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Arts & Entertainment - Non-fiction

JUDGING CRITERIA

The Best of State Judges look for individuals, businesses and organizations that excel in their endeavors, use innovative approaches or methods, and contribute to a better quality of life in Utah. Each of the following criteria were used to judge Best of State candidates:

1. Achievement and differentiation in the field of endeavor. Best of State candidates have demonstrated achievement and excellence in their fields of endeavor and have produced superior results and outcomes. Evidence for this achievement may include-but is not limited to--recognition from peers, development of superior products, growth and expansion of their enterprise, and previous awards or competitions won.

2. Innovation or creativity in approaches, techniques, methods or processes. Best of State candidates have used innovative or creative approaches, techniques, methods, or processes to achieve superior results. Additionally, Best of State candidates have differentiated themselves in positive ways from others within their field.

3. Contribution to improving the quality of life in Utah. Best of State candidates have made Utah a better place. Community service, charitable contributions (financial or goods and services), family-friendly employment policies, environmentally sound practices or policies, increased employment opportunities, community beautification, education, contribution to a strong economy, and cultural contributions are just a few ways people and organizations make Utah a better place to live and work.

From the opening paragraphs, beginning with the dishwasher example, the reader is swept up in the possibilities of what he's about to read. The first chapter is excellent, followed by one excellent chapter after another.

The final chapter offers a no-holds-barred look into the author's own struggle with the issues he's discussing, allowing the reader to know that not only has the author "been there/done that," but he has also emerged from that struggle a wiser, more sensitive, and in-control person, as well.

It's been said that if you give a person a good map, they can find their way to the stars. The author has given his readers an excellent map.

There is a great deal of wisdom in this book, which might be best summed up by a statement from page 282: "Victory comes in little doses every day as I tune up my engine and fix the dents in my body." If life is truly a journey and not a destination, this sentence tells readers how to make that journey as smooth as possible.

As for being timely and timeless, what could be more of either than the search for meaning in one's life, and to feel in control without ruining the lives of other's in the process? This book is potentially life-changing, and should be on the shelves-and in the backpacks, for reference-of every person seeking to create a more meaningful life experience for themselves and those around them.

The conversational, brutally honest style is perfect for getting the point across, and the book is sprinkled with a generous number of quotations by famous thinkers to add an extra feel of authority to the book, as well. It's a delicate balance, but the author has carried it off with style and aplomb. It's a superior effort, from start to finish.

I own more than a dozen cookie-specific cookbooks and have found that this is by far the best. There are no pictures, but if you blindly pick a recipe at random, you will not be disappointed. The print is a good size so that you don't need to necessarily squint to see the steps. Particularly good are the Pecan Puffs, Coconut Macaroons, Madeleines, Double and Triple Chocolate Chocolate Chips. I entered them in a company cookie cook-off and won 2 of the 3 prizes (Pecan Puffs and Coconut Macaroons won). I only wish that the book were still in print.

Excellent assortment of cookies ranging in difficulty from simple drop cookies to more complex Tuiles. Included are American favorites like chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal cookies and brownies and traditional cookies of foreign parentage like(Viennese) Ischler Hearts, (Austrian) Linzer cookies, (Greek) Kourambiedes and Mexican Wedding Cakes. It's pleasantly surprising to find Hermits and Springerle in a book this brief. Although I have a number of books on baking, this is the one I turn to for melt-in-your-mouth, delicious-beyond-belief shortbread cookies.

This cookbook offers many wonderful recipes including: entrees, salads, soups, side dishes, and main courses. All of the recipes use the wonderful herb cilantro, some in a very traditional way as they are used in Latin and Southwestern style cuisines, but others in new and creative ways. I really loved the Garlic Chicken. All the recipes are super and I was really surprised how flexible this herb can be. If you like cilantro, you will love this book!

This book is a sensual read for the cooking enthusiast. Cilantro is a great-smelling herb and this book discusses the best ways to cultivate great cooking ethics including cilantro as a cook's most prized ingredient. The author gives an intellectually stiumlating as well as visually informative insight into the alluring world of cooking with cilantro. Enjoy!!

