Coffee Books

I am disappointed by this book; primarily because the home featured on the cover (the reason I bought
the book) is NOT featured in the book itself. What a rip-off and misrepresentation. There are too many
masculine and minimalist spaces, in my opinion. Additionally, it is obvious that most, if not all, of the
homeowners featured decorated their homes themselves. Many are extremely cluttered or eccentric. I plan on
returning this book.

(This is the same review I gave New Paris Interiors; I got both books and it applies equally to both, though all the homes and homeowners are different.)

I'm going to love poring over this book over and over again. It's impossible to look through it all at once, anyway, it's so big and the visual onslaught is overwhelming. Being a middle-class, Great Plains middle-aged person, I will never see these apartments and rooms myself, but it's fun to see how world-class artists, musicians, actors, directors, designers and financiers like to decorate their homes. Some of them, I swear, are compulsive collectors - stuff *everywhere*! Most are beautiful rooms, lending lots of ideas or at least daydreams for one's own home.

The photographs are lovely, often pieces of art in themselves. My only complaint is how huge the book is; it's not a lap-book, that's for sure. It is definitely worth the money, in my opinion.

The first disappointment was it is written in French, which I don't read and many of the pictures are of dark rooms and decorating. I guess I expected French interior decor with yellows, reds, greens and blues. It has some nice rooms, but many are too different. It isn't for anyone looking for French decorating pictures and ideas.

I just got this book in today and I haven't been able to stop looking at the photos! The book shows the homes of models, artists and fashion designers so there are quite a number of interior design styles represented. It's wonderful getting a glimpse into the apartments, mansions (and even a barge) of those who live in Paris.

I was dismayed when my copy of Paris Interiors arrived. It is the very same Paris Interiors published in the late 90's. What a major misrepresentation!!! In the discription of the book it should have been noted that the new Paris Interiors was a reprise. Very disapointing! However, I gave it 5 stars because it is a beautiful inspiring book. The earlier version is prettier with metalic gold pages.

Though the pictures and layout are indeed beautiful it is unlikely that anyone but the most skilled and well-equipped person would be able to reproduce the parties shown in the photographs. Most people won't have the supplies necessary for the tablesettings or even the activities, and will not want to spend the money necessary to acquire them. Recipes are not practical or tasty. Suggestions are not detailed enough to truly employ in any kind of meaningful manner. Text is filled with fluff and flowery sweetness and leaves the reader wishing the authors had spent more time with truly detailed instructions for the preparation of a tea party.

My daughter and I had many fun hours planning and hosting several parties for some other small homeschooled friends. We mixed a few recipes and substituted some games to suit a diverse age group. Our guests were very complimentary and we received many hugs in thanks.

No tea library should be without "Taking Tea with Alice". It is well-conceived and a source of many creative ideas. The photos are wonderful. I particularly liked the children's photos and have found them useful in prompting ideas for other children's tea parties. The table layouts are accurate and beautiful. The ideas presented are within the means of any tea party organizer. This book is a good value and not filled with fluff. An informative, fun book for all ages!

According to the inside back flap, one of the authors works for an advertising agency. That makes sense, because this book looks and reads like an ad. It keeps telling you how sweet and darling everything is, until you (or I, anyway) want to be sick. Lots of annoying photos of children. Not enough photos to show you which foods go with which recipes; you have to guess from the larger photos which still don't indicate which of the microscopic things on the table are the foods in which recipes. The quality of the recipes is inconsistent; they seem to use different words for the same ingredients from one recipe to the next, and some ingredients and procedures are given "Victorian" names and never explained. Other recipes consist of "ask your local baker to make this for you, or look in some other cookbook." Not satisfactory. This is definitely a guide for *children's* parties, with suggestions for menus and activities for children. I suppose you could translate the ideas to parties for adults, if you can get past the breathless sentimentality of the prose, which is all about making things oh-so-special for the little ones. Why do I sound so annoyed by all this? I don't have anything against children or their parties. What bothers me is the emptiness of the prose and the cutesiness of the design, combined with the lack of really useful photos, captioning, recipe treatments, and historical background that would have given this book some substance.

