Sunday, March 9, 2014

Snooping Around Sunday - Book Reviews!

As a book blogger, it's probably not very surprising that the majority of blogs I follow are book-related - other book bloggers, book giveaways, authors, etc. Today I wanted to celebrate that by sharing some of the posts I found were worth checking out today!

Dreaming About Other Worlds participated in a Book Blog Hop - boy do I wish I had time to participate in those! :) I think her answer was well-written - what do you think?

The Cat Overlord Book Club surprised me by showing that The Walking Dead is actually a book series and not just a tv show! I've never watched the show, but books are much more my thing so maybe I can start getting into it.

For my fellow book bloggers, Anne R Allen talks about how to comment on a blog to help build your web presence. This is great for authors, too.

Shell's Stories gave such a positive and interesting review on The Unwanted that I must now add it to my overwhelmingly large, five-thousand-book-plus "To Read" list on Goodreads.... here's hoping that I really can get to it!!

If you're a giveaway freak like me, definitely pop over to JeanzBookReadandReview and check out her review and giveaway for The Eslites: The Arrival.

For my cover artists, A Backwards Story has some beautiful cover reveals worth looking at.

That's all I had time for today - my day job held a big client wedding yesterday, and my travel business has been pleasantly busy as well (though I wish I could clinch a lot more sales right now, trying to save up for a big 10 year anniversary trip with the hubs next year!!).

Have a well-read week! :)

Sorta Recommended Read - Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence by Daniel Goleman

Focus: The Hidden Driver of ExcellenceFocus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence by Daniel Goleman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I had to read Emotional Intelligence in college, so I expected this to be somewhat dry - but it was a little worse than I thought! It read like a textbook, which means ironically enough that I had a hard time "focus"-ing on it!

However, there were some interesting tidbits sprinkled in like hidden marshmallows in a bowl of otherwise bland cereal.

This book isn't remarkable, but it also isn't terrible.

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Sorta Recommended Read - Sense and Sensibility by Joanna Trollope

Sense and SensibilitySense and Sensibility by Joanna Trollope
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'll freely admit that while I voraciously wolf down books, I have never read the original book of this title. But when I heard it was rewritten and "modernized", I thought this was finally my chance to give it a go, since I generally don't care for a lot of the traditional "classics."

Sadly, this still wasn't a very good book in my opinion. Taking an old story and putting modern electronics and a few modern phrases in it doesn't make it a "modernized" tale. The situation was still too archaic and the "modern" characters just weren't believable in the "old fashioned" situation.

This book was only ok, and didn't strike in me a desire to read the classic.

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Sorta Recommended Read - Primal Cravings: Your Favorite Foods Made Paleo by Megan McCullough Keatley

Primal Cravings: Your Favorite Foods, Made PaleoPrimal Cravings: Your Favorite Foods, Made Paleo by Megan Mccullough Keatley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It's great to find a "diet" cookbook that actually has tasty recipes! That being said, I doubt this book would help anyone lose weight - I shuddered at some of the very high calorie and fat counts in the recipes, which are conveniently hidden in the back of the book in an index. I would have liked to see more in-depth writing on why a Paleo/Primal diet is a good choice and why it is healthier and/or why it helps you lose weight.

A little warning as well - while generally Paleo would be gluten free, some of the recipes in this book suggest using things like processed lunch meats which are not always gluten free. So be smart and read labels if you are gluten free due to an allergy/sensitivity like me.

But if you aren't as concerned with your weight or as strict about being Paleo, these recipes are actually pretty darn good! I love the sloppy joe meatballs the best.

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