Reviews by cybergwen

cybergwen says "Hilarious and heartwarming" about Saralee Rosenberg - Dear Neighbor, Drop Dead

cybergwen — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:53:20 GMT

Dear Neighbor, Drop Dead by Saralee Rosenberg

Okay, I admit it, the title made me laugh, but I was still wary. Was this going to be another quick summer read? You know the type, entertaining, yet after it is over, not leaving you with much....

I was so wrong! First, there is Mindy, a thirty something mom that is hanging on by a thread financially and emotionally while she runs out to get yet another doughnut because she is too busy to eat healthy. Then there is Beth, her neighbor. Well Beth is one of those women that all women love to hate. She is fit and drop dead gorgeous after two kids, has time for everything and jaunts from this event to the next in her trendy new car. She has everything, it is practically our job to hate her and be jealous of her, right?

Mindy puts up with Beth's constant low blows about her weight and other things because....well, she is her next door neighbor and their girls are close friends. They share carpool, but seldom small talk and just getting...

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cybergwen says "Made me nostalgic, yet kept me on my toes" about Aaron Paul Lazar - Tremolo: Cry of the Loon

cybergwen — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:50:35 GMT

Tremolo: cry of the loon by Aaron Paul Lazar

I have never been to Maine. I wasn't even around yet in 1964, but Aaron Paul Lazar made me wish that I had been there. Set in the Belgrade Lakes of Maine, Tremolo is part mystery, part charm, part suspense, and a dash or two of nostalgia.

Eleven-year-old Gus LeGarde is pretty much enjoying the good life with his best friends and family at his grandparent's fishing camp in Maine when a local girl goes missing. One problem, he saw the missing girl terrified and running for her life in the woods the night she disappeared.

What follows is the unraveling mystery of just what happened to Sharon, but a view of what it meant to be a kid in the woods of Maine and in the 60's. The mystery is interspersed with such simple, yet beautiful scenes that I had a hard time putting it down. One day, Gus is doing cannonballs into the lake and the next, he finds himself trapped in a shack that has been set on fire.

You may wonder about a mystery where the...

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cybergwen says "Did you hear the one about the three-fingered pitcher? " about Cait Murphy - Crazy '08: How a Cast of Cranks, Rogues, Boneheads, and Magnates Created the Greatest Year in Baseball History

cybergwen — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:46:27 GMT

Crazy '08 by Cait Murphy

Okay, I admit it, I don't have a punch line for that one. Cait Murphy's book, Crazy '08, will keep you entertained and then some though. Yes, it centers on the turbulent and see saw baseball season of 1908, but it gives you so much more. The early 1900's weren't just baseball's coming of age, it was also when America was coming of age as well.

Think about it, in 1908 ......
*Henry Ford produces his first Model T automobile.
*There was no radio, at least not in the sense that you could listen to ballgames
*The first year that the ball was dropped from Times Square, signaling the New Year.
*Frenchman Henri Farman pilots the first passenger flight.
*Teddy Roosevelt is President.
*Robert Perry Arrives at The North Pole
*First True Skyscraper Built

A lot was going on, yet half of the country was glued to newspapers, ticker tapes and just plain word of mouth to see how their team was doing. Boy, were they in for a ride. With spitballs still legal, metal cleats being...

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cybergwen says "- A not so glowing review" about Trace

cybergwen — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:50:55 GMT

Trace
by Patricia Cornwell

I love Patricia Cornwell, but this was not her best.

Dr. Kay Scarpetta, the Forensic Medical Examiner is called back to Richmond to assist in the investigation of a girl's murder. She doesn't want to go back to the city that fired her 5 years ago, but it is a child and how can she say no?

Returning to Richmond, she finds that there is a lot more going on than just finding the cause of death of a 14 year old girl. Politics, incompetence, and total chaos now rule the medical examiners office that took her years to lovingly build.

All the while, her significant other, Benton, and her niece, Lucy, are up to some investigation of their own, but keeping it from Scarpetta. It seems that someone is stalking Lucy and even brutally attacked her lover.

