California Books

"Thank You so much for your book. It is an essential tool that every actor in Los Angeles MUST HAVE. You have graciously offered all the information in one place that would take an actor years to figure it all out on their own. THANK YOU.

-Guy D. Wells"

I started reading this book thinking I could jot down a couple useful pieces of information and quickly advance to another book on acting. Boy was I wrong!

This book is overflowing with so many sources that you may as well toss out the Yellowpages. Judy Kerr did a flawless job of providing step-by-step instructions regarding the business-side of acting and how you can get started.

Sure, there are useful quotes from all kinds of big names and experienced veterans about the technique, but Judy was very wise to simply refer readers to all types of classes, coaches and workshops rather than attempt to write a book on how to act. Experience is the only way you truly learn, not by reading about others who experience it.

I'm currently saving up to take the 2-week trip to Los Angeles to research the city which is mentioned in the book with detailed stops to make.

If you're wondering whether or not this book should be on your bookshelf at home, buy it now. No, don't continue reading my review!! You're not listening and I feel disrespected. You could've been entering your shipping address and credit card info by now you lazy bum! Ya wanna act? Okay, your character is shopping for a book by Judy Kerr... ACTION!!!

The back cover of this book has a very good summary of what its all about: 'Where to Go, Who to Call, What to Spend, What Not To Do!' Acting is a really hard business. The hints & tips, things that work & those that don't, will become well known to you after a time. But when you are new and trying to break into the biz the more of these things you know the more time you'll save.

One point she makes I'd do differently. She says that it's a good idea to participate in theater and theater groups. Truth, absolute truth. Unfortunately it's not that easy. In your home town, the little theaters needed and probably eventually used everyone who showed up for the auditions. In New York and LA, it's just about as hard to get into an 'amateur' production as it is a professional one. There are so many 'currently unemployed' who want to be on stage that it's difficult. Solution - start your own. Perform in your church, or the Y, or the back room of a restaurant. Just do it. As she says, you never know who will be in the audience.

Finally, the title of the book just about says it all -- Acting is Everything. Acting is not something that you want to do, it's something you have to do. Use the book as you can, but go for it.

Having already owned the hugely inspiring and knowledgable Acting is Everything book which helped me tremendously with my move to Los Angeles from Australia, I was delighted to see the latest "gold edition" which is just as wonderfully encouraging, informative and packed with even more knowledge. Anytime I was feeling lost in my career, this book renewed my faith.

Joanne Rose
www.joannerose.com

There is no greater source book out there. For actors and other industry professionals, "Acting Is Everything" is a magnificent compendium of information covering all aspects of pursuing your acting career - from arriving in LA, to agents and managers, to your pictures - and it's wrapped up with motivational and inspiring advice. I have been recommending this book to not only actors but all entertainment professionals that I speak to including seminar attendees, my UCLA Extension students, and my own clients. Owning this book is like having a professional adviser at home with you 24/7.

I've tried a few recipes in this book and it is not too bad. There isn't a book out there that you follow exact steps to get a perfect dish. You will still have to modify it a bit to fit your taste bud. This book was able to be that base starting point for me. Highly recommended.

I found "The Little Saigon Cookbook" to be amongst the best of any of my Vietnamese/Asian cookbooks. It is vivid in its descriptions and illustrations. It also provides any serious enthusiast with some excellent recipes. My last dental assistant was Vietnamese and taught me a great deal before I had to retire and this cookbook reflects much of what she took the time to teach me. I also found the narrative of the author's coming to this country very interesting and inspiring.

I regret that there is a "one-star" rating on this book. But I have found that if you investigate grossly deviant ratings/reviews you can usually disregard them due to personal agendas, lack of experience, etc.

No, I am not Vietnamese, but I have been cooking and learning about Vietnamese cooking before most non-immigrants even knew much about this incredible cuisine. I can remember finally finding one of the few Vietnamese grocery stores at that time in south downtown Houston. This was just south of my dental practice and the owners couldn't believe that this "round-eyed" American was interested, much less knew anything about their foods. My first cookbook was a first edition by Bach Ngo. Since then I have collected most Vietnamese cookbooks in print and several out of print.

I am completely perplexed by the multitude of 5-star reviews for this cookbook. 35 of 37 reviews gave 5 stars, the other 2 reviews 4 stars at the time of writing this. Not a single other person out there was even remotely dissatisfied? Something seems wrong...

