V Books

I found all sorts of "flashes" in this book. One of the best parts was how men and women look at work differently. I wish I had known this before! It would have made my life easier.

A great book for any woman of any age, but particularly for younger women who want to have it all. I love the quote that you can have it all, but not at the same time!

"Forget Perfect" is witty and charming. I feel like I personally know McLeod and her friends and love them for the stories she shares . Her honesty is endearing and I found myself laughing out loud at her refreshing take on being a wife and mom.
I never realized how much I resented my "prefect" friends until I read this book ! Prompted me to be myself and stop pretending to be something I'm not. Thanks, McLeod, for reminding me that life is not, and will not be, perfect.

I'm giving this book to all my friends - it's fantastic! Lisa McLeod is the voice of her generation -- a voice that says, "For God's Sake, I'm Exhausted, The Laundry Can Wait!" Forget Perfect is a wonderful, laugh-out-loud mirror for women - wives, mothers, daughters and friends everywhere who have put themselves last on their own to-do list. It's one of those rare books that makes you reevaluate what's really important, and helps you to realize that being perfect doesn't make people like you more, it makes them like you less. A wonderful book!

In today's society many of us are more worried of being perfect than being ourselves. Lisa did a great job showing us how to wake up and start living life on our terms. She teaches us to enjoy our stay on the this world and not letting everything bother us till we get it right.

Although this book was written by an woman and is more geared to women...I found the empowering message contained within this book to be very apropos for men as well.

To give you an idea what this book is all about here is the table of contents:

Prologue
Oh, what a difference she made

Is This It?
Picture Perfect
It's probably just me

The Perfect Thing
The Queen of Perfect
Who turned that thing on anyway?
"You really should . . ."
The case against housework, dieting, and other shoulds
"Just fine" isn't exactly what I was going for here

Mother Nature had Something in Mind
The truth about dogs and cats
Attention Wal-Mart Shoppers
Calling All Camp Counselors
264 Extra thoughts
Life of the party
The Best Laid Plans

Is Anybody Out There?
What was your name again?
Westward Ho
Home on the range
Hello my name is
Rebel with a Cause
Nobody.com
Just the facts mam

Last on the List
You're gonna need `em, you just don't know when
All your eggs in one basket
Madame chairperson
I heard it through the grapevine. . .
Who's Zoomin' Who?
Proud Mary

What did you expect?
Which end is up?
Cry me a River
The Trouble with Work
And they all lived happily ever after
Why didn't you say so
That girl

What time Is it?
It worked for Scarlet
I've got a feeling about this
This one's a keeper

Epilogue
The end
Bibliography
Author Bio's

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is waiting to do things until it's just right. This book makes a great gift as well. I gave one to my wife!

Zev Saftlas, Author of Motivation That Works and founder of EmpoweringMessages.com

...truly! We spend all of our lives WANTING - thinking something out there will make us happy. If we have the perfect body, skin, man, career, kids, whatever...THEN we will be happy. I have truly spent my whole life believing this, that if I could somehow make myself BETTER, I'd be happy. This book is like a thump on the head. Hell-oooo??? No one is perfect, and the people who appear perfect, well, no one wants to be around them anyway! This book makes you realize that the GOOD stuff is already here. Cherish your friends and family. Be a real person. Be yourself!

This book is a must read for those travelling the heart journey - meaning both the survivor and the caregiver. Heart disease never goes into remission and the roller coaster ride this #1 killer of women in this country plays, needs to be understood. This book brings knowledge, understanding and compassion to the reader. Although this book is great to keep for reference and re-read, DON'T pass it along to everyone you know and make this a chain-book - a must read!

Kathy Kastan's, From the Heart: A Guide to Living Well with Heart Disease,
brings awareness and understanding to women who are facing emotional challenges AND living well while in the process.

