The Owner's Manual For Driving Your Adolescent Brain

The Owner's Manual For Driving Your Adolescent Brain

By JoAnn and Terence Deak

Published by Little Pickle Press, 25th November 2013


This is a very short book - only 75 pages long - but absolutely crammed to bursting with facts, hints and tips about how the adolescent brain functions and how the owner of an adolescent brain can best take care of it in order to get the very most out of it.
It is in full-colour throughout and profusely illustrated, making it eye-catching and engaging.

When you think of how complex a subject the brain is, I find it amazing that the authors, both of whom have Ph.D.s, have managed to make it understandable, accessible, and most of all interesting and enjoyable.  It is aimed squarely at the adolescents concerned and is written in a down to earth and factual style which has a great deal of humour in it too.

Most  early to mid-teens who are learning biology would find this book interesting and useful in their studies of science as well as on a personal level and it would certainly be helpful for parents to read it too; I particularly like the parts where the importance of getting enough sleep, exercise and limiting the time spent on social media/video games etc are given a factual, biological basis which will be appreciated by teens  rather than being dismissed as just parental nagging......

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A Nantucket Christmas

It's the end of November and time to start reviewing Christmas themed books in earnest!


A Nantucket Christmas

By Nancy Thayer

Published on 29th October by Ballantine Books


Nicole, a recently retired nurse, lives on the wonderful island of Nantucket with her new husband Sebastian. They are blissfully happy and it looks as if nothing could spoil their first Christmas together as a married couple......until Sebastian's adult daughter Kennedy and her family end up spending the whole Christmas week at their house, the same house in which Kennedy grew up.

Kennedy is now married, with a toddler son and another baby on the way, but she is childish,  manipulative and determined and will stop at nothing to try to get her father to re-unite with her mother - even though her mother is in a serious relationship and her father has remarried.

Maddox is a delightful little boy but his mother is struggling to be as perfect as her beautiful and self-obsessed mother Katya, and obviously finding adapting to motherhood to be an overwhelming process. At times I sorely wanted to shake Kennedy and thought that Nicole behaved with admirable self-restraint to her step-daughter, who plots and schemes relentlessly.

 It looks as if the whole week is going to be a catastrophe, especially when there is an unexpected  visitor in the form of  Kennedy's mother Katya.  Young Maddox  manages to find a stray dog and get caught up in an adventure of his very own which throws the whole family into turmoil...

The descriptions of Nantucket and its Christmas festivities are both detailed and wonderful, and I thoroughly enjoyed every page of this novella. It has definitely put me in the Christmas spirit!

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Combat Doctor

Combat Doctor:

Life and Death Stories from Kandahar's Military Hospital

By Marc Dauphin

Published by Dundurn, October 28th, 2013


Marc Dauphin is a Canadian ER physician and Army officer, highly skilled and very experienced indeed, who in 2009 went to Afghanistan and served a full six month tour of duty at the military hospital at Kandahar where he and his team were responsible for treating some of the most severely injured soldiers and civilians. He was the Canadian Officer Commanding and carried an enormous amount of responsibility on his shoulders.

The Role 3 multinational hospital had a superb reputation and produced the most remarkable survival statistics that have ever been recorded in a combat or a civilian hospital; 97% of those injured who were admitted to the hospital with recordable vital signs survived due to the outstanding medical and nursing care they received there.

It was a hard, gruelling tour of duty for all the staff; although there were lighthearted moments, the staff were pushed to their absolute limits - and beyond them - by the constant, almost relentless influx of wounded, and they way they responded is utterly jaw-dropping. Surrounded by  enemies who sent rockets thudding into the grounds at regular intervals and who showed no respect for the Geneva convention guidelines that medical staff should not be attacked or fired upon during the course of their duties, they put their own physical safety on the back burner and concentrated on saving those who were brought to them, regardless of nationality or age, civilian , military or hostile status.

