What's So Funny? My Hilarious Life
By Tim Conway with Jan eCovell
Publisher: Howard Books
Pub. Date: October 29, 2013
ISBN: 978-1476726502
Pages: 272

Review:

Television has definitely changed over the past decades, while the networks crank out ridiculous reality shows, overly hyped police procedures and raunchy sitcoms, the cable channels are producing high quality, well-scripted dramas. This is all great, but I'm sure many people would rather watch a decent comedy with their entire family, instead of sending the kids out of the room every time a Charlie Sheen sitcom starts. Recently, Time Life started releasing the classic variety show, The Carol Burnett Show, which featured funnyman, Tim Conway. Tim is releasing his memoir, What's So Funny? My Hilarious Life, with a foreword by Carol Burnett.

Tim came into the world with the name Toma Conway written on his birth certificate, but it was later correctly changed to Thomas Daniel Conway. His father was an Irishman named Daniel Conway and his mother was from Romanian ancestry named Sophia Murgoi. Growing up an only child in Ohio, Tim picked up sewing from his mother. Despite his family being poor, he had loving parents and had a normal childhood.

After high school, Tim majored in speech and radio at Bowling Green State University. After college he had a two-year stint in the Army. Unsure about his future, he stumbled into the radio world by taking a job in the promotional department at a Cleveland radio station, which was his first break into the world of entertainment. He moved his way up into the radio business and eventually took his talents on television with sketches on The Steve Allen Show, which lead to him being cast as Ensign Charles Parker on McHale's Navy.

Ultimate Cross Stitch Projects
By Maria Diaz
Publisher: Design Originals
Pub. Date: September 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1574214444
Pages: 128

Review:

Many of my readers probably don't know that one of my hobbies is cross stitching. Yes, I'm a guy, who knows how to thread a needle, though my own stitching projects have taken a slight pause this year, I still enjoy making gifts for my family and friends. It seems there are many quilt and sewing books released every year, but not very many focus on cross stitching. Luckily, Design Originals released the Ultimate Cross Stitch Projects featuring twenty-seven beautiful cross stitch patterns by designer Maria Diaz.

Feathered Friends

Some of people think cross stitchers only make "Welcome Home" stitches, but die-hard stitchers love making portraits, which the Ultimate Cross Stitch contains some of the greatest patterns I have never seen; with a variety of different projects, such as adorable animals, country landscapes, spring flowers, nursery accessories, and famous paintings.

I think everybody has at least one animal lover in the family and there are eight cute projects that they would love to have. The projects are: "Petals and Purrs," "Holly & Whiskers," "River Birds," "Chirpy Visitors,"  "Feathered Friends," "Two Little Pigs," "Crisp Winter Morning," and "Autumn Gatherer."

The five landscapes projects would make a great addition to anybody's living room or bedroom. The projects are: "Remembrance Fields," "Spring Lambs," "Sunset Trail," "Bluebell Wood" and "Wisteria Cottage."

The Official Red Book
A Guide Book Of United States Coins 2014
67th Edition
By R.S. Yeoman
Senior Editor: Kenneth Bressett
Research Editor: Q. David Bowers
Valuations Editor: Jeff Garrett
Publisher: Whitman Publishing, LLC
Pub. Date: April 16, 2013
ISBN: 9780794841805
Retail: $14.95
Format: Spiral Bound
Pages 448
Buy Links: B&N, Amazon, Whitman

 

Review:

Many people collect coins as a hobby or even as an investment. The values on the coins change rapidly, but it depends on the current market. To help collectors to learn more about the value of their coins, Whitman Publishing, LLC has been releasing The Official Red Book: A Guide of the United States Coins since 1946, which was started by R.S. Yeoman, to help them. Their recent 2014 Red Book (67th Edition) was released back in April. Whiteman Publishing nicely sent me a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Official Red Book is a must for any new or advanced coin collector, which is available in a hardcover, hidden spiral, large, or a regular spiral (pictured above). It is the #1 best-selling price guide with over 24 million copies sold! There is no single author or collaborator for each edition as there are many people who bring this book to life, such as coin dealer, collectors, and readers.

The guide book gives a helpful introduction on how to use the book correctly and how to find the correct condition (grade) of your coins. Their is over twenty pages giving you a detailed history of the coins in the United States, starting with the Spanish Milled Dollar to sunken treasure coins. Due to the popularity of coin collecting, there have been many fake coins released on the market that look antique. The Red Book contains detailed colored photos of coins from a variety of years, all which are genuine, so you won't be fooled by an imitation.

Writing a Romance Novel For Dummies
By Leslie Wainger
Publisher: For Dummies
Pub. Date: May 7, 2004
ISBN: 978-0764525544
Pages: 384
Buy Link: Paperback

Review:

Have you ever wanted to write a romance novel? I'm sure there are many aspiring writers and romance reader junkies that have dreamed about becoming a romance writer. Now you can learn about the romance publishing industry and how to write your own novel with Writing a Romance Novel For Dummies by Leslie Wainger, executive editor of Harlequin Books; with a forward by New York Times bestselling author Linda Howard.

