Reviews

Michael Crichton, one of my favorite authors, died in 2008. To pay homage to him, I decided to reread his first book (published under his real name), The Andromeda Strain. Written in 1969, I was afraid it would be very dated but to my surprise it wasn’t. The plot centers around a group of scientists investigating a downed satellite.

Elizabeth Reis, Associate Professor in the Women’s and Gender Studies Program and the History Department at the University of Oregon, shines a bright light into a dark alley in the history of American medicine.  The question for medical professionals: how to treat intersex patients, or, in other words,

The best category I can come up with for this book is: chick lit with dogs. The heroine, Dawn, on the rebound from a bad relationship, struggling with a second bad relationship and in the process of stumbling into a good relationship (finally!), discovers one day that she can understand the speech of dogs. This leads to interesting complications. Her dogs are hilarious, if somewhat foul-mouthed. And they may be good judges of character but their relationship advice is, as she discovers, often suspect. Dogs simply have different priorities than humans.

When Fine bought his 41 acre ranch in New Mexico, he had four goals in mind. “1. Use a lot less oil 2.  Power my life by renewable energy 3. Eat as locally as possible 4. Don’t starve, electrocute myself, get eaten by the local mountain lions, get shot by my UN-fearing neighbors, or otherwise die in a way that would cause embarrassment if the obituary writer did his or her research.”

Micah Dalton is a cleaner. He “cleans up” other agent’s mistakes. When his mentor supposedly commits suicide, Micah investigates. It is non-stop action and intrigue in London, Italy and the U.S.A. as Micah hunts for the killer. What is different here is that Micah has the help of the victim as a re-appearing ghost, or is it a reaction to a psychotropic drug given to him by the killer?

I went through a phase where I read nothing but Christian Chick Lit. I couldn't get enough of the pink covers with high heels and little dogs. My favorite has to be The Whitney Chronicles by Judy Baer. Whitney is the traditional 30-something protagonist looking for "Mr.

This is a wonderful cookbook for people with any kind of food allergies.

Set in Karachi, Pakistan, fourteen-year-old Nazia is enjoying school with her friends. After her father loses his job and his interest in working, Nazia's dowry is stolen and the family is evicted from their home . Nazia and her mother go to work as maids (masias) in order to support themselves and 2 younger siblings.

1942 couldn’t have been better and couldn’t have been worse for Kate Goodfellow. As a war correspondent for World magazine, Kate takes on the world both personally and professionally, capturing once in a lifetime moments in pictures. Never mind that it’s a world ruled by the likes of Otis Bennett, owner of World magazine, who would have her sidelined where it’s “safer for women”.