Category: Goodreads Reviews

author: Beth Hensperger
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2011/01/17
date added: 2011/01/18
shelves: cookbook, wishlist
review:
Didn’t get a chance to make too much from this. My one quibble just from skimming recipes is that most of them fall into 6 hours or so (many quite a bit less) of cooking, which doesn’t work for me on weekdays. That, and if I’m using the slow cooker, it means I’m feeling LAZY (and/or are trying to cook before work), so I can’t handle a whole lot of pre-prep.

All that said, I made chili, and it was DELICIOUS. Also appreciated the tip of "poaching" frozen chicken for use later. (Would cook a little less time (was almost overdone at 6 hours), maybe add some Johnny’s Seasoning Salt to the broth.)

Definitely want to get my own copy to try out more recipes.

author: Beth Hensperger
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2011/01/17
date added: 2011/01/18
shelves: cookbook, wishlist
review:
Didn’t get a chance to make too much from this. My one quibble just from skimming recipes is that most of them fall into 6 hours or so (many quite a bit less) of cooking, which doesn’t work for me on weekdays. That, and if I’m using the slow cooker, it means I’m feeling LAZY (and/or are trying to cook before work), so I can’t handle a whole lot of pre-prep.

All that said, I made chili, and it was DELICIOUS. Also appreciated the tip of “poaching” frozen chicken for use later. (Would cook a little less time (was almost overdone at 6 hours), maybe add some Johnny’s Seasoning Salt to the broth.)

Definitely want to get my own copy to try out more recipes.

author: Ben Bova
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at: 2011/01/17
date added: 2011/01/18
shelves: fiction, sci-fi
review:
Thoroughly entertaining adventure story. (He tries to tackle gender & beauty issues in the interplay between a female viewpoint character and the other main female character, and it sorta works, although jeez, can the descriptions of OMG TEH HOTNESS of the secondary character. Passes the Bechtel test too, IIRC.) Looking forward to reading #2, which I suppose says something.

author: Ben Bova
name: Elaine
average rating: 0.0
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at: 2011/01/17
date added: 2011/01/18
shelves: fiction, sci-fi
review:
Thoroughly entertaining adventure story. (He tries to tackle gender & beauty issues in the interplay between a female viewpoint character and the other main female character, and it sorta works, although jeez, can the descriptions of OMG TEH HOTNESS of the secondary character. Passes the Bechtel test too, IIRC.) Looking forward to reading #2, which I suppose says something.

author: James L. Swanson
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2011/01/13
date added: 2011/01/18
shelves: biography, ebook, history, non-fiction
review:
Fascinating coverage of a part of the Civil War that I’d never really thought about: the immediate aftermath of Lee’s surrender and Lincoln’s assassination. In particular, I was intrigued by the slow unwinding of the end of the Confederacy: Davis’s hopes to keep going, the surrenders of the various armies, the insistence of his associates that Davis either flee the country or try to keep the Confederacy going in Texas. (!!!)

What bugged me, ultimately, was the entirely sympathetic treatment of Davis and the Confederacy, which just made me madder and madder in the last portion of the book. Davis lived to be a VERY old man, ultimately receiving the adulation of Southerners as the exemplar of the Lost Cause. And good grief…in a lot of ways (IMHO) the Lost Cause is one of the root causes of the mess of modern American politics. So cue gnashing of teeth trying to read the last chapter in particular.

author: James L. Swanson
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2011/01/13
date added: 2011/01/18
shelves: biography, ebook, history, non-fiction
review:
Fascinating coverage of a part of the Civil War that I’d never really thought about: the immediate aftermath of Lee’s surrender and Lincoln’s assassination. In particular, I was intrigued by the slow unwinding of the end of the Confederacy: Davis’s hopes to keep going, the surrenders of the various armies, the insistence of his associates that Davis either flee the country or try to keep the Confederacy going in Texas. (!!!)

What bugged me, ultimately, was the entirely sympathetic treatment of Davis and the Confederacy, which just made me madder and madder in the last portion of the book. Davis lived to be a VERY old man, ultimately receiving the adulation of Southerners as the exemplar of the Lost Cause. And good grief…in a lot of ways (IMHO) the Lost Cause is one of the root causes of the mess of modern American politics. So cue gnashing of teeth trying to read the last chapter in particular.

author: Will Bunch
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2011/01/07
date added: 2011/01/10
shelves: ebook, media, non-fiction, politics
review:
One of the few nonfiction ebooks at the library that sounded interesting and was also available for checkout. I’m a little torn: some of it was LOLTEAPARTY, but then the last chapter argued that mocking them was a bad idea. And personally, quite a bit was familiar from the last year or two. I will admit that I find it utterly horrifying that Glenn Beck has a book called The Overton Window. (I find him horrifying in general, though.) The second-person POV ("you") was sometimes cloying, but done reasonably well.

author: Will Bunch
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2011/01/07
date added: 2011/01/10
shelves: ebook, politics, non-fiction, media
review:
One of the few nonfiction ebooks at the library that sounded interesting and was also available for checkout. I’m a little torn: some of it was LOLTEAPARTY, but then the last chapter argued that mocking them was a bad idea. And personally, quite a bit was familiar from the last year or two. I will admit that I find it utterly horrifying that Glenn Beck has a book called The Overton Window. (I find him horrifying in general, though.) The second-person POV (“you”) was sometimes cloying, but done reasonably well.

author: Nicholas D. Kristof
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 2011/01/03
date added: 2011/01/10
shelves: ebook, gender, non-fiction, politics, psychology, sociology
review:
Thoughtful & passionate look at the condition of women throughout the "third world", seen through the lens of a few specific issues, ending with the rallying cry that the liberation of women is necessary for development & social growth. Some really horrifying/scary stuff here, but also inspiring stories.

(BTW, my first ebook read on my new phone, checked out from the library. A pretty decent reading experience, although a few lines at the bottom of the screen were occasionally cut off.)

author: Nicholas D. Kristof
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2011/01/03
date added: 2011/01/10
shelves: gender, non-fiction, sociology, psychology, politics, ebook
review:
Thoughtful & passionate look at the condition of women throughout the “third world”, seen through the lens of a few specific issues, ending with the rallying cry that the liberation of women is necessary for development & social growth. Some really horrifying/scary stuff here, but also inspiring stories.

(BTW, my first ebook read on my new phone, checked out from the library. A pretty decent reading experience, although a few lines at the bottom of the screen were occasionally cut off.)