They treated children and adults who had trodden on concealed explosives, Afghan soldiers who had managed to shoot themselves, suspected terrorists as well as soldiers who were  so badly wounded it seemed that it might not be possible to save them; all were treated by the staff with compassion and respect, under the most stressful and dangerous circumstances imaginable. It would be prudent to add that this book contains incredibly evocative and very detailed descriptions of what life was like in the hospital as well as of the medical procedures that were carried out to save people's lives; it makes for compelling albeit sometimes stomach-churning reading.

The last part of the book tells of Dauphin's return to the safety and civilised world of Canada after his tour of duty, and how difficult he found it to adapt. Not surprisingly, he was found to have PTSD after what he had seen and endured, and his recovery took a considerable length of time and he was changed forever by his experiences.

A superb book and one which inspires me with the utmost respect for the medical teams who work in combat zones. Thank you, Dr Dauphin, for sharing your experiences.

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Plain Peace

Plain Peace

A Daughters of the Promise Novel

By Beth Wiseman

Published by Thomas Nelson, November 12th 2013


I've read all the previous "Plain" books by Beth Wiseman and enjoyed them, also her crossover books in the Land of Canaan series, so I was certainly poised to love this book, number 6 in the "Plain" sequence, too.

But I didn't love it. Certainly parts of it were very well done; I  was really pleased to get to know the character of of Lucy Turner better and find out her life story, and to catch up with Dr Noah and his family was also a delight, but the actions of some of the main characters simply did not strike me as believable .

Anna, the protagonist, is an Amish girl who has been brought up by her grandparents. Her grandfather is the uber-strict local bishop and has caused some wayes in the community. Her grandmother is universally beloved and a sweet woman who allows her husband to rule the roost....or does she?
 I simply cannot get my head round the dear Marianne deliberately and over a period of many years, sublimating her displeasure at her husband's domineering ways by having a secret basement room where she stores a vast mountain of contraband and very un-Amish goods, which she has spent thousands of dollars buying, all without her husband's knowledge and knowing that he would be very unhappy.

Anna falls for the new boy, Jacob Hostetler, who has moved to Paradise with his family after the death of his sister Leah in an accident in Ohio. Her grandfather does not want her to see Jacob apart from at Church services, so she starts deceiving her family in order to see him, and Jacob's family turn out to be hiding some pretty big secrets of their own too. Jacob's mother, Cora,  initially befriends Lucy Turner but then turns against her when she discovers Lucy's previous affair with Ivan Stoltzfus.

The truth does come out, eventually, and there is a "happy ending" for all the characters, but I just cannot see the stern Bishop Byler rolling over and letting his wife keep her cuckoo clock, crystal glasses, pretty dishes and iPhone etc.  I just can't......

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The King's Grave

The King's Grave:

The Discovery Of Richard III's Lost Burial Place And The Clues It Holds

By Philippa Langley & Michael Jones

Published by St Martin's Press, 29 October 2013

Earlier this year, I watched the documentary about the finding of the King Richard III's body with fascination. Reading this book takes that amazing story into minute and incredibly satisfying detail. After all, how often does a long-lost dead king turn up in a council owned car park?

This was a once in a lifetime discovery of enormous historical importance and Philippa Langley had to fight tooth and nail to get the Powers That Be to take any notice of her passionate conviction that she KNEW just where his grave was situated; her ideas were initially treated somewhat dismissively by some experts.

She had to liaise extensively with a wide variety of people at Leicester City Council who were very interested and supportive - but financially limited in what monies they could provide - and she had to find a substantial part of the financial backing herself. She managed to  get a television company interested in making a documentary about the proposed archaeological excavation and it was largely through  funding from the world-wide supporters of the Richard III Society that the initial surveys and then excavation became possible. It's a truly compelling story and Philippa Langley was, of course, proved to be 100% correct;  she would have been perfectly entitled to revel in the discomfiture of those who dismissed her theory but she does not do so, which does her enormous credit. I don't think I would have been quite so charitable!

