Subjects Books - Page 11

Panic: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

A masterful account of today's money culture, showing how the underpricing of risk leads to catastrophe.

When it comes to markets, the first deadly sin is greed. Michael Lewis is our jungle guide through five of the most violent and costly upheavals in recent financial history: the crash of '87, the Russian default (and the subsequent collapse of Long-Term Capital Management), the Asian currency crisis of 1999, the Internet bubble, and the current sub-prime mortgage disaster. With his trademark humor and brilliant anecdotes, Lewis paints the mood and market factors leading up to each event, weaves contemporary accounts to show what people thought was happening at the time, and then, with the luxury of hindsight, analyzes what actually happened and what we should have learned from experience.

As he proved in Liar's Poker, The New New Thing, and Moneyball, Lewis is without peer in his understanding of market forces and human foibles. He is also, arguably, the funniest serious writer in America.

Rachael Ray's Big Orange Book: Her Biggest Ever Collection of All-New 30-Minute Meals Plus Kosher Meals, Meals for One, Veggie Dinners, Holiday Favorites, and Much More!

Rachael Ray

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Excellent "Go To" book anytime!! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I checked the book out of the library and cooked several meals from it for my family . . . all seemed to be winners!! Then I had to return it to the library . . .so I asked Santa for it. Since I received it a little early, I even cooked Christmas dinner from the book . . . .look towards the back - another winner!! Now I can continue my dinner winning streak and keep trying the great ideas!! Even though I swore I would never own a Rachael Ray cookbook . . . this is the book to own!!

rachael the best 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

great book, ideas. purchased for college student living off campus and he loved it so that he will not eat out every night--instead find a recipe from book. Easy to read and great helpful facts for a new cook.

A book for everyone 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is an awesome cook book, recipes are easy and there is something for everyone,,

Editorial Review:

Rachael Ray's Big Orange Book By Rachael Ray"In the 10 years since she served up her first 30-minute mealùand thousands of delectable dinners laterù Rachael Ray has learned just about all there is to know about getting a great tasting meal on the table in

Letter to My Daughter

Maya Angelou

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 46 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

For a world of devoted readers, a much-awaited new volume of absorbing stories and inspirational wisdom from one of our best-loved writers.

Dedicated to the daughter she never had but sees all around her, Letter to My Daughter reveals Maya Angelou’s path to living well and living a life with meaning. Told in her own inimitable style, this book transcends genres and categories: guidebook, memoir, poetry, and pure delight.

Here in short spellbinding essays are glimpses of the tumultuous life that led Angelou to an exalted place in American letters and taught her lessons in compassion and fortitude: how she was brought up by her indomitable grandmother in segregated Arkansas, taken in at thirteen by her more worldly and less religious mother, and grew to be an awkward, six-foot-tall teenager whose first experience of loveless sex paradoxically left her with her greatest gift, a son.

Whether she is recalling such lost friends as Coretta Scott King and Ossie Davis, extolling honesty, decrying vulgarity, explaining why becoming a Christian is a “lifelong endeavor,” or simply singing the praises of a meal of red rice–Maya Angelou writes from the heart to millions of women she considers her extended family.

Like the rest of her remarkable work, Letter to My Daughter entertains and teaches; it is a book to cherish, savor, re-read, and share.




“I gave birth to one child, a son, but I have thousands of daughters. You are Black and White, Jewish and Muslim, Asian, Spanish speaking, Native Americans and Aleut. You are fat and thin and pretty and plain, gay and straight, educated and unlettered, and I am speaking to you all. Here is my offering to you.”

–from Letter to My Daughter

How to Win Friends & Influence People

Dale Carnegie

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 647 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

It's called "CLASSIC" for a reason. 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Since the end of World War II, literally thousands of books have been written about how to improve professionally and personally. Every single one of them can be traced directly back to two books, Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" and this classic work of Dale Carnegie's, HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE.

Webster's Online dictionary defines "classic" as `serving a standard of excellence; historically memorable'. This book serves up the standard of excellence today as it did when it was first published and is definitely historically memorable. It's quite possible that Napoleon Hill and Dale Carnegie have positively influenced more lives than any other writer's and their influence continues long after they've left this earth.

