I have tried about ten of the recipes in Fresh & Light, and they all have been met with exclamations of "encore!". In fact, my normally cooperative partner refused to wash the dishes after I made Chipotle-Marinated Pork Tenderloins, because he wanted to savor the lingering aromas.

The recipes are clear, and the approximate preparation times have been accurate in my experience.

I am an experienced cook, with skills in traditional techniques. But boy! Did this book teach me new techniques for creating great food with low fat and reduced calories. The recipes are consistently outstanding. Even my spouse who resists anything healthy has been won over.Bravo Bravo!

Joel Lane, you have amazed me. From the moment I began reading this rare tale of strange love, emotional corruption, and rock music, the prose seemed to find its way into my thoughts during my non-reading moments. This is one of those books that takes you fully through the gamut of every feeling and reaction the human psyche can conceive. The title serves as an excellent overview, those who have read may agree; from a blue sadness, to a black endlessness. I don't care whether you are gay, straight, goth, whatever: there is something in here that will find ways to pleasantly haunt you long after you finish the last page.

This book had me wrapped up from the very beginning. The characters were colorful and three dimensional, while still being realistic. The knowledge and factoids about the bands and music scene mentioned were impeccable and drew in an eerie sense of realism. Even when I wasn't reading this book I was thinking about it. The story is hauntingly beautiful without being over the top or garish. Throw in some tears and you've got a great relaxing read. I really enjoyed this book and recommend it to you to read.

If you are looking for an in-depth, complete introduction to Gigabit Ethernet (both copper and fiber) you have found the right book. In about 500 pages the authors give a professional introduction not only to the Gigabit version, but other Ethernets as well, talking about network design, MAC layer, cabling, and almost everything you can expect from a book so named.

Edgar Danielyan CCNP CCDP

Compared with other GigE books, this book offers much better discussions on optical transmission and impairments. This will be great for people who likes to understand where certain optical interface and limitation are from.

On the network subject, it also offers clear and orderly description.

This is not as funny as the first Happy Hocky Family book, but what is? I consider "Happy Hocky Family" to be the funniest book I have ever read. I laughed so hard I cried, coughed, and drooled. This sequel, while not quite THAT funny, is still funnier than most. The art and writing are great. The humor in this book may be a little more accessible to children than the first book.

This book is totally hillarious. It's even funnier than the first one, which is hard to believe. My 11 year old son and I were laughing so hard reading it in the book store that people were looking at us. Buy it for a great laugh!

Madeleine and J Lane Miller have written a valuable resource for the study of everyday life in Bible times. The blurb inside the dust jacket says that there are 74 subjects in 14 sections with 150 illustrations. There are sections on geography, homes, food, clothing, medicine, family events, the life of a nomad, the life of a professional, etc.

Let's say one is reading the story of David and Bathsheba. One might turn to the section on military life and read Soldering under David. There one might read that Saul was the first to establish a professional army in Israel rather than depend upon a militia. David added mercenaries to his army. In Israel mercenaries worked for wages but had no rights as a member of an Israelite tribe. A mercenary so totally belonged to the king that when a king died, like a concubine, a mercenary passed on to the king's heir. This raises the question to mind as to whether Uriah the Hittite was a mercenary along with other members of "the Thirty." One then might decide to read the section on Prostitutes. Prostitution did exist in Israel and there may have been temple prostitutes at Shiloh in the pre-monarchial period. Deuteronmic Law prohibited both male and female prostitution, but prostitution was a fact of life throughout the Ancient Near East.

Though the Millers have included a section on the Industrial Life, their book is lacking in discussing the economics of Bible life. There are no chapters on money or taxation. Even so I found this to be a valuable resource. When a favorite sister-in-law admired the book, I gave her my first copy. And then I missed the book so I went out and bought a second copy.

This book really has an excellent cover!

Beautifully written stories that come from everyone's life, both as adults and as children. A must read for a light and enjoyable evening.

This collection of columns by syndicated columnist Terry Marotta reminds us of the humor and drama in everyday life, and that nothing is so important as laughter, love, and family. Marotta has a gift for the one-liner and for the big picture. It made me wish I was a member of the Marotta household. I eagerly await the next collection.

