Tag: Review

Wha….  what’s this about?

The Game On Diet is a book written by two co-workers, Krista Vernoff and AZ Ferguson.  Krista is the Executive producer for Grey’s Anatomy and AZ is the Body-For-Life Million Dollar Champion.

The book is set up as a competition.  Through teams, points are earned each day by eating right, avoiding certain foods/beverages, and spending at least 20 minutes a day through exercise.  The teamwork aspect is an additional “kick in the pants” to get you on track and stay on track.  Heckling the other team and encouraging your own is HIGHLY recommended.

What I really like about this book is that when you read it – it is doable.  When you look at the food lists, they are all great food choices and not really restrictive.  There are also yummy healthy recipes in the book that I can’t wait to implement.  What the Game On Diet is doing is teaching you healthy habits that will in turn create – a healthier, slimmer you.

• 20 minutes a day of exercise 6 days a week is not a big commitment.  Take a walk, a bike ride, run stairs…

• 7 hours a sleep a night or lose points?  BEAUTIFUL – I love this!
• Avoid pop…. even diet.
  
• Avoid fried foods and high fat foods
• Avoid white sugar
• limit breads
• You eat five meals a day (WHAT?)  yes – five
• One day off a week (ooh, I like that!)
• Dropping bad habits (this is worth points!)
• Implementing new good habits (also worth points!)
  

While much of this is “back to the basics” stuff, I still read this book and found myself getting excited about actually doing this.  The accountability is huge for me and the goal is one I have been trying to reach on my own for months now and failed – two steps forward…. three steps (and perhaps some ice cream) back).

What Krista and AZ have written here works because it reads like a game.  It is a game…. and with friends, co workers, and in my case, fellow bloggers – you all work together for the same goal.

Ok – confession time.  Here is why I want to play.  A year ago I was a calorie burning machine.  I ate well, portion control, worked out and managed my health well.  Maybe – too well.  I love love LOVE to eat and there really are not too many foods that I do not like.  Over the winter I slowly got away from my healthy habits and I am saddened to say – have lost my “muchness” for staying at the fitness level that I know is right for my body type.

The opportunity here for me is that I tend to over achieve.  I set my mind on something and I will be counting calories down to the blueberry.  I am discouraged if we are invited out to eat with friends because I do not have control over every thing in my food.  This is where I start to fail.  I can maintain my strictness for so long (months!)and then I cave in to cravings…  I know because I have lost the weight time and again and about a year or so later it creeps back.  I go too far.  Again and again.

For those of you who read my blog know I work out frequently and lead an active life.  That part I handle pretty well and thank goodness because man I do like good food!  😀  What I like about what is presented here is that it is not calorie strict, it teaches portion control.  You are encouraged to eat 5 meals a day, keeping them between 2-4 hours apart but never more than four hours.  Training yourself to eat this way will eliminate that need we (and by we, I mean I) have to snack throughout the mid afternoon or late evening (both trigger times for me).

Twelve bloggers have joined together to do this one month program starting August 1.  On August 1, I will step on my scale (*gulp*) for the first time in 2010.  I am going to do this, and I am going to do it right.

My goal?  Getting back into good eating habits, retraining myself to drop the snacking habits I seem to fall into and to get back into my favorite pants without passing out.

Ok… that was awkward. BUT, I think if I post the picture… tell the truth in what I am trying to do to the world, I am more likely to succeed.  *Deep breath*

I will post weekly my progress.  I have to share it with the others and turn in my points weekly to them, so I may as well share it with you as well.  One month.  That’s all it is.  If it is everything I am hoping it will be – I will continue beyond the month.

You can check out the Game On Diet here on-line.  I purchased my copy of the book from Amazon.

*Once I get started I am going to have a widget for the Game On Diet on my upper side bar so you can follow along on my progress if you so choose.  I will use that as an online diary of where I am at.

You can link to my Game On Diet Journal here (this is where I will rant and hopefully rave as I do this diet in August with 12 other bloggers.