Some may consider this book outdated, and thanks to our public school system, many of the historical figures of the early twentieth century that are mentioned here will be unknown to many readers. But consider this an opportunity not just to begin building a life of success, but to gain a brief introduction to some of the industrial giants and other notable business people of a century ago. These are, after all, the people who helped shape the modern era of our great country.

There are certainly a wealth of great modern day teachers who might make some of this material more meaningful to today's reader. Stephen Covey, Brian Tracy, Jack Canfield and many others come to mind. I certainly recommend you study the modern day gurus of success and life enhancement, but if your goal is to improve your business or personal life, your library simply must include this book. This is one of those books you will go back and re-read every couple of years and if you're like me, you'll recall its many lessons on a daily basis.

Editorial Review:

YOU CAN GO AFTER THE JOB YOU WANT...AND GET IT! YOU CAN TAKE THE JOB YOU HAVE...AND IMPROVE IT! YOU CAN TAKE ANY SITUATION YOU'RE IN...AND MAKE IT WORK FOR YOU!

For more than sixty years the rock-solid, time-tested advice in this book has carried thousands of now famous people up the ladder of success in their business and personal lives.

Now this previously revised and updated bestseller is available in trade paperback for the first time to help you achieve your maximum potential throughout the next century! Learn:

* THREE FUNDAMENTAL TECHNIQUES IN HANDLING PEOPLE
* THE SIX WAYS TO MAKE PEOPLE LIKE YOU
* THE TWELVE WAYS TO WIN PEOPLE TO YOUR WAY OF THINKING
* THE NINE WAYS TO CHANGE PEOPLE WITHOUT AROUSING RESENTMENT

The Pagan Stone: The Sign of Seven Trilogy

Nora Roberts

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 59 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Needs a Sequel 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Loved the trilogy but was disappointed in this ending. What happens next. I feel Nora has left this one open for another book or trilogy. Smart Nora.

Amazing 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Nora Roberts ended the trilogy wonderfully. I was always on the edge of my seat! I couldn't put it down!

Pagan Stone was an outstanding conclusion to an exciting and enjoyable series 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The Pagan Stone: The Sign of Seven Trilogy by Nora Roberts
Paperback - November 25, 2008
5 Stars

The Pagan Stone is the third and final Installment in the Sign of Seven Trilogy by Nora Roberts. The Sign of Seven Trilogy is about three boys, Caleb, Fox and Gage, who live in the town of Hawkins Hollow.

At the age of 10, the boys accidentally released a demon while camping at the Pagan Stone. Since then, the demon returns to the town every 7 years on the 7th month and, for 7 days, Infects the people of the town and causes chaos and destruction.

The three boys, now grown men, possess special abilities along with a piece of a Bloodstone, the only weapon that can be used to battle the demon.

The three men combine forces with three women, Quinn, Layla and Cybil who have a connection to the troubles in Hawkins Hallow. Together they work towards finally stopping the demon for good.

The Pagan Stone story focuses on Gage and Sybil who share the ability to see into the future. They devise a plan to bring an end to the havoc the demon creates by finding a way to use the Bloodstone to finally end the chaos and destruction.

I thought that the Pagan Stone was an excellent and exciting story. It combined the excitement of battling a demon, along with the enjoyable moments of the characters' personal relationships. The Pagan Stone was an outstanding conclusion to an exciting and enjoyable series.

Reviewed by Mary from Bookaholics Romance Book Club

Editorial Review:

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Blood Brothers and The Hollow—the conclusion to the electrifying trilogy of three men and three women who join forces—and hearts—to battle the ultimate evil.

Arctic Drift (A Dirk Pitt Novel, #20) (Dirk Pitt Novels)

Clive Cussler, Dirk Cussler

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Total reviews: 35 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

As with all Clive Cussler’s dazzling Dirk Pitt novels, critics said Treasure of Khan “amazes, informs and entertains” (Publishers Weekly), “the action zipping along until a final powerhouse showdown” (Entertainment Weekly). “What’s not to like?” proclaimed the Los Angeles Times—and hundreds of thousands of readers agreed.

In his new novel, however—the twentieth Dirk Pitt adventure— Cussler may have topped even himself.

