Book Review: Italian Wine Notes

Book Review:

Italian Wine Notes is written by Bob Lipinski and Gary Grunner, both qualified connoisseurs in the wine industry. The book comprises alphabetical lists of both major wines and their areas of origin, foods of the region, a glossary and phonetic pronunciations of terms, wine categories and grape varieties. Italy has approximately 2 million acres of planted vineyards, which are divided into 20 wine producing regions. Each region adheres to DOCG, DOC and IGT laws, which have specifications for all types of wine produced and how grapes should be grown.

Italian wines are classed as Generic - place or origin; Varietal - varieties of grapes for specific wines; Proprietary - producer. The country is the world's largest producer of Vermouth and largest exporter of table wines into the United States. There are over 2,000 varieties of Italian wine which are an output no other country has surpassed.

Persons wishing to travel to Italy or who are interested in a wine and food career will recognize the full worth of Italian Wine Notes. The goal of the authors is to educate readers on Italy and their wines by providing more informative and in-depth data using a journal Gary Grunner kept on the topic, as well  as input from Bob Lipinski. The authors not only elaborate on wines, but include major regional soccer teams, places of interests and towns, cheeses, a listing of DOCG wines as of 2013, and other relevant content that made Italian Wine Notes even more enlightening to read.

Book Links:                       Amazon      Goodreads

Rating:         

Reviewed by Michelle Stanley for Readers' Favorite.

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Book Review: The Final Salute

Book Review:

The Final Salute is a military fiction by Kathleen Rodgers. Colonel Tuck Westerfield, a fighter pilot at Beauregard Air Force base who flew in the Gulf war, mourns the death of his friend and colleague. His unhappiness rises after catching his Commanding Officer cheating with another officer, as his boss constantly threatens him. Gina, Tuck's wife, worries about his moodiness, which the neighbour's dog provokes; and Michelle, her rebellious, gothic-attired stepdaughter who visits. 

Tuck travels down Memory Lane, reliving his childhood while remembering his friends and colleagues who died courageously, and wonders why life deals such blows. He is assigned to the Middle East after Iraq invades Kuwait and his experiences there make him more determined to consider changes to his life if he survives.

Kathleen Rodgers has created an engrossing military fiction appropriately called The Final Salute. She gives a very realistic account of what life is like in the air force, both from those who serve and from their family members' point of view. It is an intriguing story that has so many emotions as the diverse characters express their joys, fears, pains and sadness in different ways. 

The author also demonstrated quite nicely how a few military careers may be tarnished and how some scandals or other conflicts are quickly covered up. The Final Salute is a book I did not want to put down, and I think Kathleen Rodgers writes descriptively and with compassion. She shows readers another side of military life in an original and interesting format.


Rating:       

Reviewed by Michelle Stanley for Readers' Favorite.

Here are links to The Final Salute which has been featured on USA-Today, The Associated Press, Military Times and many other publications.

Amazon                               Goodreads

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cupid's cure (senryu)

broke up with boyfriend

moody emotional wreck

ice-cream therapy

+++++

Image courtesy of wikimediacommons.org

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Book Review: 101: Everything You Need To Know About Whiskey

Book Review:

"Whenever someone asks me if I want water with my Scotch, I say, I'm thirsty, not dirty." - Joe E. Lewis, 1902-1971, American actor and comedian.

101: Everything You Need to Know About Whiskey is a very informative book by Bob Lipinsky. The author gives a general description about whiskies, their distinctive features and flavours, countries of origin, history, ingredients used and definitions. The types of whiskies include corn, Bourbon, Canadian, Japanese and Irish. Some whiskey flavours include almond, toffee, nuts, fruit, ginger and honey. Whiskey only ages in wooden barrels and ceases to improve once removed. It does, however, react well to sunlight. A bottle of 25- year-old Scotch purchased 10 years ago will remain 25-year-old, and shelf life depends on consumption.

"My God, so much I like to drink Scotch that sometimes I think my name is Igor Stra-whiskey." - Igor Stravinsky, 1882-1971, Russian-born modern composer.

