Coffee Books

I love this book! I wish that I could call Tara on the telephone and talk to her. I fell in love with her instantly. This is a beautiful book! Ellen Cooney's style has an almost poetic rhythm. The stoy is like a fairy tale, but the characters are extremely real! When I finished the book I wanted to know them! This is a great book!

I know the author so I need to be anonymous; the author was my teacher in a workshop and I was nervous about reading her stuff as I was afraid to be let down, as she is a great teacher who doesn't do an ego thing, but is truly into creativity and art. I came across some of her stories and was impressed and then read THE WHITE PALAZZO and all I can say is, compared to something like 90 percent of what passes for novels these days, this is a genuine thing; this is the real thing. The characterization is first rate. The descriptions of inner thoughts is the key here which is a rare thing in contemporary writing. "Inner is where real life is" is what's happening. I agree with the comments made elsewhere that it is too short, though. But overall it is loaded with life, a real example of how the craft of writing is far from dead.

THis is a light, enjoyable novel with very serious undercurrents about self and love and being in the world in the way you need to be in the world. I love this book. I can't wait to read it again.

I just finished reading this novel and I thought it was terrific. I loved the characters and found the story totally absorbing, tender, and funny. This book deserves to be a huge success.

Just when I thought I knew a lot about how novels are put together, i.e., turning my hand to write one myself, along comes a book that, you get completely engrossed like it's a page-turner, and it hasn't got any of the aspects you think a novel has to have. There are two central characters but lots of minor characters, most of who, you never even actually see, they're background stories. But it's all such a vivid novel; you get so caught up in the plain sheer energy and power of the author's voice, which is amazingly unique. It gives me so much inspiration for what you can do with novels. I LOVE this book. I want to read the author's other works. Tara Barlow, the main character is unlike anyone I ever met in a book before, and so is Guida, her new girlfriend. Great!

Forty years of heterosexual living did not prepare me for the dilemma of discerning IS IT A DATE OR JUST COFFEE when I started dating women. Well, perhaps dating was too strong a word since it always seems to turn out to be coffee. When straight gals meet straight guys, they know what to expect. With gay-gal dating, they seem to be showering together before reaching a consensus as to whether or not they are friends or something more. Fortunately, Mo Brownsey takes some of the confusion out gay-gal dating with her wonderful book.

From being single, relationships, breakups and mourning, Brownsey covers it all. Need help identifying the dreaded lesbian bed death? Not sure if it's lust or love? Considering multiple partner relationships? Mo supplies the answers along with tongue-in-cheek comedy that will keep you howling with laughter no matter where you are concerning gay-gal relationships. I admit to suffering from STD myself (Sexually Transmitted Denial). For gals like me who find themselves in the midst of redefining their sexuality, and refuse to take the whole dating thing too seriously, Mo Brownsey's book is the definitive answer for the basics of gay-gal dating. Her comedic approach to relationships, breakups, recovery and sex is an indispensable guide for those new to this lifestyle as well as gay-gals who've always know that they weren't straight but love a good laugh. Indeed, straight or lesbian, all women will find themselves in this remarkably astute book. IS IT A DATE OR JUST COFFEE earns the WordWeaving Award for Excellence.

First of all, I would just like to say that the REAL cover of this book is much more appealing. Softer colors and an oh-so-hot photo of the author sipping coffee while gently tensing her gym biceps. That image alone should make you want to buy this book. However, there is much much more to be gleaned from actually reading it. Ms. Brownsey's advice is sage, her tone witty and her anecdotes are like a page from all our lives. A great X-mas gift for your single lesbian friends.

Mo has struck a chord with me in this deliriously funny take on lesbian dating, sex and romance! If you've gotten too serious about it all, be sure to buy this book and read it. Especially recommended for the newly single!

Barb Elgin, MSW, LCSW-C
http://www.coachsappho.com

A step by step guide to "gay girls" dating, sex and romance. Just broke up or got dumped? You need this book, because good advice is better served with a side dish of laughs.

