I received this book from
Blogging for Books for free in exchange
for my honest review.
Michael Symon is one of the hosts of ABC's The Chew, a show I
enjoy watching if I'm home during the day. The show is a fun approach to
cooking, so I thought this would be a great addition to my cookbook
library. Plus who wouldn't love the concept of 5 in 5? 5 in 5 is based
on a speed cooking segment that Michael does on the show. 5
ingredients = a prepared dish in 5 minutes. Sign me up!
Michael Symon's 5 in 5 for Every Season is
a nice cookbook. The size is good, not too large and not too small.
The cover is colorful and attracted me right away, it's also glossy
which is nice for wiping away food spills. Michael has arranged the
recipes according to season. The first category is spring, it works
through each season and ends with holidays. He is a big proponent of
using fresh produce that is seasonal. The spring section, for example, includes lots of peas, asparagus, mushrooms and ramps.
The 5 in 5 concept is for fresh
ingredients. There are also pantry items and spices included in most
recipes. Michael gives a nice pantry list in the beginning of the book
to help the cook. It's a good list for almost any cook of items to have
on hand to make meals with. They are shelf stable products that will
keep for a good while. Still, even with including those additional
items, the ingredient lists for each recipe are short, which to me
translates to easier.
I have not yet prepared any of the recipes
in the book, but have several marked to try. My only complaint from my
initial reading of the book is that I wish there was a color picture of
each recipe. There are a lot of attractive photos in the book, but not
one of each dish. I received this book from
Blogging for Books for free in exchange
for my honest review.
Saturday, November 21, 2015
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
2 A.M. at the Cat's Pajamas : A Novel by Marie-Helene Bertino
2 A.M. at the Cat's Pajamas wins two awards in my book: weirdest
and worst read ever. I find it impossible to believe that it was
named one of NPR's Best Books of 2014. Seriously? I had to force
myself to finish it and the only reason I did is that I committed to
review it for Blogging for Books and felt I couldn't review it honestly
without reading the whole awful thing. Thankfully received this book for
free from them and didn't waste my own money buying it, although I'm
sorry they wasted theirs sending it to me.
When I chose this book, I thought it would be a lovely way to start out the holiday season since it takes place on December 23, or as the author, Marie-Helene Bertino calls it, Christmas Eve Eve. Ha! Lovely is a word I would never use to describe this book. It is, in my opinion, awful. The main character is a nine-year old girl names Madeleine, who speaks with a potty mouth, spouting swear words left and right. If that sounds like your idea of a Christmas story, then perhaps you WILL enjoy the read.
The other characters were mostly depressing and depressed. They were all desperately seeking love or money or recognition or fame that mostly eluded them. There is one particular scene where one of the characters meets a woman in a strip club and moments later has a quickie with her in the club bathroom, which the reader is privileged to read about in great detail. Now, isn't that sweet?
The back cover of the book quotes it as being vivacious, charming and moving. Sorry--I just don't see it.
When I chose this book, I thought it would be a lovely way to start out the holiday season since it takes place on December 23, or as the author, Marie-Helene Bertino calls it, Christmas Eve Eve. Ha! Lovely is a word I would never use to describe this book. It is, in my opinion, awful. The main character is a nine-year old girl names Madeleine, who speaks with a potty mouth, spouting swear words left and right. If that sounds like your idea of a Christmas story, then perhaps you WILL enjoy the read.
The other characters were mostly depressing and depressed. They were all desperately seeking love or money or recognition or fame that mostly eluded them. There is one particular scene where one of the characters meets a woman in a strip club and moments later has a quickie with her in the club bathroom, which the reader is privileged to read about in great detail. Now, isn't that sweet?
The back cover of the book quotes it as being vivacious, charming and moving. Sorry--I just don't see it.
A Moment of Weakness by Karen Kingsbury
I'm quite sure my opinion may not be popular, and obviously doesn't
represent the masses of readers who love Karen Kingsbury books, but I
just don't. , so honest I will be. I have read many Karen
Kingsbury books over the years, but had really decided they just aren't
for me. The only reason I decided to review this one is that I thought
it was a brand new book, and that perhaps I should give the author
another chance. As it turns out, this is just a re-release of a book
that she wrote years ago and I read it then. I believe I did like it
back when I read it the first time, but I feel now that Christian
fiction has come a long way. I've grown past books like this one.