The chapters alternate between the excavation and its back-story, written by Philippa Langley, and the life of Richard written by the historian Michael Jones; this juxtapositioning really does help to bring Richard to life for the modern reader. Although we already knew what the outcome of the Battle of Bosworth was, and we now know that the body in the car park really was Richard III, the story remains a compelling one and a delight to read. It really does go a very long way to debunking the appalling bad press that King Richard was given by his Tudor successors.

 Definitely a keeper!

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R.I.P. Off!

R.I.P. OFF!

Or The British Way Of Death

By Ken West

Published by Matador, October 8th, 2013


First of all, this is not a Mitford-esque, factual expose of the British way of death. This is a novel, but one which is based on the extensive experience of Ken West, who has spent 45 years working in bereavement services and who set up the world's first natural burial site in 1993 in the UK.

It's an unlikely subject for a novel, but it works brilliantly and I read it obsessively from cover to cover, keen to find out what happened next.

 Set in Cumbria, England, it follows the lives, fortunes and misfortunes of local undertakers/funeral directors as they go about their daily work, dealing with bereaved families, struggling with recalcitrant corpses, worrying about making ends meet, greasing the palms of gravediggers and crematorium workers and then, worst of all, dealing with Ben West.

Ben is their worst nightmare: a trend-setting, forward-thinking, environmentally-friendly Bereavement Services Manager for Carlisle County Council, determined to offer people the greatest possible choice when arranging funerals for their departed loved ones.

Graham, Ronson, Brian, Bill, Roger. Willy, Peter and Jack are the undertakers described, covering a large geographical area with a wide variance in the populaces they serve. They deal with sweet little old ladies, crooks, drug addicts, alcoholics, mentally unstable people and those who are prepared to lie about the ownership of a grave plot to get a burial on the cheap, people who want  pop songs at funerals and those who are adamant they will not see their "late lamented" be buried in the wrong denominational section of the graveyard. They deal with it all, but the winds of change are blowing and they will have to decide whether to accept the innovations Ben West is hell-bent on introducing or face their clients choosing options other than the traditional funeral services they provide.

The full panoply involved in collecting, preparing, embalming, burying, cremating and even exhuming the  dead is introduced in this remarkably clever book; it manages to be witty, sarcastic, thoroughly irreverent, thoughtful, funny and gruesome in equal measure, and I read it straight through in one sitting, laughing out loud in places and feeling sad in others.

It is well-characterised and on the whole very well written indeed; I did notice a few typos and would perhaps have preferred less dependence on exclamation marks, but still a clever book which lays the world of the funeral director wide open.

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365 Slow Cooker Suppers

365 Slow Cooker Suppers

By Stephanie O'Dea

Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

September 24th, 2013



This substantial book can give you a whole year of convenient, tasty and easy to prepare suppers using your crockpot/slowcooker.

One of the things which makes this book stand out head and shoulders above the rest is that gluten-free options are given for all recipes, making this an ideal book whether you have to cater for people who need a gluten free diet everyday or only for occasional visitors.

What is in it?

• There is a whole chapter of bean recipes, both vegetarian and meat based.
• A chapter for soups and stews.
• Meatless main dishes,
• Beef, lamb, pork and chicken recipes.
• A whole chapter devoted to making fillings for sandwiches, subs, wraps, quesadillas and  lettuce wraps, including burgers, hot dogs, sloppy joes and pulled pork.
•  A  fish and seafood chapter with unusual recipes such as lemony balsamic honey salmon and a more familiar and homely tuna and noodle supper.

There are many vegetarian and some vegan dishes scattered throughout the book as well as in the meatless mains section.

I think possibly my favourite chapter is the one devoted to chicken recipes: honey mustard chicken, lemon chicken, mango chicken, parmesan crusted chicken, barbecue chicken thighs - all mouth-watering recipes with glorious photographs, as if you needed any further tempting to cook them. Never in a million years would I have thought of soaking chicken in a coffee , orange juice, peppercorns cloves and star anise brine before cooking, but it works, giving a really unusual taste which would certainly have guests wondering what all the ingredients are!