Mo Brownsey, long time comedian and lesbian studies college professor writes a humor filled book, packed with information lesbian and bisexual women really need. Speaking from vast experience, she starts right out with sage `after-breakup' advice: Take her number off the speed dial! Then deftly covers: baby dykes (yes, they're too young for you), on-line dating (why it frequently doesn't work), the L-word (love), polyamory (not for Mo) and a host of other topics.

Brownsey is the kind of friend who'd not only grab you by the lapels and exclaim, "Snap out of it!" But she'd explain how over pizza until you felt better. If don't have a friend like that, get this book.

"Is It A Date Or Just Coffee" was a hilarious trip through the confusing and sometimes neurotic gay girl dating scene. Mo uses her singular gift of humor to make the lesbian dating game less awkward and daunting. With chapters like "Blind Date: Think Hunters and Ducks" you know your in for a comic treat! I laughed and cried with Mo over the dating disasters and triumphs. An absoulte must for the newly "out" - it will help calm your nerves.

The book was well written and full of history, but there was very little about the tea plant itself and how it evolved into a domesticated shrub. There should have been more photos and perhaps some botanical prints of the tea tree and shrubs. As a history and a how-to-prepare-a-good-cup- of-tea, the book is fine, but for those of us who like detail, it lacked a lot of what I look for when learning about a new subject.

This may sound funny to those who are not "into" tea, but I simply couldn't put this book down until I had devoured it cover to cover. Being a tea dealer, I have read many books about tea, heard many stories in the last 10 years and have gleaned lots of info. But since reading this book, my tea classes have gotten even more interesting for my students and myself.

Get it, you'll like it. If not for yourself, get it for a tea loving pal.

What I really loved and appreciated in Beatrice Hohenegger's book is that she set up her storytelling within an intelligent and in-depth historical and political context. Her research is done in forth-right terms, and her writing style is direct, lively, and a pleasure to read. After reading Liquid Jade, drinking a cup of tea is not a trivial gesture any more!

I'm an avid tea person, have been known to pay $5 a gram for good tea, and have read every book I could find on the subject. I have also purchased every tea book I could find and afford (the seminal 1930 two-volume work "All About Tea" by W. Ukers is available for $1000 or more but I'm, ahem, still saving up).

Tea histories written for consumers in the west necessarily follow the same general format, starting with the development of tea in ancient China with side trips to Japan and India and the interactions of all three countries with European traders and so on. This book is exceptional in that the author has an outstanding ability to both understand the Eastern cultures and to convey their meanings, including of course their tea cultures, to modern readers. This book has impressed me more than any other book I've read on the subject and, as the saying goes, if I had to start over and own or read only one book about tea, this is the one I would pick for myself. The author is to be congratulated- and thanked, even.

I spent 23 years on tea plantations since 1974. I started my tea trading business in 1998 after leaving plantations. Then I started my tea books library after seeing a very large volume of tea literature in China, which I started visiting regularly since 2004.

This book is the best one I have seen which narrates the world transition of tea scene in the most lucid way.

Patricia does a great job discussing all the valuable information about green tea. First discussing the method of green tea and weight loss.
She has introduced a safe weight loss method that works and most importantly it's safe. Drinking green tea helps you burn fat and increase metabolism. Green tea has antioxidants which help prevent heart disease, certain cancers, and many other illnesses.

Great book for both tea lovers and those seeking a healthy weight loss method.

You know the kind of person who when you ask: What are you drinking? they answer--TEA. Ask another person, like author Patricia Rouner, and you will know more about green tea that you thought possible.

Some of the topics covered are:

-- The science
-- Growing and processing tea
-- How to brew (and this IS important)
-- Polyphenols (huh?)
-- Coffee / caffeine comparison
-- Extracts
-- Fighting diseases

The subtitle about weight loss might pull a lot of readers in, but the chapter on fighting disease was very important.

"If only half the studies are proven accurate, green tea's health benefits are stunning," the author states on page 85. She had Googled "kidney disease and green tea" and 477,000 articles of interest were listed. A sample of the health issues discussed in the book are: immune system, allergies, Alzheimer's, blood pressure, bone density, carbs, artery disease, etc., etc.

Did you know...?

-- A report stated that oral cells damaged by smokers can be decreased by drinking green tea.

