. Everyone had a great time and learned a lot about extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, dark chocolate and cheese. I highly recommend the book to anyone looking for a new and fun entertaining idea.

I am always looking for a new party idea and this one was great. This book tells you everything you need to know background wise for each tasting party theme. The best part is you can assign different items for each guest to bring. It's win-win.

We used to have a couples dinner club but it just got so complicated to organize. Someone gave me this book along with some beautiful small appetizer plates. What a great gift! Since then, we've had a few tastings, and it really has made for some variations to the usual "come over for wine" get togethers. It's quite a revelation and ultimately, helps you as a consumer to taste a variety of similar things. We've tasted olive oils, coffee (at a brunch), wines, cheese and tonight we have people coming over to taste olives and tomatoes. Really a worthwhile book if you entertain often.

Okay, it's my fault that I feel ripped off - I'd purused the olive oil and balsamic vinegar sections and said to myself "This is great" - the advice on what accompaniments to serve, the vocabulary of the product, the grid to evaluate each item being tested with its emphasis on one's own palate... the material is well done. The book is beautifully laid out.

The problem: The only tasting items discussed are wine, cheese, beer and tea which all need a book of their own; chocolate, honey, extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar and apples which are the highlights of the book and cured meat which, to my mind, is too broad a topic. There are many other items which would work well in the book's format - salts, chiles, mustards, olives, potatoes, greens, breads, butters ... Some of these could easily replace the weaker portions of the text. But what is really missing is the resources to discover how to plan one's own testings of products not include in the book. Either skeleton chapters for other products or references in the resources section could fill this gap. But I can't consider $22 for 5 probable "tasting club" menus a good buy.

I purchased this book because I love to entertain. However, it's just such a tiring process. I also needed new supper club ideas. This book solves both problems!

This book covers the basic wine tasting, but also provides foodie treat tastings such as:
chocolate
cheese
honey
tea
olive oil
cured meats
balsamic vinegar
apples
beer

The author provides worksheets to help conduct the tasting, recipes and menues. Each tasting section is organized as follows:

Know your food
Find your food
Choose your accompaniments
Oranize your tasting
Learn your palate

If you want a head start for your tasting, try Crate & Barrel. In store and online they have tasting honeys, salts, chocolates and olive oil.

This book is a must-have for any foodie!

Abby has a twin sister named Anna. Anna has scoloisis. Abby tries to be protective. nstead, this gets on with a fight!

Well, I thought it was a good book, but I didn't think it was THAT serious. I mean, I have scoliosis too and had to wear a brace, but it never made me turn away from people. I could understand if she had an illness. Scoliosis is not a fun thing, but it's not like it can't be fixed...

This book is about a group og young Teens Baby Sitting and they was having alot of problems, it was there first time and they did't know what to do. This book tells you to never offer to baby sit if you don't know that is onr thing that i would never do. I liked this book alot it toughyt me alot about baby sitting it tought me to nevre offer to baby sit if you don't offer.(the first time i offerd to baby sit my said what do you think that you are doing and i said i am just tryign to make some money and she said that is a good job but you still don't know what you are doing and boy did i lurne my lessen). I think that every young Teen should read this if you could like to be a baby sitter one day i think that you couuld read this my mom recmmended me to read this book because it tells me alot about baby sittin.And it also give you alot of tips on baby sitting the best thing about this book it tells you in the back of the book what should you do when a baby cry and also hw to hang a diper this is what i think about this book.

As a teen with scolois I can totally relate to this book. I know what's like to have to wear a backbrace, horrible and uncomfortable. This book helped me at my lowest times, especially when I just wanted talk my back brace off and like throw at the wall.

In this book, Abby finds out she and Anna have scoliosis. Abby only has a little bit of it, so she dosen't have to wear a brace. But Anna has to because of the way her spine is. Scoliosis is a thing where your spine is not completely straight. As a result, if it's bad you might have to wear a brace. Anna's brace, she will wear underneath her clothing. Since if she wears bulky clothes so nobody will notice her brace, Abby gets an idea to buy her some clothes. That's one of the many things Abby does to try to make Anna feel better. But the clothes she chooses are things only Abby would like, meaning she bought clothes Anna hates! Abby also cuts her hair to look just like Anna. Abby even wanted to try on Anna's brace! Also, the BSC is planning a Winter Carnival, but the snow is dissapearing! How will things get back to normal if they are already this bad? Find out in BSC#4, Abby's Twin!