I wish this book had been available to me after my heart attack. I also live with the aftermath of 16 coronary artery stents and a quadruple bypass surgery. This book gives women with heart disease "peace of mind" and validates that you are not alone. While reading this book, you will catch yourself nodding and thinking, "This happened to me. That is where that feeling came from! Now I understand."

One of many messages emanating from this book is to take care of the mind-body-spirit connection: that it will promote healing and assist in living a healthy life. Every woman should be given this book before any heart procedure or surgery, to better understand what to expect emotionally and how to deal with their challenges.

Thank you, Kathy Kastan, for this wonderful book!

Heart disease is the number one killer of women. If you are a "survivor" like me or someone wanting/needing to provide compassionate support to a family member or friend, you want this book. Ms. Kastan provides facts, practical advice and emotional support. I constantly recommend this book to other survivors and health care professionals.

This book what not what I felt was a guide to living with heart disease. It gave me much more to worry about which I didn't need. And alot of the helpful information that is in this book you can get on the American Heart Association website. If you really want a great guide, read "TAKE A LOAD OFF YOUR HEART: 109 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO PREVENT, HALT AND REVERSE HEART DISEASE by Joseph C. Piscatella. This books is Great! and has just about everything you need to know to help empower you and take control of your health and life.

FROM THE HEART: A WOMAN'S GUIDE TO LIVING WELL WITH HEART DISEASE comes from an author who underwent emergency bypass surgery at age 42 - and who had to not only physically recover, but had to find new ways to recover emotionally. It's the first written for women to focus on the emotional repercussions of heart disease rather than just physical symptoms and recovery alone, and surveys topics ranging from regaining a strong self-image and handling fears to telling others about illness and learning to rely upon one's body once more. From gaining support to learning how to exercise without fear, FROM THE HEART is an essential reference any women facing heart disease will need, and should be a popular public library lend.

I had grown so tired of being disappointed in cookie cutter novels about women and friendship. As if it were a hot topic du jour and authors were just jumping on the bandwagon. This was a GOOD BOOK. An unlikely friendship, humor, heartache and women finding themselves and their strength.
Ms Friddle has set a high standard for herself, I look forward to the next one.

if you are looking for something different , Mindy Fiddle does it in this story. Its an easy read, easy to follow characters and you feel a sense of being there with the story. It was fun to read and worth every penny.. dont miss out on this one .Nicole

In the Garden Angel - Ms. Friddle carefully weaves a story with intricate detail and character. She illustrates how people's lives are oftentimes multi-faceted, secretive and how relationships are compromised, stretched and redefined.

This is a story of a young woman seeking to keep her family's estate together, of another woman seeking to keep her husband, and theats that they both must overcome.

Ms. Friddle illustrates that life isn't always fair or just, that sometimes we are not dealt the best hand but that we must play the game with the cards that we have been given. We must learn how to make lemonade out of Lemons. And in essence to live a life in "San Souci" -- which in French means "Without (San) worry (Souci)".