-- The most popular tea brands have different antioxidant levels.

-- Adding sugar and milk do not affect the flavonoid in the tea, but increase the calorie count.

-- Ice tea "happened" in 1904 at the St. Louis Exposition. It was HOT! and no one wanted the vendor's hot tea. He added ice, and happy lines formed. Ice tea makes up almost 85% of tea consumed in the U.S.

The FAQ (one at the end of each section) about caffeine was interesting. A pound of tea has more calories than a pound of coffee--but tea makes 300 cups while coffee yields 80 cups. Draw your own conclusions on that.

All that said, what is it about green tea that helps you lose weight? Well, it speeds up metabolism and helps the body bun fat, about 80 calories a day. It can reduce hunger, which means lower calorie intake. It can help older people lose weight and younger people prevent middle-age spread. With almost two-thirds of Americans overweight--that's a good deal. And you'll learn so much more in the "Science" chapter.

Losing weight is part of being more healthy--and green tea combines the two benefits.

Armchair Interviews says: If you want to know about green tea...but were afraid to ask, this book has all the answers. So when someone asks, "What are you drinking?" they better be prepared for a lot of information.

Reviewed by Irene Watson for Reader Views (8/06)

Drinking green tea has been a favorite of mine for quite some time so when the opportunity came up to review "Loose Weight with Green Tea" I took the task. I had previously heard that green tea had many benefits and that people in China have been drinking it for about 4000 years. Surely, anything that has been consumed for that many years and still considered medicine by them is worth researching more.

Rouner's book certainly is full of condensed research. She has spent much time and effort compacting information into a small, readable book. The beginning of the book gives scientific research results as well as growing and processing. It was interesting to note that there are over 3000 varieties of tea grown. It's not much wonder that many of the teas taste so different from each other. The remainder of the book covers making of the tea to drink, the benefits, the nutritional values, as well as addressing the caffeine concerns and a little trivia dispersed throughout the book.

I learned from Rouner's research that the "most critical factors in brewing tea are the water, temperature of the water and the tea." Regarding water she claims that if the water (from the tap) doesn't taste good, it will reflect on the taste of the tea. Rouner talks about spring water as well as reverse osmosis, the most effective treatment, being used for tea water. She claims that minerals in the water are essential for good tasting tea therefore discourages the use of distilled water. "For green tea the water temperature should be between 160-175 degrees Fahrenheit" which means the water must not be boiling (212 degrees.)

It was interesting for me to learn that when tea was first introduced to England it was cost prohibitive, however, milk on the other hand was not. How much milk was added to the tea indicated social standing. The poorer people used a lot of milk in their tea whereas the more affluent the people were, the less milk was used.

Rouner's main point of "Loose Weight with Green Tea" is just that - encouragement to add green tea daily to the diet, not only to loose weight but to maintain it. Her research shows that metabolism can be increased by consumption of green tea in turn causing burning of access fat as well as provide the body with essential antioxidants.

I encourage those that are interested in a healthy body to consider reading Rouner's "Loose Weight with Green Tea," add drinking green tea to their daily routine, and benefit the abundant results. Here's to health!

This small books packs a mighty punch! Patricia Rouner has assembled enough research and clear-thinking into a guide that will not only answer all of your questions about green tea and its benefits, but what may be important, and how you can use the information to become healthier and to lose weight if you so desire. Witty and well-written, the book is a quick read, full of facts, supporting facts, and more support for conclusions than you may expect or be used to. I recommend it as an advanced primer for green tea and as a thoughtful guide to contemplation of how to best present an overview and an in-depth study of one subject all at the same time.

There has been a ton of research conducted in regards to the benefits of Green Tea. Patricia Rouner has compiled and summarized this information into a great book called Lose Weight with Green Tea. While I feel the title and back cover text is very "hypey" the information presented is clear, concise, and very informative.

One of the best pieces of information covered in the book was explaining the components of green tea that actually provides the real benefit - polyphenols and antioxidants.