Whether you prefer highly spiced curries or more mellow and subtle flavours, there are recipes which can be adapted and used. I do particularly like the "verdict" notes describing what works or does not work, what picky eaters might like or dislike about a recipe, and how to tweak recipes accordingly.

Now she just needs to produce a companion 365 pudding book :-)

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101 Tips For A Happier Marriage

101 Tips for a Happier Marriage

By Jennifer Roback Morse & Betsy Kerekes

Published 28 October 2013 by Ave Maria Press

None of us have a perfect marriage; we are all flawed and imperfect people yet so many of us married couples seem to expect far higher standards from our spouses than we do from ourselves - me included!

This is a simple and short book of 101 effective tips on how to make your marriage stronger and both of you happier, by accepting that only God is perfect and that we all need to cut each other a little slack and communicate better. Marriage is good for us individually and collectively, as a couple, as a family and as a society and we should all be making every effort possible to support, help and encourage each other to make our marriages stronger.

I really like the way the tips have been split into sections, ranging from "Make A Decision To Love" and "Get It Done Without Drama" to "Understand The Physiology Of Fighting",  "Handle Criticism Gracefully" and "Soothe Yourself To Let Go Of Grudges", amongst others. This does make it easier to find things in a hurry when you feel yourself about to launch into meltdown mode!  I was not aware of the fact that female stress hormones after an argument can still be at a high level they day after a spat, and that women can easily be precipitated back into a high stress situation in that time; both partners therefore need to tread carefully after an argument to avoid accidentally falling into further confrontation and upset.

It is a very useful little book which gave me lots of food for thought, and I would certainly benefit from reading one tip a day, every day.

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C.S.Lewis: A Biography Of Friendship

C.S.Lewis:

A Biography Of Friendship

By Colin Duriez

Published by Lion Books, June 2013


I was rather sceptical about whether anything new could be said about the much-lauded C S Lewis, and was very pleasantly surprised by this unusual book.

It is not a traditional chronological biography but instead a fairly slim volume which chooses to examine the friendships he had and which he valued greatly. Some were almost lifelong friends, especially his beloved brother Warnie, others were philosophically-akin friends, college friends or academic friends, some were transient but important friends and some were almost soul-mates. His friendship with Tolkien and the other Inklings is described but so are the lesser-known friendships and relationships. His unusual and significant friendship with Jane, the mother of his army colleague Paddy Moore was to last until her death in 1951; he and Paddy had made a pact that if one of them did not survive the horrors of the First World War, the survivor would take care of the other's family, a pact which Lewis took exceptionally seriously, making sure Paddy's mother and sister were provided for, and living with them until Maureen's marriage and then Jane's death. There has been controversy as to the depth of the relationship between them;  he often introduced Jane to others as "Mother", but this is handled in a detached and certainly not prurient fashion. The only jarring note in the whole book is the description of Lewis disclosing his sexual fantasies at a young age in letters, which I felt was unnecessarily intrusive and did not add to my understanding or enjoyment of that segment.

As it is a thematic biography and not a time-line biography, I did find I occasionally had to skip back and forth to check on dates and names as I was reading, but this did not detract from my enjoyment of the book at all.  Lewis' conversion from atheist to agnostic to Theist and finally to Christian is handled very well and  in depth, making for fascinating reading in these days of strident atheism. No-one can doubt Lewis' intellect, having First Class Honours degrees from Oxford in English, Philosophy and Classics, which makes his conversion to Christianity all the more remarkable and heartening. I found it was particularly interesting to read about his science fiction novels, which I have not yet read but intend to do so in the near future, and I feel rather sad to have reached the end of this book....

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A Bead And A Prayer

A Bead And A Prayer:

A Beginner's Guide To Protestant Prayer Beads

By Kristen E Vincent

Published by Upper Room Books, 2013


I was intrigued by the title  - and the sub-title!

 Having started life as an Anglo-Catholic, I was accustomed to praying the traditional Rosary, and as an Orthodox I have my chotki, my long prayer rope on which I pray the "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner" prayer. I had heard of the "Anglican Rosary" which was developed in the 1980s but had never seen a set of the distinctive beads or known anyone who prays it.

