The Paleo Chef cookbook by Pete Evans

I was very interested to receive The Paleo Chef cookbook.  Not that I had intentions of switching to a Paleo diet, but I am trying to cook much healthier and am always on the look for recipes that use fresh and nutritious ingredients.  Pete Evans, the chef and author of The Paleo Chef appears to be trendy and hip, and from the foreward and introduction to the book, it is obvious that he is extremely passionate about cooking and Paleo. He makes it clear that, to him, Paleo is more than a diet--it's a way of life.

Indeed, you would need to be dedicated to making it a way of life if you were to decide to go Paleo.  No convenience foods, or takeout allowed.  You would also need to have a huge grocery budget and to live in a large city where such items as duck fat, young green coconuts and fresh purple basil are available.  I live in the suburbs of a medium sized city and I can tell you I have never seen any of those items at any grocery store.  I'm sure they would all be stocked at a store like Trader Joe's or Whole Foods but I would have to travel three hours to shop there and that won't be happening anytime soon.

If indeed you can afford the exotic, organic foods the recipes call for and if you can find them in a store within driving distance of your home, the cookbook is lovely.  There are beautiful color photographs for almost every recipe (which I very much enjoyed looking at).  Indeed, the cookbook is a feast for the eyes.  Chef Evans also includes a personal introduction to each recipe, telling the cook/reader about the recipe, how he uses it at home, what to serve with the dish, etc.  There are over 200 recipes in the book, plus some basic recipes in the back for sauces, condiments, etc., so all in all it is a good buy if you do plan to try Paleo.

I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for this review.

My Battle Against Hitler: Faith, Truth and Defiance in the Shadow of the Third Reich by Dietrich Von Hildebrand

I was interested in reading My Battle Against Hitler: Faith, Truth and Defiance in the Shadow of the Third Reich because I am interested in history, especially of World War II history.  I very much enjoy autobiographies and memoirs and as a Christian, am inspired about stories of faith.  It looked to me like this book would really fit the bill.  I could not have been more wrong.  I seldom find a book that I really DON'T like, but this was one of them.  It was one of the most boring books I've ever read.  Honestly, if I had not agreed to review it, I wouldn't have read more than the first chapter. 

My Battle Against Hitler is the memoir of Dietrich Von Hildebrand, a German philosphy professor in the 1920s and 1930s.  He is also an extremely devout Catholic.  Unless you are also an extremely devout Catholic, you may not be able to relate to this book.  Although deeply opposed to any prejudice against Jews by the Nazis, he himself is prejudiced against any Christian who is not Catholic. I'm sure the word "Catholic" was used hundreds of times in this book, and it is in large part a record of what was happening in the Catholic church during that time period. 

Mostly the book records his conversations and journal writings against the Nazi regime.  I'm not saying that I don't agree with his anti-Nazi viewpoint, because I certainly do. But unless you are a scholar, I don't think there would be much in this book to hold your interest. The only division in the book are years and each chapter just goes on and on recounting meetings, lectures, symposiums and dinner parties that Von Hildebrand attended.

Thank goodness I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review.  I would have been beyond upset if I had paid for it.