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Karen - - Reviews

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Acrylic Decorative Painting Techniques: Discover the Secrets of Successful Decorative Painting
Review Date: 12/14/2010


What a great book. I found it very helpful in explaining how to do many decorative painting techniques, from the most basic tips on buying beginner supplies, to explaining brushstrokes that make a project look professional. I had looked at other books before this one, but this one helped me the most to get started and learn the basics. It is also full of many helpful pictures and illustrations.


Acupuncturist's Handbook
Acupuncturist's Handbook
Author: Kuen-Shil Tsay
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 1
Review Date: 2/4/2011


In 1971, Dr. Tsay received his medical degree in Taiwan, he then specialized in acupuncture for another 3 years. In 1982, he came to the U.S. to study clinical pathology at John Hopkins Medical School. He taught for many years at the New England School of Acupuncture in Watertown, MA. He maintains a private practice in Brookline, MA.
I have met many of his patients who felt that his acupuncture treatments had helped them tremendously, often helping them with problems when Western doctors could not relieve their pain.
In this book, he describes many of the treatments that he has developed and used over his many years of practice.
One of the most interesting chapters in the book is chapter 5 - The Point Through Point Therapeutics. Here Dr. Tsay uses one needle to needle two points, such as TW 23 through GB 8 for treating persistent migraine headaches; LI 4 though PC 8 for numbness or pain in the fingers; and GB 34 through SP 9 for persistent pain in the knee. I found some of these point prescriptions similar to those taught by Dr. Tong.
Chapter 6 is another interesting chapter - the Assemble Points Therapeutics - a method of combining two or more points in a group for enhancing the therapeutic effect.
Chapter 7 - Practical Scalp Acupuncture Therapeutics - here he describes how to treat many common problems (such as asthma, stomachaches, impotence) by needling points on the scalp.


Amanda Quick CD Collection 2: Second Sight / The River Knows / The Third Circle (Audio CD) (Abridged)
Review Date: 7/6/2011


The Arcane Society was founded in the late 1600s by a brilliant, reclusive, paranoid alchemist named Sylvester Jones. Jones possessed some unusual paranormal talents and he devoted his life to secret research in the field. He conducted his experiments and recorded the results in a fortress-like laboratory that eventually became his tomb.
The laboratory-tomb of Sylvester the Alchemist was finally discovered and excavated in the Late Victorian era by two of his descendents, Gabriel and Caleb Jones. The alchemists most dangerous secret was a formula that Sylvester believed could enhance a persons psychic abilities and make the user extremely powerful. The stuff worked but, as Gabriel Jones learns in SECOND SIGHT, it produces some terrifying side effects.
Over the years the Arcane Society has gone to great lengths to conceal the secret of Sylvesters formula but it haunts the Society and the Jones family to this day.
The Society has other dark mysteries as well, among them an eerie collection of museums that house strange artifacts and relics linked to the arcane and the paranormal. There is also a research facility where studies and experiments involving psychic phenomena are carried out.
SECOND SIGHT is the first book about the Arcane Society. Veneita Milton visits the Arcane House. THE THIRD CIRCLE is the fourth book. Leona Hewitt meets up with another member of the Arcane Society, Thaddeus Ware. All the stories are very interesting.


The Angels of Morgan Hill (Women of Faith Fiction)
The Angels of Morgan Hill (Women of Faith Fiction)
Author: Donna VanLiere
Book Type: Audio CD
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 2
Review Date: 7/17/2010


If you enjoyed LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE or THE WALTONS, you will like this story. I listened to the unabridged version read by the author. Sometimes the author shouldn't be the one narrating the story, but in this case, I have to say, I really enjoyed her narration. Donna VanLiere put a lot of spirit into the tale. She did an excellent job with each of the characters.
The story takes place in the late 1940s in a time when there are few black people around Morgan Hill, Tennessee. So you can imagine the tension produced when a black family moves in to help with the tobacco. Tragedy strikes and little Milo is left without a home and without a family. Fran Gable has had a hard life. Fran was married to an alcoholic who drinks away each paycheck and then dies leaving her pregnant the sole support for her two children. But Milo needs a home, so Fran takes him in.
When I told someone about the story I was listening to, she thought it would be too sad to listen to. But I found it more inspiring than sad. Fran is a strong woman who just "does what is right" and keeps on going. Many of the town people help her in little ways that keeps the family going.
I want to listen to more stories by Donna VanLiere, and I would be pleased to think that she was the narrator.


