Tea Books

I received the book quickly and well packaged. The book was in excellent condition. Thank you

My best friend is a die-hard Yankee fan and LOVES tis DVD! One of his top Yankee DVDs.

You read her in Yankee Magazine, you read her on her website, heck you even read her on the message boards of BehindtheBombers.com. Some of you may have read some of her earlier works as well. How do you write a book on the Greatest Games of an icon in sports history? That task sounded difficult to me but Ms Tan has taken that task and made it most enjoyable.

The author takes us through the history of the mighty Bronx Bombers and through the magic of her pen she brings us back to the games we grew up with. Her thorough research and interviews covers memories from every generation.

I asked myself how could you pick only 50 games from the multitude of games the Yankees have played? Well after reading the book I couldn't think of a single game she missed. From the obvious perfect games to the oblivious Andy Hawkins no hit loss it is all there. She drives us through the dynasties to the lean years and back again. She dusted the cobwebs out of the pinstriped portion of my brain for sure.

Cecilia Tan has a hit on her hands with this book. Whether you a baseball historian of just love the lore of the game you should go out buy this book and pick one up for the Yankee fans on you gift list they will thank you for it.

I agree with the other reviewer that Tan might have chosen some different games for the top 50, but isn't disagreeing with the picks half the fun of a book like this?

I found the writing fun and breezy, and many of the chapters nostalgia-provoking. I came of baseball fan age during the late 70s run--that is, I was 10 years old--and the book was a great reminder of those days when the game was grittier and I had to run home from school to watch the Bucky Dent game, picking it up in the third inning, because it was played during the day.

The games the Yankees lost were especially interesting because that would make them seem contrary to the idea of a "greatest" game, but Tan showed why they were so special. This reminded me of Pete Rose telling Sparky Anderson after Game Six of '75 series that the game was the greatest he'd ever been in. Sparky, in disbelief, reminded Rose that their Reds had lost. Rose just looked back in disbelief, understanding that sometimes winning truly isn't the only thing.

I got this book as a gift and will give it as a gift myself several times over. I highly recommend it.

Greatest games books can be very boring; this one is anything but. The 50 greatest Yankees games are intelligently selected and thoroughly covered in 50 separate essays. The writing is solid and entertaining. However, the design of the book, with no box scores and only a tiny separation between each game essay, could be better.

I have a dozen or so tea books, but this is pretty much my favorite. Partly because I prefer Chinese teas, but also because it covers the production of tea in great detail. It also has a good overview of many famous tea varieties.

A great general introduction to the topic of tea. The title may be a bit misleading as the book broad-brushes tea on a worldwide basis not just Chinese tea. It covers origin, history, production, health and techniques. Well illustrated, with plenty of useful lists in the back of the book including names of many teas in both English and Chinese.

This book might be useful to someone looking for a book with general information about tea, but for someone who wants to learn about the real art of Chinese tea, this book is useless . The book does not go into any detail about important elements of Chinese tea drinking such as Yixing teapots and the gongfu brewing method; it just tries to explain them in a few sentences. After reading this book, you will hardly have gained any knowledge of Chinese tea at all.
The book is obviously an imitation of John Blofeld's "The Chinese Art of Tea", which is an excellent book on the subject of Chinese tea. This book even copied the format of "The Chinese Art of Tea" by inserting small drawings in the margins, and they also copied the teahouse section of "The Chinese Art of Tea". The only thing they forgot to copy was all the good information.

The section in this book on tea brewing, entitled "How to Make a Nice Cup of Tea", provides instructions on making tea that could only be used to make tea for your dogs. The book does not explain any of the Chinese brewing methods, it seems like the authors just read the back of a Lipton box and copied into their book. If you are interested in Chinese tea, it is much better to find a few good websites on Chinese tea than to buy this book. Anybody who has even a small amount of knowledge of Chinese tea can see that this book is very badly made.

No fetishism nor fussiness in this volume, just excellent information and tips for the tea drinker and interested historian/gardener/travel buff/philosopher/health-seeker. If anything, this book demystifies Chinese teas with its clear and readable presentation -- instructive but not school-bookish. If you think there's more to life than powdered iced-tea mixes -- or even if you don't -- this book will tell you the rest of the story of your favorite brew.

