Subjects Books - Page 25

PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives

Amazon Price: $17.79 List Price: $26.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: William Morrow Amazon Marketplace: 64 new & used starting at $11.99

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 249 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The project that captured a nation's imagination.

The instructions were simple, but the results were extraordinary.

"You are invited to anonymously contribute a secret to a group art project. Your secret can be a regret, fear, betrayal, desire, confession, or childhood humiliation. Reveal anything -- as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before. Be brief. Be legible. Be creative."

It all began with an idea Frank Warren had for a community art project. He began handing out postcards to strangers and leaving them in public places -- asking people to write down a secret they had never told anyone and mail it to him, anonymously.

The response was overwhelming. The secrets were both provocative and profound, and the cards themselves were works of art -- carefully and creatively constructed by hand. Addictively compelling, the cards reveal our deepest fears, desires, regrets, and obsessions. Frank calls them "graphic haiku," beautiful, elegant, and small in structure but powerfully emotional.

As Frank began posting the cards on his website, PostSecret took on a life of its own, becoming much more than a simple art project. It has grown into a global phenomenon, exposing our individual aspirations, fantasies, and frailties -- our common humanity.

Every day dozens of postcards still make their way to Frank, with postmarks from around the world, touching on every aspect of human experience. This extraordinary collection brings together the most powerful, personal, and beautifully intimate secrets Frank Warren has received -- and brilliantly illuminates that human emotions can be unique and universal at the same time.

Making the Cut: The 30-Day Diet and Fitness Plan for the Strongest, Sexiest You

Jillian Michaels

Amazon Price: $8.97 List Price: $14.95 By: Three Rivers Press Amazon Marketplace: 34 new & used starting at $8.52

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 120 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Great book. great plan! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I followed the 30 day plan a month back and was very successful with it. I made a few modifications. Instead of doing the workouts in the book I did workouts from Jillian's "30 Day Shred" dvd (amazing by the way!). Having had an appendectomy two weeks before going on the plan, the workouts in the book were out of my reach. Actually the first week I didn't even work out, just stuck to the meal plan, and I still lost weight!

After making a grocery list of the items I would need to make her exact recipes, I realized that I had written down around 100 items and decided that I didn't want this diet to put me in the hole financially. Instead of following her exact meal plan I picked a few simple recipes of hers that I liked (Moroccan Chicken especially) and created some of my own. I always stayed within my calorie range and balanced my protein/carb/fat ratio as Jillian did in her meal plans. I admit that I never really felt hungry, though sometimes the meals got boring (maybe her recipes would have been more exciting). I was religious in staying away from alcohol for the entire 30 days, which was really tough but totally worth it.

Results: I weighed 141 lbs on day 1 and weighed 130 lbs on day 30. At one point in the last week I got down to 129, which was the first time I had seen the 120's on the scale since the 5th grade! Making the Cut definitely got me in the best shape of my life. I have been off of the plan for a month and maintaining the weight loss has been difficult, but at the same time I haven't been an angel. I have put a few pounds back on, but now I know what to do when I want to take them off again. Making the Cut was a challenging experience. It was a test of my will power, but I proved to myself that I could do it. That was the most amazing part of it all.

Editorial Review:

You’ve seen her change lives on The Biggest Loser–why not yours?

Are you in good shape but struggling with those last ten to twenty pounds? Do you have an event on the calendar where you’d love to make jaws drop? Or do you just want to see what it would be like to have the best body you’ve ever had? Then you need to discover what millions who’ve seen Jillian’s training methods on The Biggest Loser already know!

Making the Cut empowers you to:

• Identify your unique body type and metabolic makeup (are you a fast, slow, or balanced oxidizer?) and customize a diet plan that is perfect for you
• Acquire the mental techniques that will greatly enhance your self-confidence and sharpen your focus on success
• Develop your strength, flexibility, coordination, and endurance
• Reach levels of fitness you never before thought possible

A Lion Among Men (The Wicked Years, Book 3)

Gregory Maguire

Amazon Price: $17.79 List Price: $26.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: William Morrow Amazon Marketplace: 74 new & used starting at $11.98

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 36 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Slowest of the trilogy 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is the slowest and most tedious of the three in the Wicked series. I would also reccomend rereading Wicked and Son of a Witch before beginning A Lion Among Men. Just as a reminder of some of the details, much of the plot relates back to the first two.

Editorial Review:

In the much-anticipated third volume of the Wicked Years, we return to Oz, seen now through the eyes of the Cowardly Lion.

While civil war looms in Oz, a tetchy oracle named Yackle prepares for death. Before her final hour, a figure known as Brrr—the Cowardly Lion—arrives searching for information about Elphaba Thropp, the Wicked Witch of the West. Abandoned as a cub, his path from infancy is no Yellow Brick Road. In the wake of laws that oppress talking Animals, he avoids a jail sentence by agreeing to serve as a lackey to the warmongering Emperor of Oz.