The Art of Acupuncture Techniques
The Art of Acupuncture Techniques
Author: Robert Johns
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.3/5 Stars.
 2
Review Date: 2/4/2011


I was in my first year acupuncture school when I picked up this book. I took it on vacation with me for some light reading (ha, ha). Anyway, while on vacation, I found myself feeling really hot and the inside of my arm ached badly. I had pain right to the bone. I didn't know what was wrong. I searched the book and found some acupuncture points to reduce the heat I was feeling: LI 11 and LI 4. What a relief. When I got home from vacation, I discovered that I had shingles on my arm (just before vacation, I had gotten a Hep-B shot in that arm). With the help of this book, I treated myself for shingles and, by the time school was back in session, all my symptoms and the rash were gone. That is within a two week period - a lot of people have residual pain for weeks, months, even years. I was lucky to have acupuncture.
So what am I saying. This book has a lot to offer. If a one year student (actually I was only a half-year student by that point) could find a cure for shingles in this book, wow this book contains a lot of knowledge. In chapter 7, Classical Needling Techniques, I found the treatment for relieving the shingle rash (and pain) on my arm: "When treating skin problems such as herpes zoster or eczema, the skin is hammered until small red dots (petechiae) begin to appear. Then the area is cupped to cause light bleeding to help remove pathogenic Heat." This treatment did the trick. What a great little book.


Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind
Review Date: 1/21/2009


4 CDs published and distributed by JoyceMeyerMinitries. There is no ISBN number on the CDs or on the containter that the CDs come in. The same picture is on the CD cover that was on the book by the same name (cover shows chess pieces under the Title Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle of Your Mind).


Before & After Garden Makeovers
Before & After Garden Makeovers
Author: Editors of Sunset Books
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 2.3/5 Stars.
 3
Review Date: 4/13/2014


The pictures were nice. There weren't many words to go with the pictures. The book gave ideas on how to improve the curb appeal of a house, but I think you'd need to have a lot of money to accomplish what was shown.


Big Black Hole
Big Black Hole
Author: Wilma Kahn
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.4/5 Stars.
 23
Review Date: 9/3/2018


Just finished reading this book. I love light mysteries and this book did not disappoint me. The story moved along and the plot was a bit different than others that I had read, so I gave the book 5 stars.


Black Friday (Maggie O'Dell, Bk 7)
Black Friday (Maggie O'Dell, Bk 7)
Author: Alex Kava
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
 33
Review Date: 3/22/2010
Helpful Score: 1


I didn't read the book but listened to the unabridged version on CD. I am putting my review under the book because I read the previous review that someone had written but I don't agree with what was said.
This is my second Alex Kava audiobook that I have listened to (the first was EXPOSED). I liked BLACK FRIDAY. My husband liked it too. Actually he is the one who wanted to know if there were any more titles by this author.
I didn't find the ending disappointing and not all questions ever get answered.


Bloodline
Bloodline
Author: Fiona Mountain
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.5/5 Stars.
 3
Review Date: 1/29/2012


I started reading this book sometime last week and late at night. The beginning did not grab my attention but if I had stopped there I would have missed a great story. Today I picked up the book on page 95 and didn't stop reading until I had finished it. I loved it. I learned a lot about a time in history that I knew very little about. I don't want to say too much here because I don't want to give away the 'secret' of the storyline, but anyone who is interested in genealogy will find this book interesting.....


Bloodroot (Audio CD) (Unabridged)
Bloodroot (Audio CD) (Unabridged)
Author: Amy Greene
Book Type: Audio CD
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 7
Review Date: 1/29/2014
Helpful Score: 1


The narration of unabridged audiobook is performed by a cast of people. Each narrator speaks for the chapter in which they are featured. They are excellent. They make the story come alive. This is a audiobook that I won't forget for a long time. It is amazing that one families history can be filled with so much tragedy, poverty and sadness.


Blue Christmas (Audio CD) (Unabridged)
Blue Christmas (Audio CD) (Unabridged)
Author: Mary Kay Andrews, Isabel Keating (Narrator)
Book Type: Audio CD
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 19
Review Date: 1/15/2010
Helpful Score: 1


Cute story.
If you think you're own family is dysfunctional and some family member always seems to ruin the "Holidays", you will enjoy this story. Weezie (the main character) invites her boyfriend's relatives for Christmas dinner. What happens will have you laughing and then you will realize the actions of your own relatives might be mild by comparison.


The Bone Garden (Audio CD) (Abridged)
The Bone Garden (Audio CD) (Abridged)
Author: Tess Gerritsen, Carolyn McCormick (Narrator)
Book Type: Audio CD
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
 35
Review Date: 2/6/2010


What an interesting story. Set in present day with flashbacks to a different time. I enjoyed the story and the narrator. The was my first Tess Gerritsen book, after listening to it I went on to read the rest of her novels.


The Bone Garden (Audio CD) (Abridged)
The Bone Garden (Audio CD) (Abridged)
Author: Tess Gerritsen, Carolyn McCormick (Narrator)
Book Type: Audio CD
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 14
Review Date: 1/3/2010


This is the very first audiobook that my husband would volunteer to let play while we were in a cross country road trip (he always thought it would be too distracting). Well, after he listened to it, he wanted more....
Julia Hamill has bought a house in rural Massachusetts. While she is digging in her yard to start a garden when she discovers the bones of a long-dead woman. The bones have been there for over 100 years. The bones start Julia on a journey to find out how the woman died and ended up in this grave in her backyard. Julia enlists the aid of Henry, an 89-year-old who has boxes of papers that once belonged to the previous owner of Julia's house. And so Julia discovers a mystery that dates back to the 1830s.
The story moves to Boston in 1830 which is an age of disease and pestilence. A time when doctors did not wash their hands between seeing patients so they unknowingly spread infections. This is the reason that many women at the time had excruiating deaths due childbed fever in the maternity wards. Norris Marshall is a a talented but poor student at Harvard Medical College. In order to pay for his education Norris steals bodies from the graveyards. Because of his seedy livelyhood, Norris becomes the prime suspect in a gruesome murder of a nurse. To prove his innocence, Norris must track down the only witness to have glimpsed the killer, Rose Connolly. They are joined by a young man named Oliver Wendell Holmes.
This really is a great story. I really enjoyed the story and the narrator. I don't think I was short changed because this is an abridged version of the original novel. After listening to it, my husband and I have read the rest of Tess Gerritsen's novels.


