Technology and Social Media

I read two news articles yesterday that deeply disturbed me.  They both concerned technology and social media outlets.

One of the stories had to do with Carrie Fisher's medical emergency during a flight to Los Angeles from London.  TMZ was the first to report the story saying that she'd had a heart attack and had stopped breathing for ten minutes.  They said that there were EMTs onboard who performed CPR on her until the plane landed and she could be taken to the hospital.  They listed her in critical condition.  They got this information from tweets that had been posted from the airplane.  And that's where my issue with this comes into play.  The person (or persons) that tweeted about it had several options available to them and the one they chose was to exploit someone's medical emergency, possibly because the person with the medical emergency was a celebrity, I don't know.  Whatever their reasons, it makes me sick.  What bothers me more is the belief that someone, somewhere, has a video of the incident.  Maybe they've already posted it online but it wasn't known before the report I read was posted.  Or, maybe it's being shopped around to the highest bidder.  Who knows?  But, sadly, that's what our society has come to.

There was a time when people would stop and render aid to someone in need.  Somewhere along the way people became more passive and walk by someone in need because they didn't want to get involved.  However, with today's technological advances we've gone back to stopping when we see people in need.  We don't, however, render aid.  No, instead, we video their misery and post it online and feel justified in doing so.  I just don't get that.  When did we lose our humanity and good will towards our neighbors?

The other story that I read had to do with someone hacking Lucy Hale's phone, stealing topless photos from it and posting them online.  She addressed it basically saying that another female celebrity had been violated and stolen from and she didn't appreciate it.  She made no apologies for having these photos saying that she had a right to live her life the way she wanted to. She thanked her fans for their support and told whoever did this to kiss her ass.  All in all, I liked what she had to say.  My biggest issue was with one of the comments to the story.  It said that anyone with a computer and internet had no expectation of privacy.  Excuse me?  Seriously???!!!?!  Because I have a computer and internet means that ANYTHING I have on it is public domain?  I don't think so!

Look, I think taking nude photos on your phone is risky at best and not the best decision you can make but that doesn't mean anyone who knows how to hack your phone has a right to lift the pictures and have them posted.  We did not forfeit our basic rights when we got a phone / computer and internet.  It shocks me that people seem to think we did somehow.

I'm all for technological advances but it seems to me to have somehow caused humans to lose their common sense and decency and if I had to choose between the two, I'd give up the technology.  Since that's not likely to happen, I'd like to see stiff penalties for people who abuse it to exploit others and their rights. 

One can hope.

And on that note.  Merry Christmas!  :)

November Book Review

This month I'm reviewing Liane Moriarty's Three Wishes.  This is the third of Ms. Moriarty's books that I have read.  It is her debut book and I have to say, it is my favorite one so far. 

It tells the story of triplet sisters, their lives and loves and the secrets they keep from one another.  The story starts in a restaurant with three LOUD women at a table with three individual cakes.  Other diners have complained about the trio but the women only get louder until an argument erupts and a fondue fork ends up in the stomach of the pregnant woman at the table and another one collapses on the restaurant floor.  At the time you have no idea who the women are or that they're triplets and the author cleverly relays details leading up to the incident through animated accounts from the other patrons of the restaurant as they tell others about what happened.  That's what draws you into the story - wanting to know who these women are and what exactly happened.

Then you're taken to roughly a year before the incident to reveal exactly what lead to that scene in the restaurant.  But somewhere along the way, I became more interested in the women themselves and their lives.  Yes, you do get to know what lead up to the event but I also became invested in the characters.  And as is typical for Liane Moriarty's books, there are layers of secrets that come to light, not just the "big reveal" you think is going to happen.

This was another one of those books that I didn't want to put down.  I essentially read it in one sitting because I wanted to find out what happened next.  Also, this book seemed a bit less complicated than the other books of hers that I've read.  In the others there were large casts of characters that are connected in ways that you don't know until the end of the book.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the books or I wouldn't be reading other books by this author but, some get pretty complicated.  This book is about the triplets and their lives and relationships.  I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it.

For more reviews go to barriesummy.blogspot.com.