Other information included was:
-The different types of tea
-The best way to prepare tea
-Which commercially available green teas have the highest antioxidants
-The benefits/harms of caffeine
-Green Tea supplements and what to look for
-How much green tea should you drink?
-How green tea combats certain diseases

The bottom line is, a person loses weight with a proper diet and exercise but green tea can slightly increase your metabolism and provide additional health benefits so drinking it is a good idea, but as can be expected, you can't eat Cheeseburgers 3 times a day and lose weight just by drinking Green Tea.

this book is must for inspirational reflection. what i enjoyed the most about this bout is that is relates to practically everyone.

I love it and found much inspiration, love and joy while reading this wonderful book. I recommend for any lift out of the daily stresses of life to buy a copy.

Coffee Colored Pain is a gripping tale of trials and triumphs. This books offers hope, love, motivation, and inspiration at its best! I bought copies for all of my friends and family! I loved reading this book from beginning to end!

I truly enjoyed reading "Coffee Colored Pain" from the beginning to the end.This is a well written and inspiring literary work. Truly a must read for everyone!

"Coffee Colored Pain" is a refreshing read, blended with honesty, truth, and inspiration...it is a MUST READ for anyone!

A relative loaned me a well-worn paperback copy of this book to read, and I laughed and cried as I read it. When I finished the book, I didn't want to put it down. I felt uplifted. I knew this is a book I would share with friends and family. I've given away the 3 copies that I bought and now I'm ready to order more. I want to make sure I have a copy to keep for myself.

I was surprised by how attractive biblical marriage is portrayed within the pages of this encouraging little book. This is not about how to have a happy marriage/family life when both partners are 'wonderful'. This is the life-story of a woman who applied God's truths to her life and trusted in the Lord for the outcome. Her husband didn't suddenly turn into the romantic white knight she may have dreamed about in her youth, but she loved and respected him, even regarding his differences. She walked the walk, sacrificing many things to the Lord, and found that the secret to a happy life was a thankful heart. There just aren't very many Christian books out there that unabashedly take God's word as it is written. So many water it down with situational ethics...this one does not, but what an encouraging and riveting biography for us to follow.

"First We Have Coffee" is one of the dearest books I've read. I have bought it over and over again for many years, only to give my copy away and buy another. I can't tell you how much I fell in love with Mama. If I could be that kind of Godly Mother, I would rejoice. God bless Margaret Jensen. What a talent she has. I have read many of her books and loved them all, but this was my favorite. I am going to order several for my Grand girls. Good lessons for today's younger generation, especially the ones who have too much!

I was given this book as a gift and just fell in love with it. I now keep several copies on hand to give as gifts. Its easy to read and full of depth! Any mother would enjoy reading it... young or old! It inspires you to be a better Mom and wife. What I love about books like this, is that you fall in love with the family. You get to know all the kids and the mother and father. By the end of the book, you don't want the family to go.

This is the story of an immigrant family in the early 1900s. Many times were hard but the family's faith in God brought them through. This is a very easy to read book with stories that put the reader in the setting. The stories, although enlightening about living in that time period, also serve the purpose of building one's faith by seeing how Mama believed God's promises and helped all her children to believe them too. This book is a pleasure to read & the reader will feel better after having read it.

This engaging book fills the void that other Civil War histories leave, and that is an understanding of the everyday experiences of the foot soldier. "Hardtack and Coffee or the Unwritten Story of Army Life" by John D. Billings is an exhaustive and fascinating look back at the flesh, bones, and blood of those lines and arrows on the maps of Civil War battle strategies.

The book is filled with anecdotes, observations, and songs arising from the era. (I very much appreciated the introduction which details the election of 1860 and started the whole terrible tragedy that ensued over the next half decade.) The generous amount of illustration truly helps evoke the period. "Hardtack and Coffee" is a perfect companion to Bell Irvin Wiley's "Life of Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of the Union" and "The Life of Johnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy". And it is a perfect part of anyone's Civil War/American History library.

Rocco Dormarunno, author of THE FIVE POINTS

I am a Civil War reenactor, and this book has been an excellent source of ideas for first person scenarios and ideas for living history. It is an insightful, unique record of the soldier's life for living historians or students of history. I would highly recommend this engaging book.