My daughter and I had many fun hours planning and hostingseveral parties for some other small homeschooled friends. We mixed afew recipes and substituted some games to suit a diverse age group. Our guests were very complimentary and we received many hugs in thanks.

Good introductory book on color film photography. Great chapters on processing films and making prints.

Contains nothing about digital photography. Coverage on color theory is very concise.

Book came within 3 days, very fast. Great condition, and I think I am going to order some more wrestling stuff from Amazon. THE BEST!

This book contains a lot of great information, great for amateurs! I'm definitely glad I bought it.

I found the book to be very helpful undersanding color theory, how to shoot and make prints, and many other elements of photography of which I was previously unaware.

A great book who like printing color photographs the old fashioned way (not digital). Hard to beat this book and the price.

Makes for an enjoyable read. Worth the money and would recommend the book to readers.

Have you ever wished you had time and guts to meet the people sitting around you in a cafe? Have you ever decided that some form of technology is evil? Did you ever find all that you were looking for in the lack of anything else? If so, you'll like this book.
This tale of irony depicts Vince on his odyssey from the west to the east, from the south to the north, all on a minimal budget.
This book dispenses some heavy philosophical musings on society, the burdens of college education, and a weary traveler's need to find a place to call home.

Frozen Coffee Melting is a story of introspection, growth, and maturation. Vince struggles throughout, both knowingly and unknowingly, to understand life outside of his own existence. Vince's perception of himself and the world around him force the reader to question his/her own personal development.

The author utilizes humor, irony, and great attention to detail to bring Vince's story to life and make it accessible to the reader.

When I first read the synopsis on this book, it looked promising (I am avid reader in all genres, and a graduate student in psychology, so the storyline appealed to me). But sadly, one chapter in and I was completely unimpressed. It's not that the idea is bad, although it is a bit overdone by now, but I believe the idea was executed poorly. The writing needs much work as it reveals itself over and over as amateurish and redundant. The bottom line is that the main character appeared so narcisstic (at least how the character was portrayed THROUGH the writing), that I could care less about his thoughts or his journey. The author did not make me CARE about this character......thus, I had no investment in reading the book. Personally, I think this author should have created several more drafts before publishing.

I don't usually order books online, and I usually don't read novels, but I enjoyed this book. As a senior Psychology major in the midwest, I found that I have a lot in common with the main character. His philosophical musings have thought- provoking insight. I recommend this book to anyone under the age of 30, and also to parents of confused youths.

If your only standard for compelling literature is that it takes place in Petaluma-it's a great novel. Provincial at best-chicken scartch at worst.

As a reasonably educated 41 year old East Coast white dude, I found this book basically unreadable. I stopped after about page 30. Maybe I need to brush up on my Swedish B-film history and try again.

Written with wit and intelligence, this novel poigantly captures what it is to grow up in a small town, clinging to empty ideals and comfortless friendships. It is far from maudlin, however, and manages to keep one laughing out loud at the foibles and follies of its at once despicable and loveable cast of characters. One is left not quite sure there is such a thing as redemption, but in the end the truth will be at last uncovered - with all the ramifications and heartaches following. I can't wait to read more form this author!

I was delighted by "The Late Projectionist." Mr. Howell's first novel is a witty and inventive portrait of aspiring film auteurs in a small town. His characters are original, and I was thoroughly engaged by their picaresque adventures. I recommend this book for all lovers of modern literary fiction.

Well, it's no Dutch. Thank goodness. Back in 1955, Theodore Bonnet wrote a novel set in Llagas, a fictionalized Petaluma, California. Dutch deals with what happens to a local bar owner when a painting that has hung in his bar longer than the memory of the oldest citizen is discovered to be a Rembrandt.

Except for the descriptions of a 1950s Petaluma, the novel has not lasted nearly as well as a Rembrandt: its 416 pages are tiresome and plotless.

Forty-four years later, native Petaluman Daedalus Howell offers The Late Projectionist, or From Angst to Zilch: The Portable Buntel Eriksson Filmography, another Petaluma novel that is shorter, livelier, far funnier and more entertaining. Hopefully it will wear better and last far longer than Dutch.