Southerners will feel right at home with this quirky novel. Its eccentric characters could fit right into our own family scrapbooks, and its reverence for the past and suspicion of the encroaching future pose a conflict being played out across the length and breadth of Dixie-and might even be encapsulated in our ambivalence nowadays toward using the word "Dixie" as a synonym for the South.
Just outside of Palmetto, S.C., in the small town of Sans Souci, Cutter Johanson lives in a dilapidated mansion that houses the comforting ghosts of her ancestry. The urban sprawl of Palmetto, which is a thinly disguised Greenville, threatens to engulf the small town that has been home to Cutter's family for generations, but an even more immediate threat is that the death of Cutter's grandmother has brought the house up for sale. Desperate to keep the old home place, Cutter goes to great lengths to sabotage efforts to sell it, but she knows she is fighting a losing battle. Her sister Ginny, "the pretty one," and brother Barry, away in service, are eager to sell, and Cutter, though working two jobs, both menial, can not afford to buy them out.
Enter a kind of Delphic fate: Ginny, a college student, is having an affair with a teacher, Daniel Byers, and is pregnant by him. His aggrieved wife Elizabeth is an emotional cripple whose agoraphobia and panic attacks keep her a virtual prisoner in her home, significantly a run-of-the-mill subdivision ranch house. Not least, Elizabeth's main affliction is a husband so caring that he seems to have an unhealthy need for his wife to remain a cripple. Stir into that mix an anonymous telephone tip to the unsuspecting wife, and a solution to Cutter's problem that she could never have imagined is set in motion.
The attentive reader will see it coming when Elizabeth somehow manages to summon the strength to venture out and knock on the Johansons' front door. When Cutter answers the door, the die is cast: Two oddballs, one strong, one weak, come face to face, and the reader, recognizing their compatibility right away even if they don't, knows that they will wind up with each other when the dust has cleared-though in what arrangement is a nice, and logical, surprise.
The story of how all this happens is highly readable and, for the most part, deliciously written. Ms. Friddle's prose shines, especially with apt and poetic similes--but she comes awfully close to overdoing a good thing: Too many similes can be tiring and come across finally as the same artistic trick done too often to retain its freshness or, worse, as a kind of misdirection. Not for nothing did Gertrude Stein advise writers that in describing something it is usually better to say what a thing is than what it is like, i.e. "A rose is a rose is a rose."

Just finished reading The Garden Angel.....and really dragged out those final pages, because I didn't want it to end!
Wonderful debut novel with prose that flows, characters that made me feel like I knew them personally and Friddle displayed a terrific sense of place.
I highly recommend this novel and honestly have to say it's been ages since I enjoyed a story as much as this one. Down-to-earth and believable. Do yourself a favor and read this one. My only regret is I'm going to miss Cutter, Elizabeth, Alfred and the rest of the cast. Very much looking forward to Friddle's next novel.

I highly recommend this book for parents of, and people who work with, pre-teens and teenagers, especially those who are not comfortable using the latest web 2.0 tools (if you don't know what this is and you have children ages 10 - 16, you need to read this book!). As a school district technology specialist for grade K - 12 schools, I see and hear many stories about how kids are using social networking sites - often without parents knowing what they are doing. Even those kids whose parents do not allow them to use these tools at home are finding ways to use them elsewhere.

The book takes you step by step through the process of viewing and creating a My Space site before suggesting you try to access the sites set up by your own children and their friends. It is informative, without lecturing, and has practical advice for communicating with your children about online etiquette and safety.

This book is highly fascinating in its ability to connect to it's readers. Any parents with kids interested in MySpace should read this fantastic book. It takes you through the steps of setting up an account so you, the parent, can experience MySpace first hand. As a college student and young professional, I find this book to be a resource for myself as a social worker and for parents. I highly reccomend this book!

I wish I had the information in this enlightening book two years ago when my daughter first began using myspace. I truly like the easy yet intelligent command of the english language the author has used to portray to her audience how there are many facets to be concerned with that involve our youth and how they engage, influence, and deeply affect our children while behind closed doors in their own rooms for endless hours on Myspace. We as parents are so often busy, tired, and all to often aloof to the significant dangers of the inner psychological repurcussions that are manifesting while our children sit mesmerized and addicted in this 'unchaperoned private club.' It is not to late, and to educate ourselves is paramount if we as loving and concerned parents are to help facilitate a change in the amount of time and usage we allow our precious children to interact on this massive meeting place. Afterall, we are their guardians and we must help them with positive action at this vulnerable time in their lives. Be informed, that is what this book does in a most potent way! Excellent job Candice Kelsey and thank you! You obviously are a person who cares and who wants to make a difference to your students and to all others-far beyond the perimiters of your own classroom.

