From Scratch: Inside the Food Network - Allen Salkin

I really wanted to love this book.  It's about the Food Network and most of the Food Network stars were interviewed.  I love food.  I love the Food Network.  I love most of the shows on the Food Network.  What's not to love about this book then, right?  Unfortunately, I felt it focused way too much on the behind the scenes network/tv/money aspect and not enough on the Food Network stars or their individual shows.  I found it a little dry and boring.

 I'm sure it is a great book if you are looking for an inside look at a cable network channel.  But if you're looking for a great story about food and the food network stars, look elsewhere.

Sacred Fire- Ronald Rolheiser Book review and a give away!

Thank you for participating in the book giveaway.  The contest is now closed!

How can I give my life away more purely, and more meaningfully? How do I live beyond my own heartaches, headaches, and obsessions so as to help make other peoples' lives more meaningful?  These are some of the questions that Ronal Rolheiser attempts to answer in his new book Sacred Fire. You may know Ronald Rolheiser from his book The Holy Longing, which was written as a foundational book - a Spirituality 101 course. Or possibly you know him from his column in the Catholic Herald or one of his other books. Or maybe you don't know him at all.  Either way, you should read this book!  

Sacred Fire is the follow on book to The Holy Longing.  Where The Holy Longing answered the basic questions, Sacred Fire goes a little deeper.  He follows the concepts of St John of the Cross and tries to apply them to regular folks (instead of to priests).

This is a thought provoking, meditational book.  I really enjoyed it and find that it has helped me a lot.  I am sure I'll be referring back to it quite often.

I'm so excited to have an extra copy to give away!  Not only do I have a copy of Sacred Fire to give but I also have a copy of The Holy Longing!!  If you'd like to enter the drawing, just leave a comment below.  Let me know which book you are interested in winning.  You can say both!

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.

Thanks for reading!

Good links for more info
Authors Website
Authors Bio

Three Gifts of Saint Therese of Lisieux - Patrick Ahern

Ahern writes his story along with Therese's. He speaks of his own relationship with Therese and her role in his priesthood.  He focuses on the three gifts she gave him: 1. her universal appeal, 2. her conviction, and 3. her Little Way.

My favorite line from the book describing Therese "She is many things to many people, but she is especially helpful when it comes to managing feelings, both those that make us want to take on the world and those that keep us from moving forward and render us almost useless."  That's great isn't it??  Don't you want to pick up this book and read it RIGHT now?!!

It amazes me how much faith and confidence she had at the age of fifteen!  She knew that she wanted to serve God, help save souls and be at Carmel.  I am in total of awe of her.  I haven't yet read Story of a Soul but plan to start it for Lent.  

This book is short (only 78 pages), easy to read, and conveys Aherns sense of total love for Therese.  I highly recommend reading it soon!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Ten Days Without - Daniel Ryan Day

This nonfiction book is about how the author, Daniel Day, goes 10 days without certain 'necessities' to increase awareness/raise money for different organizations.

He conducts 8 different challenges where he goes 10 days without:
Shoes (to address disease)
A Coat (to address homelessness)
Media (to address distractions)
Furniture (to address global poverty)
Legs (to address our response to disabilities)
Waste (to address the environment)
Speech (to address modern day slavery)
Human touch (to address orphans, widows, prisoners, and other untouchables)

This book doesn't try to make you feel guilty about not doing anything to help.  Instead it motivates you in a very positive, loving way to want to go out and do something, anything to help NOW.

One of my favorite lines from the book is "So maybe instead of trying to change the world, we need to focus on changing someone's world."

The one thing about the book that felt out of place to me was when he went 10 days without media.  He didn't raise money for anyone in that 10 day challenge.  He minimized his use of media to spend more time with family.  While this is admirable, it didn't really follow the theme of the book.

I think the entire point of the challenges is best summed up when Day says this "It's about making a difference in the world.  Its about the sacrifice and pain that lead you to a better understanding of an important issue and what you can do about it."

If you'd like to learn more about 10 days without, visit the website here.  You can also read his blogs here.

Here is the book description from Amazon:


“Life is full of good intentions, but for too many, our good intentions never become good actions—they don’t move us forward, draw us closer to God, or make a difference in the world.
Good intentions are cans of paint that could have become amazing works of art…but never did.”
—Daniel Day, in Ten Days Without

Daniel Day could tell you all about his love for God and his desire to live as a follower of Jesus. But it took a simple but radical experiment to move from simply talking about it to actually living like it. For ten days at a time, Daniel chose to abandon a certain “necessity”—a coat, a voice, shoes, media, furniture, legs, touch—and to blog about it to raise funds and awareness for organizations that are doing amazing things to make a difference in the world. And then he invited others to join him in the experiments and spread the vision. Together they served God and others—and experienced significant personal change in the process. Ten Days Without is the story of their life-altering adventure.