October Book Review - Evelyn, After

Okay, so I'm going to review a second book - vastly different from my other reviewed book. This book is Evelyn, After by Victoria Helen Stone.

Here is amazon's blurb on the book:

Evelyn Tester is sleepwalking through her suburban life—until a late-night phone call startles her awake. Her husband, a prestigious psychiatrist, has been in an accident. And he isn’t alone.

Suddenly Evelyn’s world isn’t as tidy as she thought. And in the midst of it all is Juliette, not only her husband’s secret lover but also his patient. If news of the affair were to get out, it would ruin more than just Evelyn’s marriage. Although it’s a bitter pill for Evelyn to swallow, protecting her family means staying silent—even if, as she begins to discover, the night of the accident has consequences far more dangerous than the unmasking of an affair.

But the more Evelyn learns about Juliette’s picture-perfect life—complete with a handsome, unsuspecting husband—the more she yearns for revenge…and satisfaction. Her growing obsession fuels her rage, burning away her complacency. What will be left of her after it flames out?

Every month amazon offers me, as a prime member, a selection of books to read before you can buy it.  I get to select one book from the offerings and this month I chose Evelyn, After.  It was labeled as a psychological thriller.  Given that and its blurb, I wasn't sure I would like it but I felt it was the one I was most likely to like of what was offered.

At the time of my writing this review there are under 20 reviews posted with most giving it three stars.  The reason given for the three stars in most instances is that they say it's not a psychological thriller.  I agree with that assessment, I don't believe it's a psychological thriller either.  But I really liked the book and couldn't put it down.  Well, I started reading it late yesterday evening and eventually put it down around 1:30 because I just couldn't stay up any longer.  But the first thing I did this morning was finish the book - before I fixed breakfast or anything else . . . I wanted to see how it ended. Amazon also has this book listed as Women's Fiction and I think that is a more accurate category for this book.

Evelyn is a housewife who has been married to Gary for twenty years.  She works a few hours a day at the school and is a room mom as well as being very involved in the PTO.  She's very dependable and as a result gets a lot of grunt work dumped on her.  She's not particularly dissatisfied with her life until one night she gets awakened by a call that changes everything.  She suspects her husband is having an affair but realizes that's just the tip of the iceberg.  As she tries to make sense of it all, she feels insignificant and finds herself questioning when she lost herself.  To me, this book is about a woman who gets the rug pulled out from under her and finds herself free falling.  She thinks she's hit rock bottom only to find there are several more layers to go before she truly hits rock bottom. 

She changes as she uncovers more of the story.  She thinks of actions as things the "old Evelyn" or the "new Evelyn" would do.  She looks at her life differently and tries to find herself again.  I actually laughed out loud at a few passages.  One I particularly liked was when she was about to do something "old Evelyn" wouldn't even consider:

"Oh, God," she whispered, suddenly lightheaded.  This was mad.  Wonderful. Terrifying.  Maybe it was all a fantasy.  Maybe she'd finally broken from reality and was sedated in a hospital, creating this imaginary life for herself.  It was a comforting thought, actually. Freeing.

I feel the author did a great job of telling this story and expressing the emotions one might go through in a similar situation.  It was believable and relatable, in my opinion.  And I was satisfied with the way things wrapped up and where Evelyn ended up at the end of the book.

I would recommend this book, provided you know it's better labeled as women's fiction rather than a psychological thriller.  :)

For more book reviews go to barriesummy.blogspot.com.

October Book Review - Giraffes Can't Dance

This month I am reviewing GIRAFFES CAN'T DANCE by Gilels Andreae, illustrations by Guy Parker-Rees.

I volunteer at the local zoo and feeding the giraffes is my favorite activity so when amazon recommended this book to me, I immediately ordered it and knew I had found the book I wanted to review this month.