This is the best book on the life of the Civil War soldier. The other reviews attest to this, so here is something different.
Charles W. Reed, the illustrator, was ALSO a Civil War veteran.
He served in the Ninth Massachusetts Battery and won the Medal of Honor at Gettysburg for saving his commanding officer, Captain
John Bigelow, who had been seriously wounded in the fight at the
Trostle Farm on 2 July 1863.
My favorite chapter was the one on the army mule.
Buy, read & enjoy this book!

Hardtack and Coffee provides an excellent picture of Army life in the mid-nineteenth century. The sketches illustrate the text superbly. This is a useful handbook for students and teachers as well as an intriguing introduction to the Civil War.

I'm one of those men with the "Civil War Itch" who can't get enough reading, can't get enough time on the battlefields. This book is hands-down one of my favorites in my extensive collection, re-read several times and dog-eared. It's something I always put in my bag for air-travel reading, because you can pick it up and put it down when you need to...the author and the illustrator both were participants in the Conflict, so you know it's accurate. The content is educational but not stuffy, since it was written to explain to soldiers' families what exactly Union Army life was like...and the humor still carries through to this day. After you've read the historical studies or walked a battlefield, THIS is the book you want to read to put yourself in the shoes of the everyday soldier--and it's easy to do with the author's skills. For me, the best chuckles are the chapters "Jonahs and Beats", and "The Army Mule". A must-read for those wanting more than just a general's biography or an order of battle.

If you're Hmong, it's a must read. If you're not, it's still a must read.

Why? Yang's writing style warms the heart and soul. The personal journey, the family journey, and the journey of reading this book will make many of us a better human being--for it reminds most of us of the things we forget: life is precious, family is precious, and the ability to turn one's dream (publishing the book) into a reality that others are touched by is too, precious...and priceless.

Looking forward to the next book.

Patch Xiong

The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir

The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir

The Hmong are an indigenous Lao people who were uprooted after the Vietnam War. Many of them immigrated to the upper Midwestern United States, where they encountered culture shock, rejection and sometimes violence. In her intimate memoir "The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir" Kao Kalia Yang recounts her experiences coming to Minnesota in the 1970's. She and her sister spoke no English and couldn't read, so they were shunted from school to school. Her family was placed in a converted military barracks with other refugees. Relying on clan and family associations, they established their own diaspora. Food, clothing and transportation were in short supply.
The experience of the Hmong mirrors that of many immigrants, from those who arrived from Russia, Poland and Ireland in the first wave of immigration in the last centtury to those now arriving from Mexico, El Salvador and the Caribbean.
Like the second and third generation of other immigrants, the Hmong have established themselves in the professions, academia and business. Yang herself graduated from college and graduate school and has a start-up business providing service to other immigrants. She has written a heartfelt and moving memoir of her life as a refugee from the tropics of Southeast Asia to the snowswept prairies and lakes of Minnesota. I highly recommend her book, as well as "I Begin My Life All Over: The Hmong and the American Immigrant Experience."
I Begin My Life All Over: The Hmong and the American Immigrant Experience

This is a stunning book, beautifully written by a courageous, young woman with incredible talent as a writer. The best non-fiction book I've read this year and I read a lot of them. Kalia shares the emotional and physical realities of her family's life in Laos during the secret war and the attempted genocide of her Hmong people, the difficulties of life as a refugee and the camps where they live, and the immigrant experience in adjusting to a very different life in America. Also a fascinating insight into the culture of a group that is overlooked in the immigrant stories and experience in the US.

This book is an adventure story and a brilliant love story. I was very touched and enlightened reading this book. Ms Yang is a very talented writer because she is able to write from her heart without being overly dramatic or sentimental. I live in Thailand and attend the Hmong New Year festival in the mountains each year with my husband. From time to time we meet Hmong people from Minnesota and wonder about them. This book has done a great deal for my understanding the who's, what's, and why's of their lives. With writers like Ms Yang I have greater hope for the world and for families and for literature in general.
Thank you,
Pat Riblet

Living as a young child in a Hmong refugee camp in Thailand in the 1980s, Kao Kalia Yang says she "discovered the shapes of stories, how to remember them, and how to tell them." Her memoir, The Latehomecomer, is a heartrending account of those stories, from her parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and siblings--a chronicle of a people who "had not had the opportunity to write their stories down" and whose history is shamefully absent from American accounts of the Vietnam War. The Latehomecomer is also an insightful narrative of Yang's own formation: an émigré becoming an American and a sad, silent child becoming a writer of remarkable wisdom.

