It’s been a long time since I’ve read a sports biography, but Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an Antihero comes highly recommended by a friend. This “portrait” of Bonds is by former Sports Illustrated writer Jeff Pearlman and talks about how Bonds went from being one of the most respected [...]
I would love to be able to make my own scrumptious desserts. I occasionally have dinner parties, and things usually go well until it’s time for dessert — at which point, I end up defrosting a cheesecake or something. Wouldn’t it be much better to be able to whip up a fancy Mocha Almond Praline [...]
I’m talking about The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, which is scheduled to hit bookstores on September 15th. That’s just 9 days away now, and I’m starting to hear people chatter about it more and more. Plus, bookstores are already setting up those big cardboard displays in prominent places to entice readers to either pre-order [...]
Plot summary (with spoilers): Jack Reacher is an ex-MP who just got his walking papers six months ago after living abroad in the Army for 14 years. As he’s passing through the sleepy town of Margrave, GA, he’s picked up as a murder suspect. Someone matching his description was seen near a warehouse where a [...]
I have a friend who is relocating to San Jose in the hopes of being able to land a job or get some work of some kind. I know that part of the country is in dire straits as well, but at least my friend will be able to stay with a relative rent-free while [...]
Plot summary (with spoilers): Wise-cracking sports agent Myron Bolitar always seems to get involved with the wrong people. The last time we saw him, in Deal Breaker, his highly coveted first-round draft pick was brought up on murder charges. In this second installment of the series, Valerie Simpson, a former tennis star looking to make [...]
I’ve been feeling a bit guilty about my dogs recently. I haven’t had as much time to play with them as usual, so they’ve been a bit neglected. No, no, don’t sic PETA on me. They still get basic care like food, fresh water, and three long walks a day, and are in perfect health. [...]
Plot summary (with spoilers): Offred is a handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. Bit by bit, as Offred tells her story, the reader gets a better idea of what her world and her position in it are like, and how things came to be that way. For example, the Republic of Gilead is really the [...]
Summary: Journalist Thomas L. Friedman contends that the world is flat. No, he doesn’t oppose Christopher Columbus’ contention, nor does he belong to the Flat Earth Society. Instead, Friedman used this title as a metaphor for the way the global economic landscape has changed in the 21st century. He contends that the playing field is [...]