Ten Days Without is a compelling story and practical guide that will equip you and your friends to break through walls of convenience and indifference, and join a movement that is confronting apathy and ignorance around the world to make an impact on people’s lives in a God-honoring way. Ten Days Without is where our good intentions end and making a difference in the world begins.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Provence, 1970 - Luke Barr

Unfortunately, I was not thrilled with this book.  It sounded like something I'd love - famous chefs/cooks gathering together for a holiday period in Provence.  But it turned out to be way to focused on how much of a snob of couple of them were. There were too many parts of the story that was high on gossip and low on cooking.  I wanted it to be  a book about chefs discussing and cooking amazing food.

Now, when it did come around to discussing food and cooking, it was awesome!  I kept getting hungry and looking up recipes!  If there was more of a focus on this stuff, I would have loved the book.

Overall, it was just not my cup of tea.

I will be trying to hunt down some of the cookbooks/memoirs discussed in this book though, so not a total loss.

Book description:  Provence, 1970 is about a singular historic moment. In the winter of that year, more or less coincidentally, the iconic culinary figures James Beard, M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, Richard Olney, Simone Beck, and Judith Jones found themselves together in the South of France. They cooked and ate, talked and argued, about the future of food in America, the meaning of taste, and the limits of snobbery. Without quite realizing it, they were shaping today’s tastes and culture, the way we eat now. The conversations among this group were chronicled by M.F.K. Fisher in journals and letters—some of which were later discovered by Luke Barr, her great-nephew. In Provence, 1970, he captures this seminal season, set against a stunning backdrop in cinematic scope—complete with gossip, drama, and contemporary relevance.

The Men Who United The States - Simon Winchester

I read this book because I enjoyed another of Winchester's books - The Professor and the Madman.  I am so happy that I did because this book is such a fantastic read! I liked it even more than The Professor and the Madman (and I liked that one a lot).

It is arranged in such a unique way.  He used the Chinese symbols of wood, earth, water, fire, and metal.  When I first read the theme, I wasn't sold on it but it really works.

One of my favorite stories is about Calbraith Rodgers - first man to fly across the United States.  But there are so many great characters and stories to learn about including Samuel Morse, Clarence King, Thomas MacDonald and Theodore Judah.  No, I won't give you more than their names.  You need to read this book to learn their very interesting stories.

It is pretty much settled that I will now have to read anything this man writes because he is a great storyteller of nonfiction.  And from my experience, that is a hard combo to find!


Amazon book description:

Simon Winchester, the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of Atlantic and The Professor and the Madman, delivers his first book about America: a fascinating popular history that illuminates the men who toiled fearlessly to discover, connect, and bond the citizenry and geography of the U.S.A. from its beginnings.

How did America become “one nation, indivisible”? What unified a growing number of disparate states into the modern country we recognize today? To answer these questions, Winchester follows in the footsteps of America’s most essential explorers, thinkers, and innovators, such as Lewis and Clark and the leaders of the Great Surveys; the builders of the first transcontinental telegraph and the powerful civil engineer behind the Interstate Highway System. He treks vast swaths of territory, from Pittsburgh to Portland, Rochester to San Francisco, Seattle to Anchorage, introducing the fascinating people who played a pivotal role in creating today’s United States.

Throughout, he ponders whether the historic work of uniting the States has succeeded, and to what degree. Featuring 32 illustrations throughout the text, The Men Who United the States is a fresh look at the way in which the most powerful nation on earth came together.

Walking with Mary - Edward Sri

As my Advent reading, I chose Walking with Mary.  This book is an excellent little read.  It's only 118 pages long but it is filled with helpful, prayerful information.

The book is broken down into nine steps
Step 1 - An open heart: Mary in dialogue with God
Step 2 - A servant of the Lord: Let it be done to me
Step 3 Magnify the Lord: The humility of Mary
Step 4 - Keep and ponder: The Mother at the Manger
Step 5: Sharing in the sword: Mary's participation in her Son's suffering
Step 6: Walking in darkness: She who did not understand
Step 7: She still says yes: Mary's choice at Cana
Step 8 Total surrender, total trust: Standing at he cross of Jesus
Step 9: Persevering in faith: Mary, crowned with glory

I love that the author first presents the steps in relation to the Bible and then brings it home with application to our lives.  It really helps me 'get it'.  Another thing I love is how the book intertwines Old Testament and New Testament verses to tell the story.

This is not a book that I will read and put away but one I think I will refer to often over the course of my life.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.