Although I don't drink whiskey, I was tempted to while reading this insightful, educational book. Bob Lipinski was very thorough and knowledgeable in his research, providing a wealth of information regarding whiskey. I was impressed with the content and loved the whiskey-infused quotes. The sections on Drinks of American Presidents and Celebrities, Classic Whiskey Cocktails and unusual Slang Terms are interesting. The United States Congress passed a resolution recognizing bourbon whiskey as a distinctive product of their country so other countries don't have the right to call their whiskey products bourbon. 101: Everything You Need to Know About Whiskey is worth reading.

Here are links for Bob Lipinski's book:

Amazon                           Goodreads

Rating:      

Reviewed by Michelle Stanley for Readers' Favorite.

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Book Reviews: 200 Homophone Jokes for Wordplay Lovers & English Laughs Best

Book Review:

"We don't stop laughing because we grow old;
We grow old because we stop laughing." - (Michael Pritchard)

If you are tired of hearing or repeating the same jokes and puns at parties, the office or other gatherings, then you will welcome 200 Homophones for Wordplay Lovers by Razvan Macovei. This book offers a stimulating variety of amusing anecdotes. It is also very useful for persons who are studying English or want to study the language. A handy Key to Joke Comprehension at the back of the book lists the content with explanations, in case readers do not understand the anecdote. The book contains witty sketches too.

What does a cannibal say after the first date? - "I would like to gnaw you better."

"Rooster found dead with an egg next to it. Police suspect fowl play."

The above are two examples of jokes that Razvan Macovei wrote in his book.

Here are links to 200 Homophones for Wordplay Lovers.

Amazon                                                    Goodreads

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"When humour goes, there goes civilization." Erma Bombeck, American Humourist

English Laughs Best: 300 Fabulous Pun Jokes to Learn English is another entertaining book by the author that I have read. His primary goal when writing this book was to make people smile. The second reason was to enrich a person's vocabulary with useful idioms and phrases. 

Why is punctuation so hard to digest? - It gets stuck in the colon.

Why are sculptors great lovers? - They put their spouses on a pedestal.

Razvan Macovei has included an Appendix and Pun Mind Map, which contains key words or image association that will make the jokes easier to remember. Due to the content of some cartoons and jokes, English Laughs Best: 300 Fabulous Pun Jokes to Learn English is more appropriate for teens and older persons.

Here are the links to the author's book.

Amazon                          Goodreads

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Book Review: The Three Little Monsters & the Ghost of Wisdom Woods

Book Blurb:

Three little monsters are trying to score scare points to avoid going back to school, so they won't have to see evil Dr. Booshilla. But will a visit from 2 young kids give them a scare that they were not expecting?

Book Review:

The Three Little Monsters and the Ghost of Wisdom Woods is a lovely children's story by Jessica Snape. Gruesome, Grouch and Grumble are three little monsters who live in a house in Wisdom Woods. Gruesome enjoy scaring people at bedtime; Grouch is very grouchy, especially when his sleep is disturbed, and Grumble who is bossy, likes telling the others what to do. 

The monsters keep their house neat so they can attract humans to scare. If they do not accumulate enough scare points within a few days, then they will have to return to Ghoul School to report to evil Dr. Booshilla, every monster's nightmare. Their problems increase when a ghost they never knew was living in their basement scares kids who enters the house, ruining their chance to gain points.

Jessica Snapes writes very nicely and displays her active imagination in this amusing story. The concept of the story is good with an adorable, but quarrelsome cast of characters who bring the story to life. I could also sense the monsters' fear when they spoke of Dr. Booshilla and Ghoul School. The Three Little Monsters and the Ghost of Wisdom Woods is a fun book to read and children will like it a lot.

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Persons who are interested in obtaining a copy of Jessica Snape's book can do so on the link below:

http://www.britainsnextbestseller.com/

Goodreads


"If you pre-order my book Three Little Monsters from: 

www.britainsnextbestseller.com, you will receive the following benefits: The book 2 weeks ahead of publication * Your name printed in every edition of the book (optional) * The chance to win a Golden Ticket prize * Membership of our Book Club and membership offers * To launch an author's publishing career * To choose the books that get published and create Britain's Next Bestseller." - Jessica Snape

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Mouse Work (Whitney)

I work hard

catching mice for

a living,

and deserve to

 be pampered

and waited on.

It is the purr-fect lifestyle.

+ + + 

A Whitney has 7 lines with a syllable count of 3/4/3/4/3/4/7.

Image courtesy of www.wikimediacommons.org.

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