The 27-year-old Howell, Argus-Courier entertainment editor, theater critic for the Sonoma County Independent and a contributor to the North Bay edition of the San Francisco Chronicle, offers what he calls small town satire, a comic portrait of the artist as a young cineaste gone wrong in this, his first novel.

His hero, who bears more than a passing resemblance to the author, is "a café bon vivant and Swedish B-film aficionado caught in a quagmire of betrayal, intrigue and comic misadventure who embarks on a lucrative antiquarian book caper, and pursues the fetching demoiselle who threatens its success."

Born and brought up in Petaluma, Howell jokingly suggests that he, and many of his pals, are dragonflies in amber: ensnared in Petaluma and Sonoma County thanks to Chief Cotate's Curse.

"A buddy of mine," Howell says, "that I hadn't seen in years ran into me in Gale's Central Club. He swung me into a seat and proceeded to tell me why he was back in town - it was Chief Cotate's Curse. "According to local legend, Chief Cotate was one of the leaders of the tribal nation in these parts. When settlers started coming, destroying the land and the people, he said to them, `You can have what will become Sonoma County - but you cannot leave.'

"We've all left, but we've all come back and will undoubtedly complete the cycle again. That theme, the notion of attempted escape and yearning for the a vague notion of `elsewhere' is germane to Petaluma's youth experience and a key inspiration for much of the book - that and the reckless and often sinister lives we've lived here. This place is a riot - it's the human comedy drizzled all over the canvas of small-town Americana. And you wonder why Hollywood is always lurking around?"

Howell is also the author of the play Mad Ave.: A Boardroom Farce in Two Acts. It was featured in Sonoma County Repertory Theatre's series of New Drama Works last January.

How autobiographical is the book?

"There are events that happened locally that certainly inspired scenes." But, he continues, much of what started out as fact has developed into fiction.

"I have the wonderful situation of having grown up with many of the people I'm still friends with. It makes for a bounty of mutual experiences and a sense of collective memory."

Looking back on this shared growing up, Howell says, "it seems to grow more mythic with time as the details are smoothed into de facto archetypes. Consequently it's a great font for fiction.

"What was thrilling," he continues, "was springboarding from the foibles my cronies and I have gone through. I consider this a sort of ad hoc social history - albeit, a fictionalized one - of a very peculiar, but important arts scene. Someday, after a few careers take off, I'm confident the true stories will end up fodder for a coffee table book."

a laugh. "I was a ticket taker. I didn't want to be one - I was more interested in being the guy in front."

Currently Howell lives in the building designed by famed local architect Brainerd Jones and used by him as both home and office. "I had fun playing with the notion of myself, the author, finishing the book in Jones' home, where he had, as an architect, designed Petaluma, while I redesigned it as Lumaville, my own private labyrinth."

And Chief Cotate's Curse? Will Howell escape "this dread wonderful place, this Lumaville?"

"That's up to the readers. Every page turned is a dollar earned," he quips. "Seriously, if it does really well, the next one will be easier to write. Otherwise, you can keep reading my columns in the Argus-Courier."

This one takes us across the seas to meet Eric and Kacie (characters mentioned in the previous book). Eric is a vampire and Kacie is the adopted sister from the previous book's heroine. Kacie didn't know what Eric was until she was about 16-17 years old and being that she had a terrible crush on him before and her family was killed as she watched in a horrible vampire attack, she didn't take the news too well. I liked this story because I liked hearing about Eric and his friends past and how they kept in touch and friendly all this time. It was a change from where the series had been going. These are not my favorite paranormal fantasy books, but I have found them to be pleasent distractions that I plan to continue to read in the future.

In the Series, this one ranks among the best. I can't wait for the next one. I loved the new setting and learning more about the Winslow family.
What will she think of next!!

This is a book that holds you from the first word all the way through. It's filled with mystery, romance, good characters. All of Ms. Popp's "Night Slayer" books have been great, but this is the best in my opinion. I look forward to more.

Prime vampire Erik Winslow and his peers the other Prime vampires agreed not to hunt humans. They can control their thirst because they were bitten a chupacabra. However, their offspring is another matter as the next generations of vampires are bloodthirsty murderers. Even his castle in Hocklsey, England is not a safe zone as witnessed the vampiric slayings of the Renaults.