Kristen Vincent has been intrigued by,  loved and collected Rosary beads and chaplets since her Presbyterian childhood, although she does not use the usual invocations to the Mother of God which constitute the traditional Rosary. She felt a distinct call to make and distribute prayer beads and started a ministry doing just that, wishing to make the usefulness of praying with beads known to many and dispelling the belief that this was a type of prayer restricted to Roman Catholic Christians. This slim book is  based on the four week long workshop sessions she teaches about making and using prayer beads.

She identifies the beads as having a similar function to Jewish Tzitzit, a means of reminding, focusing and concentrating on God and indeed, Christians have been praying with stones or strings of beads since the earliest days of Christianity. The Desert Fathers and Mothers used stones to count where they were in their daily recitation of the Psalter and this practice was followed by many pious laypeople, who if they were unable to read and pray the Psalms, would recite 150 Our Father prayers instead, using a prayer rope. Over time, this developed into the Rosary still prayed by many Catholics throughout the world. Many Protestant Christians would feel uncomfortable asking the prayers of the Blessed Virgin, but Kristen Vincent argues that there is no need for them to miss out on the many benefits and spiritual helps  that praying with beads can give.

The resources section is good, indicating useful books, websites and sources for purchasing the beads etc needed to make a set of prayer beads. Full and very simple instructions are given about making your very own and highly personalised set of beads as well as several different sets of prayers which can be used with the beads, ranging from the Eastern Orthodox Jesus prayer, the Lord's prayer, verses from Scripture to intercessory prayer for others - a versatile tool indeed for any Christian.

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Christmas In Apple Ridge

Christmas in Apple Ridge:

Three-in-One Collection

By Cindy Woodsmall

Published by Waterbrook Press, December 2012


This is a 3 in 1 collection of The Sound of Sleigh Bells, The Christmas Singing and The Dawn of Christmas.


The Sound of Sleigh Bells introduces us to  Lizzie and Beth 
- an aunt and niece team who run a business. Lizzie has never married and Beth is a young woman who seems unable to shake off either her mourning for her dead fiance or her stark black mourning clothes. When Beth returns from a buying trip where she has discovered the work of a talented Amish sculptor, she enthuses about it to Lizzie; Lizzie does not want Beth to remain lonely for the rest of her life and takes matters into her own hands. She tells a few white lies which means that Beth starts to correspond with Jonah the sculptor, believing him to be an older man and he believes he is corresponding with the older Lizzie...... can deceptions made with good intentions ever bring healing or happiness?

The Christmas Singing tells us about Mattie, a talented baker who runs a cake store - and nurses immense sadness about the breakup with Gideon several years ago. Gideon let her believe that he had found an Englisch girlfriend, and Mattie is slowly building her life back up, having a comfortable yet unexciting relationship with Sol, who is trustworthy, reliable and will never, ever break her heart.  When Mattie's business burns down, she returns to her parents' home for a while to recuperate and she has to deal with Gideon's presence in the community once and for all. Was Gideon lying? Who was the Englisch girl and how did he meet her? Can she trust him ever again? And just who does she love, Sol or Gideon?

The Dawn Of Christmas - This was an unusual story. Sadie calls off her wedding to Daniel when she finds him behaving inappropriately with her cousin, and throws herself into work with an Ohio Mennonite community, telling her family and Church elders that she cannot stay in the same locality as Daniel when her heart is broken. Daniel denies any inappropriate behaviour and many folk do not know who to believe. 

Eventually,Sadie's Daed tells her well, orders her) that she must return home to her Amish community and try to rebuild her life. Sadie is loving her relative independence working for her Mennonite friends in their store as a way to save for her mission trip expenses but as fate would have it, she is catapulted into meeting an eligible young bachelor after a horse-riding accident.  Levi is a cousin of Beth and Mattie from the first two stories, and gradually they build a solid friendship which they think might be manipulated to buy them both time and freedom from constant family pressures to settle down..... and then Daniel starts his sweet-talking lies again and causes chaos once more...