A Lion Among Men chronicles a battle of wits hastened by the Emerald City's approaching armies. Can those tarnished by infamy escape their sobriquets to claim their own histories, to live honorably within their own skins before they're skinned alive?

Gregory Maguire's new novel is written with the sympathy and power that have made his books contemporary classics.

Call Me Ted

Ted Turner, Bill Burke

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise!"

These words of fatherly advice helped shape Ted Turner's remarkable life, but they only begin to explain the colorful, energetic, and unique style that has made Ted into one of the most amazing personalities of our time. Along the way - among his numerous accomplishments -- Ted became one of the richest men in the world, the largest land owner in the United States, revolutionized the television business with the creation of TBS and CNN, became a champion sailor and winner of the America's Cup, and took home a World Series championship trophy in 1995 as owner of the Atlanta Braves.
An innovative entrepreneur, outspoken nonconformist, and groundbreaking philanthropist, Ted Turner is truly a living legend, and now, for the first time, he reveals his personal story. From his difficult childhood to the successful launch of his media empire to the catastrophic AOL/Time Warner deal, Turner spares no details or feelings and takes the reader along on a wild and sometimes bumpy ride.
You'll also hear Ted's personal take on how we can save the world...share his experiences in the dugout on the day when he appointed himself as manager of the Atlanta Braves....learn how he almost lost his life in the 1979 Fastnet sailing race (but came out the winner)...and discover surprising details about his dealings with Fidel Castro, Mikhail Gorbachev, Jimmy Carter, Bill Gates, Jack Welch, Warren Buffett, and many more of the most influential people of the past half century.
Ted also doesn't shrink from the darker and more intimate details of his life. With his usual frankness, he discusses a childhood of loneliness (he was left at a boarding school by his parents at the tender age of four), and the emotional impact of devastating losses (Ted's beloved sister died at seventeen and his hard-charging father committed suicide when Ted was still in his early twenties). Turner is also forthcoming about his marriages, including the one to Oscar-winning actress, Jane Fonda.
Along the way, Ted's friends, colleagues, and family are equally revealing in their unique "Ted Stories" which are peppered throughout the book. Jane Fonda, especially, provides intriguing insights into Ted's inner drive and character.
In CALL ME TED, you'll hear Ted Turner's distinctive voice on every page. Always forthright, he tells you what makes him tick and what ticks him off, and delivers an honest account of what he's all about. Inspiring and entertaining, CALL ME TED sheds new light on one of the greatest visionaries of our time.

Ender in Exile

Orson Scott Card

Amazon Price: $17.13 List Price: $25.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Tor Books Amazon Marketplace: 56 new & used starting at $13.85

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 41 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

After twenty-three years, Orson Scott Card returns to his acclaimed best-selling series with the first true, direct sequel to the classic Ender's Game.

In Ender’s Game, the world’s most gifted children were taken from their families and sent to an elite training school. At Battle School, they learned combat, strategy, and secret intelligence to fight a dangerous war on behalf of those left on Earth. But they also learned some important and less definable lessons about life.

After the life-changing events of those years, these children—now teenagers—must leave the school and readapt to life in the outside world.

Having not seen their families or interacted with other people for years—where do they go now? What can they do?

Ender fought for humanity, but he is now reviled as a ruthless assassin. No longer allowed to live on Earth, he enters into exile. With his sister Valentine, he chooses to leave the only home he’s ever known to begin a relativistic—and revelatory—journey beyond the stars. 

What happened during the years between Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead? What did Ender go through from the ages of 12 through 35? The story of those years has never been told. Taking place 3000 years before Ender finally receives his chance at redemption in Speaker for the Dead, this is the long-lost story of Ender.

For twenty-three years, millions of readers have wondered and now they will receive the answers. Ender in Exile is Orson Scott Card’s moving return to all the action and the adventure, the profound exploration of war and society, and the characters one never forgot.

On one of these ships, there is a baby that just may share the same special gifts as Ender’s old friend Bean…

The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith

Timothy Keller

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Prodigal God Review from Greenleafblog.net 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I wouldn't say that this book radically changes my view of the gospel, I have been on a journey of discovering the true gospel for a few years now, and I assume that this journey will continue my entire life. However, The Prodigal God, Tim Keller's latest, definitely sharpens my view of the gospel.

