Book review: Cookbook The French Slow Cooker by Michele Scicolone

 

This is a very good cookbook with a lot of flavorful recipes.

I purchased a used cookbook on Amazon for the first time. The book arrived in good condition, but I was surprised by a sticker on the spine with the used bookstore seller's name. I shouldn't have to deal with removing the sticker and sticker residue from a book. A business card in the envelope would have been so much better!

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Review of The French Slow Cooker

Book review: America's Test Kitchen cookbook, The Skillet: 200+ Simpler Ways to Make Just About Anything

 

As I've come to expect from America's Test Kitchen cookbooks, this collection of recipes is excellent.
It's well-organized, and the instructions are very clear, making it easy to follow along. Each recipe has at least one photo, sometimes more. I appreciate that they explain the science behind each recipe, which adds a layer of understanding to the cooking process. I've picked up a few new techniques along the way, and the index is a real time-saver for finding recipes based on what I have available. Overall, it's a solid addition to my cookbook collection.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Review of The Skillet: 200+ Simpler Ways to Make Just About Anything

Book review: Ninety-Nine Cent Tour of Bar Harbor Maine (Photo Tour): Traveling Cheapskate, Ken Rossignol

I live in New England and Bar Harbor Maine is a place we visit every now and then. I wanted to see if this book would give me some new ideas of places to see, things to do, and places to eat.  It did not.

This book was not what I expected in many ways. This book has no text.  It is just a book of photos with captions.  The captions are written in an unusually small font that does not scale at all. Even on a large 30" computer monitor, the text was not readable. Zoom-in controls in the browser did not work to enlarge the fonts, so no matter what I tried I could not see what the author wrote. I was only able to look at the photos.  The photos were not particularly good. They were not artistic, they did not have good composition, the colors were washed out.   The photos did not give Bar Harbor justice.  The book did not make Bar Harbor look like a desirable place to visit. 

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★☆☆☆☆

Book review: Best investment books for smart non-speculator investors

Avoid shark attacks in investment waters! Learn from the best advisors in this list of my favorite investment books:

John Bogle, The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns
You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

John Bogle, The Clash of the Cultures: Investment vs. Speculation
You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing. A Book of Practical Counsel
You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

William N. Thorndike, The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success
You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

L.J. Rittenhouse, Investing Between the Lines: How to Make Smarter Decisions By Decoding CEO Communications
You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Book review: Rogue Lawyer: A Novel, by John Grisham

I am a big John Grisham fan and enjoyed many of his books.  I thought this book was a fun read, especially because it unpredictably does not end with a positive outcome.

The author takes us through several cases each one a mystery of its own, the action is fast-moving, and the main is a defense attorney who represents clients who are bad guys and he himself sometimes pushes ethical boundaries to defend his seedy clients.

I listened to the audio cd of this book with Mark Deokins narrating.  I thought he did an excellent job giving each character in the book their own voice.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Book review: False Impression Audible Audiobook by Jeffrey Archer

This book kept on the edge of my seat from start to finish.  The story is about art theft but has events of 911 in incredibly realistic and breathtaking details.  Jeffrey Archer made me feel I was there better than any other account I have read.  The story takes many twists and turns, and I was riding the roller coaster the entire way.  What a great book!

Jeffrey Archer is one of my favorite authors. This book did not disappoint.

I listened to the audiobook and I thought Byron Jennings did an excellent job.  His narration brought the story to life.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★



Kane & Abel
1. Kane & Abel (1979)
2. The Prodigal Daughter (1982)
3. Shall We Tell the President? (1977)


Year of Short Stories
The Grass Is Always Greener (2000)
Cheap at Half the Price (2011)
Christina Rosenthal (2011)
Clean Sweep Ignatius (2011)
The Queen's Birthday Telegram (2011)
In the Eye of the Beholder (2011)
No Room at the Inn (2011)
One Man's Meat (2011)
The Endgame (2017)
The Man Who Robbed His Own Post Office (2018)
Caste-Off (2018)
Too Many Coincidences (2018)
Charity Begins at Home (2018)
High Heels (2018)
Crime Pays (2018)
Don't Drink the Water (2018)
Members Only (2018)
Other Blighters' Efforts (2018)
The Luck of the Irish (2018)