I had been wanting this cookbook for a long time but never got around to ordering it. (I know - excuses, excuses!) Normally, I like to order by mail (like Amazon), but not too ago, I walked into a major bookstore chain in Houston where they had some copies on sale. I thumbed through it and saw many enticing recipes at first glance - not just one! Like Aunt Pittypat's Pecan Poundcake - you can't go wrong with this one! Buy the book and see the surprise ingredients! Anyhow, because of a silly habit I have, I always reach down and get from the middle bottom. When I opened up the book, there in the front cover was Regis Phlbin's personal signature. It read, "Thanks & Bon Appetit - Regis Philbin." I asked the clerk about it and she said sometimes they send out signed copies. Thanks, Regis, for making my day! The wonderful and funny personalities of Regis & Kathy Lee and their guests come alive all throughout this book which makes it that much sweeter! I love the book! The garlic rice with pine nuts (yum! yum!) is worth the money all by itself! I can't wait to try more recipes. But now I have to buy another copy so I can actually turn the pages! (I'm saving this copy!) To all who buy it - bon appetit!

The book is well organized. It is lots of fun for the TRUE Regis and Kathie Lee Fans. However, even if you don't like them you'll enjoy the cook book. So check it out and enjoy a dish tonight.

I am always impressed when I see an author deal realistically yet positively with difficult subjects in fiction. Ms. Lee does a wonderful job of showing how the heroine, Anna, faces her own past as the victim of sexual abuse while helping a local teenager, Lorna, deal with the current issue of her sexually abusive father. I always enjoy a Conard County story, and I found this one to be a particularly good read.

A very well written and moving story. I highly recommend this book.

Having experienced a life similar to Anna Fleming's, this book was at times difficult for me to read, however the insights I gained and the comfort of knowing I'm not alone made it well worth it. My thanks to Rachel Lee for this inspiring, compassionate story.

Crash Dive is a great book. It is a good book for people and kids who like submarines. I liked it quite a bit. It is the kind of book that I would like to read. It is not too long but not too short. It really isn't just about one person; it is about a whole crew of people.It is about a sub(U 1x) that is a lot better than other subs. It is better because it is a lot quieter. This sub is going to attack Portsmouth. When they get there they have to get by a lot of traps. When the Americans finally find out that it is there it might be too late. I really advise you to read this book because it is great.

This book takes place during World War II. In this book, the Germans make a new sub called the U-1X and their orders are to go to Portsmouth and blow something up and get away. Nobody has gotten Past Portsmouth before and they want to change that right away. I think this book is good because it tells what they would do if a destroyer was trying to find and destroy without calling for backup. I think the end was interesting. Now you read to find out what happens.

Crimson Skies is a game world created by Microsoft and Fasa, where it's an alternate 1937 and the United States has broken up into several independant nations. The rail lines and freeways have all been destroyed, so travel and trade is now only possible by air. This lead to the rise of airborne pirate gangs and the hijacking of cargo zeppelins. The North American nations responded by forming their own national air militas or contracting private companies to keep their cargo, and themselves, safe. It makes you wonder just how things would be like if history was just a little different.

This is a collection of three novellas, two of which were originally published on the official Crimson Skies website. Done in the style of the old pulps, each story follows one of the main Crimson Skies characters as they fly, flight, and con their way to save the day, or line their pockets their pockets in the process. Highly recommended.

A collection of three novellas, two originally published on the Crimson Skies website, one previously unpublished. All are highly entertaining.

The Phantom Prototype pits international detective Paladin Blake against a mysterious conspiracy with a dire plot for mass destruction, to further a sinister political goal! Written pre-9/11, a simple delivery job turns into a desperate fight to prevent a devastating aerial strike on an innocent city. The Phantom Prototype was written by SF author Eric Nylund, who wrote last year's HALO novel, and gives us a portrait of Blake as hardboiled dick in a noir situation. Blake comes off a bit shinier than most hardboiled detective stories, mostly because he's too busy saving his can to misbehave.

On the flip side of the law, The Manchurian Gambit draws international pirate Genghis Khan into a web of intrigue as he tries to get free of his money troubles. Along the way, he rescues fair maidens and heads off on a quest that might free the Chinese people from a foreign aggressor-all for a buck, of course. I'd never hear of Michael B. Lee before this story, but he turns in a good story about a bad man.

Somewhere in the middle of the law, Bayou Blues is a story of Nathan Zachary and his efforts to make a buck off a town under a Louisiana despot's thumb, and maybe do a good deed. This is the original story, by Crimson Skies guru Eric Trautmann. It rocks along at a goodly pace, and comes off a lot like the good stuff in The Maltese Falcon. I never liked Nathan Zachary in any of the earlier Crimson Skies fiction, or the original computer game, but here Nathan is more a Han Solo rogue than the smarmy egotist he comes off as in other stories.

