Monday, November 30, 2009

A Girl's Best Friend By Kristin Billerbeck


This book is like "Sex In The City" without the sex. It's about 3 best friends living in San Francisco, looking for love and dealing with all kinds of problems along the way. This book is focusing on Morgan who is the heiress to a wealthy jeweller. This is a fiction that's meant for Christian women in their 20s and early 30s.

For those of you who don't believe in God and don't have an open mind towards others' faith, you will find this book annoying. I have no problem reading the heorine quoting from the Bible and talking about God a lot. I find the book rather funny cause the characters all have good sense of humor, just like the girls in "Sex in the City". It's good to see that there are still fictions out there that promote good traditional values in love, family and relationships. It's good to see that there are still fictions out there that entertain with healthy humor and not casual or twisted sexual conquests.

This book can be a lot better if the author doesn't try too hard to make Morgan look like a complete dumb blonde. (cause it's very unconvincing for someone who supposedly got a degree from Standford University Business School to be this naive, not even someone who is attending a tier-4 community college can be this naive) Also, the heorine sounds like such a fake heiress who seems to really make-up her wealthy life out of imagination rather than having grown up from one.....When a chararter's background and life experience are so unconvincing, it really hurts the story. According to the Author, having a latte everyday, going to spas regularly and carrying a Coach bag is considered to be wealthy in San Fancisco. Hmmm. I do exactly just that but I am not rich, not even remotely. I think the author needs to know more about famous designers, and more exotic places where the rich really hang , so she can make this story more logical.

Besides the mis-match of the heorine's background and the way she lives, I found the book a fast, easy and entertaining read.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

The Complete 15-Minute Gourmet: Creative Cuisine Made Fast and Fresh

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Book Description: The Complete 15-Minute Gourmet features great dishes from the best cuisines around the world that can be prepared in 15 minutes using fresh ingredients.
Whether cooking for family or for a dinner party, anyone can use fresh, flavorful ingredients and the 15-minute game plan to achieve remarkable and beautiful results with minimum effort. Designed for efficiency, these creative recipes are healthy and flavorful and include poultry, seafood, beef, pork, and vegetarian dishes. In addition to old favorites such as Modern Mom's Chicken Noodle Soup, you'll find a variety of easy-to-prepare international recipes such as Soba Noodle and Steak Salad, Greek Snapper with Feta Cheese, and Ravioli with Hazelnut and Sage Pesto. There's also a chapter on 15-minute desserts, where you'll find exquisite treats such as Chocolate-Glazed Strawberries, Limoncello Ice Cream, and Tiramisu Pronto.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

The Illustrated Quick Cook: Easy Entertaining, After-Work Recipes, Cheap Eats

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Book Description: Never has fast home cooking with fresh ingredients been more important than it is now. The pressure on the home cook is ever increasing: how can I prepare a balanced meal from scratch when I have only 30 minutes to spare, and 4 hungry mouths to feed? I want to make something from scratch for one, but will it be simple enough? Every minute counts-I've got unexpected guests tonight, what can I whip up quick, that won't disappoint? Family food is not just about fussy eaters and getting the quantities right. It's also about flexible eating-how often does everyone sit around the table together? Once a week if you're lucky! So, food that can be prepared in advance, and simple straightforward dishes, are an essential part of the equation. We've taken all of this into consideration and come up with recipes that cover every need, with speed, so you will never have to resort to the ready meals aisle in the supermarket. The Illustrated Quick Cook is not trying to change the way you eat, introduce you to obscure ingredients, or take you off the beaten track. It's there to make your life easier, from planning, through cooking, to serving. More than just recipes, The Illustrated Quick Cook offers fantastic value for the price. Extra features include: handy menu planners, recipe chooser galleries, Cheat tips, Cook's Notes, recipe variations, and practical information to introduce you to every time-saving chapter theme. With far more recipes than any of its competitors, and a picture of every finished dish, The Illustrated Quick Cook delivers fast food for every occasion.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Rose's Heavenly Cakes