I'm not Vietnamese but I live near Little Saigon and eat there quite often so I think I have a pretty good grasp of the cuisine and how everything should taste. It's my favorite cuisine, and I have even learned to cook some of the dishes from friends, etc. I bought this book because I wanted to expand my repetoire, however, everything I have tried has come out tasting 'off'.

I found the directions in the recipes to be either misleading or not descriptive enough. Take the bu'n rie^u recipe, for example. The ingredients call for a large onion, pealed. In the directions, she just instructs you to saute the onion in a small skillet. Obviously you are not expected to saute a whole onion, however there is no mention as to whether you should quarter it, dice it, chop or mince it, etc. as you would expect in any other cookbook. Not to mention a large onion + shallots + crab won't even fit in a small skillet. That may sound picky but for a cuisine that is still considered somewhat exotic and unfamiliar to most Americans I think these kind of details are very important if the food is going to come out right.

The good aspects of this book are the descriptions of the culture, cuisine, and history of Little Saigon and it's people, which is really quite interesting. I just wouldn't recommend using this book to try cooking the food. I would suggest maybe trying the more detailed (albeit more difficult) "Into the Vietnamese Kitchen" cookbook for that.

In short, to^i kho^ng thi'ch sa'ch na`y.

This book is a great book if you want to explore the Vietnamese cuisine. The food is wonderful and so interesting. I was exposed to vietnamese cooking by my wife and got this book to surprise her. It was great and she was extremely happy. It really surprised her that I could do such a good job cooking the food that she grew up with. It was easy enough to cook, and very interesting to get exposed to what other cultures eat. I loved it.

I wanted to give this book a TWO STARS rating, but I couldn't change the rating so it remained a 4 star rating.

This book is nowhere near the level of Andrea Nguyen's "Into The Vietnamese Kitchen" or Mai Pham's "Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table", but I still bought it because it has a few recipes that are not in other vietnamese cookbooks. This author's knowledge of Vietnamese cooking is not as comprehensive as Andrea Nguyen's or Mai Pham's, and it shows in her descriptions of the recipes and the ingredients. For example, Andrea Nguyen described yellow rock sugar as an ingredient that's often used in Vietnamese soups to give roundness and a slightly sweet taste to them; Andrea Nguyen also mentioned that yellow rock sugar gives vegetables their sheen; and Andrea Nguyen took pains to differentiate between yellow rock sugar and white rock sugar because they're usually sold side by side on store shelves, and she warned her readers not to buy the white rock sugar by mistake. This author (Ann Le), on the other hand, simply writes "rock sugar" and does not differentiate between yellow rock sugar and white rock sugar. I'm not sure that she even knows there are two types of rock sugar. For this author to simply calls it "rock sugar" and not "yellow rock sugar" is a really bad oversight and confuses her readers. This author does not give informative and interesting background details such as these when writing about Vietnamese ingredients. Sometimes this author's recipes are not very detailed. For example, sometimes she writes "12 ounces of tofu" without specifying whether it should be regular, firm, or extra firm tofu. Furthermore, she lacks Andrea Nguyen's flare for language when writing recipes. I bought this book because I'm not depending solely on this book to cook Vietnamese food. As I mentioned before, this book has a few recipes that are not in other Vietnamese cookbooks, and this is a good enough reason for me to buy this book because I'm serious about learning how to cook Vietnamese food. I think people make the mistake of wanting to buy just one Vietnamese cookbook and expect it to have everything. As for me, I think it's important to have several Vietnamese cookbooks in order to get as many recipes as possible, and each book has something new to teach me. Add this book to your collection AFTER you buy Andrea Nguyen's "Into The Vietnamese Kitchen" and Mai Pham's "Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table", which is an excellent book. If you do buy this book, then watch out for the salt/fish sauce contents because some of the recipes (i.e. Sauteed Bok Choy With Tofu And Hoisin Sauce) are way too salty. Seriously, you can hardly eat the foods because they're so salty! The reasons I like this book are:

1) It has a recipe for "banh canh" (pork hock and crab soup with Udon noodles). This is the only Vietnamese cookbook that I own that has this particular recipe. I usually order this noodle soup when I'm at a particular restaurant in Little Saigon because I really like it, and now I can make it at home. The only thing I don't like about this recipe is that the author uses pre-prepared Udon noodles. It would have been better if she includes a recipe regarding how to make the noodles fresh at home. I think the noodles can be made fresh at home from a combination of rice and tapioca flours.

2) Avocado shake recipe. Tastes good.

3) Good background information about restaurants and markets in Little Saigon in Southern California, which is the biggest Vietnamese community outside of Vietnam.