I found this tea book to be a very good reference book on tea's origin, how and when it's popularity spread to other realms, how to enjoy tea and what kinds of utensils are used to make and drink tea. I would have enjoyed more pictures and the ones that are here are in black and white, but this is an information packed read.

This book is so informative and gets right to the point! It is enjoyable and easy to read. I thoroughly recommend this book. Buy it today from Kels1720 at a steal of a price and you will be so happy that you did!

I was very happy with the book. I was however disappointed with the shipping time. I paid for 2-day delivery, but didn't know that processing the book would take so long. It ended up coming one day before my first test. Luckily I did very well without the book, but next time I will know.

Over the past year I have had the opportunity to compare this book with Roark's The American Promise, and I would highly recommend Roark over this book.

The most serious flaw of the Henretta text is its cavalier attitude toward the facts. This is worst in its section on World War II. For example, on pages 800-801, we read "In July 1943 after Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime fell and Mussolini was executed, Italy's new government joined the Allies." Of course, in reality, Mussolini was promptly restored to power by German occupation and did not die until 1945; nor was he executed, but rather murdered by partisans without benefit of trial. On page 805, we read that "The capture of Iwo Jima and Okinawa put bombers in position to attack Japan itself," when in fact it was the previous year's capture of the Marianas that put the Japanese islands in U.S. bomber range. In the very same paragraph, we read that "Before the Soviets could act, the Japanese offered to surrender on August 10," but in reality the USSR had declared war on Japan on August 8, 1945 and had invaded Japanese-held Manchuria on August 9. This oversight is particularly important, in that some historians argue that it was the Soviet declaration of war as much as the atomic bombs that convinced Japan to surrender.

That the book frequently lapses into tendentious left-wing ideology hardly needs mentioning; the vast majority of academic history textbooks today have the same problem, and non-academic right-wing "correctives," like Thomas Woods, are usually even worse. Still, left-wing writing need not be bad writing, nor as distorting to the historical record as this text's often is. For example, on page 519 we find this passage: "In Europe job-seeking peasants commonly tried seasonal agricultural labor or temporary work in nearby cities. America represented merely a larger leap." This is a feeble attempt to pretend that late-19th and early 20th century Europe offered opportunities similar to America's, and, if accepted, renders America's massively larger immigration rate inexplicable.

As might be expected in a book co-authored by three people, the quality varies considerably from chapter to chapter. Chapter 18, "The Rise of the City," stands out as particularly well written. One good technique the authors use is to place U.S. history in its international context, as when comparing the urban history of Chicago to Berlin or pointing out the origin of Chinese immigration to America in a general flood of Chinese immigration throughout the Pacific in the 19th century. It is only in this respect that this text is superior to Roark, which often skimps on the world-historical setting of U.S. history.

While the authors deserve commendation for trying to address the history of American racial minorities, their efforts usually devolve into a mere listing of grievances, especially as regards Native Americans and Latinos; African American achievements and resistance to prejudice are somewhat better described. Women's history comes off best; the authors are generally, though not always, successful in describing women's experience as an integrated whole in which men's oppressive behavior is only one part.

The book's overwhelming drawback compared to Roark is the poverty of illustrations, which are few, ill-chosen, and exclusively black-and-white. In contrast, the maps are excellent.

I can understand that cash-strapped colleges may prefer this book to Roark because it is cheaper. Still, it should have been possible to create a budget college textbook that was more accurate and less biased.

James A. Henretta and his colleagues have successfully written a concise history book that is not boring or tedious. It offers smooth transitions from topic to topic. It's concise and not boring, not like a tranqualizer like some history texts.

The authors had a difficult task. To further shorten their other text, "America's History", by almost 50%. Yet they seem to have succeeded. The book has a logical narrative flow. That does not feel like a standard text. Quite expertly done. When you consider that very disparate topics are covered. Like reform in the Progressive Era, or the emergence of the US as a world power. But somehow, each chapter segues gracefully into its successor.

The book also starts each chapter with a human interest anecdote. To try and bring the chapter's theme down to an easily comprehensible scale. And thus to motivate the reader into absorbing the broader mass of the chapter. The book is well suited for a general audience.