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Book Description: This extraordinary collection of heavenly cake recipes from "Diva of Desserts" Rose Levy Beranbaum, the award-winning author of The Cake Bible, is an essential kitchen companion for anyone who loves to bake. Illustrated throughout with stunning full-color photography, the book's meticulously tested, easy-to-follow recipes are all you need to create spectacularly beautiful cakes in your home kitchen.
In her signature crystal-clear style, Rose takes you step-by-step through the instructions for making every type of cake imaginable—more than 100 expertly tested (and re-tested) recipes in all—while full-color photographs of every finished cake and step-by-step processes offer inspiration and clear instruction. Exceptionally delicious butter and oil cakes, sponge cakes, flourless cakes, and cheesecakes, such as Heavenly Coconut Seduction Cake, Golden Lemon Almond Cake, and Devil's Food Cake with Midnight Ganache, are perfect for birthday celebrations, coffee breaks, or everyday weeknight desserts. And Rose also includes a range of charming baby cakes such as Mud Turtle Cupcakes and divine creations like the Deep Chocolate Passion Wedding Cake that will make any special occasion more festive.
With each and every recipe step thoroughly explained in Rose¿s usual approachable style, baking with Rose's Heavenly Cakes is like having a master baker right alongside you in the kitchen. In her "Ten Golden Rules of Cake Baking," Rose provides advice on the right kind of flour to select to give your cake the perfect structure, how to fill a cake pan so that your cakes bake evenly every time, the best way to unmold a cake for a perfect finished appearance, the ideal ways to store every type of cake, and much more. The baking tips and trade secrets that she shares throughout the book will show you how to transform a simple cake batter into delicious art, with perfect results every time.
From Barcelona Brownie Bars for a simple weeknight treat to White Gold Passion Genoise for a gala event, Rose's Heavenly Cakes is the cookbook that translates the chemistry of baking into the incredible, extraordinary, and unequaled joy of cake baking.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Thanksgiving 101: Celebrate America's Favorite Holiday with America's Thanksgiving Expert


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Book Description: Every fourth Thursday of November, Americans open their homes to friends and families. But when was the last time most of us made dinner for such a big crowd? With Thanksgiving 101 by your side, preparing for the holiday will be a pleasure. With step-by-step instructions for classic Thanksgiving dishes, as well as new twists on old favorites, this book will become gravy-stained in its first outing. Whether you're looking for new ways to cook turkey; traditional trimmings, chutneys, or chowders; a vegetarian entrée; or fresh ideas for regional classics, including Cajun-or Italian-inspired tastes, Thanksgiving 101 serves up a delicious education for novice and experienced cooks alike. And cooks will turn to these dishes all year long whenever they are throwing a big party.
With foolproof recipes, detailed menu timetables, and down-to-earth advice, Thanksgiving 101 is the holiday cook's best friend.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Your Money and Your Brain: How the New Science of Neuroeconomics Can Help Make You Rich

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Book Description: What happens inside our brains when we think about money? Quite a lot, actually, and some of it isn't good for our financial health. In Your Money and Your Brain, Jason Zweig explains why smart people make stupid financial decisions -- and what they can do to avoid these mistakes. Zweig, a veteran financial journalist, draws on the latest research in neuroeconomics, a fascinating new discipline that combines psychology, neuroscience, and economics to better understand financial decision making. He shows why we often misunderstand risk and why we tend to be overconfident about our investment decisions. Your Money and Your Brain offers some radical new insights into investing and shows investors how to take control of the battlefield between reason and emotion.
Your Money and Your Brain is as entertaining as it is enlightening. In the course of his research, Zweig visited leading neuroscience laboratories and subjected himself to numerous experiments. He blends anecdotes from these experiences with stories about investing mistakes, including confessions of stupidity from some highly successful people. Then he draws lessons and offers original practical steps that investors can take to make wiser decisions.
Anyone who has ever looked back on a financial decision and said, "How could I have been so stupid?" will benefit from reading this book.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

The Pleasures of Cooking for One

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Book Description: From the legendary editor of some of the world’s greatest cooks—including Julia Child and James Beard—a passionate and practical book about the joys of cooking for one.

Here, in convincing fashion, Judith Jones demonstrates that cooking for yourself presents unparalleled possibilities for both pleasure and experimentation: you can utilize whatever ingredients appeal, using farmers’ markets and specialty shops to enrich your palate and improve your health; you can feel free to fail, since a meal for one doesn’t have to be perfect; and you can use leftovers to innovate—in the course of a week, the remains of beef bourguignon might be reimagined as a ragù, pork tenderloin may become a stir-fry, a cup or two of wild rice produces both a refreshing pilaf and a rich pancake, and red snapper can be reinvented as a summery salad. It’s a fulfilling and immensely economical process, one perfectly suited for our times—although, as Jones points out, cooking for one also means we can occasionally indulge ourselves in a favorite treat.