This book is a work to savor, rich with stories, lore, wisdom, e.g., the tale of Grand-Uncle Three and his coffin, the man who put rat's meat in egg noodle soup (ugh!), the description of Ms. Tham's bossy paternal grandmother, the author's coming to terms with the death of her younger sister (Jadegreen Plumblossom) and father, and so much more. I wasn't left at a distance by the fact that the memoirs are about a girl growing up (i.e., would there be something that I as a male could relate to there?) because Ms. Tham captured so much that is universal. If she or the book were more akin to the Princess Nohran or Fadzillah whom she described in it (Ms. Tham was, at one point when she lived in Malaysia, a tutor in English and Mathematics to princesses in a royal family), i.e., bubbling over with fascination regarding the merits of Revlon versus Elizabeth Arden skin-care cosmetics, that would have been a turn-off. But not the beautiful rendering of the past that deals with family, love, marriage, death, mythology, and art that is in evidence throughout the memoirs.

I've read (and own) all of Hilary Tham's books. Most of them are volumes of poetry, wise, lucid, direct, witty poems. In her poems, Hilary is a great story teller, so it should be no surprise that her first prose work, a memoire, is moving and rich. The material of her life is, in itself, intriguing: She's Chinese, but raised as part of a Chinese minority in Malaysia, married an American Peace Corp. member, converted to his faith and became active in her synagogue in the U.S. Besides her Chinese background (with its stew of Confusianism, Buddhism and Taoism) and her Judaism, she was educated in a Catholic school -- she "covers" a hell of a lot of culture. But apart from the interest of her unusual background, she has wry charm, humor, truthfulness, common sense and a warm, friendly presence in her work.

I want to say that Gloria Lane is a wonderful writer. I don't read books very often but once I picked up her book I just couldn't put it down. I finished her book in 2 days. I just needed to know what happened next. A great romantic love story that gives you a surprize at every turn. This is a book I think everyone will enjoy.

A very modern love story which only demonstrates that some things never change. Boy meets girl; boy leaves girl; boy remembers girl; boy returns to girl. A strong attraction that survives rejection is rare but the story makes it seem possible and plausible.

I loved paper dolls when I was a little girl and hoped that this collection would entice my 7 year old daughter into that world. The paper dolls in this book are beautifully done, however, these were impossible for a 7 year old to successfully cut out. These dolls require skills of a much older child. Are there 12 year old girls willing to play with paper dolls anymore? If so, this collection is an accurate portrayal of a Victoriana family preparing for a wedding.

There are so many dolls in this book and each has many outfits. Each one is done with a great deal of detail.The quality of the paper is wonderful and will survive lots of play. I loved the fact that most outfits have hats to go with them.

I will never look at a Christmas tree the same again. What a funny, funny recounting of life in the not so fast lane of a Christmas tree farmer and his long suffering wife Betty.

If you've had a hard day at the office and want to relax while reading about the hilarious trials and tribulations of someone else, this book is the one. This is better than cherry vanilla ice cream.

This just has to be the funniest book I have ever read. I was doing a job for the publisher Bookmice, improving the appearance and usability of the HTML versions of several books: background, headings, internal links and so on.This kind of work doesn't involve much reading from the book, but when I started on 'Santa Claus Lane', my eyes were caught by a sentence, and I got to reading, then I went to the start of the chapter to make sense of it. Before long, I gave away all pretense of working on the book, and simply read it from end to end. Even then, the content wouldn't let me alone. Many of the stories were well worth a second read, and now weeks later, they still make me chuckle. Darrel has a wicked turn of phrase: * "I was watching a football game through closed eyelids (this is something only men can do)." * "...anyone who has been owned by kittens..." * "What's that noise?" she asked. "The wall," I said. "Walls don't make noise." "They do when I bump them with my head." He describes perfectly ordinary domestic episodes in a way that'll have you laugh. I suspect this book is not for youngsters, but the more mature among us will identify with this self-effacing rogue and his ever-victorious wife Betty.