Clifton Chronicles
1. Only Time Will Tell (2011)
2. The Sins of the Father (2012)
3. Best Kept Secret (2013)
4. Be Careful What You Wish For (2014)
5. Mightier Than the Sword (2015)
6. Cometh the Hour (2016)
7. This Was a Man (2016)


William Warwick Chronicle
1. Nothing Ventured (2019)


Novels
Not A Penny More, Not A Penny Less (1976)
First Among Equals (1984)
A Matter of Honour (1986)
As the Crow Flies (1991)
Honour Among Thieves (1993)
The Fourth Estate (1996)
The Eleventh Commandment (1998)
Sons of Fortune (2002)
False Impression (2005)
A Prisoner of Birth (2008)
Paths of Glory (2009)
Heads You Win (2018)

Book review: Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence by Bill O'Reilly's

I found this book interesting and educational.  I learned small details I did not know before.  The author does a great job of making history as exciting as a modern-day thriller.  The story follows many of the people who are part of our history (Washington, Hamilton, Franklin, Jefferson, LaFollette, Marion, Arnold...) and I had a hard time putting it down.

I listened to the audio version of the book where the narrating duties are brilliantly shared by Robert Petkof and Bill O'Reily.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Book review: Ultimate Guide To Making Live Organic Kefir by Kinnary Trovdeo / Brendan Watson

The content of the book was not what I hoped for. It has results of internet search about the Kefir making bacteria, marketing spiel about why Kefir is good for you.  It has very little about the actual making Kefir. You might as well search the internet yourself. This book has no additional insight that is unique to the author.

Another reason I can't recommend this book is that this book has confusing attributions.  The cover contains the author's name as "Kinnari Trivedi," but the author on the product page is listed as "Brendan Watson." If I look at the author's page under "Brendan Watson," books by other authors appear on the same page, but other books are not cookbooks. When I look under the "Kinnari Trivedi" author's page, she has several cookbooks.  The relationship between the two people as the author is not clear.


Ali Julia review

Book review: The Rooster Bar by John Grisham

Imagine being a law student with a huge debt, dropping out of law school, and pretending to be a lawyer hustling clients in hospitals and police stations... How much trouble can you get yourself in? A lot!

I thought this book was okay. Maybe if it was not written by Grisham, one of my favorite authors, I would have felt better about the book. However, it was not as interesting and gripping of some of their other Grisham novels. Maybe part of the problem for me was the characters were unlikable and most of the time chose to do the wrong things and got away with it.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★☆☆☆

Other books for Grisham
Jake Brigance series
1. A Time to Kill (1989)
2. Sycamore Row (2013)

Theodore Boone series
1. Kid Lawyer (2010)
2. The Abduction (2010)
3. The Accused (2012)
4. The Activist (2013)
5. The Fugitive (2015)
6. The Scandal (2015)
7. The Accomplice (2019)

Novels
The Firm (1991)
The Pelican Brief (1992)
The Client (1993)
The Chamber (1994)
The Rainmaker (1995)
The Runaway Jury (1996)
The Partner (1997)
The Street Lawyer (1998)
The Testament (1999)
The Brethren (2000)
A Painted House (2000)
Skipping Christmas (2001)
The Summons (2002)
The King of Torts (2002)
The Last Juror (2003)
Bleachers (2003)
The Broker (2004)
Playing for Pizza (2007)
The Appeal (2007)
The Associate (2009)
The Confession (2010)
The Litigators (2011)
Calico Joe (2012)
The Racketeer (2012)
Gray Mountain (2014)
Rogue Lawyer (2015)
The Whistler (2016)
Camino Island (2017)
The Rooster Bar (2017)
The Reckoning (2018)
The Guardians (2019)

Book review: Eye Floaters Secrets: The Simple, Safe, Effective, And Fast Eye Floaters Treatments, by Dennis Platt

This is a very short book with only one paragraph on each page to make it look more substantial then it is. It contains no information just a tease for "do-it-yourself-medicine" and promotional links to web sites outside Amazon.  Out of curiosity, I checked one of the links to the other's site. That link (related to floaters) was invalid, I landed on his web site, and when I tried to leave the page, it kept me "captive"  generating pops and requiring extra clicks to leave the web site. Only marketing content-free web sites have such behaviors, a web site with useful content does not try to prevent visitors from leaving.

This book is too expensive (wastes your time!) even if it was free.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link. Avoid!

