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Jennifer R. (chirey) - , - Reviews

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1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse: Remake, Restyle, Recycle, Renew (1000 Series)
Review Date: 12/3/2010
Helpful Score: 2


The title of this book is very misleading. I thought it was a book for the average person looking for ideas of ways to recycle their discarded things into something new and useful. Instead it is a coffee table art book. And since I am not the artistic type I was not thrilled with it. I paged through it (since I went to the trouble of getting it) and seen a few neat ideas but most were artsy-fartsy things normal people wouldn't display or be caught dead wearing. I hated the set-up as well. The book is divided into catergories and after all 1000 are pictured there is a LONG index telling what the item was supposed to be and what was used to make it. (so you can go back and find out what some of the things were intended to be....if you care. Overall I am glad I didn't wait on it through my wish list and didn't waste the credit.


The Actor and the Housewife
The Actor and the Housewife
Author: Shannon Hale
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.3/5 Stars.
 31
Review Date: 7/9/2010
Helpful Score: 1


I am so disappointed in this book. I had it on my wish list FOREVER and almost bought it on eBay because I wanted to read it so badly. Now after finding it at a neighboring library I am upset it took me so long to plod through it that I ended up returning it late and it cost me a dollar! (waste) I have a compulsion to read a book after I start it even when it is hard to do so. I had to make myself read this!
So unrealistic! The book description makes it sound like she has a celebrity crush on him which is untrue. She is so deeply religious imagining a kiss between them sends her into delusions of going to hell. (I have no problem with religion just didn't like the shove it down your throat/ holy lifestyle way of writing) The beginning set up is somewhat realistic as far as bumping into each other a few times (coincidence) but from there goes downhill fast. The "witty bantor" between the two literally makes you wince and is completely stupid. You have to wonder what kind of weirdo the celebrity is to seek out such a religious, dumpy, boring woman for a friend. Her husband is the only one with any sense in the whole book but is a very quiet boring character as well.
The ending is beyond terrible and I had to read the last few pages again to understand what actually transpired.
Save your self the wait and find another better reviewed book to enjoy!


Alarums
Alarums
Author: Richard Laymon
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 8
Review Date: 4/16/2011


Melanie Conway is a pale and lovely violinist who has strange visions of death. When she crashes to the floor during a concert her boyfriend, Bodie, is at hand to hear her fearful premonition of disaster....Penelope Conway is even more stunning than her sister but her looks frequently get her into trouble. Although she takes herself seriously as a writer, men only seem impressed by her beauty. The last thing she needs is a series of obscene phone calls. Captivated by these two alluring sisters, Bodie finds himself drawn deep into a strange mystery that is fired by sex and haunted by blood.


Alarums
Alarums
Author: Richard Laymon
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 5/5 Stars.
 1
Review Date: 4/16/2011


Melanie Conway is a pale and lovely violinist who has strange visions of death. When she crashes to the floor during a concert her boyfriend, Bodie, is at hand to hear her fearful premonition of disaster....Penelope Conway is even more stunning than her sister but her looks frequently get her into trouble. Although she takes herself seriously as a writer, men only seem impressed by her beauty. The last thing she needs is a series of obscene phone calls. Captivated by these two alluring sisters, Bodie finds himself drawn deep into a strange mystery that is fired by sex and haunted by blood.


Alice
Alice
Author: Sara Flanigan
Book Type: Hardcover
  ?
Review Date: 7/1/2008


From Publishers Weekly
The author of Sudie has set her appealing second novel in rural Georgia about 50 years ago. The protagonist, teenager Ellie Perkins, is being raised by her widowed and increasingly alcoholic father. When Ellie ventures onto the farm of a reclusive neighboring family, the Guthries, and hears human-like cries coming from a shed, she is faced with a dilemma. Does she risk the lash of Mr. Guthrie's notorious bad temper or put the cries out of her mind? For the conscientious Ellie, the latter is impossible. She discovers that, unknown to anyone in the community, the Guthries have a deaf, epileptic daughter, Alice. Considered retarded by her family, Alice has lived much of her life in the shed. With the help of her older brother Sammy and some townspeople, Ellie is able to intercede in Alice's life to the point where Alice acquires a hearing aid, a tutor and a blossoming romance with Sammy. For all of its emotional and physical violence, this story, told in prose heavily laden with a deep Southern cadence, has a gentle predictability. Readers who prefer social criticism tempered by an upbeat narrative viewpoint will enjoy this one.