A potential breakthrough discovery to reverse global warming . . . a series of unexplained sudden deaths in British Columbia . . . a rash of international incidents between the United States and one of its closest allies that threatens to erupt into an actual shooting war . . . NUMA director Dirk Pitt and his children, Dirk. Jr. and Summer, have reason to believe there’s a connection here somewhere, but they also know they have very little time to find it before events escalate out of control. Their only real clue might just be a mysterious silvery mineral traced to a long-ago expedition in search of the fabled Northwest Passage. But no one survived from that doomed mission, captain and crew perished to a man—and if Pitt and his colleague Al Giordino aren’t careful, the very same fate may await them.

Filled with the breathtaking suspense and audacious imagination that have become his hallmarks, this is a tour de force— further proof that when it comes to adventure writing, nobody beats Clive Cussler.

The 10 Big Lies About America: Combating Destructive Distortions About Our Nation

Michael Medved

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Total reviews: 36 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

“It ain’t so much the things we don’t know that get us into trouble,nineteenth-century humorist Josh Billings remarked. “It’s the things we know that just ain’t so.”


In this bold and brilliantly argued book, acclaimed author and talk-radio host Michael Medved zeroes in on ten of the biggest fallacies that millions of Americans believe about our country—in spite of incontrovertible facts to the contrary. In The 10 Big Lies About America, Medved pinpoints the most pernicious pieces of America-bashing disinformation that pollute current debates about the economy, race, religion in politics, the Iraq war, and other contentious issues.

The myths that Medved deftly debunks include:

Myth: The United States is uniquely guilty for the crime of slavery and based its wealth on stolen African labor.

Fact: The colonies that became the United States accounted for, at most, 3 percent of the abominable international slave trade; the persistence of slavery in America slowed economic progress; and the U.S. deserves unique credit for ending slavery.

Myth: The alarming rise of big business hurts the United States and oppresses its people.

Fact: Corporations played an indispensable role in building America, and corporate growth has brought progress that benefits all with cheaper goods and better jobs.

Myth: The Founders intended a secular, not Christian, nation.

Fact: Even after ratifying the Constitution, fully half the state governments endorsed specific Chris­tian denominations. And just a day after approving the First Amendment, forbidding the establishment of religion, Congress called for a national “day of public thanksgiving and prayer” to acknowledge “the many signal favors of Almighty God.”

Myth: A war on the middle class means less comfort and opportunity for the average American.

Fact: Familiar campaign rhetoric about the victimized middle class ignores the overwhelming statistical evidence that the standard of living keeps rising for every segment of the population, as well as the real-life experience of tens of millions of middle-class Americans.

Each of the ten lies—widely believed among elites and taught as truth in universities and public schools—is a grotesque, propagandistic distortion of the historical record. For everyone who is tired of hearing America denigrated by people who don’t know what they’re talking about, The 10 Big Lies About America supplies the ammunition necessary to fire back the next time somebody tries to recycle these baseless beliefs. Medved’s witty, well-documented rebuttal is a refreshing reminder that as Americans we should feel blessed, not burdened, by our heritage.

Inkdeath (Inkheart)

Cornelia Funke

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Authors & Illustrators, A-Z -> ( F ) -> Funke, Cornelia

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 39 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Sad to see it end this way 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Perhaps this book is payback for Cornelia Funke allowing filmmakers to destroy "Inkheart" for their, I don't know, convenience maybe, a la "Eragon." This book reads as though Ms. Funke struggled with the burden of tying up a thousand loose ends in her immense story-world, struggled and surrendered.

I was the reader who brought to life the "Inkheart" trilogy, reading aloud to my family. We came to love the Inkworld in all its rich detail, warmly fleshed-out characters, and fairy tale roster of fantasy creatures. We enjoyed indulging in the Inkworld despite all of the author's wrong turns, and anyone who read the first two books may feel the same.

The first book was marvelous, enthralling. The second, even more consuming, we couldn't wait for reading time each night, though I had to omit large portions of Ms. Funke's gore from the reading to little ears (while also deleting myriad "good heavens" and other too-frequently repeated phrases, perhaps unfortunate artifacts of the translation from German).