The Bread Machine Magic Book of Helpful Hints
The Bread Machine Magic Book of Helpful Hints
Author: Linda Rehberg, Lois Conway
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.2/5 Stars.
 6
Review Date: 12/14/2010
Helpful Score: 2


If you have recently received a new bread machine, you will want to get this book. It explains a lot of things that you need to understand to make changes to recipes to get exactly the kind of bread you want. It explains the different types of wheat, yeast, sugar and salt. There is information on how to make correct substitutions of different ingredients. There are dozens of problem solving hints and troubleshooting techniques. There are also some recipes, along with nutritional information about each recipe). There are a couple of pages explaining Gluten-free flours and grains.


Break No Bones (Temperance Brennan, Bk 9) (Audio CD) (Unabridged)
Review Date: 8/17/2011


review of unabridged audio version: This audio version was narrated by Dorothee Berryman. Previously I had listened to Devil Bones (Temperance Brennan, Bk 11) which was narrated by Linda Emond. I think that Linda Emond did a better job of playing the part of Temperance. Dorothee's voice was too whispey or too weak to portray the strong character she tried to narrate in this story. Her voice took away from my enjoying the experience. At times I was tempted to give up and just read the book.


The Bride Collector
The Bride Collector
Author: Ted Dekker
Book Type: Audio CD
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 9
Review Date: 2/7/2012


This 12 audio CD book is narrated by John Glover. It is a spooky story about a deranged serial killer and John Glover does a superb job of setting the scene. WOW. I especially enjoyed the way that John did the voices of the residents of the Center for Wellness and Intelligence (this is a private psychiatric institution). The residents are extraordinariy gifted - they are all extremely intelligent and equally wierd. One of the primary residents is a woman named Paradise. She is a schizophrenic who has the ability to experience the final moments of a person's life when she touches their dead body. What a story.


Brother Odd (Odd Thomas, Bk 3) (Audio CD) (Unabridged)
Review Date: 2/1/2011


I am listening to this Dean Koontz series about Odd Thomas - the unabridged version. This time Odd has sought the shelter of St. Bartholomew's Abbey, where he is seeking peace and quiet to reevaluate his life after the misfortune that he has encountered in the previous two stories. The brothers and nuns at St. Bartholomew take care of disabled and unwanted children. I found that Dean Koontz showed a lot of compassion and understanding in the way that he described how Odd viewed and talked to the children who lived there. I liked the story and the characters. I am looking forward to the next book in the series, ODD HOURS.


Bury Your Dead (Chief Inspector Gamache, Bk 6) (Audio CD) (Unabridged)
Review Date: 3/23/2011
Helpful Score: 1


Review of audio CD version of the book.
I had listened to the previous book by Louise Penny, A BRUTAL TELLING, and so I couldn't wait to listen to this one. I usually listen in the evening and I kept falling asleep to the first two CDs, and so I wondered if I was wasting my time but I WAS WRONG -- by the 3rd CD I was hooked.
There are three mysteries going on in this story. The mystery that started in A BRUTAL TELLING (you really need to read that book first to get the most enjoyment out of the series), the mystery surrounding the death of Augustin Renaud (an ecentric who had spent his life searching for the burial site of Samuel de Champlain Québec's founder), and the story behind why Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is 'recuperating' in Quebec.
The story stirred some deep emotions within me and I found myself saying "Oh my God" and quite a few times.
Through this book I also learned a lot about the history of Quebec. I have never been a history buff but Louise has a way of 'painting' a picture so I wanted to know more.
The book was very well written. I talked to a friend about Louise Penny's style, and she agrees that the stories tend to start out slow but that is because Louise is meticulously laying out the background. My friend has read hundreds of mysteries and she says that Louise Penny is one of the best writers she has ever read. I only started reading mysteries in the past couple of years but I also think that Louise is a truly gifted storyteller. I can't wait to see her next book in the THREE PINES series, A Trick of The Light.


Butter Safe Than Sorry (Pennsylvania Dutch Mystery with Recipes, Bk 18)
Review Date: 10/28/2012
Helpful Score: 1


When I start reading a book, I usually finish reading it. This time I didn't bother. I don't know what happened to the author's writing ability but it was really lacking in this story. I just struggled to get half way through but the storyline was so poor that I finally just gave up. I don't think I would bother buying another future book (book 19 ?) in this series. I enjoyed the previous books but not this one.


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