This book is not comprehensive or detailed, and it's not well written. I'm not sure if the recipes were even well tested by the author. But it's still worthwhile to buy this book for a few scatter recipes that cannot be found in other Vietnamese cookbooks. However, this book is not at all necessary to add to your collection.

This is an unusual book, strange in so many ways I'm going to have trouble listing them all. I'll try, though. I will say that at some level I enjoyed this book, and if you can overcome the shortcomings that I'll list below, you may enjoy it more than I did.

For one thing, there's the issue of the author's name. This *isn't* the Michael Collins who was the first president of Ireland (of course not, he's been dead for 80 years) though the author was born over there. He's also not the astronaut who stayed on Apollo 11 while Armstrong and Aldrin wandered around on the moon. And he's also not Dennis Lynds, who has a series of detective novels featuring a one-armed private eye named Dan Fortune, and who writes novels under the pen name Michael Collins. This is the other other other Michael Collins. Very weird.

The plot of the book is pretty complex. All of the plot takes place in the late 1970s, a strange choice for the author. It works at some levels, though. Frank Cassidy is a small-time next-to-nothing, working at a burger joint, married to a woman who is at first a dispatcher for a trucking company. They have two kids, though the older one is from her previous marriage. Frank gets word that his uncle has died, and he decides to return to his hometown for the funeral. However his cousin and the cousin's wife are very angry at this.

This is where things begin to get strange. It turns out that Frank's wife, Honey, was married before, and her husband killed two people and is now on Death Row. She beats the son she had with the first husband. Frank, meanwhile, steals cars and money in order to finance their trip back home. As the novel progresses, there's not a single solitary character in the whole plot who's truly honest, good-hearted, and/or selfless. Everyone's out for themselves, dishonest, and nasty. It's sort of a cross between American Beauty and The Grapes of Wrath.

One point I think worth making is that the author isn't an American. You've got to wonder what these guys are thinking (I'm thinking of the guy who wrote American Beauty) when they move here in order to write stuff and tell us what jerks we are. I wonder if an American could move to Britain or Ireland and write a novel like this, and get it published, let alone receive awards. Needless to say, all the gushing blurbs on the back of the book are from British and Irish newspapers, which all insist (of course) that it reveals "America's long malaise".

The author *can* write, though. There's not that much of a plot, unfortunately. Instead, we get a bleak, desolate account of Middle America a quarter century ago. While the author isn't positive about anything, it's interesting to watch the characters wander through the plot. The mystery angle isn't (as is traditional) important to the book, and the solution, when revealed, seems rather forced and quick. Luckily, as I said, it's not that significant.

I enjoyed this book within these parameters. I might recommend it, but you've got to be aware of how annoying it can be at times.

This is where things get weird, however.

This book is a pleasure to read. The writing style is effortless - Mr Collins is a skillful and inventive writer.

The story follows a 1970s family who return to the Frank Cassidy's hometown for his dad's funeral. As the mystery around the death unfolds, other themes are also addressed. In a couple of generations Frank's family has moved from primary industry, mining and farming, into the service econony (flipping burgers). The novel shows the impact on families, on men and women and their ideas of their place in the world. Some people can survive in the modern world of corporate farming, of colleges which free people from their tie to the soil. It is not an easy journey but the ability of people to survive shines through, especially when the benefits of education are used to change for the better. In the background the impact of a war fought overseas is also in the air.

Ultimately, a novel about hope. Perhaps even an update of the American dream? Great book, deserves more recognition.

The hero is a pragmatist in a Godless world. The protagonist, Frank Cassidy, had not had a day off in two years when he quits his job in New Jersey to go the the Upper Peninsula, Michigan for reason of a death in the family. He steals a car and later robs a man named Melvin. Frank's brother-cousin and his wife, Norman and Martha, dread the arrival of Frank and Honey and Robert Lee and Ernie, the children.

In the boarding house where they stay there is a hint of opulence. It is learned that the body of the deceased uncle, Ward, is being held by the authorities. Honey feels they should try to get jobs in the town. Frank works as a security guard and Honey in the business office of a college undergoing a transition from a community college to a four years residential college with a Great Books curriculum.

For Thanksgiving it is decided to eat at Cedar Lodge and stay there through the long weekend. Listed winter activities are ice skating and ice fishing. In a telephone call Frank learns that his cousin Norman is collapsing. Norman upended the sheriff's car when served with papers of foreclosure. Frank and his family go to Norman's place where it is discovered the dairy herd has been killed. In the end Frank uncovers and clarifies mysteries that have always surrounded his boyhood. The atmosphere created by the author matches the subject of the search for meaning by being indeterminate, foggy, bewildering. The children are presented in interesting realistic detail.