So, here is my problem with A Moment of Weakness, as well as Karen Kingsbury's other books. All of her characters, including the two main characters in this book (Tanner Eastman and Jade Conner), are always BEAUTIFUL. There are no ordinary looking people, and certainly no ugly people. No one is ever obese or even overweight, heaven forbid. Granted, they do have problems (in this case Tanner and Jade fall into the temptation of having sex before marriage--a very common problem), but their problems are never just ordinary problems. An ordinary problem might be that Tanner and Jade fell into temptation and their families are not happy about it. Tanner and Jade are very embarrassed, but they swallow their pride and confess their sins. Some people don't want to forgive them, they'd rather take the high ground and keep pointing fingers. Maybe Tanner and Jade feel forced to find a new church. Tanner and Jade get married and they do struggle. Marriage is hard and it's even harder when you have a baby right away. But, by the grace of God they manage to overcome. They have a good marriage and a great family. The end.
In A Moment of Weakness, however, there is much much more melodrama. Jade becomes pregnant that one time they have sex, but when she discovers this, Tanner is off on an overseas mission trip. Jade calls Tanner's mother to see if she knows how to get a hold of Tanner. Mrs. Eastman guesses what the emergency might be and lies to Jade, telling her that Tanner doesn't really love her and that he has fathered many other children. Of course, Jade believes all these lies, runs off and marries another man, and leaves the state (all in the 3 weeks that Tanner is gone) . I won't give away the entire book, but trust me when I say that the rest of the story is just as melodramatic.
I like books where I can relate to the characters in some way. I really can't relate to BEAUTIFUL people who don't even communicate with each other, they just draw all the wrong conclusions and run away. This seems to be a very common theme among many Christian authors and I just plain don't like it. On the other hand, if you like BEAUTIFUL people and melodrama, then I'm sure you will love this book since it's full of both. I received this book from Blogging for Books for free in exchange for my honest review.
So, here is my problem with A Moment of Weakness, as well as Karen Kingsbury's other books. All of her characters, including the two main characters in this book (Tanner Eastman and Jade Conner), are always BEAUTIFUL. There are no ordinary looking people, and certainly no ugly people. No one is ever obese or even overweight, heaven forbid. Granted, they do have problems (in this case Tanner and Jade fall into the temptation of having sex before marriage--a very common problem), but their problems are never just ordinary problems. An ordinary problem might be that Tanner and Jade fell into temptation and their families are not happy about it. Tanner and Jade are very embarrassed, but they swallow their pride and confess their sins. Some people don't want to forgive them, they'd rather take the high ground and keep pointing fingers. Maybe Tanner and Jade feel forced to find a new church. Tanner and Jade get married and they do struggle. Marriage is hard and it's even harder when you have a baby right away. But, by the grace of God they manage to overcome. They have a good marriage and a great family. The end.
In A Moment of Weakness, however, there is much much more melodrama. Jade becomes pregnant that one time they have sex, but when she discovers this, Tanner is off on an overseas mission trip. Jade calls Tanner's mother to see if she knows how to get a hold of Tanner. Mrs. Eastman guesses what the emergency might be and lies to Jade, telling her that Tanner doesn't really love her and that he has fathered many other children. Of course, Jade believes all these lies, runs off and marries another man, and leaves the state (all in the 3 weeks that Tanner is gone) . I won't give away the entire book, but trust me when I say that the rest of the story is just as melodramatic.
I like books where I can relate to the characters in some way. I really can't relate to BEAUTIFUL people who don't even communicate with each other, they just draw all the wrong conclusions and run away. This seems to be a very common theme among many Christian authors and I just plain don't like it. On the other hand, if you like BEAUTIFUL people and melodrama, then I'm sure you will love this book since it's full of both. I received this book from Blogging for Books for free in exchange for my honest review.
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