Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran

The Busy People's Fast and Frugal Cookbook by Dawn Hall

The Busy People's Fast and Frugal Cookbook by Dawn Hall

2009 Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Most of my friends are used to my hectic lifestyle. I have to cram 48 hours of labor into a 16 day. I have two jobs, a foster child, a small business, an active writing career and more activities than I can shake a stick at plus the normal home duties. I barely get enough time to sleep never mind spend quality time with my family. Thus I am a big fan of anything that can give me more time with my kid. Personally I love the 30 minute or less cookbooks. There are always really great recipes that are healthy (trying to get a waistline back) and easy.

This cookbook was not so much a book designed to save working people time in the kitchen but a newlywed cookbook. Most of the edible recipes in this book are common sense recipes among my friends. This book would be a great gift for a newlywed who has never been in the kitchen before but needs to feed her husband, not for a mom trying to find new ways to feed her family in less than an hour. And some of these recipes are downright ridiculous. But there are some gems in this book, recipes that my family loved and devoured and some really helpful features.

I tried a total of 15 recipes from this book, some of them successful, some of them not. Among the unsuccessful was the "Ham and Onion Cheese Rollups". No one would touch them. They tasted okay, nothing special, but the idea of eating ham and cream cheese was not delectable to either of the two vacuums living in my house. The really easy chicken soup fared much better. The "Creamy Chicken and Noodle Soup" took only 30 minutes as promised, used ingredients from my kitchen (always a plus) and was delicious. Another favorite were the crepes. I had never made crepes before but they are surprisingly easy.

This book was not much help to me. Aside from the nutritional information (check out page 2 to find out how many calories in a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich) the book is a list of recipes that most moms can cook without even thinking about . This book is not for experienced cooks.

Here is the best recipe in the book *and it only takes 15 minutes*.

Crepes

Ingredients

1/2 cup Heart Smart Bisquick reduced - fat baking mix

3/4 cup fat free skim milk

2 egg whites

Instructions

• Preheat a 6- or 8- inch nonstick skillet over high heat.
• Ina 4-cup measuring cup or mixing bowl, whisk together the baking mix, milk and egg whites.
• When the skillet is hot, spray with nonstick cooking spray. Add the crepe batter to the skillet. Lift and tilt the skillet to spread the batter. Brown on one side. The top of the crepe will be full of bubbles. Lift the crepe from the pan with a fork and place on a plate with paper towel. Watch closely, because it only takes about a minute for the crepes to cook. Place a paper towel between crepes to keep them from sticking together.

Really simple, but when paired with the filling recipes in the book, this is a really decadent and quick dessert.

The Last Queen by C.W. Gortner

The Last Queen by C.W. Gortner

2006 Ballantine Books

After reading all the Philippa Gregory books I was burned out on the whole "poor, mistreated queen with a side of crazy" genre. Honestly, every queen or almost queen or thought about being queen in history must have had a misogynistic twist in their DNA. On the whole I wasn't really excited to read THE LAST QUEEN but I had posted its book trailer so I was obligated. Long story short this was a really good book.

THE LAST QUEEN is a fictionalized biography about Juana of Castile, the last Spanish queen of Spain. She is a true individual, and for a brief time, romantic that knows what she wants and plays the right political games to obtain them. However, she has a tendency to be too trusting and allows herself to be tricked by the one person she thought she could trust; her father. To summarize: Juana marries a man , Philip of Flanders, she falls in love with and who has more political aspirations than he is entitled to. Juana becomes heir to the Spanish throne due to a series of tragedies and finds herself and her children embroiled in her husbands schemes. Now disillusioned to her husband's machinations Juana fights to preserve her throne for herself. She keeps her throne briefly and shares it with her father who decides that he wants it for himself. You can imagine the end.

I was on vacation when I started this book and surprisingly I finished it in one day. I even skipped dinner with my friend to finis the last 30 pages. This book was captivating and tragic. I knew how it was going to end and I couldn't force myself to look away from Juana's train wreck of a life. Told in the first person the reader quickly feels for Juana, wanting her to find a way to be independent in a world where that is not encouraged. I recommend this book with a caution: This is NOT the book to read if you are depressed or about to be. This book has very few feel good moments. It WILL make you cry. You have been warned.

Other Reviews:

Amazon.com Product Description:

One of history's most enigmatic women tells the haunting, passionate story of her tumultuous life. Juana of Castile is just thirteen when she witnesses the fall of Moorish Granada and uniting of the fractured kingdoms of Spain under her warrior parents, Isabel and Fernando. Intelligent and beautiful, proud of her heritage, Juana rebels against her fate when she is chosen as a bride for the Hapsburg heir - until she arrives in Flanders and comes face-to-face with the prince known as Philip the Fair, a man who will bring her the greatest of passions, and the darkest despair. One by one, tragedy decimates Juana's family in Spain. Suddenly, she finds herself heiress to Castile - a realm on the verge of chaos, prey to avaracious nobles and scheming lords bent on thwarting her rule. Juana vows to win her throne, until the betrayal of those she loves plunges her into a ruthless battle of wills - a struggle of corruption, perfidy, and heart-shattering deceit that could cost her the crown, her freedom, and her very life. From the somber majesty of Renaissance Spain to the glittering courts of Flanders, France and Tudor England, Juana of Castile reveals her life and secrets in this captivating historical novel of romance, grandeur, power and treachery by the acclaimed author of "The Secret Lion." "An exquisite evocation of a dangerous era, and of a forgotten queen." - Holly Payne, author of THE VIRGIN'S KNOT

City of Thieves by David Benioff

City of Thieves by David Benioff

2008 Penguin Group

War books always make me ask myself what I would do in certain situations. What would I do to make sure I lived to see the next day? Would I become a prostitute if others were starving to death all around me? Would I betray my friends in order to have a few peaceful moments? It is nice to believe that I would always take the high road, that I would always follow my moral compass and do what is right. But I am resolved to not lie anymore and must admit that I will do anything to survive. I would sacrifice all my beliefs to live an extra day. Lev Beniov, the main character in CITY OF THIEVES, must deal with this same issue day after day.