Ali Julia review ★☆☆☆☆

Book review: What I wish I had known about Back Surgery, by Stephen Zilioli

Wow!  I can't believe someone is actually charging for this. This is not a sample of a book.  What you get is one page which says absolutely nothing, it has less content then a bad abstract would have.  A sample is supposed to provide a reader with a good idea of the full book would be of interest. Normally a sample has some good amount of information so the reader can tell that the author has something interesting to say... It supposed to vet your appetite but not tell you everything leaving you wanting to read more...  This sample provides you nothing. All we learn that the author, like millions of us, had a back problem. I could not tell if he knows anything else about the topic if he clearly explains what he knows. I would not even call this one page an "ad" because it just does not have enough content to be an ad!  I think this publication is in the running for the worst book I ever bought on Amazon.

Ali Julia review

Book review: The Only Prescription For Healthcare Reform: A Physician's Inside Perspective of the Real Problems Plaguing the System, by Louis LoBalsamo M.D.

This book is written by a doctor and learning a viewpoint from a perspective that is different from mine is interesting. The author has first-hand experience and knowledge of what is going on behind the scenes of our medical system.  It is not a pretty picture, but it is best to be an educated consumer.

On the negative side, the book is not written by a professional writer and had no editor, so at times formatting issues made it difficult to read. I could overlook spelling errors, but I found random capitalizations as emphasis annoying. 

Despite the editorial negatives, I found the content interesting.
You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Book review: Five Deadly Sins That Can Destroy Your Home Insurance Claim by Steven Lazarus

This book is written by a British author and if you are an American reader keep in mind that laws in the US and Britain are different.  The book starts with an unappealing pitch that proclaims that the author's company can be me an insurance agent for you and provides a phone number.  It immediately made me feel that the book might be an advertising brochure, not a book.  What a bad way to start a book! Dear author, wow me with your expertize first, then try to sell me something!

The rest of the book continued in a similar matter, it talks about British insurance companies, British laws, and continues to make the case for hiring the author to handle your claims.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★☆☆☆

Book review: The Broken Window: A Lincoln Rhyme Novel, Jeffery Deaver

This is my first Lincoln Rhyme novel and I really enjoyed it.  Not only is the story and topic were interesting I really liked the main hero.  It is not often you see a handicapped main hero where his disability is not dwelled on, yet you get a pretty good idea of what his life is like as the story develops. This subject of the book is interesting and current, it centers around the identity theft.  I listened to the audio book and it was very well presented, I could not wait to hear the next portion.  I will be seeking out more Lincoln Rhyme stories.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Here are result of my research on Heffrey Deaver books:

Lincoln Rhyme Series
1. The Bone Collector (1997)
2. The Coffin Dancer (1998)
3. The Empty Chair (2000)
4. The Stone Monkey (2002)
5. The Vanished Man (2001)
6. The Twelfth Card (2005)
7. The Cold Moon (2006)
8. The Broken Window (2008)
9. The Burning Wire (2010)
9.5. A Textbook Case (2013)
10. The Kill Room (2013)
10.5. Rhymes with Prey (2014) (with John Sandford)
11. The Skin Collector (2014)
11.5. The Deliveryman (2016)
12. The Steel Kiss (2016)
13. The Burial Hour (2017)
14. The Cutting Edge (2018)

Rune Series
1. Manhattan Is My Beat (1989)
2. Death of a Blue Movie Star (1990)
3. Hard News (1991)

John Pellam Series
1. Shallow Graves (1992)
2. Bloody River Blues (1993)
3. Hell's Kitchen (2001)


Kathryn Dance Series
1. The Sleeping Doll (2007)
2. Roadside Crosses (2009)
3. XO (2012)
4. Solitude Creek (2015)

Lucas Davenport Series
1. Rhymes with Prey (2014)


Colter Shaw Series
1. Captivated (2019)
2. The Never Game (2019)


Novels
Voodoo (1988)
Always a Thief (1988)
Mistress of Justice (1992)
The Lesson of Her Death (1993)
Praying for Sleep (1993)
A Maiden's Grave (1995)
Speaking in Tongues (1995)
The Devil's Teardrop (1999)
The Blue Nowhere (2001)
Garden of Beasts (2004)
The Bodies Left Behind (2008)
Edge (2010)
No Rest for the Dead (2011)
The October List (2012)