Throughout, Jones is both our instructor and our mentor, suggesting basic recipes—such as tomato sauce, preserved lemons, pesto, and homemade stock—that all cooks should have on hand; teaching us how to improvise using an ingenious strategy of building meals through the week; and supplying us with a lifetime’s worth of tips and shortcuts. From Child’s advice for buying fresh meat to Beard’s challenge to beginning crêpe-makers and Lidia Bastianich’s tips for cooking perfectly sauced pasta, Jones’s book presents a wealth of acquired knowledge from our finest cooks.

The Pleasures of Cooking for One is a vibrant, wise celebration of food and enjoying our own company from one of our most treasured cooking experts.

Monday, November 23, 2009

So Easy: Luscious, Healthy Recipes for Every Meal of the Week

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Book Description: A New York Times' bestselling author's guide to quick and healthy everyday meals
As weekly host of the Food Network's Healthy Appetite, Ellie Krieger is known for creating light and healthy dishes that taste great and are easy enough for the busiest people to prepare. Now, Ellie has put together a collection of meal solutions for those of us who love food and want to eat well but struggle to make it happen given life's hectic pace. With 150 delicious, easy-to-prepare, fortifying recipes, Ellie provides dishes that tackle every possible mealtime situation. Illustrated with 50 full-color photos, there are recipes for:
Grab-and-go breakfasts for hectic days, as well as easy breakfast options for more leisurely mornings
Lunches to go, each road-tested in a cooler pack, along with at-home lunches for when you have the luxury of eating in
A month's worth of different rush-hour dinners-fabulous meals you can whip up in less than thirty minutes-as well as dinners for days when you have a little more time to marinate or roast, but still want it all to be effortless
Decadent desserts, some ready in minutes, others truly worth waiting for-all easily pulled together
As a mom with a full-time job, Ellie knows how busy life is when you're juggling your family's needs. Now, you can stop stressing over whether to eat healthily or to eat fast. The recipes here-from Cheddar Apple Quesadilla, Pork Piccata with Spinach and Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Marinated Flank Steak with Blue Cheese Sauce to Chocolate-Cream Cheese Panini Bites and Fig and Ginger Truffles-are ideal, regardless of the time, or experience, you have in the kitchen.
When so much in life is complicated, isn't it nice to know that eating doesn't have to be? After making and enjoying the meals in this book, you will say along with the title, "That was SO EASY!"

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Cherries in Winter: My Family's Recipe for Hope in Hard Times


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Book Description: What is the secret to finding hope in hard times?When Suzan Colón was laid off from her dream job at a magazine during the economic downturn of 2008, she needed to cut her budget way, way back, and that meant home cooking. Her mother suggested, “Why don’t you look in Nana’s recipe folder?” In the basement, Suzan found the tattered treasure, full of handwritten and meticulously typed recipes, peppered with her grandmother Matilda’s commentary in the margins. Reading it, Suzan realized she had found something more than a collection of recipes—she had found the key to her family’s survival through hard times.Suzan began re-creating Matilda’s “sturdy food” recipes for baked pork chops and beef stew, and Aunt Nettie’s clam chowder made with clams dug up by Suzan’s grandfather Charlie in Long Island Sound. And she began uncovering the stories of her resilient family’s past. Taking inspiration from stylish, indomitable Matilda, who was the sole support of her family as a teenager during the Great Depression (and who always answered “How are you?” with “Fabulous, never better!”), and from dashing, twice-widowed Charlie, Suzan starts to approach her own crisis with a sense of wonder and gratitude. It turns out that the gift to survive and thrive through hard times had been bred in her bones all along.Cherries in Winter is an irresistible gem of a book. It makes you want to cook, it makes you want to know your own family’s stories, and, above all, it makes you feel rich no matter what.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game--And How It Got That Way