GIRAFFES CAN'T DANCE is a book about being different and being okay with that.  The giraffe in the story, Gerald, goes to the annual Jungle Dance.  All the other animals are dancing well but when Gerald heads out to the dance floor the other animals start mocking him, saying he can't dance and that he's weird.  He freezes and believes they are right that he is "useless" and he leaves the dance feeling sad and alone.  He looks up at the moon and a cricket says to him " . . . sometimes when you're different you just need a different song."  The cricket starts playing his violin and Gerald starts dancing with reckless abandon and it's beautiful.  All the other animals start gathering around and enjoy Gerald's dancing.

It was a sweet little story and made me think of the saying that includes "dancing like no one is looking".  But it also has a message - that's it's okay to be different and to be comfortable with who you are.

When I went to place the order for this book I listened to the audio sample as well.  If I hadn't already placed my order, I probably would've ordered the audio version because there were added sounds and music that I felt were enhancing the experience.

In any event, I think it has a good message and is told in a way that would engage young children.  It's a short book (32 pages) and this review probably has more words in it than the book does but I liked it and recommend it.

For more reviews go to barriesummy.blogspot.com.

Dog Food

Some time ago I purchased a book on how to make food for my dog.  I thought it might be helpful in that if I made the food, I'd know exactly what was in it.

The problem was that most of the recipes call for animal meats . . . lamb, salmon, etc.  As a vegan myself, I don't currently purchase those things for myself.  Heck, when I did eat meat those weren't things on my diet!

Anyway, there was a recipe for blueberry pancakes.  It said their dogs loved this recipe and was something they were fed weekly (on Sundays).  Since I had never fed Harley, my dog, this, I wanted the first time I tried it to be a weekday so I could take him to the vet, if necessary, if he got sick from them.

Today was the day.  The recipe called for 2 large eggs.  Since this is an animal product, I don't eat or keep them in my house.  I substituted a half a banana (after making sure bananas were dog friendly) for the eggs and vegan yogurt for the greek yogurt.

The consistency seemed off so I added water (and more and more water!) to the batter.  And then I started cooking them.  After one of them had cooled enough, I put one in Harley's food bowl.

He sniffed it and then did a taste of it without actually eating it.  He proceeded to eat around it until his food bowl was empty except for this pancake (some of his breakfast was still in the bowl).

Because all the ingredients are people friendly and because the book said this was a recipe the whole family ate from, I tasted another of the pancakes.

The taste reminded me of those sour ball candies you can get.  It wasn't a pleasant taste and I'm not sure what brought that taste in . . . I don't remember buying sour ball candies and / or putting them into the batter.  But that's definitely what they tasted like.  So I completely understand Harley not caring for them.

Oh well, at least I made something from the book.  :)

June Book Review

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@Barrie Summy

 

 

 

The book I will be reviewing this month is New York Dead by Stuart Woods.  Many years ago I worked with a man who, when he "introduced" himself to the group, told us about his love for books.  The first box he unpacked in his office was a box of books . . . the only one he had labeled because "it was the most important box".  We found that, aside from romance novels - which he did not care for - we shared the same tastes in books we liked to read.  So, when he auctioned off several books by Stuart Woods, I snatched them up.  I had never heard of Stuart Woods so was unfamiliar with what he wrote.  

I brought the books home and they've been sitting on a shelf in my office for all these years.  Then, a couple of months ago I shipped some of the books off to my step-father, explaining that I hadn't read them so couldn't officially endorse them but asked him to let me know what he thought.  I haven't heard if he's read them or liked them but in the meantime, I decided I wanted to read one and borrowed an eBook copy of New York Dead - the first in the Stone Barrington series from my library.

Stone Barrington is a police detective in the 19th Precinct in Manhattan.  He had gone to law school but when they visited the police station during his criminal law class, he decided his calling in life wasn't as a lawyer but rather as a police man.  He finished his law degree but didn't take the bar exam.  Instead he joined the police academy.  He's a well-respected police officer and is good at what he does.

In the line of duty, he was shot in the knee and is recuperating when he decides to walk home from dinner one night, to exercise his knee.  During this walk he comes upon a woman falling from a 12th floor balcony.  Not only is he not on duty, he's technically on medical leave while his knee heals but that doesn't stop him from springing into action at the scene.