The Latehomecomer is a triumph--a testimony to the most beautiful and the most terrible of our humanity. Yang writes with the confidence of one who knows that her family's story is one worth telling. Her story is compelling in its scope of historical events alone. It is a must-read for its lucid portrayal of Hmong immigrants, the lasting effects of the Vietnam War, and the struggles of a people betrayed by our nation's failures during and after that war. But what makes Yang's memoir astonishingly beautiful is the rendering of those events by someone who has been learning from her first years of life how to be a truly gifted storyteller.

This is a great read especially for people who LOVE espresso. This book makes me want to live in the mountains of Washington and open an espresso/gift shop. The journal entries are simple, funny, and fun to read. I highly recommend this book and am looking for a similar read since I am 3/4 done with this book.

What an INCREDIBLE read!!!! Gals and guys alike will enjoy this book!! I even gave it to my husband to read after I was finished and he's been laughing with it and sharing some of these fabulous stories with his co-workers (all male by the way). Truly an amazing, wonderful, joyful read -You will not want it to end - I surely didn't!! When you start reading this, plan on spending a great deal of time because you're going to be HOOKED!!

To all (men & women) everywhere. You will relate to this laugh a minute book about the Barista challenges/stalkers, hilarious male/female issues.
Real life, honest to a fault, too funny for words. You don't want to put down and you can't wait to see what antics the next day holds.
Recommend recommend recommend.
This would make a #1 top selling MOVIE! Sandra Bullock is the ONLY one who could do it justice.
Fun fun fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A good beach read! Christy is a survivor who has faced life's challenges and the many colorful characters she has encountered with honesty, self-reflection and humor. What a gal!

It's a chick book, but if your not to thin skinned it's funny and a lot of fun for a guy too. Christy tells it the way she sees it and I'm sure the gals love it and if you just look at the humor in it a guy can laugh at what she has to say also.

Before I started reading this book I had the impression that It would sum up all of the incidents and all the drama leading up to it. But, I was greatly disappointed. When the book ended I was thinking, did the real ending of the book fall out? Then I turned to page and saw the epilogue, so I thought, "Okay this should sum things up for me." But, It didn't. All it did was to leave me hanging on a string, and wondering if I misread something about a fifth book. I suggest that you don't read it unless you have prepared yourself for dissatisfation. But really, Is a fifth book coming out? Cause if it is, I'll change my review around completely.

I've just read all 4 books of @ Cafee for the second time, the first being 4 years ago! I've been searching for the 5th book ever since, everywhere! 4 years is a long time. the book is worth it but the suspence is killing me!
If anyone knows when and if the 5th book and beyond will be availeble do tell! Hope the auther will browse through the reviews and do something!

I thought this book was the best book i have read in a long time . It relates to me as i'm about the same age. If you are a teenager and are thinking of buying this book i would advise you to. The plot gets especially good at the end and i am reading the next one at the moment .

Elizabeth Craft certainly knows how to leave her readers on edge...I read this book when it first came out and I'm seriously disappointed that there isn't a #5 to satisfy my curiousity on WHAT HAPPENED! If you read this, Ms. (or is it Mrs.? ) Craft, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE write a #5...I bet Sam will end up with Hallie, Blue with Jason, Nat with Dylan, etc...but I need YOUR words to make it really happen. I want to know who Blue calls. In short, I want ANSWERS...please write another book soon...

OMG! Mz. Craft, where iz the fifth book? I can't find it on Amazon dot com, and I'm DYING to know what happenz! I have to know who Blue decided to call! Pleez, finish this series, or else get this website in order, and tell them to make the next book available to us readers! We're dying here, it's a TOTAL cliff hanger. To those of you that haven't read this book, MAKE SURE YOU CAN FIND THE FIFTH BOOK BEFORE YOU START READING ANY OF THEM!