~ Frank Cassidy learns in a newspaper of the death - possibly, murder - of his uncle, and goes back to North America to investigate any possibility of inheritance; to find out why his uncle died; and to sort out loose ends left in his head from a fire at his family farm in his childhood...

This book starts off quite promisingly. The writer evidently knows the mechanics of how to write well. But the book lacks sufficient plot after about the first hundred pages (of a 360-page book) to keep the reader very interested in continuing with it. The journey to the end of the book becomes boring, too unstimulating, too slow, too drawn out, with too much description and detail just for the sake of giving description and detail, too much describing of humdrum life, with the reader wondering if the book is going to go anywhere sufficiently interesting to be worth going on turning the pages. The characters in the book aren't made particularly interesting in themselves. The story ceases to be interesting. The reader is left in the dark for too long as to where the book is heading to, or why all the details are supposed to be interesting, or what the point of the book is supposed to be. Whilst what really happened many years before, in Frank's childhood, is revealed to us in the last fifteen pages of the book, by the time the reader gets there, he will probably have lost interest in the tale anyway.

A few specifics in the plot that didn't really seem to fit together well:
1. It seemed odd for Frank just to dump Juniper, the family pet, in someone else's car, and for that action then just to be accepted by the rest of the family.
2. It seemed odd for Frank to go back home with specific personal missions in his mind, but yet then never actually to get round to meeting up with Norman and Martha face to face for the whole time he was up there.
3. It seemed odd for Norman and Martha just to run away without saying more to anyone, after their herd was slaughtered.
4. Why Chester Green was suddenly being referred to as 'the Sleeper' didn't seem to be explained.
5. It seemed odd for Frank, not rich, not to want to salvage any possessions from either house before they were bulldozed.
6. It seemed odd and too convenient for Frank suddenly to be interrogating Baxter, his new co-worker, for information, which was forthcoming, as soon as he met him.
7. It seemed odd for Frank just to be allowed to be left alone with Chester Green in a hospital unsupervised, particularly in later visits after he had already been suspected of trying to harm or interfere with Chester Green earlier on.
8. Why Baxter suddenly ended up in the sanatorium following the window-smashing incident and ended up getting ECT treatment wasn't very clear.
9. Frank suddenly realising his mother had died in a fall many years ago, by listening to tapes, didn't really ring very true.
10. The detail at the end of the book (page 357), of Frank killing the paralysed 'Chester Green' in the sanatorium, seemed to be a detail borrowed straight out of 'One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest', where the huge red indian suffocates the comitose Jack Nicholson at the end of that film. That conclusion seems to be borne out by a reference to 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' in this book, just a page later (page 358).

All in all, this was not a very satisfying book, for a variety of reasons - mainly lack of interesting plot and lack of interesting characters.

Frank Cassidy lives on the fringes of society in a succession of demeaning jobs, a wife with an ex-husband on death row in Georgia, an angst-riddled stepson waiting for his father to be executed and an innocent pre-schooler, obsessed with his toy dinosaurs. Frank's edge-of-desperation lifestyle can be traced back to his childhood, his father and mother killed in a fire that erupted on the family farm when Frank was five-years old. His memories of that time are dim, shaped by the overwhelming presence of his uncle, who raised him as one of his own, and the psychological evaluations the doctor hoped would unlock Frank's fragmented memory of the night of the conflagration.

As soon as he is old enough, Frank leaves the farm behind, along with all family connections, to make his way in a hostile world with no patience for an emotionally damaged survivor. His life since then has been a series of misdemeanors, an anti-social approach to the rest of mankind. Frank views his occasional petty crimes as the natural evolution of a careful society, like car theft, his deeds "preordained statistical probability", but refuses to believe that "stupidity and desperation equate to evil". When he reads of his uncle's murder, Frank gathers his family and heads for the past, a dark trek from New Jersey to the vast, empty cold of the far north in Michigan.

Along the way, Frank telephones his cousin at the farm, arguing about the purpose of the trip and the resolution of a shattered history. For Frank, this journey is like poking a stick at a bad tooth, as painful memories surge, taunting and confusing his every action, his haunted youth returning with savage intensity. He makes his way back to the kind of town nobody would willingly return to unless called by tragedy or loss. People here live in despair, inhabiting days frozen in minimal needs and obligations, waiting to thaw. At each phase of his odyssey, Frank is beset by images and memories, the flickering light of a television screen in a starless night, black and white reruns the backdrop for a tragedy buried in his subconscious that fills him with a vague sense of guilt, a mistrust of his own motivations.