I Purchased at Amazon

Nick Schuyler loved hanging out with his friends.  Having known each other since high school, Nick, Will Bleakley, Marquis Cooper, and Corey Smith, liked to get together when they could.

One weekend, the guys decided to do a day fishing trip.  This was supposed to be a day of friendships and fun as the four guys left on Coopers 21 foot boat and anchored 70 miles out.  As the afternoon went on, the weather took a turn for the worse, and the guys decided it was time to pack up and head into shore.

When the anchor seemed to be caught on something, the  boaters thought if they tied the anchor to the back of the boat and then hit the throttle the anchor should work its way free.  Instead, this move caused the boat to capsize.  All four of the men went into the water.

40+ hours only one man came out.

This would make for a sad, emotionally charged, fiction read.  However, this book is not fiction.  Nick Schuyler was the one survivor of this horrifying accident.  What ‘Not Without Hope’ is about, is the retelling of the details of what happened that day, and the hours to follow as the 4 men awaited, and prayed, for rescue.

Of course, this is a hard review to write.  My heart is heavy as I type these words.  I finished this book late last night and knew I had to share this review while the book is still so fresh in my mind.

Nick starts this book with the background of himself and his friends.  Nick was at the time, a twenty-four year old personal trainer.  His friends Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith were both NFL payers and Will Bleakley, Nick’s best friend, once played football for the University of South Florida.

What happened from the time the boat capsized until the time of rescue is the majority of the book.  Nick shares in great detail what he recalls as each of his friend fought against hypothermia in the frigid waters, battling the salt water in their mouths and on the cuts on their bodies from struggling to keep a hold of the overturned boat.

As each of Nick’s friends loses their lives in this battle against the elements, I cry.  I grieve.  I can not even fathom what it had to be like to watch your friends take their last breath, say their last words, and then disappear below the deep waters.

A powerful book that I understand comes with controversy.  Nick himself is all too aware of the rumors that circulated about what happened that day.  From the articles I have read as a followup to this book, the proceeds of this book are going to charities.  Nick’s father is quoted to say that “This year since the accident has left Nick in a state of depression.  Nick has not even talked to his own family about all the details of what happened that day.” Nick’s father believes that the book was a way for Nick to express to everyone all at once what had happened.

A hard book to read, but one I am glad I did.  I pray for peace for the families and all involved.

Links:

NFL players on fishing trip, missing

Families of missing men start their own search

I borrowed this book from my local library

Ansley has it all – the looks, the money… and the guy.  Parish is a catch and a wonderful match for Ansley as they prepare for their wedding day.  As the big day draws closer Parish starts to notice that maybe his bride to be isn’t all that he had hoped.  While Ansley is beautiful on the outside, he starts to see she is not on the inside.  Parish starts to notice how Ansley treats caterers and other workers when she thinks he is not around.  And he starts to notice how she back stabs her friends, smiling to their face and cutting them down as soon as they walk away with comments on their weight, or hair, or inability to keep a man.   Taking all this in, Parish calls the wedding off and tells Ansley that she will be right for someone – but he is not that someone.

Ansley, on her own, devastated and embarrassed decides to move to New York and live with the grandmother she has really never known other than through the pages of the cherished family cook book.

I really enjoyed the baking connecting  to family in this book.  The family cook book referred to in the book was started in 1853.  The ancestor, Marille, who created the book filled it with 200 pages for family to add recipes.  To do this there were rules:

1. The book was to be passed from mother to the daughter who cooked the most.  I f there were no daughters than the granddaughters
2. Three people must agree a recipe is fit to be in the book, usually a grandmother, mother, and daughter were the voting parties.  if the daughter was too young, the cook waited until she was old enough to vote.  If there was no daughter, another female relative could be substituted.
3. Never let anyone borrow the book.

This I really liked as well as the cupcake recipes that sprinkle throughout the pages with names that fit with what was happening in the book.

