The Chiffon Trenches: A Memoir by André Leon Talley Four and 1/2 stars; nonfiction, memoir, the fashion business, tell-all Although I am not and never have been a snappy dresser, I can appreciate those who make the effort. It is work to look good at all times, rather than going out in public looking like […]
Fidelity to text: One gun (some names match and the house is terrific) Quality of movie: One gun (plot holes you could sail battleships through) My goodness, but those are low rankings. Remember, this is on a scale of one to five, with one being the lowest and five the highest. Officially, this is the […]
Rewiring Tinnitus: How I Finally Found Relief from the Ringing in My Ears by Glenn Schweitzer. A note from Bill: This book review appears here because it fits in with Teresa’s philosophy behind “Fed, Safe and Sheltered,” which is to discover low-cost ways to make your life better. This applies to your health, and the […]
The Business of Being a Writer by Jane Friedman Now that I’m slowly becoming a writer myself, I’m paying more attention to the business aspects of writing. Writing without getting paid is all very well, but really, if you aren’t getting paid, you might as well be writing in your journal. Writing is important for […]
So You Want to Publish a Book? by Anne Trubek This is a charming little book, but quite short. Ms. Trubek does stick to the point so there are few wasted words. Still, it could have been longer. Easily. Definitely. Certainly. There is so much to say about the publishing business, especially for people who […]
The Eighth Detective by Alex Pavesi I’m not a rabid fan of Golden Age mysteries although I have read my fair share. There are those people who not only read all of Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, Ellery Queen, and the like but go on to read the more obscure writers from that time […]
Four stars Bill and I love movies. We love cheese and crackers and wine (for me), beer (for him), and grapes. We don’t have money to spare and even if we did, I have serious cheapskate tendencies. To meet all these conflicting impulses, we developed a new hobby a few years ago. We select a […]
The Making of Home: The 500 Year Story of How Our Houses Became Our Homes by Judith Flanders Judith Flanders backed into writing nonfiction histories of how normal people lived because she started out by writing a biography of four Victorian sisters (the McDonalds as told in A Circle of Sisters) who married extremely well. […]
Chaos Reigning by Jessie Mihalik Third volume in the Consortium Rebellion Trilogy Jessie Mihalik has finished (for now) her space opera trilogy about the Consortium running the universe (not the galaxy; apparently our unimaginably vast galaxy — The Milky Way — doesn’t offer a big enough scope) and the von Hasenberg family. There are six […]
Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre by Brett L. Markham One star (so don’t waste your time); nonfiction gardening and self-sufficiency This book has a history. “Mini Farming” has been out for a decade, having been originally published back in 2010. At that time, it showed up at our local library in the new books […]