Surprisingly the victim survived the fall but promptly goes missing.  Sasha - the victim / missing person - is a high profile news person in Manhattan so this is a big news story and the police force is under the gun to make an arrest, even if it's not the right person.

I'm not a big eBook person (I prefer a real book!), not to mention reading for me recently has been a struggle.  Despite that, I read this book in one day.  It was very engaging and I didn't want to put it down.  I really liked this book a lot.

Having said that, there were a couple of threads that weren't neatly tied up at the end of the book.  I believe these to be editing oversights that didn't affect my enjoyment of the book but I do like a book that ties up all the loose ends before the ending.  :) 

I've read other reviews of this book and apparently this was the "worst" of Woods' Stone Barrington books so I'm looking forward to reading more of his work.  :)

For more book reviews go to barriesummy.blogspot.com or click on the icon at the top of this post.

May Book Review

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@Barrie Summy

 

 

 

The book I will be reviewing this month is THE NEST by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney.

I learned about this book because I had recorded a late night talk show to see interviews by the two other celebrities that were on that night (ironically I don't recall what talk show it was or who the two other guests were!).  I had no intention of watching her interview and had assumed (before I saw the interview) she was some young new star that I was too old to know who she was.  I was fast forwarding to the end of the show when I, for some unknown reason, pressed "play" when she came on.  I heard the words "debut book" and decided to watch the interview after all.

They said the book was about four siblings who didn't allow alcohol when they would get together so they each, unbeknownst to the others, would go to separate bars to drink before they would meet.  I heard that and thought it had the potential of being a fun book.

I got the book from my library and as I was about to start reading, it occurred to me that I might have too high of expectations for the book.  The story centers around a trust (aka The Nest) that had been set up for the siblings shortly before their father died.  His intention was that the money would serve as a modest midlife supplement but after his death the money had been invested wisely and the nest had grown beyond all expectations.  The money was to be distributed after the youngest sibling turned 40.

Knowing that they have a large sum of money coming to them, they all live beyond their current means, something they manage to keep secret from their significant others.  They figure that once they get the money they can fix things and no one has to be the wiser.  So of course something happens that throws a wrench into their plans.  Leo, the oldest sibling and who happens to be in the process of getting a divorce, gets behind the wheel of a car while drunk and high and causes an accident that results in a serious injury to a third party.  In an effort to keep everyone (the soon-to-be ex-wife and the injured party) quiet on the matter, the siblings' mother all but empties the nest (a right the father had included in the trust agreemenet) to pay for their silence.  

The rest of the story is about  how they all cope with this new development.

The book had a lot of potential but it also had some serious flaws.  Among the flaws was the fact that the book seemed a bit disjointed, if that's the right word.  There wasn't a real fluidity in the story telling.  With the exception of a handful of chapters, there was no real presence of time and the chapters were interchangeable as to the location they could be placed in the book.  For the most part a scene or a chapter involved only one person and their thoughts.  In most instances the character the scene or chapter was about would remember a long ago event so it felt a lot like mostly a flashback / data dump story.  And whenever there were multiple characters in a scene or chapter, there was a LOT of head hopping.  I was never confused about whose head we were in but it was glaringly obvious that we were head hopping.  In one scene there were three characters and in one of the paragraphs we hopped into every one of the character's heads . . . multiple times . . . in one paragraph.

The way the story was told reminded me a lot of the movie VALENTINE'S DAY with the overwhelming amount of characters and how so little time was spent with each character.  As a result of this, there wasn't a lot of character development and none of the characters came across as particularly sympathetic.  But you assume that it's all going to tied up in a nice little bow at the end, and for the most part it was.  I just felt that the ending was rushed and didn't provide an entirely satisfying ending to the story.

I realize that this review probably sounds like I'm trashing the book but despite all its flaws I found it to be an interesting read.  I never felt the need to hurl the book across the room but I did want to continue reading to see how it was all resolved.  I don't know that I would recommend paying full price for the book but I think it might be worth borrowing from the library.

For more book reviews go to www.barriesummy.blogspot.com.

Does anyone else do this?

What is it about a power outage that causes a person to lose brain power?  