This was a great trilogy and one I will enjoy re-reading.

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Lady Catherine, The Earl, And The Real Downton Abbey

Lady Catherine, The Earl, And The Real Downton Abbey

By The Countess of Carnarvon

To be published in the US by Crown Publishing/Broadway Books on 29th October 2013


The Countess' s previous book about Lady Almina, the 5th Countess of Carnavon, was interesting and this is an even more riveting volume, dealing with the lives of the 6th Earl and Countess of Carnavon. Before he succeeded to the title, young Lord Porchester - generally known as Porchy - met and fell in love with a lovely American, Catherine Wendell.

The highly popular young couple moved in the highest social circles and seemed destined to live a charmed life, but sadly, the happiness of their fairy-tale wedding did not last.  The tragic death of the 5th Earl meant the end of their life in India with Porchy's regiment and taking up the reigns of the huge Highclere estate; the enormous death duty tax payable to the Government had to be found and then ways sought to make Highclere survive and thrive at a time when the world was changing rapidly and inching slowly to political instability.

 Porchy's "wandering eye" was a major factor in the breakdown of their marriage and after her divorce at the age of 35, Catherine was faced with all the stress and challenges of building a new life for herself and their two children, which she did very successfully. All too soon, however, she was faced with the death of her adored second husband on active duty and then the dreadful anxiety of watching her son also march off to serve in World War II. Porchy's own second marriage sadly proved unsuccessful and he devoted himself to life at Highclere; he and Catherine managed to remain on friendly terms for the rest of their lives.

Sure to appeal to anyone who enjoys Downton Abbey and social history.

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Raising Henry

Raising Henry:

A Memoir of Motherhood, Disability, & Discovery

By Rachel Adams

Published by Yale University Press, September 2013



Rachel Adams is an academic, a professor at Columbia University and a literary critic, an intelligent, well-educated woman who prides herself on being an advocate of women's reproductive freedom.  Her world revolves around her husband, her two year old son and her job - but her world is turned upside down and inside out when she finds that her newborn second son, Henry, has Down Syndrome.....

This is not an easy book to read; intertwined with her shock at Henry's diagnosis is her raw grief for the "perfect" second son she will never have and disbelieving anger at the way Henry's tentative diagnosis is handled by the medical staff.who care for her. We learn of her sister's decision to abort her own Trisomy 13 baby, talking of the baby as "it" and castigating the "hostile" anti-abortion protesters outside the clinic where the procedure took place over several distressing visits over successive days - uncomfortable reading to be sure.

Like a mother tigress, Rachel fights to ensure that Henry gets as much help and intervention from dedicated professionals as possible, even while still a tiny baby, determined to give her beautiful and beloved son the best possible start in life; we meet baby nurses, speech therapists, play therapists, physiotherapists, nursery staff, nannies and medical professionals and share their triumphs and joy as Henry develops and thrives.

There is a darker undercurrent, though: Rachel describes her feelings about her amniocentesis with her older son and her decision not to have one when pregnant with Henry; the casual and almost callous attitude of some medical professionals who see Henry as only as a Down baby and not a precious child; society's ambivalent attitude towards people with disabilities, trying to make the world more accessible to disabled people yet simultaneously implementing and refining testing procedures to make sure that "disabled" children like Henry are identified in the womb and prevented from even being born alive. It is a complex world indeed.

Henry has changed the lives of their whole family and this is a positive and hopeful book which has just as much laughter, love and enthusiasm as it has sadness and sobering discussion about the problems of parenting a child with special needs.

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Quiet Kids

Quiet Kids:

Help Your Introverted Child Succeed in an Extroverted World

By Christine Fonseca

Published by Prufrock Press/Sourcebooks, October 2013

Introverts generally get a bad press. Regarded as shy, retiring types, unable or unwilling to be good team players or engage wholeheartedly in group work -  modern society has all too many negative synonyms for introversion.