The book it good. It is written by someone who has worked with a lot of teens therefore, her understanding of teens and social networking sites seems well-founded and thus, valid. The book is balanced in that it offers a lot of statistics, perspective and experience of the author as well as first hand stories and examples from teens themselves. A must read for anyone dealing with teens and the internet.

"Sheesh! Another MySpace thing! Mom, MySpace is really not that big a deal!" -My son, on seeing the book.

And therein is the point of the book. This is not a book for teens; it is an attempt to bridge the generation gap between parents and their children, using MySpace as the point of departure.

The author is a middle school teacher in California who has supplemented her personal experience with extensive research. There are no footnotes, but expert commentary and research is well documented within the text. There is also a "Resources" section at the back of the book, listing sources by chapter, as well as a "Recommended Reading, Surfing, and Viewing" section, also broken down by chapter.

There are few holds barred as the author delves into the current world of teens. In the first chapter the author points out that it's not all about MySpace, it's about social networking sites, of which MySpace is the largest. She then proceeds to explain why social networking is so important to teens and how it fits into the overall picture of their lives. In doing so, she exposes the terms and terminology they use and their current cultural context. Although she gives frequent warnings, if you are not prepared for language that would have been offensive in prior generations, you may want to skip this book and try one of the others available.

But the author is not trying to shock as much as to wave red flags. She and many experts say MySpace is not the problem, it is simply a symptom of a larger cultural shift. Kelsey believes, and offers good documentation, that the shift is driven by media and consumerism. With the red flags she also offers advice on dealing with the negative issues surrounding MySpace. The first step, also recommended by other authors of MySpace books, is to visit this part of a teen's "world" by creating a MySpace account and looking around. There is a guided tour through the process, beginning with Chapter 2, "Pimped Out: Anatomy of a Profile." The author recommends not going straight to your child's profile, but using the experience to understand the world of today's teens by seeing it through their eyes. There is a chapter later in the book devoted to assessing your child's MySpace involvement, and strategies to use.

Overall, the book is well written and well documented, promoting strategies that are recommended by experts for dealing with teens and MySpace. The book overall also has an alarmist tone, and uses very frank language. For the clueless parent (including the one(s) thinking, "Not MY teen!"), this is probably a good thing. But it may not be the book for every parent. If you want a full picture of the teen world and teens on MySpace, this book should top your list. If you'd rather not know all the gory details, but still want to know how to approach MySpace, consider something like MySpace Unraveled, by Larry Magid and Anne Collier.

These are the best books ever. I always look through it when I need a little pick me up and it always gives me a good laugh!!! Makes a great gift for somebody. I always order extras to have on hand..great last minute gift.

Another great one from Sloane Tanen. Same chicks, different day! You'll love this one too!

The cartoons wouldn't be so funny (except the pictures are just adorable), if they weren't so true. Sloane translates human emotions into these cute chicks doing outrageous things. Buy one for yourself and 10 to give away.

I first fell in love with Sloane Tanen's work when I read the caption above the photo: "Samantha looked around the playground in amazement. Her mother had been right. She really WAS the smartest and the prettiest."

If you thought you had to give up picture books when you graduated from second grade, have I got a treat for you! Writer Sloane Tanen and photographer Stefan Hagen take those tiny little stuffed yellow chicks you can find at Easter and put them in wickedly funny scenarios in gorgeously detailed dioramas. This is the first book in the series BITTER WITH BAGGAGE SEEKS SAME: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SOME CHICKENS and it's both delightfully bitter and sunny-natured. And who can't relate to adorable little spoiled tyrant Coco who is rarely seen without her tiara and dreams "that one day she would grow up to be a benevolent queen...or a supermodel?"

The second book in the series--GOING FOR THE BRONZE: STILL BITTER, MORE BAGGAGE is equally hilarious. One of my favorite pages shows two chickens peering over the side of the Titanic while a chicken floats beneath them and one of them comments, "I don't know, the last thing he said was something about being king of the world and then I may have accidentally pushed him." No one is safe from the satire including Charles and Camilla, American Idol, and Hooters. And the photographs are so detailed that you can spend hours just noticing things in the background.