While Ansley  starts out as this mean and rude character, once she moves you just don’t ever see that side of her again.  In fact, she is extremely nice to everyone.  I found this a bit confusing. The ending left me with many questions.  I don’t want to go into great explanation as I have seen many people have really enjoyed this book, and rightfully so – there is much to like about the book.  For me, the recipes made the book one I will turn to again.  I wished I would have had time to whip up a batch of a couple that really caught my eye, but another time.

If you have read or reviewed this book, please let me know.  I would love to hear your thoughts.

Book Journey’s 2010 map has been updated to include Icing On The Cupcake

When in New York, use this coffee map to find the coffee shops worthy of a stop (they may have cupcakes too!)

Cover Story:  In a word:  delicious.  This is totally a cover that would call me to it.

I received my copy of this book form the author, Jennifer Ross

Accidental Adult (n):  an individual whose age indicates maturity, but who’s approach to life suggests otherwise.

The carefree days of post college life has passed and now money is used for mortgage payments and dance recitals.  The mixed tapes that used to blast out of your two-door coupe went the same way as the car – traded in for a mini van.

If life is supposed to be a trip – author Colin Sokolowski thinks it should be a road trip.

So one may ask how I stumbled on to this book.   Colin Sokolowski (who just happens to be a Minnesota author!) emailed me this message:

Dear Sheila,
Your Gilmore Girls hero Lorelai is an accidental adult, and I’m betting you are too.

Well…. what was that about?  Certainly bike riding, rollerblading, paint ball tournaments, coveting a trip to the Harry Potter World in Universal Studios, and going to a late night showing of Eclipse couldn’t possibly put me in that category….

could it?

After reading up a bit on Colin Sokolowsi and his book I responded with this email:

Hmmm…. Colin you drink decaf so I just don’t know if I can commit….

But – curiosity got the best of me…. what could be in that book? I said yes, and Colin did send me a copy of his book Accidental Adult.

Collin writes a funny look on attempts at adulthood when really all you want to do is put on your foam finger, paint your face and be in the front row of your favorite sporting event.   Mainly from a guy’s perspective…. because ummm…. he is a guy –  Colin shares advice such as:

Spending quality time with your friends family endears you to the spouse.  Remember her?  She is the gatekeeper who determines if your buddy can meet you at Rib Fest again this summer.

And work related advice:

Never walk down a hallway without a bulging overstuffed folder under your arm.  Carrying papers with you at all times tells your colleagues “I’m on my way to an important meeting with my thoughtful analysis and comprehensive response to resolve the crisis.”…

of course, Colin continues this paragraph with “be careful not to bump into coworker coming around the corner.  Your scattered papers now reveal that your aimless walk around the office is actually football stats, draft pics and trade requests from your Fantasy Football League.”

page 37 The Accidental Adult

I found the book to  be humorous.  I enjoyed the “to do” and “not to do” lists that fell under the different headings of Parenting, Entertaining, Home Improvements…

Jury Duty Selection

Judge:  Do you watch television shows like CSI or Law and Order?

Colin’s inner monologue:  Nope, but I watch LOST where the castaways mete out their own warped brand if island justice.  Does that count?

The Accidental Adult is a look from a guy’s perspective of how to be an adult – without fully crossing over into adulthood.  Author Collin Sokolowski gives a humorous look into his own life (married with children) and how he makes it day-to-day in an adult world when he is reluctant to trade in his 80’s band t-shirts (or his KISS the cook apron featuring the group KISS) for a jacket and tie.

I found Colin’s approach to entertaining, parenting, home improvements, and more, quite funny.  This would be a great gift for the guy just out of college or starting his own trek into the world of reluctant adulthood.  I enjoyed this read that made me laugh.

My Amazon Rating

Book Journey has updated the 2010 map to include The Accidental Adult

When in Minnesota, in Colin’s stomping grounds, be sure to stop at Kopplin’s Coffee for your fresh brew and a look at the Minneapolis Tribune

223 pages

Cover Story:  I like it – it’s very “guy like” and I can see that it would be appealing.