Thirty years after the traumatic events that stole his childhood, Frank is called back into the chaos of his youth, the self-destruction that has defined every rebellious action since. Both distressed and comforted by a suffering family he can barely provide for, Frank plunges into what remains of his world, forced to redefine time and place, to make a stand in this frozen wilderness, drawing courage from his own need for resolution and the love of his dysfunctional family. He does so with consummate grace, a tragic character cart-wheeling through free-associative hell on a collision course with the truth. The prose is shadowed and disturbing, a painful view of the underbelly of American life, where the have-nots gather around a burning trash can in hopes of warmth in an indifferent landscape. Luan Gaines/2005.

One of, if not thee, most comprehensive field guide for wild mushrooming ever published. Amazing work.

Neil Dollinger

It's a big book and covers a lot. The pictures are great. If you're looking a mushroom bible, this appears to be it.

At 959 pages you won't carry this one to the field. We own several other MR/Fungi Guides, each has it's own strength. This one gets credit for attempting the greatest number of species. The Keys for each genus attempts to follow a logical step-by-step decision tree progression. When it works, it's great. But there are many times when the distinctions are just not clear cut, and it doesn't. That's more a function of the complexity of MR/fungi and nature than it is the author's fault. The lack of many color photographs is a minus, as is the very fine print used throughout. The author is a good educator. His knowledge and experience, as well as great sense of humor come through in his discussion. The book clearly identifies a West Coast bias, but adds observations from other experts in other geographic areas. This was recommended to us as the definitive guide. Maybe so, but if I was starting out, I would first use one of the simpler guides such as the Peterson Field Guide.

This is a great book if you are interested in identifying the mushrooms in the forests and countryside of the PNW. Takes some getting used to the taxonomic nomeclature but is a good read, clearly presented and entertaining for beginners and experts alike. Not that many colour plates is the only downside of the book, but you mustn't be tempted to try to i.d. mushrooms by appearance especially if you intend to eat them. Use the keys! Highly recommended book.

Perhaps the best affirmation of this book is how I acquired it: it was assigned as a textbook in an evening class at a local community college, "Mushroom Identification and Taxonomy". That was 15 years ago. It was a regular 4 credit hour class, using microscopes to examine spores etc. I can't imagine what other book would have been used because it is so detailed and carefully organized. As other reviewers have commented, it is indeed heavy but I have still found it worthwhile to stuff into my rucksack when I go afield. My copy is weather-beaten and the pages are marked up and highlighted. The photos are excellent and I wish there were more of them. Arora is an excellent writer; the text is clear. He has a good sense of humor and an obvious passion for mushrooms. When it comes to safety he is completely serious. The section on the deadly Amanitas is especially helpful because he carefully explains the field marks and arms the reader with the knowledge of how to identify them. I have come to appreciate the incredible variety of mushrooms because the book has greatly increased my awareness. Just as I have learned to identify many birdcalls and native plants--which enriches my time in the forest--I find myself drawn to the beauty of mushrooms, even tho I can't identify most of them. I am purchasing a copy for my brother-in-law and his wife. When I saw the reviews I felt I had to add my favorable comments. And by the way, it is oriented to folks like me who want to learn to identify the edible varieties. All his listed species have a line for "Edibility". While the vast majority are "not recommended", "inedible", "unknown", etc., some are labeled as "Edible and choice!", a happy find. This book sets the standard for mushroom identification.

if you believe in God or not, i dare you to look at this book and not be in awe of nature. my husband and i enjoy looking at this book any seeing God's wonderous creation. anyone who has children should get this book. they probably won't read every word, but they will learn a lot from the pictures.

I have not had the chance yet to review this product. I'd thought I'd purchased the dvd set for this same title, so was surprised to receive a book. I decided not to return it, but I know I will enjoy it.

BEAUTIFUL BOOK TO HAVE. NOT ONLY IS IT INFORMATIVE, BUT THE PICTURES ARE TRULY A PIECE OF ARTWORK.

Breathtaking! What an incredible collection of photographs of our amazing planet. A great addition to the dvd collection.

It does have various bits of info that arent included in the videos (probably due to time constraints). The pictures are very nice but a couple do have a tiny bit of graininess to them. All in all a very good purchase and companion to the Planet Earth video.

