Chuck Fischer took the time to create a stunning, beautiful illustration of A Christmas Carol by putting together a pop-up book. Charles Dickens’ originally telling of the story plus Chuck Fischer’s gorgeous painted illustrations combined with pop-up technology make for a beautiful addition to any holiday. The pop-up scenes are described as being intricate, and indeed they are — each scene is depicted in amazing detail with the pop-up illustrations. The story itself is told via five fully illustrated booklets that are included with the book.

I haven’t yet shown the book to my children, but that’s because I’m keeping it as a surprise for Christmas. It’s sure to be a delight. Make sure to buy your family a copy while the getting’s good! See Where to Buy at Hachette Book Group for more information.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Disclaimer: Hachette Book Group provided me with a free product in exchange for my honest opinion.

Anyway, it probably won’t take me long to get through Ah-Choo!, because Jennifer Ackerman is one of those authors that not only picks an interesting subject, but writes about it in an incredibly interesting and humorous manner!

What’s interesting is that even though I’m a decent writer (I like to think so, anyway) and an avid reader, there’s a lot of little technical details and intricacies of grammar and the English language that I’m not familiar with (sidenote: I hated learning and dealing with verbs, adverbs, past-participles, etc., in high school!). So when The Glamour of Grammar came up for review, I was first in line to request a copy of it. Roy Peter Clark, VP and senior scholar at The Poynter Institute, a prestigious school for journalists from all over the world, wrote the book to dispel a lot of myths about grammar, and to show just how immersed it is in the English language.

Description:

Early in the history of English, the words “grammar” and “glamour” meant the same thing: the power to charm. Roy Peter Clark, author of Writing Tools, aims to put the glamour back in grammar with this fun, engaging alternative to stuffy instructionals. In this practical guide, readers will learn everything from the different parts of speech to why effective writers prefer concrete nouns and active verbs. THE GLAMOUR OF GRAMMAR gives readers all the tools they need to”live inside the language”–to take advantage of grammar to perfect their use of English, to instill meaning, and to charm through their writing.

I have to admit, grammar has never held a lot of interest for me, though I do my best — except when I’m blogging casually or am rushed or tired — to adhere to the standards I’m aware of, and I’m always open to criticism and suggestions. But this book sounded too good to resist. Learning different parts of speech and the ins and outs of nouns, verbs, active verbs and more, in a book that is also sprinkled with interesting tidbits and a bit of humor to make it all easier to swallow? Bring it!

I really enjoyed reading The Glamour of Grammar, and I’m not embarrassed to admit that I did learn several new things from each chapter (there are 50 total, but they’re not overly long, I promise!) of the book. As a blogger and a freelance writer, it’s great to have such an informative and fun book at my disposal.

Want your very own hardcover copy of The Glamour of Grammar? Read on…

Giveaway

Mandatory entry
Leave a comment about the book on this entry!

Additional entries:
(each additional entry earns you one additional entry into the giveaway; please leave a separate comment for each entry)

• Leave a comment telling me one aspect of writing in the English language you struggle with (grammar, punctuation, formatting, etc.)
• Follow me, @kissmykitty, on Twitter
• Follow @RoyPeterClark on Twitter
• Tweet the following to your public Twitter account: Check out The Glamour of Grammar! http://bit.ly/cCZIXs
• Tweet the following to your public Twitter account: #Win a copy of The Glamour of Grammar at In My Bag! http://bit.ly/b7XS59 #giveaway
• Blog about this giveaway, being sure to include a link to this giveaway and to The Glamour of Grammar

Giveaway details:

• The Glamour of Grammar giveaway begins on August 13th, 2010 and runs until August 20th at 11:59pm EST.
• All entries must be in by 08/20/10 at 11:59pm EST in order to be counted for the final drawing.
• Winners will be notified by email, and will have 48 hours to respond.
• No duplicate entries (IPs are logged).

Good luck to everyone who enters!

So when I was given the opportunity to review a copy of The I Hate To Cook Book, I was excited. The original author (now deceased), Peg Bracken, never liked to cook, and decided to write a book that is all about getting the dreaded chore out of the way easily, efficiently, and successfully. As I explained in my upcoming post, the book is filled with great recipes, as well as interesting tidbits and anecdotes.

My overall thoughts on the book? I love it. Peg Bracken’s thoughts and mine on cooking are on the same page, and I love how she is able to provide so many easy-to-make recipes that involve nothing more than standard cuts off meat, vegetables, starches, and common spices that you can find in just about any kitchen. If there’s someone in your life — perhaps you? — that doesn’t like to took, then the The I Hate To Cook Book is for you!

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

The Body Shop was a very good read. Paul takes you through that entire summer and the ensuing fall-out in his personal life, including how he looked and felt about himself prior to using steroids and working out religiously, how he got introduced to steroids, and what it was like to be on them. There’s good and bad, funny and sad. The story is very detailed, though at the end it does suddenly skip forward to decades later, with the book closing on Paul speaking to his dying father about what happened during that summer while he was in college.

Would I recommend this book for anyone to read? Absolutely!

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

But I have always loved to read.

My husband was always good with science-y stuff, though he isn’t the avid and obsessed bookworm that I am. So when I told him about The Disappearing Spoon and my opportunity to review it, I wasn’t surprised at his perk of interest. I was, however, surprised at how quickly he claimed the book once it arrived, and how he devoured it from cover to cover in three days flat.

Then it was my turn. I admit that I didn’t get through it as quickly as my husband did, simply because I struggled more with science stuff and thus it took my brain a little longer to process some of the material, but let me just say as a non-science person that The Disappearing Spoon was a very good, very interesting, easy-to-follow read.

The Disappearing Spoon takes you through all of the elements of the periodic table, and gives you a breakdown on each one: how it came about, who discovered it, what type of controversy it has caused (yes, the elements of the periodic table are controversial! Who would have thought?), and what interesting and downright terrifying things it is capable of doing. The author injects a bit of his own dry humor and narration throughout the book, so despite the sometimes dry material, there’s never a dull moment — or paragraph, in this case.

If you’re even halfway interested in science, you’ll like this book. If you love science, or know someone else who does, then The Disappearing Spoon is a must-have!

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

As a scrawny college freshman in the mid-1970s, just before Arnold Schwarzenegger became a hero to boys everywhere and Pumping Iron became a cult hit, Paul Solotaroff discovered weights and steroids. In a matter of months, he grew from a dorky beanpole into a hulking behemoth, showing off his rock hard muscles first on the streets of New York City and then alongside his colorful gym-rat friends in strip clubs and in the homes of the gotham elite. It was a swinging time, when “Would you like to dance?” turned into “Your place or mine?” and the guys with the muscles had all the ladies–until their bodies, like Solotaroff”s, completely shut down.

But this isn’t the gloom-and-doom addiction one might expect–Solotaroff looks back at even his lowest points with a wicked sense of humor, and he sends up the disco era and its excess with all the kaleidoscopic detail of Boogie Nights or Saturday Night Fever.

Written with candor and sarcasm, THE BODY SHOP is a memoir with all the elements of great fiction and dazzlingly displays Paul Solotaroff’s celebrated writing talent.