All the Numbers
All the Numbers
Author: Judy Merrill Larsen
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 4.3/5 Stars.
 40
Review Date: 11/4/2008
Helpful Score: 2


Excellent book! Very emotional. Will make you cry. It makes you look at your life a little differently and make you more appreciative of what you have. The love for a child is like no other and the way she describes her feelings and emotions through the book are exactly as one would imagine. It is a book that will captivate you and touch your heart. Reading it you forget it is a fictional story and can see yourself grieving along with the mother and praying that you never have to deal with anything like it. 5 Stars!!


Apron Anxiety: My Messy Affairs In and Out of the Kitchen
Apron Anxiety: My Messy Affairs In and Out of the Kitchen
Author: Alyssa Shelasky
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 2.6/5 Stars.
 7
Review Date: 5/31/2012
Helpful Score: 1


Book Description
Publication Date: May 22, 2012
Hot sex, looking good, scoring journalistic triumphs . . . nothing made Alyssa love herself enough until she learned to cook. There's a racy plot and a surprising moral in this intimate and delicious book.
--Gael Greene, creator of Insatiable-Critic.com and author of Insatiable: Tales from a Life of Delicious Excess

Apron Anxiety is the hilarious and heartfelt memoir of quintessential city girl Alyssa Shelasky and her crazy, complicated love affair with...the kitchen.

Three months into a relationship with her TV-chef crush, celebrity journalist Alyssa Shelasky left her highly social life in New York City to live with him in D.C. But what followed was no fairy tale: Chef hours are tough on a relationship. Surrounded by foodies yet unable to make a cup of tea, she was displaced and discouraged. Motivated at first by self-preservation rather than culinary passion, Shelasky embarked on a journey to master the kitchen, and she created the blog Apron Anxiety (ApronAnxiety.com) to share her stories.

This is a memoir (with recipes) about learning to cook, the ups and downs of love, and entering the world of food full throttle. Readers will delight in her infectious voice as she dishes on everything from the sexy chef scene to the unexpected inner calm of tying on an apron.


Arthur's in Charge (Arthur's Family Values, Bk 13)
Review Date: 4/24/2007


When D.W. disappears in the mall it's up to Arthur to find her.


Arthur's Promise
Arthur's Promise
Author: Marc Brown
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 14
Review Date: 4/24/2007


Arthur makes a promise to D.W. that is almost impossible to keep.


BEAST.
BEAST.
Author: Peter Benchley
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 2.5/5 Stars.
 1
Review Date: 4/24/2008


"Makes the shark from "Jaws" look like a pet goldfish . . ." USA Weekend
Straight from the cutting edge of science and the logs of ancient mariners comes an immense horror -- a creature that rises up from the well of an ocean gone mad with an insatiable hunger and an endless lust to kill. One man leads a harrowing struggle to defeat the beast amid a threatened Bermuda paradise. His name is Whip Darling, a down-and-out sea dog who doesn't know where he'll get his next meal -- or whether it will get him first.



From the Paperback edition.


BEAST
BEAST
Author: PETER BENCHLEY
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
 2
Review Date: 4/24/2008


"Makes the shark from "Jaws" look like a pet goldfish . . ." USA Weekend
Straight from the cutting edge of science and the logs of ancient mariners comes an immense horror -- a creature that rises up from the well of an ocean gone mad with an insatiable hunger and an endless lust to kill. One man leads a harrowing struggle to defeat the beast amid a threatened Bermuda paradise. His name is Whip Darling, a down-and-out sea dog who doesn't know where he'll get his next meal -- or whether it will get him first.



From the Paperback edition.


Becoming Sister Wives: The Story of an Unconventional Marriage
Review Date: 9/15/2012
Helpful Score: 3


The only way I could recommend this book is if you do not watch the show on a regular basis. I watch the show and feel that the whole book has been covered either on the show or through interviews they have given, including their one hour special they did before the book came out. It is okay if you want to read it but I do not feel that I learned anything new. The only thing I had not seen were a few of the pictures of the kids when they were very young. I got this from my library so it didn't cost me anything so I don't feel like I was out anything but I would be upset had I purchased the book.