** Note this book has some adult language (or maybe I should say, accidental adult language)

I received my copy of this book from author Colin Sokolowski

Meet Jill.  She does ok for a single mom.  She works from home answering phone calls for a company called Great Girl Friend Getaways, and teaches a weekly class  called Lunch Around The World at the Community Center.  It may not be all glamorous, but hey – it’s a living and one that keeps Jill and her ten-year old daughter Anastasia in left overs from class, and a roof over their head.

So why, why, WHY, is it that just as Jill is thinking she may have met someone interesting….  enter stage left (because it certainly isn’t right!) her ex-husband Seth.  It’s been seven years of struggling to make it on her own and now he is back, smug and feeling that he can now take on his parental duties and mosey right back into the household.  Instant family.  Just add Seth.  No hard feelings right?

Right???

♦     ♦     ♦     ♦     ♦

Before I get into review mode…. let me share with you how this book happened to get into my hot little hands in the matter of 30 minutes from knowing it existed to reading.  I had been reading right along this past weekend and while what I was reading was good…. it wasn’t holding me.  It was gorgeous outside and my mind kept wandering off the pages.  I needed literature substance, but I needed something….. else.

I took a break to check out some of the blogs I like to haunt frequent, when I popped into Vicki’s Reading At The Beach (with a blog title like that how could I go wrong?) and read her review of Seven Year Switch.  I knew then as I popped from Vicki’s blog to this bright sunny looking authors site with a smiley Claire Cook on it that this was the book I wanted to read.  (Oh tell me I am not the only one that happens too…)

So I jumped on my cell phone and speed dialed my local book store.  (Ok not speed dialed but that would have been funny and come to think of it they SHOULD be under speed dial!).  They had the book in stock, yes, but only one copy.  I asked them to hold it and I would be there in 15 minutes.

30 minutes later I am home with book, take out pizza, and ice-cold diet Pepsi.  I am ready to read.

I was not disappointed.  From the start Claire Cook’s book of fun and real characters hopped into my heart.  I appreciated that it was not only a fun enjoyable read, but I was also pleasantly surprised with the little things I learned along the way.  While Jill was teaching her Lunch Around The World Class she spilled this little gem for my brain:

“Yum cha is one of the best ways to experience this,” I continued.  “literally, yum cha means ‘drinking tea’, but it actually encompasses both the tea drinking and the eating of dim sum, a wide range of light dishes served in small portions.”

“Dim sum has many translations: ‘small eats’ of course but also ‘hearts delight’….”

And there was plenty more from where that came from…. from Jill’s classes to her phone conversations with potential Great Girlfriend Getaways customers – I picked up on tips about food, traditions, and the countries themselves.

The food and learning of the places centered around the food was such an interesting part of the book that by the time I got to Hawaii, and Jill listed out the ingredients to make Huli Huli chicken…. I was right on that and the book and I went to the grocery store to pick up the ginger I would need and the frozen pineapple juice.

You will enjoy Jill’s daughter Anastasia  with her diary entries (oh I remember my diary when I was that age!) and her sweet spelling word sentences.  Author Claire Cook had really breathed life into this little character with a big heart.

The book was fun and the characters caused me to laugh (read the book I think we all have a Cynthia in our life….).  I knew I wanted to read more of Claire Cook’s work as apparently I was under some sort of rock and had missed this author who writes books that I want to take to my deck, pop my feet up on the chair arm and read read read!

I chatted a bit with author Claire Cook over the past couple of days like a crazed book groupie and either from fear, or from the kindness of her heart (I believe the latter…) she agreed to hang out with me here and chat about her book, her coffee preference, and whatever else two chicks who love books chat about!  AND this is all happening yet today so make a mental note to come back and not miss this fun event!  😀

For all you know I may just be a raving lunatic so here are a couple wonderful bloggers I know who have agreed to share their thoughts on this book with all of you as well.  Please visit them and see their thoughts on Seven Year Switch as well.

Reading At The Beach

Sharon’s Garden Of Book Reviews

Amazon Rating

Book Journey’s 2010 reading map has been updated to include Seven Year Switch

Since Jill found a fun getaway in Costa Rica, certainly if you go you must go on a Costa Rica Coffee Tour!