Maybe it's just me but we just had a power outage that lasted roughly an hour.  My first thought was that since I couldn't watch cable, I'd watch what was on my DVR.  Yeah, because my DVR isn't fueled by electricity.

The second thought I had was to go online.  My internet doesn't work on electricity.  However, the modem that connects me to the internet does.

I went into the kitchen to get my dog, Harley, a snack.  Flipped the light switch.  Not surprisingly, I got nothing from it.

It crosses my mind to do laundry, load the dishwasher, cook (I have an electric stove).  None of which I can do without electricity.

Harley wanted to go outside.  He's decided his favorite way to get outside (despite having a doggy door that would let him outside into the backyard) is through the garage.  I realize he doesn't understand electricity but we couldn't go out that way because of the electric garage door opener.  I had to put his collar on him and force him into the backyard.  No one was happy about that.

And then, when I decide to call and see if the electric company is aware of the situation and timeline for fixing it, I want to use my landline.  The cordless phone, also attached to electricity.  So I called on my cell phone, which had a low battery that I couldn't charge because I had no electricity.  Well, that's not entirely true.  I could've charged the cell phone in the car.  You know, turn the car on in the enclosed garage, plugging in the cord to the cigarette lighter.  Of course that would've caused much more serious problems than not having electricity so it wasn't really a consideration.  :)

Does anyone else do this?  Create a plan of things you can direct your mind to, now that the power is out and you can't watch the boob tube, only to realize all the other things require electricity as well?  Or is it just me?

Pet Care

I'm finding it hard to find good pet care for my dog, Harley.  I booked a once in a lifetime tour of the Serengeti in Africa for this summer and I'm looking forward to taking it.

That is, of course, if I can find suitable care for Harley.

I started by asking a friend of mine if one of her daughters could stay at my home with him while I was gone.  They've done it before when I've had to be away from home overnight.  This trip is a two-week trip though so I knew it was asking a lot.  I was asked to consider them as my "back-up plan" rather than my first plan of action.

So I've been looking.

I asked my vet for recommendations and it turns out one of their techs does pet care.  Yay!  Oh, but wait, turns out she'll only stop by your house up to 2 times per day.  She won't stay at the house or take the pet home with her.  So that won't work.  :(

She recommended someone else to me though, with the caveat that she thinks the person has taken "a real job".  She gave me her business card so I could call her myself.  According to the card I was hoping I could have her pick Harley up in the morning and take him to the doggy day care advertised on the card and them bring him home at night.  It's not ideal but it beats only having 2 visits per day for short periods of time.  I checked out the website listed and it doesn't mention doggy day care so I don't know if it's still offered.  I haven't called her yet but I don't think it's too promising.

I also called a former veterinarian I used and asked for recommendations.  They gave me the name of a kennel but made it sound like a facility that makes the news for its bad practices for animal care.  I haven't called them either.

A friend recommended a kennel she uses and thinks highly of.  I did a tour of it on Friday.  It's a nice enough facility but the animals get little attention.  I was looking at one of their indoor / outdoor rooms for Harley and learned that in those rooms the dogs get all of 6 minutes of cuddle time per day, period.  They're not taken outside and given any attention (unless you pay additional fees per time they are taken out) because they can let themselves out as needed.  During the day only - they close the doggy doors at night.  So basically, it's not a lot better of a situation than leaving him at home, where he has his own routine, and having someone stop by twice a day.  Plus, Harley gets medication daily for thyroid issues and there's an additional fee for them to give him his medications.  You can't take things up there from home to make him more comfortable because they don't want to keep up with it.  If you bring your own food you have to put each meal in a ziplock bag.  Harley eats at least twice a day and will be up there for 2 weeks so I have to make at least 28 ziplock bags of food, not factoring in the fact that lately he has been eating 3 times a day.  The alternative is to allow them to feed him their food, at an additional cost, of course.  I'd almost rather leave him at home at this point and have the vet person stop by twice a day.