A pretty good sampling of LeFanu's tales, including Carmilla. 1. "Foreword" by August Derleth 2. "Schalken, the Painter" 3. "Squire Toby's Will" 4. "Green Tea" 5. "Wicked Captain Walshawe, of Wauling" 6. "Carmilla" 7. "The Sexton's Adventure" 8. "Madame Crowl's Ghost" 9. "Sir Dominick's Bargain" 10. "The Vision of Tom Chuff" 11. "Ultor De Lacy" 12. "Dickon the Devil" 13. "The House in Aungier Street" 14. "Mr. Justice Hardbottle" 15. "The Familiar"

These are Victorian tales of horror that would please any horror afficionado. In each of these tales, we hear these tales of woe from skeptic third party who relates the stories with a sense of separation from the events, but with seemingly disinterested air that makes the story more eerie.

Included in this selection are Green Tea, Squire Toby's Will, The Fortunes of Sir Robert Ardagh, and Sir Dominick's Bargain. These are not exclusive to this volume, so many horror readers will be familiar with the story, but given the price of this Dover Thrift Edition, I would recommend picking it up.

I would recommend reading this one when the night is chill and the sky is dark. You should definitely share these tales with others.

This slim text is often (if not always) out of print at Dover, so purchase copies while they're available (especially if you need to order them in bulk for a course). There are, however, several hypertext versions of most of Le Fanu's stories available online, including _Green Tea_. As far as hard copies go, this is definitely your best bet. As the title suggests, the compilation's focal point is _Green Tea_. _Green Tea_ is one of the best yet seemingly least critically studied ghost stories of all time. It folds Victorian anxieties into one contradictory, enigmatic, and, for some, irritating, brew. Why is the kind, unassuming Rev. Jennings haunted by the spectral monkey? Is Darwin on his back? Metaphysical medicine? Schizophrenia? Was Le Fanu making a point about the mystery of suicide? Hard to tell, which is part of the point, I suppose.

Among the remarkable literary creations of the Victorian period are stories of ghosts and other supernatural phenomena. The tales of J. Sheridan LeFanu are highly regarded as among the best early examples of psychological horror stories. LeFanu was born in Dublin in 1814 and died there in in 1873.

LeFanu's style is indeed Victorian. The writing is more leisurely. Careful attention is paid to establishing the mood and atmosphere. Descriptions are more detailed. The sense of supernatural horror builds slowly, much like the tales of Poe.

The four entertaining ghost stories in this inexpensive Dover Thrift edition are a good introduction to the J. Sheridan LeFanu and include Green Tea, Squire Toby's Will, The Fortunes of Sir Robert Ardagh, and Sir Dominick's Bargain. In the Victorian style LeFanu presents his stories as actual facts, narratives found in old diaries, medical writings, or first hand accounts from family friends or loyal servants. His stories remain popular today, due largely to their psychological depth and subtlety.

In Green Tea Dr. Hesselius encounters a cleric suffering from periodic bouts of delusion, believing that he is being stalked by a malignant apparition.

Squire Toby and his two sons, Scroope Marston, the elder, and Charles Marston, his handsome brother, are all three despicable characters whose mutual hatred for each other apparently transcends the grave.

The Fortunes of Sir Robert Ardagh is told as two stories. The first is the legend and local lore of the peasants living near the secluded fortress Ardagh. The other is an eye witness, factual account, possibly even more chilling than the local legend.

Sir Dominick's Bargain is disturbing version of a man's pact with the devil.

Note: Is it LeFanu or Le Fanu? Both variations seemed to be equally common. This Dover edition uses the form J. Sheridan LeFanu. The Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature prefers Le Fanu with a space. Many computer search algorithms yield quite different results for these two nearly identical spellings.

LeFanu is by many considered the foremost of Victorian ghost story tellers, but (and I may now be incurring in literary sin) although his writing skills are undisputedly of the finest caliber, I did not find his stories as poignant and spine-tingling as Edgar Allen Poe's or his style as graceful and fluent as E. F. Benson's, for example; in fact, I'd say there is something a little bit too elaborate and artful about some of the passages in this book as if LeFanu had thought it worthwhile sacrificing the pleasure of reading to the exquisiteness of his occasionally almost labored literary expression. There are actually instances in which I find it difficult to picture the scenes and characters in the narrative - take the descriptions of the inside and outside of Gylingden Hall (story 2) or of Sir Ardagh's castle (story 4) - though I recognize that such impressions may of course be unjust and ensue not from the text but from the limitations of the reviewer himself.