Two decades later, Kacie Renault is a vampire slayer avenging the murders of her parents; Erik trained her. After Kacie kills Sedrick the vampire, who was Erik's friend, she decides she has had enough with blood and will become a bottom line accountant. However the Prime Vampires want her dead for murder. Erik finds himself obligated to keep his vow to keep Kacie and her sibling jess even as he begins to fall in love with his former student.

The fourth Night Slayer book (see OUT OF THE NIGHT, SEDUCED BY THE NIGHT, and TEMPED IN THE NIGHT) is a complex drama in which decisions are difficult to make. Erik is a terrific hero caught between the hard place and rock while Kacie is a feisty "takes no prisoners" woman. Fans of the saga will relish the latest entry wondering what the hero will do.

Harriet Klausner

This was a very entertaining read that wasn't too high on the blood and gore meter...which I really liked. I did enjoy the relationship between Erik and Kacie and found their long and evolved relationship very plausible. The only reason I couldn't give this book 5 stars was because of one plot line that I couldn't get over. It was the use of the chupacabra as an entity that could make people into changelings. Growing up in the southwest and learning about the fictional and sesationalized chupacabra as a joke make it hard for me to overlook the name. I wanted to laugh every time I read it in the book. That is just my personal issue as I am familiar with the history behind the "creature". Besides that it was a good read and is recommended.

Having had the honor of introducing at the "Art and Letters: Journal of Contemporary Culture" awards this year, I have the benefit and the bais of being able to attach Ms. Darlington's voice and presense to these poems. This book addresses gender as a theatrical contempt through the voice of a drag-queen. While some of these poems stand alone--"Aphrodite's Identity Crisis" and "Not Wanting a Child," for example--some pointedly do not whole water alone--the prose peoms in the Discount Sonnets section are a perfect example.

This book takes a theatrical persona and apts it up with wit and ocassional pathos. When the peoms work, they are very human poems that verge on being sublimely hilarious; however, when these poem's don't work, they seem like flippant and shallowed out attempts at outlining the problems of gender.

The peoms work more often than not, but the ambition of these poems make the failure all the most obvious when one happens on a poem that is not working.

A friend recommended this book to me. She kind of reminds me of Denise Duhamel. There are some funny moments, but overall I was disappointed.

I'm baffled that this collection won such a prestigious award. It's saturated with overly clever lines and bad jokes ("Oxymorons are dumb girls with clear skin"). It gets tiring really quick, as well as all the alliterations and puns. If this is poetry, Mary Karr once wrote, let us write prose.

I love contemporary women poets who move away from Truth & Beauty towards more concrete expressions of pleasure and desire. Darlington's poetry reads as richly as a novel and her depictions of women personae combine the freakish fascination of the circus atmosphere with the lush grape-eating sensuality of an old Cleopatra movie. It's one of the best books of poetry I've ever read.

There should be a drink called Madame Deluxe: vodka, cherry liquer, and lawnmower fuel. Darlington's poems won't fit in your Christmas stocking, but don't let that discourage you. This naughty, frenetic, genius-laden book should satisfy those who want their poems big, bad, and leathery. Don't leave this book around children! It will detonate, and then you won't have the kids around for when Madame Darlington's next collection comes hurtling and screeching into a universe near you.

TO THE LIMIT is my favorite of Pamela Britton's NASCAR books so far--and that's saying a lot! The racing action is so real that you'll actually feel like you're right there, at the track, and the developing romance felt fresh and exciting. The love-triangle aspect was a fun surprise with some twists and turns, and has totally whetted my appetite for the next book in the series--I can barely wait for TOTAL CONTROL!

Bottom line--a fun and sexy read!

This book was OK and a fast read, but not very plausible. Kristin is a geeky girl, described as plain and not really pretty, with a leg that is scarred to the point of disfigurement, and called a "disability", yet she attracts the wealthiest and most eligible bachelor and a hunky top NASCAR driver, and I could not really see why. She was either mad or sad most of the time, and didn't really have an outstanding personality. I realize it is the fantasy of every geeky girl out there to land the handsome hero, but come on.