Keller clearly gets at the heart of the Christian faith using Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son, or as Keller calls it, the Story of Two Lost Sons. Keller chooses to aim much of his attention towards the "elder brother," who is equally as lost and unworthy of the father's love as the openly rebellious younger brother. The younger brother and the older brother are archetypes that Jesus uses to point out the route to spiritual fulfillment taken by all people. They either follow the quest for fulfillment in personal discovery and the pursuit of passions or they follow the road of moralism and duty. Neither is the answer, according to Christ, and both are worthy of the wrath and disinheritance of the father, yet the gospel is that the father goes to each one and initiates restoration.

Keller describes why each son, and why everyone who seeks happiness through either spiritual path, is lost. He writes, "Because sin is not just breaking the rules, it is putting yourself in the place of God as Savior, Lord and Judge just as each son sought to displace the authority of the father in his own life." The younger brother sought to find salvation for himself through seeking external pleasure and satisfaction through self-discovery. The older brother sought to find salvation through personal morality and effort. He was was angry because he felt he was owed the inheritance of the father. When the father invited the younger brother back into the family it came at great cost to the older brother, a cost he was not willing to pay since he felt he has earned his inheritance. The older brother attitude, to Keller, is more dangerous than that of the younger since the younger knows he is lost, while the older thinks he is saved by his own merits.

One of the most important contributions of Keller's book is the idea of the "True Elder Brother." Keller notes that commentators and teachers of this parable often say that the forgiveness of the father was free and use it as an offer of free grace to all who would believe. While the grace was free to the younger brother, it was costly indeed to the older brother. All that remained of the fathers wealth rightfully remained to him, so it was at his expense that the younger brother was brought back into the family. Keller writes that although the older brother resented this, Jesus point in telling the parable was to point to the "True Elder Brother," himself. Jesus is the older brother who paid the price for the inheritance of sinners. That is a truly beautiful picture of the gospel.

This is a short (133 pages) and easy to understand book. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in the Christian faith, to new believers and to long-time Christians who think they have the gospel figured out. It would be equally beneficial at clarifying the heart of Christianity for all three parties.

Editorial Review:

Newsweek called renowned minister Timothy Keller “a C. S. Lewis for the twenty-first century” in a feature on his first book, The Reason for God. In that book, he offered a rational explanation of why we should believe in God. Now, in The Prodigal God, he uses one of the best-known Christian parables to reveal an unexpected message of hope and salvation.

Taking his trademark intellectual approach to understanding Christianity, Keller uncovers the essential message of Jesus, locked inside his most familiar parable. Within that parable Jesus reveals God's prodigal grace toward both the irreligious and the moralistic. This book will challenge both the devout and skeptics to see Christianity in a whole new way.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Judith Viorst

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Features:

• CHILDRENS BOOKS & MUSIC
• Childrens Books
• Language Arts

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 183 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

What Fun 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is a book that children can't help but chuckle when they it is read. It's just fun and Alexander is so loveable like another character,Cyrano in Life's Little Lessons: An Inch-By-Inch Tale of Success, another fabulous piece of children's literature with inspiring messages,laughs and a great bonus reading guide for parents and teachers. Check this out.

You are not alone... It happens to everyone... 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I found this book while I was looking for a gift for a six year old boy today. I loved it so much that I got one for the birthday boy and one for my almost-six year-old daughter. It is absolutely amazing.. Alexander is having a bad day, no not just a bad day, a horrible day, as we, adults, call it "a day from hell"... So he decides to move to a far away land where people do not have to live days like this - but guess what? He figures it out.. Anyone, anywhere can have a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day... It happens to everyone.. He is not alone, and it is not the end of the world..

I don't find this book depressing at all.. It is realistic and entertaining at the same time.. I recommend this book for not only kids (probably 5+) but also teenagers and adults.

Editorial Review:

Alexander knew it was going to be a terrible day when he woke up with gum in this hair.

And it got worse...

His best friend deserted him. There was no dessert in his lunch bag. And, on top of all that, there were lima beans for dinner and kissing on TV!

This handsome new edition of Judith Viorst's classic picture book is sure to charm readers of all ages.

Marked (House of Night, Book 1)

P. C. Cast, Kristin Cast

Amazon Price: $8.95 List Price: $8.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: St. Martin's Griffin Amazon Marketplace: 30 new & used starting at $5.47

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 158 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Not so much.... 2 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I read Twilight and loved it, like most other teenage girls in the U.S. But before twilight, I've always liked the Vampire spin on stories. I watched Buffy and Angel at young ages (too young, probably), and one of my favorite movies is Interview with a Vampire. I love Anne Rice. I really would have liked to enjoy this book. The idea of it is interesting, a girl becomes "marked" by a vampire and escapes her horrible step-father and brainless mother to a school full of attractive vampire fledglings.