The first and last of the four stories collected in this Dover edition are definitely the most exciting and convey a feeling of completeness which is rather absent from the second and third tales. A very striking feature of the story "Green Tea", for instance, is the razor-sharp precision with which LeFanu distinguishes between subjective and objective psychic realities, and between suggestion and predisposition. The reverend in the tale has suffered damage to the subtle involucre protecting his physical body against unwanted sensory impressions and the leaking out of vital force, and so has become permanently exposed not to hallucinations but to involuntary contacts with entities or energies pertaining to the lower psychic realms, the intimacy of which most of us are mercifully spared. The problem seems to be mendable by physically occluding the fissures produced in his natural defense and thus restoring his involucre to normality, but the reverend himself sees these deeply disquieting trials as a personal chastisement from God - an interpretation of the facts which is always a valid possibility - and eventually succumbs, not to the charges of the enemy but to his own weaknesses and inclinations. A complex and fine plot, indeed.

The story "Green Tea" should be carefully examined by all whose job it is to treat or otherwise help people who suffer from psychic disorders or claim to be haunted by hallucinations - and by those, of course, who love to spend a couple of hours by the fireplace with a mug of hot chocolate and a good yarn.

When I first read this book at the Bartlesville Public Library at the age of 10, I couldn't believe what I was reading. It seemed to me to be the most shocking thing in the world. At the time I had never been to Norman, and I had no idea where Lawton was.

This is a fantastic book in that it contains some pretty amazing stories. I can only believe that they were all true.

Later in life, I attended the University of Oklahoma and I got to become very acquainted with Norman. It didn't look like I had imagined it would, but it was exactly like Charles Thompson described it. Norman is a pretty big place, but it doesn't seem big enough to be able to contain all the debauchery that was happening during those days.

Things may have changed a lot, but in many ways things will always be the same. As long as we have college athletics there will be towns and universities that allow success to become their one burning desire, and nothing will be too sacred or respected to stand in the way of that. I am sad to say it happened in Norman, but it has happened, is happening, and will continue to happen in many other places. Nobody is immune to the ills that took down CT, Barry, and the Sooners. Let this book be a warning to other schools. OU is lucky that they survived this and have come out as true champions for not letting it take them down.

Anyone from Lawton who saw him breakdance knows that Thompson was the (*#&. Enough said.

Do you not think that it is time to let the past be the past. A decade later and we are still concerned about how wrong Charles Thompson was. Learn from this book learn from his mistakes. I have had the great fortune of getting to know him personally and he has a great story to tell. Let's just grow up.

i think all should read this book b/c it is an eye opener for parents and teens making the transition to college sports or into adulthood. let me tell you, it's was not just o.u. in the 80's doing dirt I played in the sec and the football players at the university were disruptive and coach and his staff stayed busy tring to keeping these guys out of trouble with the school and the law. one of the o.u. boosters wrote barry switzer job was not to babby sitter, true, but it is was not his job to go drinking with an 18 year old kid as well!

Charles Thompson and his book of lies. No one brought him to the lifestyle he was involved in. Barry Switzer offered him a chance to play football and get and education for free and he blew that opportunity. I am sick of hearing how Barry ruined all these guys lives. No one hired Switzer to baby sit, but to win football games. But, as long as we criticize winners as college football coaches, what about Bowden. The guy basically has the same mentality and no one bashes him. Come on people, don't waste the time and money on this piece of garbage.

I was initially attracted to this book by vague cover and the fact that it was Tea Benduhn's debut novel. I had high hopes that this book would reveal something to me about homosexuality. It didn't.

The book is about seventeen-year-old Aurin and her friends Kenny and Fred. When a new girl, Neila, comes to the tiny town of Greensborough, they decide to start hanging out with her. Aurin and Neila's friendship soon blossoms into something else. The book takes place in four places: the park, the dance studio, the restaurant, and Aurin's house.

This book falls far short of revealing something new about gays and lesbians. All I learned was that girls kiss girls the same way that girls kiss guys. What's new about that? Gravel Queen falls flat most of the time, with the characters not in-depth enough to create an interesting or intriguing story. It is often difficult to see what drives them to do what little they do. Also, Ms. Benduhn's love of strange names (Aurin, Neila, Kenney, Prudence) confuses and frustrates the casual reader. Aurin and Neila's developing romance, which should be the central point of the novel, is also flat. Ms. Benduhn seems to have spent most of her time during the writing of the novel thinking up new sensations for Aurin, which often sound more like a bowel disorder than growing love.