And then there is the fact that her mother had never heard of NASCAR, please. I can see not recoginizing a driver if he isn't Jeff Gordon or Dale Jr, but not knowing what NASCAR is? Does she not watch TV or read a paper or magazine? Like I said, just not plausible.

Aeronautical engineer Kristen McKenna gets the opportunity of a lifetime when the company CEO asks her to join the design team for his newly acquired NASCAR racing team. Kristen has mixed feelings since giving up on her own racing aspirations when her sister died in a tragic accident ten years earlier, leaving Kristen with permanent scars and in self-imposed exile from her family. Treated with disrespect as an outsider by the guys, Kristen soon proves herself a worthy addition to the team, and captures the attention of CEO Mathew Knight and bad-boy driver Todd Peters, who always plays to win. Who will she ultimately choose?

Sounds like a winning combination for a romantic story, unfortunately, this "romance" is pretty lacking (even the love triangle is bland). Far more interesting is Kristen's struggle to reunite with her remaining family, but that constitutes such a small portion in the overall story. At one time Britton combined her vast NASCAR knowledge with sizzling romance (see the much better "Dangerous Curves"), so we know she's capable. Add to that a ridiculous "epilogue" bringing all the characters from her three previous NASCAR books together (along with their as-yet-born offspring) that adds nothing to the story. It's also pretty obvious that the odd man out will get his own story.

Blame for the lack of engaging storytelling could be placed on the glut of titles on the NASCAR romance market that HQN has mined to death this past year; they just seem to get more formulaic. Well, at least the heroines are not all lawyers, publicists, or writers anymore...

Kristen McKenna has worked for Mathew Knight in a behind the scenes capacity until now. Mathew just bought himself a NASCAR race team and he wants Kristen to be the engineering consultant for Knight Enterprises Motorsports. Kristen is wary but she can't pass up the opportunity to design racecars, even though working in a male dominated industry she'll have to work twice as hard for the respect that should come easily.

Kristen is shocked when she discovers that Matt and the driver, Todd Peters, are interested in her. She only has eyes for one of them though. When push comes to shove can he put her before his work?

I really enjoyed the first two of Pamela Briton's NASCAR books, but To The Limit is my favorite. I love Kristin. She is fearless and smart, and she possesses humor that could rival a comedian. I also love what she does for Matt. She is so good for him. Matt is wonderful. He's handsome and intelligent. I loved that the powerful and invincible Mathew Knight fell hard for Kristen just the way she is. To The Limit is a smooth read both on and off the track. It's a well-written racing story with romance, fun and excitement!

Nannette reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

I'm not going to write a plot summary because so many others on Amazon already have. I felt this one in the series was just ok. I didn't feel the connection about any of the characters with one another. I didn't think she wrote chemistry with the three lead characters at all. I didn't understand why the female lead ended up where she did when nothing was truly settled. As always I enjoyed the behind the scenes of Nascar storyline with the new development of the rear deck lid. I liked the interplay between one of the lead male characters and his bodyguard. Overall, it continues with Ms. Britton's Nascar world and gives you updates on past couples. It's an ok book but definitely don't start reading the series with this book.

I'm with the only dissenting reviewer on this site...this guy's sentiments are immature, his writing sophmoric, and his facts just damn hazy! "Displaced Costa Rican farmers"?! Is he kidding?! Just read the essays on coffee and democracy in "Costa Rica: The Last Country the Gods Made" to get the FACTS!

I have been into Eric Bogosian's stuff since Sex Drugs and Rock and Roll. I have never seen him live, but I love reading his stuff. I had a CD of SDARNR...
Anyway, Wake Up And Smell the Coffee is so good I had to give him a shout out here. I was just rereading it for more than the 3rd time now. It still get's me.
If you haven't read any Bogosian try him. I get the feeling he is one of those guys you either love or hate. I tend to love. I only wish he was more prolific. That said, this is another nice addition to his work. I would say he is getting sharper. The bits are a little shorter. They cut to the point real quick though. He writes in a way that sounds like people talk and he doesn't hold back. Bogosian will talk about the same stuff I read about in the papers, and it seems like he is the only one who is saying what people are really thinking.
For example, here is a quote from 'Faith', he's talking about Rwanda and human nature:
'I'll pick up a feumr, keep it on my mante-piece to remind me of human nature.'
Definitely not the Chamber of Commerce, Oprah outlook here.
Keep up the good work Eric!
To sum up, read this book.