237 pages of pure fun

Cover Story:  Oh yes!  The cover was Squeeeee worthy as soon as I laid eyes on it!

Bonus…. The Recipe For Huli Huli Chicken

This is from page 79 of the book and while Jill did not give exact measurements I just kind of went with it and it turned out DELICIOUS!  (Ask my hubby – he was munching on Huli Huli all evening long)!

One fresh pineapple cut into bite size chunks

cut up bite size chunks of uncooked chicken breast ( I used 4 pounds for my recipe)

chicken broth (I bought a big can but only used 2/3, probably could have used 2 small cans)

1 can frozen pineapple juice concentrate

soy sauce

ketchup

Worcestershire Sauce

chopped ginger (I found a little jar in the produce department already chopped fine)

Mix in large bow.  The book does not give exact amounts, it says “nothing from Hawaii was every fussy so I guessed on the amounts.”

So did I….. I just added until I liked the taste of the sauce.  Put the cut up chunks of chicken into the sauce, cover bowl and refrigerate.  I refrigerated 6 hours.  Then put chicken on skewers that have been soaked in water so as not to burn, and alternate between chicken and pineapple.  Grill and serve.

I purchased this book from Bookworld in Brainerd, MN.

It is the point where the Taliban have moved away from the street’s of Kabul, but so much of what they had done remains.  The streets are still a place of possible danger with car bombings and shootings and young children like Fawad have seen a lifetime of violence before even reaching their tenth birthday.  Fawad now lives with his mother alone.  His father and brother have been killed and his sister had been abducted during a house raid years before.

Things start to look up when Fawad’s mother Mariya, finds work as a housekeeper for a modern western woman named Georgia, and her two foreign friends.  This moves Fawad out of his bitter aunts home and into a whole new world as he learns about aid workers and journalists.  As Fawad learns through some humorous western ways and worries for Georgie and her relationship with the powerful Afghan warlord Haji Khan, he grows in his knowledge of the world and the people in it, bringing a new hope and faith to his life.

My name is Fawad, and my mother tells me I was born under the shadow of the Taliban.

Because she said no more, I imagined her stepping out of the sunshine and into the dark, crouching in a corner to protect the stomach that was hiding me, while a man with a stick watched over us, ready to beat me into the world.

This is the opening paragraph of Born Under A Million Shadows.  I breathed in the words and rushed on with anticipation almost feeling the heat of Afghanistan fall over me.  I was so ready for this  novel to take me in much like Kite Runner did – I could imagine where the plot would go….

and I was wrong.

As author Andrea Busfield would say, “This is not another Kite Runner.”

I discovered this quickly as I read along and found that Andrea had a witty and  biting sense of humor, and she showed it through the character of Fawad.

“He’s a charmer,” my mother admitted as we talked about Georgie’s friendship.  “He could talk the birds from the trees that man.”

“Shir Ahmand talks to the dogs in the street,” I offered.

“It’s not quite the same thing,” she replied.

“What do you mean then?”

“You’ll find out soon enough Fawad, because if I am not mistaken you’ve got the same gift – although right now you only seem capable of talking the hind legs off a donkey.  But it’ll come son, it’ll come.”

And my mother went back to her chores, leaving me to think about my future talent and my current, previously unknown, ability to cripple donkeys.

The story is told in Fawad’s voice and I enjoyed seeing how strange he found westerners ways.  The book finds Fawad at a very curious age.  He is not a little boy any more, and he is not yet a man.  His feelings of how the westerners dress amused me.  His concern for their souls was a constant throughout the book.

Not expecting the humor, at first I wasn’t sure that I liked it in a book about Afghanistan…. but despite my first thoughts, I found out soon I could not help but smile and fall in love with the words.   Funny, witty, intelligent, I learned things in this book about the Taliban, the culture, the country, that I had not before known.  It took no time at all for me to have trouble putting the book down as it followed my from house, to deck, to car, to gym….