Basically, Gravel Queen is a book that could be good if (a) it had a better plot, (b) better characters, and (c) a different author! I would highly recommend avoidance of this novel.

Aurin and her two friends have a nice comfortable friendship in their teen world, in Greensboro, North Carolina. When new girl Neila arrives, her liveliness and fun, are an instant attraction to Aurin. How Aurin manages to bring Neila into her life, and still keep her friendships, keeps you reading. This is a sweet, touching romance, realistic, with nice touches of humour. Author Benduhn insists this story could have happened for real, and most of it seems credible. The ending is definitely satisfying. A delightful, thoughtful novel.

Gravel Queen is a fun, loving book about first love feelings. Some of it is a little over the top, in the realm of magical. While other novelslike "Keeping You a Secret" is more in depth and real, Gravel is still good.

This is a very tender caring book which was certainly written by a caring loving Person. It becomes a page turner. It teaches us to care for one another, forgive and share. Refreshing and confident. Wonderfully written. We need more writers like Tea.

This is basically an after-school special in novel form. Well, make that novella form. It's only 150 pages.

The three main characters spend all their time hanging around at the local park, wandering aimlessly through their town, sighing dramatically about how incredibly bored they are. True to life? Sure. Interesting? No.

The protagonist is a bored, sort of passive-agressive girl named Aurin who has a crush on a girl named Neila. (The author apparently has a fondness for weird names.) Her moody, attention-grabbing friend Kenney is jealous of the time she spends with Neila. It's never really explained why. Aurin resents Kenney, but that is never really gone into in depth. NOTHING in this book is gone into in any depth. It's a quick, superficial skim into the pool of teenager-hood.

I love the Dirk Gently books. They combine the silliness and whimsy of Adams' Hitch-hiker's Guide Books while grounding them on earth and cementing them with an engaging mystery plot.

If you like Terry Pratchett or Neil Gaimon, (or Good Omens ; ) ) You'll love this book. It's full of the digressive musings Adams is known for. (Long Dark Teatime of the Soul begins with ruminations on airport signage)
He still (even though restricted to the Planet Earth) maintains his detached objectivity while describing the peculiar habits we have become used to. In Long Dark Teatime he gains this perspective through the eyes of forgotten gods still sentient and lonely after having been forsaken for the gods of tomorrow. Bored, they start to make trouble.

I HIGHLY reccomend you pick up either of these books. I have the audio version for my long ride to work where I rotate between this and a few mysteries and science fiction titles. This is, hands down, my favourite story for that setting and is also one of my favourite books period.

Dirk Gently is probably Douglas Adam's best written book and has an extremely well defined plot. The humor as good as ever, I laughed out loud on many occassions. The notion of "fundamental interconnectedness of things" that Adams introduces in this book is quite powerful and yet quite humorous. The problem of the stuck couch in an impossible position, missing cats, ancient professors in universities, an electric monk - a multiple set of oddities all fall into place into a great pattern.

I found Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul a bit boring. It is interesting in parts but on the whole there's much new stuff in what Adams says.

On the whole the book is a great buy - if you liked Hitchhiker's series at all, you would most certainly love Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. Guaranteed.

A previous reviewer has noticed that this work is really nothing like the Hitchhiker's Guide books. While this is true, this does not make this a bad book. It is just that it is almost in a different genre.

If you were expecting the hilarity that is the HGTTG series, you may be surprised. But if you enjoy detective stories that make you think, you'll love these books. Just realize that Adams often doesn't expressly tie up all the loose ends: he expects the reader to be able to reason well enough to figure it out.

... agency.

Well,I love his other books, you know. hhgttg (hithchikers guide to the galaxy) trilogy, In fact it's my favorite book. But this one SUUUCKS!! I can't remember how many times I fell asleep while tring to read this monstrosity. I still haven't figured out why the horse was upstairs to begin with, and now,I really don't care.

After reading the five (!) books in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy, I turned to his two books featuring Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective. Although it took me a bit of time to warm to these stories, I wound up liking them even better than the HhGttG trilogy, much to my surprise. This audiobook version of these two excellent books is everything you would want in such a thing - unabridged and read by the author. On the downside, it is slightly pricey, and on the way far downside, it is out of print, and therefore a little hard to find. (Here's hoping that is remedied soon.) The late and much lamented (by me in any case) Douglas Adams was a writer of rare talent. He could write books about great subjects such as the origin of life and the meaning of existence, and make them riotously funny and entertaining. I believe that the only thing that will keep him from being recognized as a major writer is that he wrote science fiction. Too bad, because science fiction or not, his stuff was superb.