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Book Description: Philip Orbanes, master of all things Monopoliana, traces the remarkable story of the world's most famous board game, from its origins as a collegiate teaching tool in the early twentieth century through Monopoly's explosive growth in the postwar decades, to the game's current status as a fixture in homes across the globe. Along the way, Orbanes includes memorable Monopoly personality portraits, surprising Monopoly legends and lore, and an extraordinary tour of the ingenious advertising that contributed to the game's rise in popularity. This is the first and only book to cover comprehensively the origin, growth, and global reach of the game that has become a universal and everyday cultural icon.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Arlington Park: A Novel


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Book Description: Set in a moderately posh suburb of London, acclaimed British novelist Rachel Cusk's Arlington Park is a captivating exploration of how the simple act of living can become an excruciating exercise in self-deprivation, hypocrisy, and desperation. Set over the course of a single day, the novel follows a group of young mothers who feel both anger at the husbands who seemingly imprisoned them in a world of minivans and coffee klatches, and resignation about the fates they seem destined to fulfill.
While Arlington Park may deal in toddlers and tater tots, it is certainly not another generic Mommy Lit clone. Cusk is a skilled writer, and in her hands, a dreary lunch at the mall food court is transformed into "lost property, but for people." As the day progresses, we watch as Juliet chops her hair off in a small, if meaningless act of rebellion, Amanda stifles a burning desire to scream at a neighbor's kid for ruining her white sofa, Maisie blames her parents for not loving her enough while throwing her daughter's lunchbox at the kitchen wall, and Christine stuffs chicken breasts while silently cursing her husband for spending too much time getting ready for a dinner party. In each scene, the oppressiveness is almost unbearable, prompting readers to practically beg these women to flee as far and as fast as is humanely possible.

Of course, in driving her readers to the edge of frustration and outrage, Cusk succeeds in creating a novel that penetrates deeper than most. Still, after turning the last page, you might find yourself reaching for a little Mommy Lit candy to take the edge off.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

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Book Description:
Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool?
What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?
How much do parents really matter?
These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He studies the riddles of everyday life—from cheating and crime to parenting and sports—and reaches conclusions that turn conventional wisdom on its head. Freakonomics is a groundbreaking collaboration between Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, an award-winning author and journalist. They set out to explore the inner workings of a crack gang, the truth about real estate agents, the secrets of the Ku Klux Klan, and much more. Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, they show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives—how people get what they want or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Essence of Chocolate: Recipes for Baking and Cooking with Fine Chocolate


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Book Description: The first cookbook from America’s premier chocolate makers, filled with recipes, kitchen tips, and dazzling photographs
As Americans have become fascinated by chocolate, and especially high-quality chocolate, one name has risen above the rest: Scharffen Berger. Founded in 1996 by Robert Steinberg, a physician and amateur chef, and John Scharffenberger, an award-winning vintner, the company’s confections have won a following among food professionals and home cooks alike. Now, in their first cookbook, the duo shares their passion with the world.
The Essence of Chocolate features more than one hundred spectacular -- and often simple -- recipes drawn from the Scharffen Berger files and from two dozen top pastry chefs. It is divided into three sections: "Intensely Chocolate," which includes such decadent treats as That Chocolate Cake, in which the sumptuous flavor of chocolate is the star; "Essentially Chocolate," with lighter chocolate desserts like White Velvet Cake with Milk Chocolate Ganache or Brown Butter Blondies; and "A Hint of Chocolate," with recipes that use chocolate’s spicier qualities to their best effect, like Vegetarian Chili and John’s Cocoa Rub. And all will work magnificently with any high-quality chocolate. Filled with helpful tips, sumptuous photographs, and the story of how chocolate is really made, here is a book that is every bit as seductive as its subject.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Ace of Cakes: Inside the World of Charm City Cakes By Duff Goldman