With "Inkdeath," the characters' continual despair and sadness through the first one-half of the book became a running joke with my audience. It got to the point where every time they heard the words "despair," or "cry," my listeners laughed out loud. Yes, 300 pages were too many to establish that life sucks inside a dark story. Real people find ways to cope. Storybook people should too.

Ms. Funke's Inkworld departed the second volume, "Inkspell," with a fistful of teasers. Orpheus entered the Inkworld, Dustfinger departed, leaving devoted Farid desperate to conjure him back. The Adderhead was left immortal, an untenable situation, while Cosimo, his double and his father were all dead, Lombrica taken over by Argenta. Fenoglio and all the Folcharts were inside the Inkworld, save the ultimate book fanatic Elinor. Basta was dead, but Mortola was still at large.

Ms. Funke concealed from us, in "Inkspell," Mo's sabotage of the book of immortality and anticipation that the villain's demise was imminent. Why she withheld this key detail until "Inkdeath" is hard to understand, unless she conceived it in the interim. We had been left wondering why Mo would do such a towering wrong as to hand the story's arch villain endless life, with only a vague notion of undoing it someday. Otherwise, the act was selfish and inconsistent with his character.

"Inkspell" was a fascinating exploration of the idea of entering the very story that one is reading. One of the most intriguing elements was how the author, Fenoglio, failed in his attempts to control the Inkworld by writing more pieces for his mystically endowed readers to bring to life. Fenoglio underestimated the complexity of the world he imagined, failed repeatedly to grasp how his book (or the readers) had merely set a world in motion, a world rapidly gaining its own logically consistent life.

From this point, Ms. Funke chose to spend the entirety of "Inkdeath" marching ponderously toward the undoing of the Adderhead's immortality. She struggles with the scale of her story and loses many of her characters along the way. Entire chapters are wasted telling us how Elinor pines to join her relations in the Inkworld, the reader Darius conveniently nearby as the obvious setup for what comes next. Meggie, central character of the first two novels, is a cardboard cutout of her former self, with a new and entirely irrelevant love interest perhaps serving as an apology for why she's uninvolved in deciding how this whole thing turns out. Farid never even puts up a fight to keep her. Clearly, Ms. Funke lost interest in these characters, which is offensive to readers who came to love them.

Obviously Dustfinger comes back, but not by the fast-turning-trite path of the reader's art, not by Fenoglio's reworking, or via Orpheus's manipulations. This is a fine turn by Ms. Funke, reviving Dustfinger with strings attached, not violating the strictures that had prevented Fenoglio from necromancing his beloved Cosimo.

But in the end, Dustfinger's presence is pretty much a distraction. We never get an enduring reunion of Dustfinger with his wife, Roxane, no full reconciliation between Dustfinger and his daughter Brianne. Dustfinger does little to decide the conclusion and acts pretty much as a red herring.

The wondrous innovation of "Inkheart" was Mortimer Folchart, the book doctor whose voice had unpredictable, dangerous power when used to read aloud. His voice...did it open the door to a world that already existed, or did it give life to the otherwise dead printed word? Rich innovation by Ms. Funke, wasted thereafter. Throughout the rest of the series, Mo never again used the power of his voice to do anything. Appalling oversight. Conceivably, Mo could have read characters out of any book that existed in the Inkworld, but that avenue was unexplored.

Instead, other readers--Meggie, Orpheus, even the milquetoast Darius--were allowed to perform the act with increasing nonchalance. Ms. Funke merely dismissed the previously ominous risks involved--you know, the one that deposited Resa Folchart into the Inkworld in the first place. How did those risks change when reading about the same story that one was inside? We never learned.

Many pages are wasted on Fenoglio turned pathetic drunk lost in his failures, when any author would more likely remain endlessly fascinated with the ability to interact with characters he himself had written. This is a plot conceit used by Ms. Funke to pad a story that needed no padding, had plenty of characters to explore. She temporarily suspended Fenoglio's ability to write so as to explain why he wasn't trying to regain control of his story. Fenoglio already had experienced spectacular failure; no need to waste thousands of words explaining why he might be having a hard time deciding what to do next.

Instead of indulging in her most developed characters, Ms. Funke elaborates on Orpheus, Princess Violante, and her awful son Jacopo.