I should warn you that, due to a wee bit of naughty language, these picture books are for adults only, but Sloane Tanen has also written a children's book called COCO ALL YEAR ROUND. If you want your child to develop a deliciously dark and dysfunctional sense of humor right along with you, you can read them rhymes featuring the adorable Coco like "I walk down the street with my whole Girl Scout troop. It would have been fun had I not slipped in poop." (I'll spare you a description of the illustration on this one.)

[...]

A followup to Sloane Tanen's earlier "Bitter with Baggage Seeks Same." This is also a hilarious look at the lives of adult females. Thanks to Sloane for these books!!! My college daughter and I laugh, laugh, laugh at these funny, situations and how Sloane has captured them perfectly with the help of some fuzzy little chicks!!!!

any book by Ralph Steadman requires serious and not so serious reading. his perspective on life is truly unique and worthy of consideration.

I'm very pleased with my purchase...It arrived promptly, well packaged, and in stellar condition. A flawless venture.

I love his work, have since he did the cover art and animation for Pink Floyd The Wall. This book is worth grabbing if you respect the artistic value of total insanity and the furthering of freedom of expression.

May the ghost of Hunter S. Thompson come down and become the next President of the United States - and may Ralph Steadman be his Art Director!

Having had, as many people did, my first taste of Ralph via Hunter S Thompson's books, I found this to be a great introduction to the Hyperactive and frantic style of a dude who is probably my favourite artist. This has a forward by Hunter, gives great colour examples of his works in the realm of Gonzo, and also has many written, poetical works, and songs. My fave piece is 'Stand up and be counted.' IE: The maverick beast will ALWAYS raise his head in the crowd. A perfect definition of Gonzo.

We really love this one for both content and illustrations. The content really meets the child reader in her world of imagination, for example the fairies painting the wings of the butterflies, sleeping on leafy garden beds, or reading bedtime stories to animals. Every page is a treat. Magical and very special story, I am so glad we found this book.

My three-year-old was spellbound while I read this to her. She told me that she wanted to go see the fairies. The illustrations are amazing and very detailed. Very appealing for all ages. A must have for fairy fans.

Precious story just right for my Flower Fairies' party for my favorite granddaughters and little girls in the neighborhood.
Wonderful illustrations.

I gave this book 4 stars and not 5 because I think the story is a bit lacking. The illustrations on the other hand are stunning and I highly recommend this book.

I bought this book for my grandchildren who are really inyo fairies right now -- not necessarily Disney-type but the "real" ones.
This book was so beautiful and the pictures so intricate that the kids love to play "find it" as well as hear the story. In fact, I think the grown-ups like the narrative more than the children, but that's okay, too.
Adults who are not comfortable with the fantasy of fairies probably would object to the credit given to them for creations (turning leaves colors, etc.) I thought it was lovely and simply reminded the children that it was a story.

This book is a treasure trove of information about the battles and the influence of the topography had on the outcome. A must read for any Civil War buff OR anyone who loves to look at old maps.

This book is beautiful and interesting - it's a definitely a great book to have!

My dad is a CIvil War buff and a former surveyor. He loved this book. It had a ton of maps he could take out and look at to go along with what he was reading.

We recently moved to North Carolina and our grandson, who has studied the civil war in school, was so excited to see this book. We are planning on taking him to the many sites this summer and this has given him the opportunity to read up before the trip. For his age this book was awesome.

Thomas Nelson's Rutledge Hill Press publishing division has created a lovely book that tells a simple narrative of the Civil War focusing on the importance of maps in the war and the men who made them.

The cover of the book is designed to look like a leather bound canvas portfolio, much like a mapmaker's sketchbook of the era. The text of the book is beautifully printed on high quality paper. I appreciated the fact that the publishers included lots of pictures of everday soldiers - not just the same old posed shots of the generals and politicians.