Just because introverts do not necessarily chatter endlessly or engage frenetically with others 24/7 does not mean they are not as equally creative, innovative and intelligent, and this book sets out to dispel many of the myths which surround introversion as well as providing a valuable resource for parents, educators and introverts themselves to use. Parents may be completely nonplussed about how to help their introverted, quiet child to both survive and thrive in a society which does not see the value of introversion; quiet kids are often the target of bullies and do need to be taught stratagems to become more confident and stand up for themselves effectively in a sadly sometimes hostile society.

Personality and temperament are two different things altogether; we never change our basic biologically determined temperament but our environment, interactions and own will can certainly adapt our personality; the author is a typical introvert but has learnt to enjoy public speaking about introversion! Quiet kids are very often the brightest children in a class but this can easily be overlooked because the child  may be reluctant to get involved in group projects or willingly volunteer information or answer questions; teachers are encouraged to look at alternative stratagems for getting the very best from these pupils and making them feel comfortable and valued in a classroom setting. Parents may sometimes feel their child is standing on the margins of family life and a huge part of this book is devoted to helping parents to enable an introverted child to have the solitude he/she craves whilst still being an active and engaged member of a family/social group and being valued for who he/she is.

This is **such** a valuable book, and should certainly be compulsory reading for those learning to be educators!

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Homemade Liqueurs and Infused Spirits

Homemade Liqueurs and Infused Spirits

By Andrew Schloss

Published by Storey Publishing, October 16, 2013


Oh my. What a truly superb book!

If you have ever wondered how liqueurs are made, or wanted to replicate the taste of your particular favourite - or even obscure - "difficult to get hold of" tipple, you will enjoy this book.

Chapters on liqueurs made from Fruits, Nuts, Vegetables, Herbs & Spices, Flowers, Coffee, Chocolate, Tea, Cream, Caramel and Butterscotch are all included as is a chapter on how to make your very own infused spirits, as well as lots of cocktail recipes using the drinks mentioned.

Whether you like rhubarb, licorice, lychee, prickly pear, unripe green walnuts, coffee & honey, ginger, artichoke or even chocolate & blood orange best, there is almost certainly a drink you can make from it at home. The steps are straightforward and clearly explained, many take only five to seven days to prepare and will last for up to a year when stored correctly, although cream based recipes should be used within a month.

I have yet to be convinced of the merits of wasting good alcohol in making a grapefruit liqueur or a horseradish-infused spirit, but with those exceptions, the recipes are superbly varied and it could take a lifetime to exhaust the possibilities outlined in this book.

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How To Pray When You're Pissed At God

How To Pray When You're Pissed At God

Or Anyone Else For That Matter

By Ian Punnett

Published by Harmony Books, 2013


The title caught my eye and I knew this was a book I simply had to read. I've been feeling pretty fed up at God myself about the sudden and tragic death of the young son of a dear friend of mine, and hoped this book might help....and it has.

Ian Punnet is a member of the Episcopal clergy and has worked as a hospital chaplain, experiencing helping people cope with trauma, pain and death; many of the people he meets have no idea that it is actually okay to be sometimes angry at God, to rage and and shout at Him, and that there is ample Biblical precedent for doing so, even Our Lord Himself.  In Jewish tradition there are many rabbis who have remonstrated forcefully with God, following in the tradition of Moses and of Job in the Old Testament, not to mention the imprecatory psalms.

His rewording of Psalm 22  works well at being an angry prayer which will speak clearly to many, using modern imagery which young people - sometime those who feel themselves most distanced from God - will find familiar and to which they can relate. I had absolutely no idea that in Jeremiah  3: 1-3, the language used in anger is intemperate indeed, the Hebrew word used  being equivalent to modern "f-bomb" when talking of Israel's lack of fidelity to God.

Punnett's angry prayers in Chapter Eight are heartfelt and often hard to read, covering a wide variety of human pain and experience in modern life; not all end with the pray-er feeling more reconciled with God but still have elements of hope. It is better to express the anger in prayer, however forcefully, to get it out of one's system and then be able to begin to re-work one's relationship with God.