For almost a century Manhattan's Russian Tea Room was a magnet for patrons of the arts, from music and drama to ballet and publishing. Here the woman who owned and ran the restaurant for almost thirty years provides a survey of its evolution, from her initial dreams of a famous New York career to her marriage into a restaurant. A lively survey of a famous establishment about to re-open.

I read Ms. Stewart-Gordon's book with great interest, as I worked as a waitress at The Russian Tea Room from 1971-1976. I learned a few historical things that I didn't know, and it jogged my memory on other items of interest. I also greatly admired the author's bravery and candor in describing her relationship with her daughter Ellen. However, I found the "behind the scenes" portions not as revealing and newsy as I expected. I found the book a bit dull in many parts, and it was poorly edited. I am, however, thrilled to have this volume to pass on to my son, as an important part of his mother's history, as well as a piece of New York City's history.

Piqued by the description, I bought this book for my mom for Christmas. She read it and then lent it to me. I just read it, and am now convinced that I should buy my mom another Christmas present. How disappointing. There is a great deal of interesting content here, however the writing technique (or lack of it) becomes an obstacle to enjoying it. It's like taking a ride in a psychotic New York time machine: The book jumps from thought to thought and from era to era. The services of a ghostwriter would have improved this story immensely.

In addition, it appears that the author is making the assumption that her readers are born-and-bred New Yorkers. She has opportunities to expand on aspects of New York life that would be interesting to outsiders, but she chooses not to pursue them.

When heralding the reopening of New York City's fabled restaurant The Russian Tea Room, a glitzy magazine headlined "Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams." Its new owner, the article trumpeted, unwrapped "a fabulous Faberge' egg of a restaurant"- 37,000 square feet, six stories of opulence including Tiffany glass-made ceilings and an ice sculpted replica of the Kremlin that is replaced thrice daily.

Despite the $22 million dollar renovation it's hard to believe that this West 57th Street watering hole for the glitterati could be any more exciting today than it was during the years described by Faith Stewart-Gordon in The Russian Tea Room: A Love Story.

A Southern belle and sometime actress Ms. Stewart-Gordon was married to Sidney Kaye, an exuberant, mercurial man of Russian descent who ran the Tea Room from the mid-40's until his death in 1967, when Ms. Stewart-Gordon took over the operation.

She observed the bistro's halcyon years - days when regular patrons were theatre luminaries such as Arthur Miller, Carol Channing (who brought her own food), Paul Newman (who delighted in arriving sans reservation), , Joanne Woodward, Liza Minnelli, Sidney Portier, and countless others. That was the time when Zero Mostel convulsed diners as he pretended to be a waiter, and a staff that was used to their A-list clientele surreptitiously watched Jackie Onassis and Mike Nichols lunching in the number one booth.

Born in South Carolina, the daughter of a woman whose only contact with a kitchen occurred when she heated canned mushroom soup for their Sunday night suppers, Ms. Stewart-Gordon seemed an unlikely bride for an urbane restaurant owner 18 years her senior. She had gone to New York City in the early 1950's in search of an acting career not a husband.

But, then a friend introduced her to Sidney Kaye, a man she describes as not "conventionally handsome" but "vitally attractive." Despite her gaff of wearing a "lime green nylon wash-and-wear dress" on their first date and following a two-year "Sturm und Drang" courtship, the two were wed.

Thus began Ms. Stewart-Gordon's initiation into the New York restaurant world. This was a turf where the pecking order was set in stone, and territorial lines were not to be crossed.
She learned this lesson well when she once made the unconscionable error of seating patrons when that was clearly the bailiwick of a haughty but able seating captain.

For a time following her marriage Ms. Stewart-Gordon focused on domesticity, even taking cooking lessons from a Cordon Bleu graduate. Regrettably, after tasting her Veal Orloff, Sidney returned to the restaurant for dinner. Only a minor setback, but she then centered on The Russian Tea Room until the birth of their daughter, Ellen.

Ms. Stewart-Gordon's reminiscences of life at the RTR (as it was known to insiders) is also a chronicle of business and Big Apple history. She discusses the 1959 launching of the Diners Club and its impact on the restaurant industry, the groundbreaking for Lincoln Center, the advent of new forms of dining, and other innovations that affected both patrons and owners.