Last night I emailed my friend again and asked if her daughter would consider taking Harley in while I'm gone.  I told her I would pay her.  This daughter is constantly taking in strays and has kept them for long periods of time while she tries to find them homes so I'm hoping she'll consider this.  It would be a different environment for Harley but not in a negative way.  And I don't think it would add too much to what the daughter already has to do with the dogs she already has (Harley gets along with other dogs).  I think this would be the best case scenario for everyone concerned.  I'm waiting to hear back.  I hope this can work out.

Yes, I used to kennel my pets but some things have changed since then.  For one, the place I took my dogs to is no longer in business.  They were wonderful with the animals and spent lots of time with them - at no extra charge.  Not to mention, I had three dogs the last time I needed to kennel them so they had their "siblings" with them so they weren't alone.  Harley would be in a new place where he didn't know anyone and had no one to play with for 2 weeks.  Not what I want to do.

I'm praying, please God, let this work out with the friend's daughter, for everyone's sake.

April Book Review

The book I will be reviewing this month is The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St. James.

I read this book over two years ago and had meant to review it at that time but life has a way of changing one's plans, so I am just now getting around to it.

Alyssa Goodnight has originally reviewed this book (see review here) and her review caught my interest.  The heroine in the story, Sarah Piper, worked as a temp.  I supported myself as a temp for more than 10 years.  Something I could already relate to.  Sarah was hired to go ghost hunting.  Okay, I never got an assignment like that but the possibilities of it ran through my head and I purchased the book immediately after reading Alyssa's review of the book.

Then, I must admit, I had a bit of buyer's remorse.  I don't believe in ghosts and I felt that reading a book about ghosts wouldn't be a good idea.  So the book sat on my entertainment center for months before I ever picked it up.  And when I did, it was for the sole purpose of reading enough to know I shouldn't read it.  I guess I felt that that would somehow justify the purchase of the book and the not reading of the book.

Thing was, I was instantly hooked in the opening paragraphs.  Sarah also didn't believe in ghosts.  She had only taken the temp assignment because she desperately needed the money.  Plus, it would get her out of her small apartment (which I envisioned being over a brothel that the big bad wolf could blow down if he huffed and puffed at it . . . I saw her room as being the highlight of the entire place though, despite the other imagery the author gave to the building she lived in) for a few days.

Maddy Clare was the ghost she was going to "help".  Maddy wouldn't allow men near her (she'd taken up residence in a barn) so it had to be a woman, and was why a female temp had been requested. 

The way the author wrote the story, the reader became a part of the story - at least I did anyway.  As Sarah and I entered the barn to "meet" Maddy, we were both skeptics.  By the time we left, we were both believers.  The author did an amazing job of telling the story and making it convincing.

The only issue I had with this book is the romantic elements.  I didn't see it and I didn't believe it.  It felt forced and didn't seem to fit with other aspects of the story.  It wasn't needed either.  I almost felt like the book had been written and the editor told her to add a romantic storyline to it.  It just didn't work for me.

Other than that, I really enjoyed the book and recommend it.

For more book reviews go to barriesummy.blogspot.com.

March Book Review

The book I will be reviewing this month is Liane Moriarty's The Last Anniversary. 

The story is about a (dysfunctional) family living on an island and the mystery involving Jack and Alice Munro who vanished from the island 70+ years ago.  Sisters Rose and Connie had gone to see Jack and Alice and discovered them missing but their baby, Enigma, seemed to be abandoned by her parents.  Jack and Alice were never found and the mystery surrounding their disappearance was never solved.

Rose and Connie raised baby Enigma as their own and gave tours of the home her parents had disappeared from as a means to bring in some money.  All these years later, the family is very well off but they continue the daily tours and have an annual celebration on the anniversary of when Jack and Alice disappeared.

The author took a lot of time developing characters in this story, which I liked.  The problem with that though is that she had a lot of characters in the story and it took a while before I could keep straight the relationships . . . there were five generations of individuals and at least 9 characters whose head we get into at different times.  I've been having some difficulties keeping information straight in my head lately though so the issues keeping things straight could just be me and not a writing issue.

As with other of this author's books, the obvious big mystery of the book isn't the only one revealed during the telling of the story.  I did figure out some, others I was wrong in my guesses.  But the book also has a surprise twist ending that I didn't see coming.