Book review: The Holy Grail of Book Publishing by The Holy Grail of Book Publishing

The content of this book is very similar to the other book by Emmanuel "Mimi's Book Launch Plan: How to launch your ebook easy-peasy". This book covers similar material in the same style - it has useful information hidden in verbose repetitive prose. The book is filled with many redundant mentions, kudos and referrals to other people who sell their advice about self-publishing (they felt like paid advertisements due to the repetitive nature of these mentions). Just like with "Easy-peasy" book the original content of the book itself is less useful then the links to the content provided by other people (free on-line information, not the paid consultants). This book has useful information but no where near as good as "Lets get digital" by David Gaughran.

The biggest lesson I learned from Emmanuel book: you can recycle the same material with a different title and slightly different angle.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★☆☆

Book review: The Murder of King Tut: The Plot to Kill the Child King by James Patterson, Martin Dugard

I thought this book was okay.  It combines three stories: the story of Howard Carter who discovered King Tut's tomb in 1920, the life of King Tut, and a little bit about James Paterson himself as he decides to write this book.  This book is actually written by Patterson (not one of his co-authors) and I like his writing style.

However, the book is best for people who don't know much about either Tut or Howard Carter.  If all you know is King Tut's name then you will enjoy this book. Otherwise, you are unlikely to discover anything new.  The book is not really a mystery where something mysterious or unknown unfolds. 


You can find this book on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★☆☆

Book review: Windows 10: The Ultimate Beginners Guide by Max Greene

Very short book. Most of the content is comparing Windows 10 to Windows 8 and improvements that appear in Windows 10. The text reads like it came from Microsoft marketing department rather then a user with practical knowledge and experience.

This book certainly should not be be called "ultimate" guide. It has very little usable information - a few tips here and there, very few screen shots, very few how tos, no work arounds for common problems. Searching the internet brought me more helpful information.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link. 

Ali Julia review ★☆☆☆☆

Book review: Preserve Your Family Pictures: How To Save Photo Heirlooms for Future Generations by Amber Richards

I got this book to help restoring some of the old pictures I inherited from a relative that passed away. This "book" is very light on content. You will find the same information at no cost by searching the internet. There is no special knowledge or insight, just common knowledge and filler material.

The book has various formatting issues, sometimes the whole paragraphs appear in title font, sometimes titles are the last line on the page. There is 2 and 3 lines between each paragraph through the book. Not sure if it was a typographical error and just a way to increase the number of pages. This is not a high quality work.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★☆☆☆☆

Book review: Applique Patterns by Donna Koepp

I did not find the content compelling. This book has a collection of mostly out-dated holiday patterns (trees, angels, snowman, poinsettia, folky birdhouses, stars, hearts). I did not think any of them were pretty, current or trendy. The applique have very simple forms and are aimed at the true beginners.

For Kindle users the patterns in the book are too small to be useful, but the author provides a web address where the usable patterns came be downloaded.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★☆☆☆

Book review: Heads You Win, Jeffrey Archer (spoiler alert)

I loved this book, it is quite unique in that it really is two different stories - two alternative lives because it could have gone either way based on the toss of a coin made in the beginning of the story.  Both stories are fascinating and kept me on the edge of the seat until the very end where I suddenly was thrown into a complete confusion "What just happened?"  Only after re-reading the last several chapters again, I saw that Jeffrey Archer did not reconcile the two stories but gave us a dual ending.

I had no trouble keeping the two stories apart up until the very end. One story tells us what happens to Alexander Karpenko when he emigrates to England, the other how he life turns out after he emigrates to United States. I was wondering through out the book how he will resolve the two lives, how will the two story lines converge. But the ending was not what I expected at all.  The book ends with a surprise and a cliff-hanger. The surprise had to be that way to make the story believable. The cliff-hanger, however, is most  unusual.  Through out the book the heros were referred by nick names of Alexander - as Alex and Sasha - where as at the very end Jeffrey Archer began referring to the hero as Alexander so the reader could not really know which one of them the author was referring to.

After I finished the book I search for various "spoilers" to help me resolve the ending, and I found that I was not alone in my confusion. I will not reveal the spoilers here, but if you search for the word "spoiler" and the book title you will find them.

And no, the unresolved ending did not make me like the book less. Quite the opposite, it left me wanting more! What a way to end the story!

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★