Overall, I came to the end of this book impressed with a well written story that covered the realities of Afghanistan and the children who live there, but not in a heavy manner.  This is not Kite Runner, but it is its own self standing book.  Andrea Busfield comes across to me as an author I will watch for to see what she writes next.

Author Andrea Busfield is a British journalist who traveled to Afghanistan to cover the fall of the Taliban in 2001.   Watch for my author chat with Andrea Busfield coming later today!

Amazon Rating

Book Journey has updated the 2010 reading Map to include born under a million shadows

286 pages

Years of war have left many Afghanistan children mentally and physically scarred.  Many parents have been killed or disabled.  In some cases whole families have been displaced.  To make a difference to an Afghan child, please visit this site that Andrea recommends:  www.aschiana.com

Cover story:  It is a perfect cover – a young boy running and looking back – speaks to me just like the book itself.

Note:  there is some crude language in the book, mainly used by the young boys.  I felt it was more cultural than offensive.

I borrowed this copy of the book from our local library

I first heard of this book at Laughing Stars Blog

Anna is turning 15 and has an amazing life.  She lives next door to her two best friends, Frankie, who is the same age as Anna, and  Frankie’s older brother Matt.  Matt is 17 and Anna’s best-friend-who-is-a-boy.  As she blows out her birthday candles she makes her wish…  the same wish she has made since Frankie and her were ten and Matt was twelve.  Anna wishes Matt loved her the way she loves him.

This year, Anna’s wish comes true and Matt finally kisses her, and shares that he too has feelings for her.  BLISS!   Matt asks Anna to let him tell Frankie as they are all so close.   And Anna, filled with warm butterflies and a swelling heart agrees to keep it a secret until Matt tells Frankie.

When tragedy strikes, Anna is left holding on to the secret that never had a chance to be told as well as a fragile version of her best friend Frankie.

A year passes…. and Anna is invited to go to California, with Frankie and her family, to spend a few weeks where Frankie’s family vacationed every year.   The exception being, that this year will be the first without Matt.  As summer starts to move its way across the sky, Anna finds herself torn between old ghosts, and new possibilities, the best friend she once knew, and the stranger Frankie seems to have become…

♥         ♥         ♥         ♥         ♥         ♥         ♥         ♥

I seem to be on a YA kick.  I know partially it is the time of the year…. it’s summer and summer calls me to  light, summery feeling reads, and this book was a perfect fit.  It was beyond what I thought it would be and when I finished it I knew it was totally “gush worthy.”

There are so many things I liked about this book.  Anna, Frankie, Matt – all likable well-developed characters that I had no trouble at all picturing as real flesh and blood teens.  I liked Anna a lot.  She was a wonderful girl who did her best to hold on to Frankie as Frankie tried to move on from her brother’s death, having no idea the pain and the secret that Anna was clinging to.

And for Anna – how do you move on from the ghost of a …… she wasn’t even sure what Matt was to her.  Boyfriend?

Author Sarah Ockler writes a compelling read that made me feel all the highly intense emotions of the characters.  When love is so fresh and new you actually can feel it in the air like electricity…. and when pain hits like a flash of white light – it is so powerful it takes your breath away and leaves you grasping at whispers of memories….

“Anna, what’s the number one coolest thing you’ve ever seen in your life?”

‘What’s yours?”

“It’s always been the ocean but I’m thinking about changing my answer.”

Twenty Boy Summer made my heart ache.  I would have never guessed that this was a debut authors book.  Beautifully written, sweet and touching – it will remind you of teenage years, warm beaches, best friends, and first love…  at least it did for me.  ♥

*Note:  Twenty Boy Summer does have some sexual content

My Amazon Rating

Book Journey’s reading map has been updated to include Twenty Boy Summer

If you are in the area to visit Anna and Frankie at Zanzibar Bay you should stop for coffee (or smoothies) at Zanzibar Cafe

290 pages

Cover Story:  Love it – instantly curious about the red piece!  (And later, loved how the red piece played into the story!

I purchased this book in New York at the Author Carnival Event