These observations are studded with remembrances of the famous who happily swung through the RTR's revolving doors. While at times the author's attention to minutia can be tedious, such as a detailed retelling of her battle with City Hall, The Russian Tea Room is light, entertaining reading - often as spicy as a good stroganoff.

- Gail Cooke

Even after reading it, one wonders how a young woman could make the transition from small-town life in the South in the 1940s to the fast paced life of New York City - and still keep her wits about her. Ms. Stewart-Gordon takes a candid look at herself, her successes and her failures alike, and comes up a winner. She has seen some good times and been threatened with some bad ones, and has dug her little Southern heels in like a real trouper to come out on top. I say good for her!

Yes, this book has many recipes for desserts; not coffee. However, the recipes are wonderful and the pictures are inspiring. The info about coffee at the beginning of the book was very useful to my finance:)

I first bought this book because I was looking for a recipe for biscotti. The recipe is excellent. All the recipes in the book are excellent. You don't need to be a coffee drinker to value this book. The delicious baked items go just as well with a cup a tea. Every recipe I have made from this book is outstanding and I can be assured that they will always come out delicious even when making it the first time for company. Excellent buy and highly recommended!

In this book, you will find coffee's fascinating history and lore. Yes, there are recipes, but you will enjoy the illustrations and as you page through the book, you will swear there is a pot of coffee brewing!

If you are looking for more recipes to use up mascarpone cheese, there is an interesting recipe for Baked Apples. There is not a drop of coffee in the recipe, but how it would taste with a great Italian roast.

Do you love Biscotti, but hate to pay the high price. Well, there is a recipe for Chocolate-Hazelnut Biscotti. Orange-Pecan Pound Cake and Rhubarb Crumble are just a few of the delicious desserts you will find to accompany your coffee.

If you are new to making your own coffee, you will appreciate the page after page of brewing options. Do you want to use a press, a drip filter, a cold water brewer, a vacuum pot (as I have only seen once before in The Graham Kerr Cookbook on page 267.) There is also a picture of the coffee cherries which might surprise you as I had never thought about how coffee actually grew.

There is also a poem by Peter Altenberg from All About Coffee, 1922. I was also delighted to find a recipe for Panettone on page 51! How often do you find that recipe.

So many ways to enjoy coffee, morning, afternoon and night.

~The Rebecca Review

If you love coffee, this is going to be a favorite for you! Not only will you get the 'goods' on Starbucks wonderful recipes, but you'll also learn the history of coffee, how to distinguish between different coffee beans, and tons of tips on making great coffee. This coffee cookbook is packed with over 30 mouthwatering recipes for morning, afternoon, and night, and laced with beautiful color pictures to accompany the recipes. Starbucks Passion for Coffee cookbook is a winner for both your palate and your mind. I give it a thumbs up!

It seems like this might just be a gimmick, a way to get the Starbucks name out there like one other reviewer said. But I have found the recipes to be very good, and some of them even outstanding. The granola recipe is amazing, really delicious. I have made upwards of fifty pounds of it already over the years--it's that good. The nut lace cookies are so delicate, fancy and delicious, but also very easy to make. There are also recipes for rhubarb crumble, panettone, cinnamon-swirl biscuits, peach kuchen with crumble topping, and what they claim is "the world's best chocolate pudding" though I haven't tried that one yet.

That the recipes are so good is not surprising because the recipe authors, John Phillip Carroll and Lora Brody, are renowned cooks and have written many of the books in the well-received Williams-Sonoma series.

The information on coffee-brewing is instructive, too. There's some history about the coffee trade, also, though it's not a definitive source on that, for sure. In all, I really like this book and would recommend it to dessert lovers as well as coffee lovers.

When I received this book I thought what the ??!! is this. It is a teeny tiny book, hard to read, hard to turn the pages. I feel like I got taken.

This is a precious, tiny little novelty book on Afternoon Tea. Pretty pictures. Makes a nice gift.

Perfect gift for the tea lover in your life. Add a tin of tea and a tea cup to make it extra special!

Great gift for any tea lover! Add a tin of tea and tea cup and it's just perfect!

Perfect gift for the tea lover in your life. Add a tin of tea and a tea cup to make it extra special!