But unfortunately, I couldn't stand the authors' writing style or character development. Zoey, the main character, is almost sickeningly perfect (pretty yet modest, confident in herself yet supportive of others, nice and cool, gets the hottest guy in the school but still doesn't have an overinflated head). She doesn't seem to have any flaws, which makes her boring to listen to. She jumps from feeling like an outcast and dealing with difficult adult situations to gushing over the hot guy at school who is like, "totally delicious", and who, unsurprisingly, likes her back. she uses words like "gihugic" (uh, what?), and over uses words such as "totally" and "ohmygod", which detracts from any kind of adult attitude she might have.


Her friends are also disappointingly two dimensional. Her best friend from the south (Zoey repeatedly mentions her "twang") is a sweet, loveable girl who is a pushover, and sticks up for herself later with the encouragement of Zoey. The twins, two girls from completely different backgrounds, races, families etc. and yet are exactly alike in every way. And of course, Damien, the gay boy who at the beginning Zoey claims is gay but in a subtle way, and yet from the rest of the book is so obviously in your face gay that it's hard to ever not notice how gay he is.


The same with Zoey's love interest Erik, and her nemesis Aphrodite (Erik's ex-girlfriend who still wants him back and is the leader of the school, of course.) who never developed fully. Erik is bland with his "totally hotness!" and nice guy tendencies. Aphrodite seems to be one of the only characters with actual personality flaws, and thus made me look forward to her appearances in the book.


Although I was very offput by the poor writing style, the plot itself is very interesting, catching, and easy to get involved in. the book is readable if you have the talent to ignore or even just cringe through the inconsistencies, the vocabulary, and the utterly boring and stereotypical characters, then you might find yourself with a book you can enjoy.

Editorial Review:

The House of Night series is set in a world very much like our own, except in 16-year-old Zoey Redbird's world, vampyres have always existed.  In this first book in the series, Zoey enters the House of Night, a school where, after having undergone the Change, she will train to become an adult vampire--that is, if she makes it through the Change.  Not all of those who are chosen do.  It’s tough to begin a new life, away from her parents and friends, and on top of that, Zoey finds she is no average fledgling.  She has been Marked as special by the vampyre Goddess, Nyx.  But she is not the only fledgling at the House of Night with special powers.  When she discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the school's most elite club, is misusing her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look deep within herself for the courage to embrace her destiny--with a little help from her new vampyre friends.

Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan

Suze Orman

Amazon Price: $9.99 List Price: $9.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Spiegel & Grau Amazon Marketplace: 30 new & used starting at $4.76

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

2009: The Year You Can’t Afford to Make Any Mistakes with Your Money.

The credit crunch, the stock market freefall, the staggering toll of home foreclosures and job losses: The economic crisis that struck in 2008 has left no one untouched and everybody reeling. Seemingly overnight, the financial landscape has undergone seismic changes that suddenly have you asking all kinds of questions: Are your savings safe? Should you continue to invest in your retirement account? Should you keep your home if it’s worth less than what you owe or should you sell it? How do you pay your bills if you’ve just been laid off?

The nation’s go-to expert on financial matters, Suze Orman, believes that 2009 is a critical year for your money. There are safeguards to put in place, actions to take, costly mistakes to avoid, and even opportunities to be had, so that you are protected during the bad times and prepared to prosper when things take a turn for the better. No matter what situation you’re in, you will find a plan of action and the answers to your questions about:

* Credit * Retirement
*Savings and Spending*Real Estate
*Paying for College* Protecting Your Family

SUZE ORMAN’S 2009 ACTION PLAN delivers honest, straightforward guidance—what to do, when to do it, and how to do it—as only Suze Orman can.

John Adams

David McCullough

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 787 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

No stone left unturned 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I've always been a fan of Author David McCullough, one of the worlds best writers, he leaves no stone unturned in this bio of our 2nd President John Adams, McCullough leaves no smallest detail out.

This book is not for the faint of heart, it's a long hard read & skimming though it is not an option, if you don't pay attention you will find you're self not knowing what is going on chapters latter.

Part of knowing where we are going in sunderstanding how we got there & embracing the past, there are strikingly similarties today that there were 200 years ago.

Editorial Review:

In this powerful, epic biography, David McCullough unfolds the adventurous life journey of John Adams, the brilliant, fiercely independent, often irascible, always honest Yankee patriot who spared nothing in his zeal for the American Revolution; who rose to become the second president of the United States and saved the country from blundering into an unnecessary war; who was learned beyond all but a few and regarded by some as "out of his senses"; and whose marriage to the wise and valiant Abigail Adams is one of the most moving love stories in American history.

This is history on a grand scale -- a book about politics and war and social issues, but also about human nature, love, religious faith, virtue, ambition, friendship, and betrayal, and the far-reaching consequences of noble ideas. Above all, John Adams is an enthralling, often surprising story of one of the most important and fascinating Americans who ever lived.