There are 32 removable maps included as well. The removable maps are stored in between the pages. The publisher has printed on only one side of the thick paper pages and then glued the blank sides together on the edges to make an envelope of sorts between the pages. The maps are securely stored so there is no chance of accidentally losing a map.

I would not recommend this book as an introduction to the topic of the Civil War since it does precious little to introduce the issues that caused the war or Reconstruction. However, it is an attractive volume that would be welcome in the collection of any Civil War buff.

Yes, this book IS heavy! But my tiny 2 year old loves it so much that she lugs it off the shelf and hauls it on the couch for us to read. That's 5 stars in her book. My 4 and 6 year old love to flip through and choose numerous stories for us to read - they enjoy this book also. I am glad it's in our children's book collection.

I bought this book for my 4-year-old granddaughter and within the first week we had read through it completely and at least half of it twice. It's a great compilation of top-notch classic picture books and in a quality presentation. It's a little too heavy for a child to cart around with him or her, but should be a favorite at story time. All the books inside are full sized with reprinted original illustrations.

This is the kind of book that should sell itself -- a collection of classic children's stories. At a time when going to the children's section of any bookstore can be overwhelming, it's a relief to find something like the Harper Collins Treasury of Picture Book Classics. It takes away all the guesswork by being filled with over a dozen stories that are already tried and true, stories that are proven entertainment to a wide variety of children. And they're all in one book (though it's a heavy sucker, to say the least). The contents are as follows:

Goodnight Moon written by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd
Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
Crictor by Tomi Ungerer
A Baby Sister for Frances written by Russell Hoban, illustrated by Lillian Hoban
Leo the Late Bloomer written by Robert Kraus, illustrated by Jose Aruego
William's Doll written by Charlotte Zolotow, illustrated by William Pène Du Bois
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie written by Laura Joffe Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond
George Shrinks by William Joyce
Baby Says by John Steptoe
From Head to Toe by Eric Carle
Pete's a Pizza by William Steig

In addition to these timeless stories, the Harper Collins Treasury of Picture Book Classics contains short author and illustrator biographies (such as what other books they've done) and useful ideas for sharing the story further with children (like concepts to discuss). And all proceeds from the purchase go to First Book, which donates books to needy families. It's a win-win situation, and not only for you and your children, but for others as well.

This book is a wonderful collection of classic children's stories! Not only will kids love it, but as an adult, it was very nostalgic to flip through and revisit some of my favorite stories as a kid. Who doesn't love "Goodnight Moon" and "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie"?? Just a good time, fun read for everyone. I gave this book as a gift...and I think I may have to purchase another one just to keep for my own personal collection!

Publisher Harper Collins really lives up to its name. I was so impressed with the carefully chosen picture books they compiled. There were so many children's books and I wanted to find the best ones for my child and I did with this book! There are 12 unabridged books in this book and the picture quality is EXCELLENT. The paper is glossy stock grade and the pictures are just beautiful. Good Night Moon looks much better in this book compared to its individual board book and hardcover versions in this book. Baby Says is another picture book that is mainly a pictorial but was perfect for my infant who was able to comprehend the story. Her reactions were just amazing. There is another picture book out there called "The 20th Century Children's Book Treasury" and it does not compare. A good majority of the books in their book is abridged, the paper quality is like any other and, although the book is large in its dimensions, the pictures were shrunken down quite a bit because they put multiple pictures per page on some stories. In addition, some of their book choices were great but a lot of them weren't unlike Harper Collin's book. They really chose only the best. I only wish they came out with another volume. This book contains two books appropriate for infants, Goodnight Moon and Baby Says. The rest of the books will grow with the child.

Fantastic and simple recipes cooked in a healthy way. The ingredients used are easy to find and I had absolutely no problems to follow the recipes. I would recommend it to everyone who's trying keep or learn a healthy style of cooking.