Get in the inside scoop from Leslie Wainger, who has been editing romance for nearly thirty-five years. She teaches you about what reader are looking for in a good romance novel. You'll learn the difference between contemporary and mainstream genres; subgenres and niche markets; where to set up the perfect writing spot; creating alpha males and fiery females; adding the perfect conflict, climax, and resolution to a plot; setting a great romantic scene; outlining your novel; showing vs. telling; how to get into a character's mind; writing great dialogue; and writing a passionate love scene.

Happy, Happy, Happy: My Life and Legacy as the Duck Commander
By Phil Robertson with Mark Schlabach
Publisher: Howard Books
Pub. Date: May 7, 2013
ISBN: 978-1476726090
Retail: $24.99
Pages: 240

Review:

Reality shows have been controlling the television screens for years; most of them are pointless, forgettable, and quickly disappear from the airwaves, but A&E's Duck Dynasty has avoided all the typical clichés and has become a hit series, spawning t-shirts, calendars, Hallmark cards, notebooks, band-aids, bobble heads, and books.

Phil Robertson, the founder of Duck Commander, has written an inspirational autobiography covering his childhood, high school, marriage, college, and the recent success of Duck Dynasty. He grew up poor, but was taught how to hunt and fish at an early age by his father; living off the land by hunting, fishing, and growing vegetables. During his teen years, he excelled at sports, eventually receiving a football scholarship at Louisiana Tech. He married the love of his life, Miss Kay Carroway, at the age of 16. After receiving a Bachelor Degree and Master Degree in Education, Phil went on to teach as his family started to grow.

Phil went on a rocky path of drinking, which almost ended his marriage, but he found the Lord at the age 28 and he was able to change his life for the better. Now with four children (Alan, Jase, Willie, and Jep), Phil left teaching to become a commercial fisherman. Eventually, he would take the biggest gamble of his life by going into the duck call business. Phil, with the help of his loving family and friends, made the duck calls by hand, which he would sale to local businesses. What started out as a small business in a little shack on the family property, has now become a multi-million dollar company.

The Companion Guide to Family Tree Maker 2012
By Tana L. Pedersen
Publisher: Ancestry Publishing
Pub. Date: 2011
ISBN: 978-1593313388
Retail: $24.99
Pages: 320
Buy Link: The Ancestry Store

Review:

Genealogy has become more popular thanks to the reality series Who Do You Think You Are?, which started it's fourth season on TLC last Tuesday featuring celebrities such as Kelly Clarkson, Jim Parsons, and Christina Applegate. Many people around the world have been researching their family heritage way before the series started. Thanks to modern technology you now have the ability to keep track of all your family findings by using the computer software called Family Tree Maker, a program that first came out in 1989; way before home computers were in the average household. FTM has had dozens of upgrades over the years and including several different owners. The most popular genealogy site in the word is ancestry.com, who happens to be the current owner, released the FTM 2012 in September 2011.

I was in my early twenties when I got interested in genealogy, mostly thanks to my mother who was already researching our family history. My genealogy days came to a stop several years back when I hit several brick walls, since then my mother has taken over the family research. I bought my mother the FTM 2012 software last year, which the software turned out to be a major improvement compared to the old versions as you can sync directly with ancestry.com. The 2012 version is now on my computer as well and I have now started to get back into genealogy.

There is a basic guide with the program, but there are so many changes in the program it takes awhile to figure out what is what. Luckily, there is the Companion Guide to Family Tree Maker 2012 written by Tana L. Pedersen to help us new and old FTM users understand all the cool new tools and features. If you are a new user, the first few chapters will go over all the basics on how to setup the program with your family's information.

Weirder Than Marshmallows
By Dan Fogg
Compiled and Edited by Deborah Carney
Publisher: NightFire Publications
ASIN: B005FMC7YU
Pub. Date: August 1. 2011
Pages: 89 
Buy Link: Amazon.com

I couldn't sleep last night, so I grabbed my kindle and began reading Weirder Than Marshmallows which contains a series of essays and rants by the Dan Fogg, who sadly passed away over ten years ago.

The writings are based on the author's observation of the stupidity of humanity. In the preface, Dan talks about the ingredients of marshmallows and wonders why there is blue food coloring in it. After reading the ingredients, I'm never eating a marshmallow again.

Normally I don't read essay books, but I really enjoyed reading Weirder Than Marshmallows as the author used common sense that seems to be lacking in our culture today. I've never noticed the "Not Stop on Tracks" sign at railroad tracks before, but I'll look for them the next time I cross one.