I've read almost all of Bogosian's work and really, this one smells the most personal of all. I've never seen him do his works(except movies...), but when you read it, you can almost see him ranting on. And this time, he's at is clearest. The magic lives on !!!
Really, Bogosian gives meaning to the saying that tells us artists are the Guardians of Humanity.
You can't escape it, the words he gives us speak of truth as you wouldn't want to know. He puts us in front of all you know but don't want to care about.
If you hesitate, don't !!! Get it !!!

Bogosian proves with ýWake Up and Smell the Coffeeý that he is one of the funniest, smartest, and angriest writers around. ýWake Upý is a collection of monologues designed to be performed as a one-man (or one-woman) show, but the monologues could stand on their own as comedic vignettes good enough to work as audition pieces or stand-up routines. Most of the monologues are piercing in their accuracy. Bogosian takes on pop culture, religion, families, and he does so with sarcasm that never lets up and almost never misses the mark. His take on the carnival at airports is just one example: ýStanding in ticket lines, sitting in the departure lounge, crowded around the baggage carousel watching the luggage coming out as if awaiting the birth of your first child.ý

The book is separated into three parts. The main portion of this book is the collection of monologues that form the one-man show. The second part of the book contains what Bogosian calls ýOrphansý ý monologues that donýt really fit in with the rest of the work. The final piece of the book is an essay on how Bogosian develops his monologues (or solos, as he refers to them). He explains how he locks himself in a room with a tape recorder and lets his inner characters loose. The essay is interesting, but you get the feeling that it was added to give some more bulk to the book, and not because it was intended to accompany the monologues.

Bogosian admits in the introduction that after 9/11 he told his agent to shelve the book altogether. Some of the material in ýWake Upý takes on terrorism, plane crashes, the Oklahoma City bombing, and Arabic immigrants, and Bogosian was worried that this book would come across as offensive. In truth, some of pieces do ring with a clarity that might not have existed in the pre-war on terror world. That insight makes the jokes funnier and the truth more bitter. The fact that some of his monologues dealt with subjects that would be forced into the public consciousness after 9/11 just shows how insightful Bogosian has become. Itýs not just jokes anymore.

I've read some of Bogosian's other pieces, including one of his plays, subUrbia, and it seems to me that he's deceptively simple. On the one hand his material seems like one more dirty comedy routine, but then when you put the pieces together the whole world view is pretty complex. It feels like he's dissatisfied with a status quo situation and he's trying to find a way to comment. I have not seen him perform, but I've heard that he's beyond incredible live, so maybe you have to see the monologues live. I've also read his novel, Mall, and it completely spun me out. In some ways, he's probably the most interesting person out there writing today.

Most of these recipes are either common sense or don't work. Stick with magazine recipes and modify them accordingly. The book is also too small and thin to be sold. Better make it a free pamphlet.

I travel in my profession. Traveling is not always glamours. This book has allowed me to eat healthy and relax in my hotel room. I have also given it as gifts for graduating seniors. College kids love to try different and fun things. The reaction has been very positive. I recommend it for gifts.

I also saw this book on Rosie on Friday. After being introduced to the idea, I thought of my boyfriend who will start college in August. I think the book and a coffeepot would make a great gift idea for him.

This book is terrible, may be worth buying for the comic relief. I can't believe anyone does this--or that anyone would have so much free time on their hands and so little life that they would think of these techniques! You should see some of the thing they suggest. I saw the author on Rosie , and wasn't sure if he was serious or not so I checked out the book. I think he's serious. He says he's an MD--hm, hope he's a little better at treating patients.

If you've seen this book on the Rosie O'donnell Show on Friday, June 11th, or heard about it here or from a friend, you may wonder whether it is possible to cook in a coffeemaker. Believe it or not, it is. In fact, some things are easier to cook in a coffeemaker than anywhere else. And, above all, it is fun to make things in the coffeemaker.