Book Review: Simple Times: Crafts For Poor People by Amy Sedaris

Friday 19 November, 2010 by 6 Comments


Title: Simple Times: Crafts For Poor People
Author: Amy Sedaris
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: November 2, 2010
Hardcover: 304 pages
ISBN: 978-0446557030
Genre: Crafting, Hobbies

From the Publisher:

America’s most delightfully unconventional hostess and the bestselling author of I Like You delivers a new book that will forever change the world of crafting. According to Amy Sedaris, it’s often been said that ugly people craft and attractive people have sex. In her new book, SIMPLE TIMES, she sets the record straight. Demonstrating that crafting is one of life’s more pleasurable and constructive leisure activities, Sedaris shows that anyone with a couple of hours to kill and access to pipe cleaners can join the elite society of crafters.

You will discover how to make popular crafts, such as: crab-claw roach clips, tinfoil balls, and crepe-paper moccasins, and learn how to: get inspired (Spend time at a Renaissance Fair; Buy fruit, let it get old, and see
what shapes it turns into); remember which kind of glue to use with which material (Tacky with Furry, Gummy with Gritty, Paste with Prickly, and always Gloppy with Sandy); create your own craft room and avoid the most common crafting accidents (sawdust fires, feather asphyxia, pine cone lodged in throat); and cook your own edible crafts, from a Crafty Candle Salad to Sugar Skulls, and many more recipes.

PLUS whole chapters full of more crafting ideas (Pompom Ringworms! Seashell Toilet Seat Covers!) that will inspire you to create your own hastily constructed obscure d’arts; and much, much more!

My Review:

Absolutely hilarious as well as practical, Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People by Amy Sedaris is a creative, hilarious, and at times irreverent look at almost every topic. The first thing I did upon receiving the book was just to read it. Sedaris is brilliantly hilarious and even if one chooses to make nothing from this book, Sedaris’ writing provides plenty of entertainment. The crafts themselves are well outlined; materials are easily obtained and relatively inexpensive. Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People is a beautiful book about the difficult financial times we live in and how to bring back the art of homemade gift giving, which for many has all but been forgotten. I personally like homemade gifts; they are from the heart, be they elaborate or simple, yet I know time and thought were put into them. It is possible some of you readers may not be familiar with Amy Sedaris, so I will caution up front, no subject is forbidden and she speaks her mind. If one is looking for a traditional crafting book or is easily offended, this may not be for you. However if you know who Amy Sedaris is, are looking for a way to make items and have fun while doing it or simply want a jolly good book to read, then I heartily recommend Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People.

About the Author:

AMY SEDARIS has appeared often on screen, both large and small. She’s cocreator, with Stephen Colbert and Paul Dinello, of Comedy Central’s hit show Strangers with Candy and half of the Obie-winning “Talent Family” playwright team (with her brother, David). Amy lives in Manhattan with her imaginary boyfriend, Ricky, and her pet rabbit, Dusty.

I received a complimentary copy of Simple Times by Amy Sedaris from Hachette to review. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.


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Book Tour and Review: Arsenic and Clam Chowder by James D. Livingston

Friday 19 November, 2010 by 8 Comments


Title: Arsenic and Clam Chowder: Murder in Gilded Age New York
Author: James D. Livingston
Publisher: Excelsior Editions/State University of New York
Publication Date: July 27, 2010
Hardcover: 205 pages
ISBN: 978-1438431796
Genre: Historical True Crime

Book Synopsis:

Arsenic and Clam Chowder recounts the sensational 1896 murder trial of Mary Alice Livingston, a member of one of the mostarsenic cover prestigious families in New York, who was accused of murdering her own mother, Evelina Bliss. The bizarre instrument of death, an arsenic-laced pail of clam chowder, had been delivered to the victim by her ten-year-old granddaughter, and Livingston was arrested in her mourning clothes immediately after attending her mother’s funeral. In addition to being the mother of four out-of-wedlock children, the last born in prison while she was awaiting trial, Livingston faced the possibility of being the first woman to be executed in New York’s new-fangled electric chair, and all these lurid details made her arrest and trial the central focus of an all-out circulation war then underway between Joseph Pulitzer’s World and Randolph Hearst’s Journal.

The story is set against the electric backdrop of Gilded Age Manhattan. The arrival of skyscrapers, automobiles, motion pictures, and other modern marvels in the 1890s was transforming urban life with breathtaking speed, just as the battles of reformers against vice, police corruption, and Tammany Hall were transforming the city’s political life. The aspiring politician Teddy Roosevelt, the prolific inventor Thomas Edison, bon vivant Diamond Jim Brady, and his companion Lillian Russell were among Gotham’s larger-than-life personalities, and they all played cameo roles in the dramatic story of Mary Alice Livingston and her arsenic-laced clam chowder. In addition to telling a ripping good story, the book addresses a number of social and legal issues, among them capital punishment, equal rights for women, societal sexual standards, inheritance laws in regard to murder, gender bias of juries, and the meaning of “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

My Review:

