Book reviews

[Gardenarian]

My first impressions of Sarah Smith's "The Knowledge of Water" were verified; it's just a very bad book.
Still, "The Vanished Child" stands on it's own and is excellent. I don't know why the author wrote a sequel (maybe her publishers encouraged it. Bad idea.)

[gettingthere]

I just finished "City of Thieves" by David Benioff (I'm always late getting into the game with good books). It was incredibly violent but hard to put down. Parts of it were so beautifully written that I read the passages over and over again.

[freshstart]

my daughter had an English project to do and she chose David Sedaris off a list of authors you could read. She loved him so much, she binged and read all of his books. And she has very little time for reading for fun. I am thrilled that she loves him, he is in my top 3 of authors. 16 has been a little tough, she's definitely growing up and pulling away. But if we have David in common then I know we still share the same sense of humor and we will always have something similar to bond over.

[Lainey]

"The Moment" - brief essays by both famous and non-famous about a moment in their lives. Fascinating.

[Florence]

My Kitchen Year by Ruth Reichel

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It is about the year following the closing down of Gourmet magazine where she had been editor. She was totally unprepared for the closure of the magazine and was shocked by its demise. What to do next? What started out as a tragedy slowly turned into a new beginning...in the kitchen, of course.
As she gradually comes to terms with what has happened, she cooks and shares the recipes that helped her recover. It is an interesting and sympathetic treatment of a situation many of us have faced. The illustrations and photographs are lovely and well chosen.

But. It is not a good cookbook. From the binding that will not allow the book to lie anywhere close to flat to the scanty recipes which are little more than ingredient lists and minimal instruction to the useless index, it is not useful as a cookbook.

[iris lilies]

I just finished "City of Thieves" by David Benioff (I'm always late getting into the game with good books). It was incredibly violent but hard to put down. Parts of it were so beautifully written that I read the passages over and over again.

Ha, I DID put it down due to the violence, I couldnt take it. But I agree with you, the part I read was extremely engaging. I think I read about 1/10th of it.

Its written in a way that lends itself easily to film. heck, even *I* could probably write the screenplay for this.

[freshstart]

My Kitchen Year by Ruth Reichel

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It is about the year following the closing down of Gourmet magazine where she had been editor. She was totally unprepared for the closure of the magazine and was shocked by its demise. What to do next? What started out as a tragedy slowly turned into a new beginning...in the kitchen, of course.
As she gradually comes to terms with what has happened, she cooks and shares the recipes that helped her recover. It is an interesting and sympathetic treatment of a situation many of us have faced. The illustrations and photographs are lovely and well chosen.

But. It is not a good cookbook. From the binding that will not allow the book to lie anywhere close to flat to the scanty recipes which are little more than ingredient lists and minimal instruction to the useless index, it is not useful as a cookbook.

wasn't she a famous restaurant reviewer, as well? I can't recall. I think I'd like to hear her story

[freshstart]

Finally finished Flylady, disappointed it took me like 8 days to read something so light. Had some good take-aways but glad to move on.

City of Thieves is in my library book bag, but I grabbed one called Tiny Little Thing, sounds lighter which is good for now.

I also have Bowie on Bowie but I can't read it yet because I still get teary eyed, you'd think I knew him or something, lol

[rosarugosa]

my daughter had an English project to do and she chose David Sedaris off a list of authors you could read. She loved him so much, she binged and read all of his books. And she has very little time for reading for fun. I am thrilled that she loves him, he is in my top 3 of authors. 16 has been a little tough, she's definitely growing up and pulling away. But if we have David in common then I know we still share the same sense of humor and we will always have something similar to bond over.

I just love Dave Sedaris! DH & I got to see/hear him in person talk and do readings in the Berkshires when we were there on vacation for our 25th anniversary. That was very fun. I've had the experience of reading his stuff on the subway and being unable to stop from giggling out loud, then later just thinking of something I had read and starting to laugh and no doubt causing alarm to my fellow travelers. Dave Barry does this for me too. (My DH is also a Dave, so I think I have a thing for Daves )

[freshstart]

I just love Dave Sedaris! DH & I got to see/hear him in person talk and do readings in the Berkshires when we were there on vacation for our 25th anniversary. That was very fun.

I've seen him twice, once with someone who did not laugh at all. I couldn't believe it! I was last in line for a book signing and his handler told me he was done. He waved me over and we ended up talking about siblings. I told him how my mom knew our IQs as kids, they were 1 pt apart and she has never told. He signed a book for my brother saying he was sorry, but he met me, I had the 1 pt, not him. So sweet! I love Amy, too.