I liked this book well enough. I think Sunny was truly unfair to her mom. I would have stuck right by my moms side. I can see why Dawn got mad at Sunny. She is incredibly selfish and VERY boy-crazy. I liked the other California Diaries a lot better. Thats why i gave it 4 stars. P.S. Maggie is my favorite character.

I think this book was poorly written. It made Sunny seem selfish and stupid. She was incredibly rude to Dawn. Also, she was treating Dawn's house like her private hotel. Also, she acted terrrible to her mom. She could have been there for her mom, knowing she had cancer. Another thing is, Sunny had so many boyfriends in this 1 book and she only cared about what they looked like. Not there personality. All in all, this book was pretty good.

Read betwee the lines

Dr. merwin has stopped talking about good signs and her mother iws never getting better.

Sunny is a selfish, boy-crazed lunatic who doesn't realise that DAWN and MRS. WINSLOW and MR. WINSLOW NEED Sunny to HELP them. SURE she DOES have her OWN PROBLEMS, that's fine, but DON"t MESS EVERYBODY else UP, Sunny, and expect everyone to FORGIVE and FORGET the way Carol, Mrs. Bruen, and Dawn's dad did about the stew pot that YOU LEFT UNATTENDED while CAROL and an unborn BABY were in the house. SUNNY IS SELFISH, STUBBORN and CONCEITED. she doesn't realise that in this time of heartbreak and upset (her mother's illness) she is NOT the only person SUFFERING. Everyone NEEDS to PULL together and SUNNY IS NOT HELPING THIS by running away with loner 17-year olds and nearly burning people's houses down!
DAWN IS THE GREATEST FRIEND< a person always there to help. I can see why she doesn't understand SUnny - sunny is so oneminded and stubborn. Dawn is just TRYING to HELP sunny and bring her back to sanity, but SUNNY PUSHES EVERYONE AWAY aND is that DAwn's fault, i think not!

Sunny #6 was a good book; it was the book in which the fight between Dawn and Sunny REALLY begins; it showed both sides of Dawn and Sunny's personalities; good and bad.
Sunny is a troubled teen dealing with the fact that she may lose her mother to cancer; she has a lot of anger, pain, and sadness to deal with. She, unfortunately, solves her problems by, as Dawn pointed out, running away; and this isn't the greatest thing to do; although one aspect of it is good; you learn from your mistakes and work on solving your problems in a different way; so truly; Sunny is experimenting with how to deal with her pain and grief. This is what Dawn, Sunny's long-time best friend; doesn't see. She sees Sunny as being stubborn, selfish, a changed person; and a person who doesn't visit her mother at all.

I would just like to point out here that Ann M Martin; the author, has done a fantastic job of making us feel sympathetic towards Sunny in this book; so much, that by the next book, Dawn #7, we feel resentful towards Dawn. Great work, Ms Martin!

Anyway, back to the Dawn and Sunny Saga : Dawn is also experiencing grief, she has a close friend and 'second mother'in Mrs Winslow (Sunny's mother), and is just as saddened by Mrs. Winslow's illness as Sunny is. Dawn is also experiencing confusion as her stepmother, Carol, is carrying her father's baby. One interesting thing is this; Dawn visits Mrs. Winslow more often than Sunny does, but Sunny gets on a LOT better than Dawn with Carol. It's almost as if they had switched mothers; and this adds to the tension and rivalry between the two girls.

I think that there are a lot of aspects to this fight; really, i don't side with either Dawn or Sunny; i just try to understand their problems and what they're feeling; the way Ducky does with Sunny.

However, i do believe that Dawn could be more understanding; she could see that Sunny doesn't know how to act because of the situation she's in; Dawn could try to understand Sunny better and empathize, not criticise. Dawn doesn't seem to realise that when people are faced with a tough problem/situation, they don't always know how they'll act; after all, when it boils down to it, this is SUNNY's mother and SUNNY has the bigger problem; her mother is dying. And Dawn may feel equally saddened by this but; she has Carol and her mother in Stoneybrook. So Dawn doesn't TRULY know how Sunny feels...she just THINKS she does.

Sunny, in turn; could also be less stubborn; she definitely let her guard down when she went out to flirt with that guy, putting Carol and her unborn baby in danger, by leaving the stew pot unattended; Sunny was definitely pretty selfish when she did this; but one thing has come of it, Sunny realises her mistakes and apologises. But i do feel Dawn's confusion that Sunny, Mrs. Bruen, Dad and Carol are all sitting around having a friendly chat just hours after Sunny made that tremendous mistake; while Sunny seems to be 'off the hook'. I can also understand Dawn's annoyance that when Sunny makes a mistake, everyone blames it on the turmoil caused by her mother's illness; again, Sunny off the hook...