When I began Arsenic and Clam Chowder by James D. Livingston I was expecting a quaint cozy mystery and what I discovered immediately was a brilliantly reconstructed account of the 1896 murder trial of Mary Alice Livingston, accused of matricide.  While I am not usually a fan of true crime novels, there is something about crimes from other time periods that intrigued me.  The manner of the accused, the accusers, the police, even the justice system fascinate me and Livingston does a remarkable job in recreating the events from 1896, including photographs, sketches, and evidence used during trial.  Livingston painstakingly researched the case and presents it to the reader in such a manner one feels transported back to 1896 New York.  Rather then ending the book with the trial verdict, Livingston takes his book several steps further in describing events that followed as well as speculations that continued around the murder, the arrest and the trial.  To say much more would be too telling and I want to prevent any spoilers for this is indeed a fascinating case and one that would make for a lively discussion, just as it did over a century ago.  I highly recommend Arsenic and Clam Chowder to mystery and true crime fans, as well as to discussion groups as there is so much to debate to pass on this book.

About the Author:

Born June 23, 1930, in Brooklyn, New York, James D. Livingston studied engineering physics at Cornell University and received a PhD in applied physics from Harvard University in 1956. After retiring from General Electric after a lengthy career as a research physicist, he taught in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT. Although a physicist by profession, he has long had a strong interest in American history, and is the coauthor, with Sherry H. Penney, of A Very Dangerous Woman: Martha Wright and Women’s Rights.

You can find out more about James and Arsenic and Clam Chowder at www.jamesdlivingston.net.


JAMES LIVINGSTON’S ARSENIC AND CLAM CHOWDER VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR ‘10 officially began on October 4 and end on November 26, 2010. You can visit James’s blog stops here during the months of October and November to find out more about this great book and talented author!

I received a complimentary copy of Arsenic and Clam Chowder by James D. Livingston from Pump Up Your Book Promotion as part of the tour. Receiving a copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.


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Book Review and Tour: Nightingale by Susan May Warren

Friday 19 November, 2010 by 1 Comment


Title: Nightingale (Book 2 in the Brothers In Arms series)
Author: Susan May Warren
Publisher: Summerside Press
Publication Date: November 1, 2010
Paperback: 320 Pages
ISBN: 978-1609360252
Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance

About the book:

Esther Lange doesn’t love her fiancé—she’s trapped in an engagement after a mistaken night of passion.

Still, she grieves him when he’s lost in battle, the letters sent to her by the medic at his side giving her a strange comfort, so much that she strikes up a correspondence with Peter Hess, an Iowa farmboy. Or is he? Peter Hess is not who he seems. Indeed, he’s hiding a secret, something that could cost them both their lives, especially when the past comes back to life. A bittersweet love song of the home front war between duty and the heart…a battle where only one will survive.

My Review:

A beautiful, touching and sweetly innocent romance, Nightingale by Susan May Warren is a book about redemption and finding one’s way home. Set during WWII, the reader is introduced to Peter Hess and Ester Lange an ocean apart, yet two kindred souls who find solace in the letters that they write to each other. Warren captures the feel of the latter half of the 1940s and writes a moving, mysterious, and beautiful story of romance, salvation, and forgiveness through letters and through the eyes of mainly Ester, Peter and Rachel. Nightingale is not a typical WWII romance novel, nor a strictly Christian novel, but rather Warren blends together an extraordinary mixture of belief, faith, feelings of unworthiness, and the despairs of those in the war along with those who risk everything to make things better. I have always enjoyed Susan May Warren’s books and expected from the synopsis to like the book, but it turned tout to be far better than I even thought it would be. I would recommend Nightingale to any reader.

Susan May Warren is the award-winning author of seventeen novels and novellas with Tyndale, Steeple Hill and Barbour Publishing. Her first book, Happily Ever After won the American Fiction Christian Writers Book of the Year in 2003, and was a 2003 Christy Award finalist. In Sheep’s Clothing, a thriller set in Russia, was a 2006 Christy Award finalist and won the 2006 Inspirational Reader’s Choice award. A former missionary to Russia, Susan May Warren now writes Suspense/Romance and Chick Lit full time from her home in northern Minnesota. Learn more about Susan on her website. For more information please visit: http://brothersinarms.susanmaywarren.com.

The Letters From Home Giveaway!
Enter the Contest: Nightingale is about letters, the power of written correspondence to convey thoughts and emotions to those far away. And sometimes near. Letters are forever, they are something we savor and pull out to read again and again. They are often cherished and kept in a special place.

To celebrate the release of Nightingale, Susan would like you to write a letter. One grand prize winner will receive a Flip HD Camcorder. 5 runner’s up winners will win a signed copy of Nightingale. There are two ways to enter the contest by writing letters.
1. Write a letter to a soldier. At the end of the contest we’ll print out and mail your letter for you.
2. Write a letter to a friend, loved one, family member, enemy. Tell them something you wished you’d told them before. Tell them you love them, or maybe how they touched your life. Perhaps an apology is in order or a thank you. Or perhaps you’d like to relate a funny tale or just share life. Whatever it is, submit it here along with your email address and we’ll send it for you. Enter here or at the SHARE page on the Brothers in Arms website.

Follow the blog tour and read other reviews.

I received a complimentary copy of Nightingale by Susan May Warren from LitFuse Publicity Group.   Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.


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