I enjoyed it.

For other book reviews, go to barriesummy.blogspot.com

The Good Wife

I was sad to hear that The Good Wife was being cancelled.  Yes, I’m going to miss The Good Wife.

Funny that I only discovered the show a little over a year ago.  Well, that’s not entirely true.  I had heard about it before then but had never watched it.  It was one of those shows that looked interesting but after I missed the premiere episode I decided that the ship had sailed and I wasn’t going to try to catch up.

That is until around Thanksgiving 2014.  I saw that I had full access to every season through my cable provider.  I had been off work for a while at the time and found myself doing marathon watching of the show every day, getting in as many episodes as I could.

When I returned to work it was only part time at first.  I would get up early and watch one or two shows before I went into work.  I’d come home at lunch time and continue where I had left off that morning.  I was really tired at the time so I wasn’t getting as many shows in as I would’ve liked but it was pretty much all I was watching.  My DVR filled up to capacity because I wasn’t watching anything that it was recording. 

This continued for a couple of weeks until I caught up to the current season.  At that point I actually purchased the first few episodes of the current season from amazon, just so I could watch them in order and be ready when it came back from the winter break.

So technically, I’ve only been watching it as it airs about a year now.  And now they’re cancelling it.  L  I’m so bummed because it’s still such a good show.  So well written and characters clearly defined.  Still fresh material.  Plus, they’ve finally given Alicia a new love interest that looks promising.

I guess no one wants to stay too long at the party but I wasn’t ready for this one to end.  L

Sigh

Reviewing Books

Last night I posted reviews on two cookbooks on amazon.  I gave one of the books one star and the other two stars.  I have a huge selection of cookbooks so I requested these books from my library so I could decide if they would be worth buying and adding to my collection.

Here's the deal, for reasons I won't go into here, I need to eliminate soy from my diet, to the extent that is possible.  Both of these books advertise that they have soy free recipes in their books.

The book I gave two stars to labeled their recipes with "soy-free" or "soy-free option" in the recipes that supposedly don't contain soy.  I liked that it was organized this way (they also had gluten free and oil free recipes / options as well) but I had a big issue with the fact that the author obviously doesn't know where all soy is contained.  It's like gluten - it's in EVERYTHING - so you have to be careful.  For example, I only did a quick skim of the recipes but found two that were labeled soy-free that clearly weren't.  One was for a tofu recipe, the other was for a tempeh recipe - both of which are made from soy beans.  The tofu recipe was listed as "soy-free option" and gave you a substitution for soy sauce but offered nothing for the tofu and tofu was in the recipe name (as was tempeh in the tempeh recipe).  To me that's unforgivable.  Know your ingredients before you label it because some people will depend on your label and if it's an allergy issue, it could kill them!

The other book not only didn't label the recipes, they weren't organized to distinguish what the recipes were "free of".  One of its claims were recipes without eggs.  Well, obviously I could distinguish which ones weren't egg free but there was nothing to distinguish the others.

My hope had been that I could pull up a recipe and make it, safe in knowing it was soy free but that's not possible with either of these cookbooks.  With either of these cookbooks I would have to label read my ingredients and I was hoping to eliminate that to the extent I could (I know at least one of these books and I think possibly both of them would say "buy a gluten free [insert ingredient] here" and then offer not options).  Frustrating.

But the point of this post (long way to get here, I know) is, I used to not review books unless I could give them a five star rating because I didn't want to be negative.  Then, a few years ago, I went to find a review from a particular reviewer and realized that the lowest she ever gave was a four star review.  She reviews hundreds a week - literally!  But none are ever less than a four star book?  I don't buy it and I no longer give her reviews credit.  In fact I read her four stars as "it sucked" now.  Seriously.  So, I don't shy away from reviewing books (or items) that I don't care for anymore.  Yes, it's still unevenly balanced in the positive side but I hope that the lower starred reviews give those five star reviews credit and the other way around as well.

What about you?  Do you balance out your reviews or just show one side or the other?