I was in a bookstore few days ago, checking cookbooks when I see this handsome youngman asking a store worker about some book. I couldn`t help to hide noticing his reaction when he found out the book he was looking for in the bottom shelf of the cookbook section. He got very excited and even screamed some words I didn`t understand. I than asked him what was all about? He apologized and replyed that the book in question was written by him and that he was so proud and happy he couldn`t contain himself. I tougth that was very sweet. He was so charming and sincere about the book that I was convinced to buy it. It turned out to be a great decision. I loved the simplicity of the recipes and the way he uses vegetables, herbs, and all the other healthy ingredients. I was happyly surprised to find out that no red meat, flours or canned products are used in any of the recipes. I was also surprised the youngman is not that young, he is in his forties!!! Must be the food. Bravo!!! It is a wonderful book!!!

I was in a bookstore few days ago, checking cookbooks when I see this handsome youngman asking a store worker about some book. I couldn`t help to hide noticing his reaction when he found out the book he was looking for in the bottom shelf of the cookbook section. He got very excited and even screamed some words I didn`t understand. I than asked him what was all about? He apologized and replyed that the book in question was written by him and that he was so proud and happy he couldn`t contain himself. I tougth that was very sweet. He was so charming and sincere about the book that I was convinced to buy it. It turned out to be a great decision. I loved the simplicity of the recipes and the way he uses vegetables, herbs, and all the other healthy ingredients. I was happyly surprised to find out that no red meat, flours or canned products are used in any of the recipes. I was also surprised the youngman is not that young, he is in his forties!!! Must be the food. Bravo!!! It is a wonderful book!!!

I shop for books online very oftenly and use the customer and editorial reviews to help me to get decided about a book I'm interested on. Some of these reviews are too critical, while others are too favorable, so I analyze each review as only half truth. The Editorial Review of THE HEALTHY TABLE fails its purpose which should be to tell us what is good or bad about this book. The problem here is that it suggests that the book is too simple and straigth forward like it is a bad thing - or yet -that the book doesn't offer any culinary innovation for the health conscious,like to show another revolucionary diet is or would be the best news in the world since the invention of the wheel. After reading the book I found out that its greatest quality is exactly to be so simple and straigth forward. There are some problems however, the price is too high for a two colors book, the photos also are poor, I believe they try to show an "atmosphere" but the idea doesn't convince and the people photographed don't show they want to be there, perhaps if the food was showed more, the results were better. Finnaly, I found out that the book is very helpful, the recipes are healthy, creative, uncomplicated and above all, "simple".

Luiz Ratto has created a culinary adventure for people who are conscious of their health. Evocative of the cuisine in five-star restaurants, these recipes are culled from years of experience and cooking wisdom. The flavors are exotic, the aromas pungent, and the photography enchanting.

This 175-page book is photographed in black and white, and is dedicated to "cooks everywhere." The book features an Introduction, Cooking Tips (including Techniques, Ingredients, and Equipment), and a listing of Basic Recipes. The Recipes themselves are grouped by course: Appetizers, Soups, Salads and Grains, Vegetables, Fish Shellfish and Poulty, Weekend Recipes, and Desserts.

Each recipe features a short paragraph of introduction (for example, where the recipe came from and presentation tips). There is a list of ingredients, followed by paragraph-form instructions on how to prepare the dish. All of the instructions are simple and easy to follow.

However, I was surprised to discover that nutritional information is completely absent. Also, pictures are only provided for some of the recipes. If you are unfamiliar with some of the ingredients, or with the expected textures, you may struggle.

The recipes are unique and inventive. Examples include: Green Grape Salsa, Chicken Roll-Ups (prepared with spinach and plum tomatoes), Doce De Coco (Coconut Cookies). The ingredients used vary by recipe - some are readily on-hand and others are exotic (for example, wonton skins or portobello mushrooms).