The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee
The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee
Author: Sarah Silverman
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.3/5 Stars.
 38
Review Date: 9/12/2010
Helpful Score: 4


I recently saw Sarah Silverman on the Rachael Ray show and Rachael could not stop gushing about the book and how much she enjoyed it. She gave members of the audience copies of the book on the condition they all purchase a book to give away to a friend or family member. She felt it was the perfect gift.
HMMMMM! I honestly think I would have been offended to receive such a book as a gift!
Overall it isn't a bad book but not exactly something I would recommend or spend my money on. Thank God for the library!
It starts out somewhat funny given her history with bedwetting and family stories. But the fun goes out of the book once she starts her "adult" life and her pursuit of comedy, her skit writing, her time on Saturday night live and then her own show. BORING!
She also spends a lot of the book talking about her diary (how stupid it is to keep a diary and the dumb things you write in it. She then proceeds to print page after page of her childhood diary on the pages. It is hard to make out even if you would want to read it. She includes PAGES of phone messages left by her father, something only she finds funny -because I didn't. The photos are interesting to a point. She writes her own foreword, weird....includes a middle word, dumb....and adds the endword...from GOD!?!?
Overall it is a boring book and not that funny. Something to read if you have nothing else.
Maybe it is just me (I don't seem to get jewish humor ~ I have read other jewish books and didn't find them funny) Also I have never watched any of Sarah Silvermans work, however I knew she was crude and had some idea of what to expect. I can't say I don't like her because she is offensive but that helps, it is mainly because she is just not funny.


Big Nate, the Boy with the Biggest Head in the World
Review Date: 11/30/2011


The Boy With the Biggest Head is the exact same book as Big Nate In a Class by Himself.


Bloody Mary (Jack Daniels #2)
Bloody Mary (Jack Daniels #2)
Author: J. A. Konrath
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
 33
Review Date: 12/9/2010
Helpful Score: 2


Very good book! Second book in the series. Be sure to read Whiskey Sour first. I felt like the book was well written and entertaining! The main character is a female, and although the book is written by a man it seems to work well. Love that cat! Action packed and full of murder and danger, it is also full of oneliners and other comedy. Some say graphic but I don't think it is. QUICK to read. Flows smoothly and makes you want to pick up the next so you can get right back into the adventure. Best read in order so you understand the characters, the relationships and the past casts and situations referred to. Be sure to pick up Rusty Nail next.


Bloom: Finding Beauty in the Unexpected--A Memoir
Bloom: Finding Beauty in the Unexpected--A Memoir
Author: Kelle Hampton
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.7/5 Stars.
 18
Review Date: 8/19/2012


I really liked this book. It takes you into the author's life and her life changing experience. Everything was going great in their lives and they were expecting their second "perfect" baby girl. However the minute the baby was placed in her arms she knew that their was something wrong. Their perfect baby had down syndrome. She takes you throught her very first thoughts and feelings and her struggles to accept the baby and the challenges that will come. It allows you to see firsthand how such a thing changes lives. I can't imagine that anyone gets this kind of news and sees it as a blessing or a great thing(especially at first) but she allows the reader to see her first year and the journey to acceptance and true love.


A Boy's Pretensions
A Boy's Pretensions
Author: Anthony Giardina
Book Type: Hardcover
  ?
Review Date: 6/29/2008


"A Boy's Pretensions reminds us of just how tender and savage young love can be. It beautifully evokes the mysterious power and conflicting claims of mind, body and family in a boy's coming of age." ~Jay Neugeboren author of An Orphan's Tale.

A Pleasure to read, a heartbreak to finish and a joy to remember. ~Steve Tesich, author of Breaking Away.


Chihuahuas
Chihuahuas
Author: Beverly Pisano
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 2/5 Stars.
 1
Review Date: 6/30/2008


This book, illustrated with over 195 full-color photos and drawings, presents sensible, easy-to-follow recommendations about selecting and caring for a Chihuahua. It concentrates on providing readers with the information they need and want- all given in an interesting and easy-to-read style.


Could It Be Magic?
Could It Be Magic?
Author: Melanie Rose, Melanie Rose
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.3/5 Stars.
 2
Review Date: 4/16/2011
Helpful Score: 1


I have already read this book and didn't know it!~ Same book, different title: Life as I Know It.


Cries in the Desert (St. Martin's True Crime Library)
Cries in the Desert (St. Martin's True Crime Library)
Author: John Glatt
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 68
Review Date: 3/24/2007
Helpful Score: 2


very interesting. scary these type of people exist. reading it you forget it's not fiction.


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