Like I said, I am a big fan of the Kay Scarpetta series of Patricia Cornwell. Trace just somehow misses the mark for me. There were some minor story lines that did nothing for the main plot and even muddied that water...

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cybergwen says "Inspiring" about Between Two Worlds: Escape from Tyranny: Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam

cybergwen — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:42:37 GMT

If you read one memoir in the next year, I urge you to make it this one. Salbi writes of her childhood in a comfortable and loving Iraqi family. Her mother was a teacher and her father a commercial pilot. All that changed when Saddam Hussein chose her father to be his pilot.

Most of us have no clue what it was really like to live in Iraq under the Saddam Hussein and even most Iraqis have no idea what it meant to be part of his inner circle. It wasn't a free pass for families like the Salbis, it meant that they were virtual prisoners and constantly experienced his reign of terror first hand.

The family lived in a home in Saddam's compound, worried that the walls had ears, couldn't trust a soul, and were at his beck and call. From the outside, I am sure that it looked like they had everything, but with all of these privileges came more eyes and ears on them constantly.

As Salibi grew up, her mother came to believe that they only way her daughter, Zainab, was going to be able to escape...

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cybergwen says "Had me laughing out loud, really loudly!" about The Smart One

cybergwen — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:51:53 GMT

First off, let me just say that there is one section of dialogue in this book that had me laughing so hard that I was almost crying. I can't remember the last time that a book did that for me, if ever.

The Smart One is a tale of three very different sisters. We have the oh so pretty Claire that continues to cause tongues to wag when she walks into a room even after two kids. Then we have Joey, the wild child, that was a one hit wonder with music years ago, but saw it all disappear to drugs and is now trying to start over clean and sober. Last, but not least, we have Bev, the smart one that everyone thinks she is wasting her intelligence and should be a doctor like her father.

Bev has finally decided that she wants to be a teacher. A noble profession, no doubt, but she is struggling with doubts as she grapples with what she thinks is scorn for her wasted intellect from her family. Her parents neighbors ask her to help show their house that is up for sale while they are down enjoying...

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cybergwen says "Unknown History in Bite Size Pieces" about Kenneth C. Davis - America's Hidden History: Untold Tales of the First Pilgrims, Fighting Women, and Forgotten Founders Who Shap

cybergwen — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 04:01:22 GMT

America's Hidden History: Untold Tales of the First Pilgrims, Fighting Women, and Forgotten Founders Who Shaped a Nation by Kenneth C. Davis

Not what I expected, but still a good read for those interested in the story behind the story of America.

America's Hidden History, by Kenneth C. Davis, is chockfull of tidbits that highlight certain events in the beginnings of United States....before it was the U.S.

Just think, in a way, it was a woman that discovered America. Queen Isabella of Spain was the one that gave the go ahead for Columbus and others to explore. She also funded it.

The other thing that I had never thought of, yet found extremely interesting is that the early colonists were all about religious freedom, but only if it was the right religions. I had always assumed that the scorn of all things Catholic stemmed from the wave of Irish immigrants that came during the Potato Famine. How wrong I was. The colonists vehemently hated and distrusted Catholicism even going so far as...

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cybergwen says "So easy to use, it should be illegal!" about Flip Video Camcorder w/ Memory Stick

cybergwen — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 19:38:51 GMT

     This is the easiest piece of electronic equipment that I have ever used! Literally, take it out of the package, hit the power button, then hit the record button, and you are on your way!

     When you are done with your video, pop the little USB arm out from the side of the camera and plug it in to your PC. The software is on the camera, there are no CD-Roms to lose, no cable to fiddle with, nothing. It is that easy. Your videos just pop up on your screen.

     I can't think of anything that I have ever used was this easy. There isn't even a manual, it is just a small instruction sheet. They do include a cable so that you can watch your videos on a regular TV.

     If you are a video pro, this might not be for you. So far, they are only available with space for 60 minutes, it has internal memory and there is no removable card or chance for upgrading that 60 minutes to more. And the editing features are limited, but I was able to edit my videos more with......