I do think that Sunny needs to see what a great friend she has in Ducky; after all, he always listens and understands and doesn't judge her by her actions. He's a terrific friend, but Sunny needs to be a good friend back to him. In the book, an example of this was when Ducky was majorly upset about his depressed friend Alex, and Sunny listened for about half a second, cut Ducky off, and started chatting about her upcoming date with another guy. She asks Ducky's fashion advice in the middle of Ducky explaining a serious problem! The ONE time Ducky needs desperate help, and asks Sunny for it, she won't listen. I have to admit that when you don't help a great buddy like Ducky, that's pretty low...

However, Dawn comes across as a patron saint, as Sunny describes; Dawn blocks Sunny's view of Mrs. Winslow and starts spouting 'lies' (as Sunny thinks), "You're looking so GREAT today, Mrs. Winslow, what can i do for you, Mrs. Winslow? Today's such a pretty day, you're looking better than ever, Mrs. Winslow! Come on, Sunny, let's get your mom some food, call the nurse, give her flowers..." I can definitely see how this could REALLY get on Sunny's nerves.

So as you can see there are two very different sides to this fight...keep reading all of the California Diaries to see how it goes! And, oh; by the way, Sunny Diary Two #6, 'Waiting. Watching. Crash." is a great book, definitely worth buying, and an important milestone in the Dawn and Sunny Fight: you can't miss it!

there are some books that just are a great comfort. this is one of those books. thank god charlie left!

Saw myself in the first two to three years after my husband suddenly died. (Ernie's my pooch.) Made me appreciate the pain that divorce causes - grief is grief.

I loved this book! I appreciate the author's witty writing style and explanations. I think every woman could relate to this book whether they are a knitter or not.

I loved this book! I bought it (and a copy for a friend) after coming across her blog one day. I am happily married, enjoy my wine now and then and, like Laurie, am usually wearing black pants covered from the knees down in hair from my mostly-white cats.

I like that this book is not just a rehash of her blog, and I like having all of her knitting "recipes" together in one place.

Laurie's writing can move you to laughter and tears, sometimes in the same sentence. Her words apply no matter what life situation you're dealing with, and her story is an inspiration to anyone who contemplates making a life change or has one thrust on her. Like knitting, if it's not working you can rip it out and do it over and even though it doesn't always turn out as you think it will, it's almost always better than it was! Read this book and give it to friends - it will resonate with all of them!

I recommended the authors knitting blog to a friend of mine. My friend surprised me by buying the book and having it sent to me. It was a great weekend read. I think anyone who's gone thru a breakup can relate to this book and have a great laugh too.

This is Amalia' second book.....you should realy read the first one before you try yo read this one.They aren't very thick....so you can read them in about an hour.They are realy good books!

This is a great book. Maggie is still battling her eating disorder, and Amalia is trying to help her cope with it. The author really brings on strong points about anorexia and things that some may not know about. Amalia & Maggie's friendship reaches it's max. in this book, which is another reason why it is so good. Meanwhile, Amalia is also developing a romance with a certain new guy named Brendan. To find out what happens between the two, read this book and get ready to read it over again about 10 times, just because it's so good!

Amalia is my favourite CD person. She's cool, and this book wasexcellent. I hope the next books will mention Brendan, who sounds realsweet, and I hope Brendan will actually have a diary, although he porbably wont.

Maggie & Dawn are lucky to have Amalia for a friend! Even though Amalia is recovering from that awful relationship with James, she goes out of her way to help Maggie, who is showing symptoms of anorexia. I liked how she didn't give up until she found help for Maggie. The part where Maggie finally opens up to the therapist about her parents' problems & how they affected her is very moving.

This is a wonderful book about Amalia Vargas and all of the problems in her life. Her best friend, Maggie is suffering from anorexia, and Amalia is fighting to help her. Amalia (an 8th grader) is having some problems with a Junior in her school, James, who is stalking her. She finally finds love for a new kid in school, Brendan. This is an excellent book!

This is one of the most unbelievable stories I've ever read. It's written with superb simplicity, making it a rapid and engrossing page turner. What a great gift Bardach has given us in writing this book about his horrific and heroic experiences. This is the best account of any world war 2 camp survivor, period. He clearly illustrates that the Soviet Union was about as horrible a place to be as Europe at the time. The book is as well written as the story is interesting. Fantastic. Thank you, Janusz!