There are a large variety of prayers from other people who are angry at God, themselves and others, and also a useful section on using the Psalms as a hymnal and a prayer book in this useful and thought-provoking book.

Definitely a Five Star book in my eyes and one I am buying as a hard copy book as well as keeping it on my e-reader.

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SNAP

SNAP

Has Brain Research Reached Its Breaking Point?

By James Le Fanu

Published by emBooks, May 2013

I've been a fan of Dr James Le Fanu's incisive, considered critiques of the state of medical science and research for many years, and this is a welcome addition to his published works.

Admittedly this is a very short summary of current research at only 88 pages but each is crammed full of information and often damning critique of the failings of medical research and the sometimes ridiculous extrapolations which have been made from some very flawed work ending up being accepted as mainstream medical gospel.

I live in hope that one day his books will end up being required reading for medical students.....

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The Batsford Book Of Chess For Children

The Batsford Book Of Chess For Children

By Sabrina Chevannes

Published by Anova Books/Batsford, August 2013

Although this title is aimed at children, this is definitely the best introduction to chess which I have ever seen. I do enjoy playing chess but very much at an introductory level and I have learnt a phenomenal amount from reading this book!

From setting up a board correctly to learning what all the pieces actually can do, this book teaches you all the essentials you need to know. It also teaches you how to score points gained or lost and a variety of tactics and moves to make your game better; many have been given fun titles to make them more memorable to younger readers.  It even teaches you how to "read" famous played games of chess and see how these games actually progressed.

It is well-written and profusely illustrated, making it attractive and inviting to look at and fun to use/read. Well worth buying for adults and children alike.

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Confessions Of a Criminal Lawyer

Confessions Of A Criminal Lawyer

A Memoir

By Seymour Wishman

Published by Open Road, March 2013


No, this is *not* about a lawyer who is a criminal! Seymour Wishman is a lawyer who specialises in defending those accused of crimes and he has written a truly fascinating  account of his career and some of the  people whom he has defended.

I have always wondered  how on earth a lawyer can choose to defend someone whom they suspect might be guilty and still have to present a compelling case in court and found this book very interesting indeed.

 I cannot say it is an enjoyable book when it is dealing with cases such as defending a man who beat a young child to death, but it was an eye-opening look at the American legal system and the effect that being a defence lawyer for cases such as these has on the lawyer concerned.

It is a compelling read, but at times a very distressing one.

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The Sandwich Generation Guide To Eldercare

The Sandwich Generation Guide To Eldercare

By Phillip D. Rumrill, Jr

To be published by Demos Health on 18th October 2013

As medical care improves, people are tending to live longer; many of them will be in reduced health and will need care from others at some time or another. It is increasingly common for families to be simultaneously caring for their young children and aging parents and/or grandparents, hence the phrase "Sandwich Generation". We  ourselves are in this situation, currently providing care for my mother-in-law as well as still having two youngsters living at home and I really wish this book had been available a few years ago!

It covers the full spectrum of caring for older family members, whether their problems are due to mental health issues or physical health issues:

• What are the practicalities of  providing day to day care for a loved one in her own home or in your home? 
• When is the right time to call on the help of outside agencies or consider assisted living or a nursing home for your loved one?  
• What should you do about helping a loved one to manage his finances or health issues? 
• How can you protect your loved one's well-being without compromising her independence? 
• How can you explain a loved grandparent's illness to children and maintain a good, loving relationship between grandparent and grandchild?
• What are the warning signs of Carer burnout and stress?
• What should you consider and look out for when choosing a nursing home/care facility?
• How should you manage finances and legal matters on behalf of a parent?
• What do you need to know to be an effective advocate for your loved one with the medical profession?
• When, where and how to find help.

Although written for the American market, this book is extremely valuable for carers in other countries too.

I know that when I was caring for my mother, I did not seek help early enough and seriously compromised my own health by doing far too much for far too long; having read this book, my husband and I will be much more careful when providing care for my mother-in-law so that we can do what is best for her and remain healthy ourselves.  

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