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Book Description: When Duff Goldman, Food Network's "Ace of Cakes," envisioned Charm City Cakes in Baltimore nearly a decade ago, his goal was to make wonderful cakes for friends and family. As word spread about his fabulous creations, his dream grew into a nationally renowned business staffed by a team of talented professionals, including musicians, artists, and creative souls with experience in architectural modeling, graphic design, deejaying, coffee making, performance art, dog walking, sculpture, painting and more.
Aces of Cakes: Inside the World of Charm City Cakes is a celebration of the bakery that started it all. This colorful scrapbook is loaded with stories about Duff's early days as a graffiti artist turned young chef, his successes and hilarious disasters, and the amazing team he built step-by-step. Through candid interviews and profiles and hundreds of photographs, illustrations, and collages, the book shows how energy, inspiration, collaboration, and a bit of luck can conspire to help anyone achieve their creative vision.
Of course, at the center of this stunning book are Charm City's Cakes. From the simple to the breathtakingly complex, Duff shows off some of the bakery's more unusual techniques and tools that shape their famous creations. He also offers a behind-the-scenes look at his Food Network show, shares his most incredible customer stories and requests, and reveals some of the bakery's favorite cake facts and tips--along with a comprehensive episode guide and a monster cake montage featuring seven years' worth of the bakery's astonishing cake creations.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

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Book Description: From two of our most fiercely moral voices, a passionate call to arms against our era’s most pervasive human rights violation: the oppression of women and girls in the developing world.With Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn as our guides, we undertake an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the extraordinary women struggling there, among them a Cambodian teenager sold into sex slavery and an Ethiopian woman who suffered devastating injuries in childbirth. Drawing on the breadth of their combined reporting experience, Kristof and WuDunn depict our world with anger, sadness, clarity, and, ultimately, hope.They show how a little help can transform the lives of women and girls abroad. That Cambodian girl eventually escaped from her brothel and, with assistance from an aid group, built a thriving retail business that supports her family. The Ethiopian woman had her injuries repaired and in time became a surgeon. A Zimbabwean mother of five, counseled to return to school, earned her doctorate and became an expert on AIDS.Through these stories, Kristof and WuDunn help us see that the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women’s potential. They make clear how so many people have helped to do just that, and how we can each do our part. Throughout much of the world, the greatest unexploited economic resource is the female half of the population. Countries such as China have prospered precisely because they emancipated women and brought them into the formal economy. Unleashing that process globally is not only the right thing to do; it’s also the best strategy for fighting poverty.Deeply felt, pragmatic, and inspirational, Half the Sky is essential reading for every global citizen.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Under the Dome: A Novel by Stephen King


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Book Description: On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester's Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener's hand is severed as "the dome" comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when -- or if -- it will go away.
Dale Barbara, Iraq vet and now a short-order cook, finds himself teamed with a few intrepid citizens -- town newspaper owner Julia Shumway, a physician's assistant at the hospital, a select-woman, and three brave kids. Against them stands Big Jim Rennie, a politician who will stop at nothing -- even murder -- to hold the reins of power, and his son, who is keeping a horrible secret in a dark pantry. But their main adversary is the Dome itself. Because time isn't just short. It's running out.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

A Death In The Family - By James Agee

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Book Description: Published in 1957, two years after its author's death at the age of forty-five, A Death in the Family remains a near-perfect work of art, an autobiographical novel that contains one of the most evocative depictions of loss and grief ever written. As Jay Follet hurries back to his home in Knoxville, Tennessee, he is killed in a car accident-a tragedy that destroys not only a life, but also the domestic happiness and contentment of a young family. A novel of great courage, lyric force, and powerful emotion, A Death in the Family is a masterpiece of American literature.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Wonder Boys: A Novel By Michael Chabon

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Book Description: A modern classic, now in a welcome new edition, Wonder Boys firmly established Michael Chabon as a force to be reckoned with in American fiction. At once a deft parody of the American fame factory and a piercing portrait of young and old desire, this novel introduces two unforgettable characters: Grady Tripp, a former publishing prodigy now lost in a fog of pot and passion and stalled in the midst of his endless second book, and Grady’s student, James Leer, a budding writer obsessed with Hollywood self-destruction and struggling with his own searching heart. All those who love Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union and his Pulitzer Prize-winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay will find the same elegant imagination, bold humor, and undeniable warmth at work in Wonder Boys.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

This Prayer Powers Up My Day

(I had taken so many things for granted... but today I realize I am so blessed to be able to walk here and see this every weekend, Redondo Beach, CA)

I came across this prayer from the book Illuminata: A Return to Prayer. I think this prayer pretty much gives us a guideline on how everyone of us should live our life in this world. We have only one life to live, whether we believe in God or not, we can be inspired to live each day to serve our great purpose, to make this world a better place:

Dear God,
I give this day to You.
May my mind stay centered on the things of spirit.
May I not be tempted to stray from love.
As I begin this day, I open to receive You.
Please enter where You already abide.
May my mind and heart be pure and true, and may I not deviate from the things of goodness.
May I see the love and innocence in all mankind, behind the masks we all wear and the illusions of this worldly plane.
I surrender to You my doings this day.
I ask only that they serve You and the healing of the world.
May I bring Your love and goodness with me, to give unto others wherever I go.
Make me the person You would have me be.
Direct my footsteps, and show me what You would have me do.
Make the world a safer, more beautiful place.
Bless all Your creatures.
Heal us all, and use me, dear Lord, that I might know the joy of being used by You.
Amen.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter


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Book Description: Born in 1937 in a port city a thousand miles north of Shanghai, Adeline Yen Mah was the youngest child of an affluent Chinese family who enjoyed rare privileges during a time of political and cultural upheaval. But wealth and position could not shield Adeline from a childhood of appalling emotional abuse at the hands of a cruel and manipulative Eurasian stepmother. Determined to survive through her enduring faith in family unity, Adeline struggled for independence as she moved from Hong Kong to England and eventually to the United States to become a physician and writer.
A compelling, painful, and ultimately triumphant story of a girl's journey into adulthood, Adeline's story is a testament to the most basic of human needs: acceptance, love, and understanding. With a powerful voice that speaks of the harsh realities of growing up female in a family and society that kept girls in emotional chains, Falling Leaves is a work of heartfelt intimacy and a rare authentic portrait of twentieth-century China.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

The Terror by Dan Simmons

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Book Description: The men on board HMS Terror have every expectation of finding the Northwest Passage. When the expedition's leader, Sir John Franklin, meets a terrible death, Captain Francis Crozier takes command and leads his surviving crewmen on a last, desperate attempt to flee south across the ice. But as another winter approaches, as scurvy and starvation grow more terrible, and as the Terror on the ice stalks them southward, Crozier and his men begin to fear there is no escape. A haunting, gripping story based on actual historical events, The Terror is a novel that will chill you to your core.

Monday, November 2, 2009

The Uncommon Reader: A Novella by Alan Bennett

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Book Description: From one of England's most celebrated writers, the author of the award-winning The History Boys, a funny and superbly observed novella about the Queen of England and the subversive power of readingWhen her corgis stray into a mobile library parked near Buckingham Palace, the Queen feels duty-bound to borrow a book. Discovering the joy of reading widely (from J. R. Ackerley, Jean Genet, and Ivy Compton-Burnett to the classics) and intelligently, she finds that her view of the world changes dramatically. Abetted in her newfound obsession by Norman, a young man from the royal kitchens, the Queen comes to question the prescribed order of the world and loses patience with the routines of her role as monarch. Her new passion for reading initially alarms the palace staff and soon leads to surprising and very funny consequences for the country at large.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Cooking Light Way to Cook: The Complete Visual Guide to Everyday Cooking

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Book Description: All foods have a place in a healthful diet We've never declared certain foods off-limits, but years ago, we avoided highfat ingredients, articularly those high in saturated fat like butter, cream, and bacon.We've since changed our methods based on scientific studies that found small amounts of higher-fat foods can be included in a nutritious diet. The keys are moderation and balance. As long as your overall diet is healthful, what you eat at one meal isn't as important as the balance of what you eat over a few days or a week. This means all foods-beef, butter, cheese, and even salt-have a place in your diet. We strive to show you how to enjoy them judiciously.Cook from a global pantry Thanks to broader availability of ingredients, the flavors of the world's cuisines are now available to home cooks, and you can learn to use them in your everyday meals. These concentrated sauces and robust herbs and spices offer ways to add flavor with minimal effort and little or no fat.Embellish convenience products We're always mindful that our readers are busier than ever, so we now include well-chosen convenience products to help speed preparation. But there are limitations for some of these products, so we'll often add fresh herbs or a sprinkling of freshly grated cheese to enhance them. That way, you reap the benefits of time-saving ingredients as well as the spark of the fresh ones. These healthy cooking principles and so many more are set to a visual backdrop of over 850 photos and hundreds of cooking tips and recipes in this insider's peek into our way to cook great food.