CITY OF THIEVES is the story of two young men trying to survive the Nazi siege of Leningrad. Lev Beniov finds himself thrown into jail with Kolya, an army deserter, and tasked with finding a dozen eggs for a Soviet colonel's daughter's wedding cake. Lev and Kolya live in a city without the most basic food supplies and trying to stave off hunger with "library candy".

"The boy sold what people called library candy, mad from tearing the covers off
books, peeling off the binding glue, boiling it down, and reforming it into bars
you could wrap in paper.The stuff tasted like wax, but there was protein in the
glue, protein kept you alive, and the city's books were disappearing like the
pigeons."

Lev and Kolya are prisoners and have to do whatever it takes to survive to see the next day.

I picked up a copy of CITY OF THIEVES because it is the book discussion choice for the state this year. We are reading it in my library book discussion group, my nephew had to read it for his summer reading assignment and there will be staged readings of some scenes at city parks this fall. Based on the blurb on the back of the book I would not have read this book. I would have put it back on the shelf and kept on moving. And I would have missed a great book. CITY OF THIEVES is one of the best books I have read and one I know I will be returning to time and again.. It is one of those books that sneak up on you, making you cry when you least expect it and finding joy in situations that in any other book would be ridiculous. This book took me the full gamut of emotions and left me emotionally drained but satisfied.

CITY OF THIEVES is a decidedly adult novel. It is not for young adults or immature adults. There is some heavy material in here that requires a lot of life experiences to fully make sense. When reading this with my nephew, who has just turned 15, I realized that the only parts he and his friends understood were the death scenes. They were not understanding the sacrifice that the characters go through because they, for the most part have not had to sacrifice anything in their lives. They condemned certain characters without understanding the situations involved. For example, there is a scene where Lev and Kolya find themselves in a Nazi run Russian brothel. Lev finds himself attracted to the healthiness of the girls, seduced by the fat elbows of a prostitue, while Kolya is repulsed and without sympathy. It is easy to hate the young girls, to be disgusted by thier new profession. It is harder, however, to put oneself in their shoes, to be a young unprotected female in a world where the people with power are the enemies and you have to follow their orders or die. Who can say which is the bet choice; a noble death or a tarnished life.

Other Reviews:
Entertainment Weekly - Screenwriter David Benioff's splendid new novel, City of Thieves, opens as a screenwriter named David, curious about his grandparents' experiences in Russia during World War II, visits the retired couple in Florida and records cassette after cassette of his grandfather's tales. Finally, wearily, the old man ends the conversation. ''A couple of things still don't make sense to me — '' Benioff persists.
''You're a writer,'' answers his grandfather. ''Make it up.''
And so, apparently, he has. Exactly how much of this novel is true, and how much imagined, matters not a whit. The surreal wartime journey of 17-year-old Lev Beniov unfolds like a crazy and vivid dream (and, at times, a nightmare), but it has the rich texture of lived experience.
The story opens in the winter of 1942 during the crushing Nazi siege of Leningrad. ''You have never been so hungry; you have never been so cold'' are Lev's first words to us. A nervous virgin with a gift for chess and a bashful crush on his cello-playing neighbor, Lev watches the corpse of a German parachutist float down from the sky, ''his silk canopy a white tulip bulb above him.'' Lev drinks the dead man's cognac, steals his knife, and is promptly nabbed by the police for looting.
Lev hasn't yet learned how to make his way in the world. But while in jail, he meets the consummate operator: Kolya, a handsome, irrepressible, Zorba-like soldier who was arrested for going AWOL from his regiment. You can tell Benioff is a screenwriter, because Lev and Kolya are a comic odd couple from a long Hollywood tradition. You're ''a bit moody, in the Jewish way, but I like you,'' Kolya announces, and thereafter treats Lev as his soul mate. For Kolya, Lev feels a combination of envy, fascination, and suspicion. The colonel holding them prisoner offers them a deal: He'll set them free if they can track down a dozen eggs for his daughter's wedding cake.
This ragtag pair hits the road, telling each other ribald stories, bantering about literature, and getting on each other's nerves. In ravaged Leningrad, they discover willing young women and charnel-house horrors, but no eggs. They venture out of the city and into the frozen countryside, where they spend the night with a cabin full of courtesans, briefly join a band of partisans, and are captured by the German army. Guns are fired, throats slashed, a love affair launched, and eventually, at a staggering price, eggs acquired. By listening carefully — and making the rest up — Benioff has produced a funny, sad, and thrilling novel. A-

City of Thieves Trailer

City of Thieves by David Benioff

I found this on YouTube and found it amusing. While I dont think the writer really understood or enjoyed the book it is not a bad review.

The Lost Days (Emily the Strange Series) by Rob Reger, Jessica Gruner illustrated by Buzz Parker and Rob Reger

Read a Book -Clean Version

This is the funniest thing I have seen in a while. One of my students forwarded this to me (didn't know they had email in the third grade) and I had to post it. Hope you enjoy it!