Violante has to be fleshed out if she's to inherit rule over the Inkworld once her father passes. All in all, she is a bore. Jacopo goes from being an annoyance to taking some of the most decisive actions in the entire series. The story turns on Jacopo! Perhaps the author thought this clever. Depriving the story's better characters of these significant actions left them lacking. Surely Dustfinger, or the Black Prince, deserved a hand in deciding the outcome.

Orpheus is a satisfyingly repugnant villain whose end never comes, leaving open the future of this series. This is hard to stomach. Given that everyone remains to live in Fenoglio's story, why wouldn't Orpheus continue to torment them with distortions of Fenoglio's words? After 683 pages, "Inkdeath" comes to an abrupt halt without resolving any but the most obvious plotlines.

Ms. Funke was so good at departing from convention in her first two books, I wish she had done so again and dispatched the Adderhead within the first hundred pages of "Inkdeath." Life after his passing should have been the conclusion that got fleshed out. The battle between Orpheus and Fenoglio to write the future of the Inkworld! The largely forgotten argument over how and when to return to the real world! What becomes of Dustfinger and Roxane! Meggie's potential as reader and writer, hinted at in "Inkspell" but never elaborated! The story that should have been written all got crammed into a few dismissive paragraphs at the end.

I thank Cornelia Funke for creating this wonderful set of people and places. They are powerful fuel for any good imagination, and for many years my family and I will keep the Inkworld alive in our minds, working to imagine where this story could have gone.

Editorial Review:

The Adderhead--his immortality bound in a book by Meggie's father, Mo--has ordered his henchmen to plunder the villages. The peasants' only defense is a band of outlaws led by the Bluejay--Mo's fictitious double, whose identity he has reluctantly adopted. But the Book of Immortality is unraveling, and the Adderhead again fears the White Women of Death. To bring the renegade Bluejay back to repair the book, the Adderhead kidnaps all the children in the kingdom, dooming them to slavery in his silver mines unless Mo surrends. First Dustfinger, now Mo: Can anyone save this cursed story?

The Associate

John Grisham

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Editorial Review:

If you thought Mitch McDeere was in trouble in The Firm, wait
until you meet Kyle McAvoy, THE ASSOCIATE



Kyle McAvoy grew up in his father’s small-town law office in York, Pennsylvania. He excelled in college, was elected editor-in-chief of The Yale Law Journal, and his future has limitless potential.

But Kyle has a secret, a dark one, an episode from college that he has tried to forget. The secret, though, falls into the hands of the wrong people, and Kyle is forced to take a job he doesn’t want—even though it’s a job most law students can only dream about.

Three months after leaving Yale, Kyle becomes an associate at the largest law firm in the world, where, in addition to practicing law, he is expected to lie, steal, and take part in a scheme that could send him to prison, if not get him killed.

With an unforgettable cast of characters and villains—from Baxter Tate, a drug-addled trust fund kid and possible rapist, to Dale, a pretty but seemingly quiet former math teacher who shares Kyle’s “cubicle” at the law firm, to two of the most powerful and fiercely competitive defense contractors in the country—and featuring all the twists and turns that have made John Grisham the most popular storyteller in the world, THE ASSOCIATE is vintage Grisham.

Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea

Chelsea Handler

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 277 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

THE EAGERLY AWAITED COLLECTION OF PERSONAL ESSAYS FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF MY HORIZONTAL LIFE

When Chelsea Handler needs to get a few things off her chest, she appeals to a higher power -- vodka. You would too if you found out that your boyfriend was having an affair with a Peekapoo or if you had to pretend to be honeymooning with your father in order to upgrade to first class. Welcome to Chelsea's world -- a place where absurdity reigns supreme and a quick wit is the best line of defense.

In this hilarious, deliciously skewed collection, Chelsea mines her past for stories about her family, relationships, and career that are at once singular and ridiculous. Whether she's convincing her third-grade class that she has been tapped to play Goldie Hawn's daughter in the sequel to Private Benjamin, deciding to be more egalitarian by dating a redhead, or looking out for a foulmouthed, rum-swilling little person who looks just like her...only smaller, Chelsea has a knack for getting herself into the most outrageous situations. Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea showcases the candor and irresistible turns of phrase that have made her one of the freshest voices in comedy today.