One of the things I like about all of these stories is that the heroes mostly fight and think their way through their problems, with bruises and cracked heads. Most adventure stories have the heroes more or less skate through (more in movies than books, I guess) with not much danger. The Crimson Skies stories come off more like Die Hard, with the heroes getting slammed around a bit. That gives them a bit more grit than a lot of stories.

As indicated by its title, this book gives a panoramic view of the Bible from the angle of life. By life, Lee does not mean the human life as an entity or the existence of man; rather this refers to the very divine life of God, the Triune God Himself, as revealed in the Bible. Beginning from Genesis chapter one, Lee points out that the main subject in this chapter is not creation, but life. This is the most basic and crucial revelation that is seen throughout the Scriptures. Moreover, God's eternal purpose is shown here, embodied in the two words, image and dominion. In other words, God's intention is that He would be expressed through man and rule through man. Here lies the most striking point-God's purpose can only be realized by God's life! Therefore on God's side, He must dispense His life into man; on man's side, we must receive, enjoy, and experience God's life. Only in this way can God's eternal purpose be fulfilled. Simple in style yet profound in thought, this book is an enlightening and refreshing elucidation of God's word. It has helped me immensely.

This book points the reader the crucial subject of the divine life in the Bible. As a beginner in studying the Bible, I easily get mired and unfocused in all the details and history the Bible presents. This book is enlightening, refreshing, and practical in its presentation of the divine life, as primarily what God is to us, and how it is the content of the Christian life.

I left Cuba 40 years ago and reading Cuba Natural has brought me memories that were buried by time and distance. The bilingual approach helped me identify the flora and fauna of Cuba as it relates to names I only knew in English. The book is extremely entertaining and well written and I recommend it to anyone interested in the animals, and plants in the Cuba.

This is a fun well made book that anyone can read and apresiate. It's in spanish & english half & half. The pictures that are in the book are mind blowing. The author Silva Lee who is also the fotographer seems to have a divine touch with a camara becouse some of the pictures in this book are godly. I was given this book as a gift when it came out three years ago. I still don't grow tired of looking at the picture. If you like cuba and/or are from cuba this is a must have.

Sue Hartigan said it very well so we stand by her qualified review.

The book is great.

Fay Cunningham is a middle aged, fourty pound overweight, menopausal, divorcee who is trying to quit a twenty-year, pack a day smoking habit. She has a daughter in college, and is the publisher of the town's very successful newspaper. She recently handed over her newspaper duties, for the time being, to see if she still wants to continue doing it. In the meantime she is delivering the papers herself to get closer to her customers, help her with her depression, and to lose the weight she has gained from not smoking. Faye Cunningham is what a lot of us are, a lady trying to find herself. But she is also much more than that. She is also a very loyal, and trustworthy friend. And so on a rainy, dreary day, when she went to the door of Joe Wise, one of her closest friends, to deliver his newspaper, and a strange woman, very rudely answered the door, saying that Joe isn't there, Fay becomes very curious.

Leaving Joe's house she goes to the "gossip corner", a nearby restaurant in town, and finds the former police chief, Mitch Malone, there having lunch. Not someone she is particularly happy to see at the moment. I have got to say that I was hooked on A DANGEROUS WOMAN when I read the very first paragraph. And Ms. Lee did not let me go. She has created a character, in Fay Cunningham, that most of us can relate to. A funny, not so perfect, but warm woman, who is trying to find herself after a devastating divorce. A woman who is so loyal to her friends that she puts own problems on the back burner, to make sure that they are alright, and not in harm's way. Bumbling along, but not giving up when things don't quite go the way that she wants them to.

A DANGEROUS WOMAN is a wonderful cozy, mystery that you will just want to curl up with, and forget the rest of the world, as Ms Lee pulls you into Fay's world. And you will not be sorry, because you will laugh, you will cry, you will bite your nails. Ms. Lee writes in such a fashion that it is easy to get to know Fay, and all of the other characters that she brings into the story. The plot keeps your interest, and makes you want to keep going. The characters are alive, and breathing. And you can't help but relate to the wonderful heroin, Faye.

If I could order up a friend, with all the qualities I desired, I would want a friend just like Fay Cunningham. And, I know, after reading A DANGEROUS WOMAN you will too.

I just can't say enough about this wonderful book. I just hope that this isn't the last Faye Cunningham mystery. A DANGEROUS WOMAN is much too good to not have a sequel. And believe me when, and if, it appears, I will be the first one in line to get it. And anymore thereafter.