I read this after reading The Unquiet Ghost: Russians Remember Stalin. This book may be bleak and shocking, but remember, the author survived! It is an amazing, gripping, shocking story about humanity. I loved it.

I can't really say anything that hasn't been mentioned already, and I think that it would be inappropriate to give away any of the plot.

This is simply the most fascinating story of survival of any that I have ever seen. It is incredible as well as inspiring. It teaches you to value your life, and the relationships that you have with the people you care about most. There were so many instances when he could have resigned to his fate and accepted death, but instead he kept going. Millions of people died in prison camps during the war, and unfortunately all of their stories cannot be told. But to understand what they had to go through in their fight for survival, nothing beats this book. Besides telling his story, it examines the history and psychology behind what happened to him. And overall I believe that it is a valuable read for anyone interested in Russian Gulags or prison camps in general during WW2.

difficult to use words like "i couldn't put this book down" when the subject matter is so depressing but that was my reaction. reading about the soviet gulags and the human sufferring they caused educated me that it was not only the nazi regime that was the cause of so much sufferring.

Janusz Bardach, who became a plastic surgeon in Iowa City, Iowa in 1972, recounts his experiences in the Gulag in this bleak tale of survival reminiscent of Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago. A secular Jewish man and supporter of Stalin and communism living in Poland In 1939, he and his family fear their future as Germany's military forces are set up along the border. He is eventually drafted into the Red Army, but when he inadvertently gets his new tank stuck in a river, he's arrested and given a sentence of 10 years of hard labor. He, like the other prisoners, spends most of his time working to meet ridiculously high work quotas, while in a constant state of starvation. He travels from camp to camp during his six years in captivity working in various work situations including a mine, the forest felling trees, and as a medical assistant working with tuberculosis patients (which he eventually contracts). Once he recovers, he's sent to work in a psych ward, where the main focus is exposing the "fakers," those trying to get out of work. His job is to inject them with a seizure-inducing drug, which he does reluctantly. With a little help from his one surviving family member, Polish army officer brother, he is eventually released and finds out the fate of his grandparents, parents, sister and girlfriend. They were all executed.

Claire's book on his time with the LA Dodgers is a great read for any baseball fan. He provides a clear picture of the behind the scenes events in the front office of one of the most revered sports franchises.

Fred Claire writes about his days with the Dodgers-- and does it well. The book flows together in a way that makes you love reading, with in-depth stories and experiences, one of the best GMs of all-time amazes baseball fans with his profound book.

How many times have true baseball fans wanted to be a fly on the wall in a baseball general manager's office? Fred Claire's book, "My 30 Years in Dodger Blue," does just that. It is an interesting, informative and very entertaining look at baseball from the inside out.

This behind the scenes look at how a baseball organization operates includes an insiders look at the game. Much like a ballplayer who does more for his team than shows up in the box score, Claire's book takes into account the personalities that make up an organization. He explains player transactions and some of the politics that are part of every team.

In short, "My 30 Years in Dodger Blue" is a must read for die-hard baseball fans as well as casual fans who would like to learn more about the game. After reading this book, I sincerely hope that Fred Claire will grace us with another book about baseball. It would be well worth reading.

I am a big Dodger fan and found this book very interesting. The book focuses mostly on the 1987/88 seasons and the Mike Piazza trade. I don't read a lot of books and I found this one interesting and an easy read. The chapters are short and the language is very easy to read. I actually read the whole book over a weekend.

Fred Claire's story is a virtual travelogue of 30 years of baseball history, a blast for anyone who loves baseball, especially Dodger fans. He brings a variety of perspectives to his story, falling for the game as a boy in Ohio, covering the game as a beat writer for the Angels and Dodgers, becoming an insider as the Dodgers' publicity director, and building a world championship club as a general manager.

Along the way, Claire recounts unforgettable stories, everything from his own one-game Spring Training "tryout" to signing World Series hero Kirk Gibson, from the release of Orel Hershiser to the day Tommy Lasorda nearly gave up bleeding Dodger Blue to join George Steinbrenner's Yankees. Claire also shares a behind-the-scenes look into the business side of baseball, tracing the Dodgers' evolution from a family-owned business under the legendary O'Malley family to a piece of Rupert Murdoch's Fox empire.

Claire remains connected to the game through a radio show and column for [...] If you've heard or read his work there, "My 30 Years in Dodger Blue" won't disappoint.