How to Write and Publish a Successful Children’s Book:
Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply
By: Cynthia Resser
Publisher: Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc.
ISBN: 9781601384072
Pub Date: 2010
Pages: 288

    Have you ever wanted to write your own children’s book? Or do you already have a children’s book written, but you don’t know how to get your book published? Cynthia Reeser is the editor-in-chief and the founder of a quarterly literary journal titled Prick of the Spindle and she has written the book How to Write and Publish a Successful Children’s Book to help aspiring writers get their stories and books published. Several of my short stories have been published in various magazines and e-zines, so I was interested in reviewing this book that the Atlantic Publishing Group sent to me free of charge.

    The first few pages asks you to ask yourself, Why Write for Children?” and then takes you into a brief history of children books, in which the first children’s books were written in back in the 1400s. Before you start writing your novel, you should look into the current market place and see what the popular trend is.

Lose Weight Get Healthy & Be Happy
The Rice Diet is the Right Diet, for you!
By: Douglas Jay Sprung, MD, FACG, FACP, and Denise Sprung, MSW
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780578090078
Pub Date: 2011
Pages: 226

The Rice Diet is not a new trend as it was first originated in 1940 by Dr. Walter Kempner. Many people have had life changing transformation by losing weight on this diet. Douglas Jay Spring, MD, FACG, FACP and Denise Spring,, MSW have written a colorful and simply written book for you to use as a guide while you are on your journey to a better and healthier you.

The Rice Diet consists of rice being a staple in your diet, along with fruits and vegetables. When you first start out you’ll spend a short period eating rice and fruit so your body can adjust to the diet. Slowly you’ll add more food to the diet such as vegetables, fish/lean meats, pasta, breads (low-sodium), crackers, and much more.

Tea Party Culture War
By: Stephen Johnston, B.S., J.D.
Publisher:WinePress Publishing
ISBN: 978-1414121239
Pub Date: November 3, 2011
Pages: 232
Buy Link: http://ow.ly/cwJ1f
Blog Tour Link: http://litfusegroup.com/blogtours/13522880

With one of the most important Presidential Elections less than sixty days away, there is probably going to be dozens of political books coming out onto the market in the fall about Republicans and Democrats. Late last year author Stephen Johnston, B.S., J.D. brought out the Tea Party Culture War: A Clash of Worldviews.

The author goes in detail about how the Tea Party started, thanks to United States citizens who wants their voices heard on how this country should be run. He touches on the subjects of Liberalism and Postmodernism in America, the poorly constructed education system, our economic downfall, the loss of morality in our country, the attacks against our families, our declining oil reserves, and the war against Christianity.

Cross Stitch Art Nouveau
By Barbra Hammet
Publisher: D&C
ISBN: 9780715326985
Pub Date: August 25, 2008
Pages: 112

From the 1880s through 1915, Art Nouveau was a popular art style that included organic curves, natural forms, and vivid colors. Now author Barbra Hammet has brought out Cross Stitch Art Nouveau with over seventy inspirational designs for cross stitchers based on the famous painting and designs of Louis Comfort Tiffany, Alphonse Mucha, Gustav Klimt, Emile Galle, Frances MacDonald, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Charles Annesley Voysey, Walter Cane, William de Morgan,  and. Aubrey Beardsley.

Cancer on the Brain
By: Jay Lefevers
Publisher: Emerald Book Co.
Pub Date: June 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1937110246
Pages: 240


    When I signed up to review Cancer on the Brain, courtesy of Emerald Book Company in exchange for an honest review, I really didn’t know what expect as I don’t read memoirs, but I thought I would give the memoir genre a try. Surprisingly the author never tries to push a spiritual revelation onto the reader, but instead he uses humor, and creative narration to tell his inspirational journey.

101 Recipes For Preparing Food in Bulk
AUTHOR: Richard Helweg
PUBLISHED BY: Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc.
ISBN: 978-1601383600
PUB DATE: 2011
PAGES: 288

    It seems like the prices at the grocery store keeping increasing every week, which can be extremely difficult to put food on the table for a large family. In the book 101 Recipes for Preparing Food in Bulk, you’ll learn that cooking in bulk may help you save money. Of course you cannot just jump into this in one day, you need to plan first. You will need to plan out the proper equipment, ingredients, what recipes to use, and the needed space to preserve and cook your recipes. Do a proper inventory of your kitchen, checking for the right spices and other ingredients. For bulk cooking, it’s recommend that you have a freezer, preferably an Energy Star model so it’s energy efficient. You must decide if you have the space for an upright or chest freezer, as a chest freezer takes a lot of floor space.

 
Growing Up Ziglar
BY: Julie Ziglar Norman
PUBLISHED BY: Guidepost
PUBLISHED IN: May 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8249-4531-2
Pages: 187




    Growing Up Ziglar is by author Julie Ziglar Norman, the daughter of the writer and motivator speaker Zig Ziglar. In this motivational and inspirational book, Julie tells us her life story. Obviously, one would think living in the Ziglar household she would be the perfect daughter, following by the rules, but just like everyone else, she is not perfect. In the book, you will read about her trouble marriages, what is like to be a single parent, and finally finding God’s grace and forgiveness.

    When I received this complementary copy from Summerside Press/Guidepost, I did not know what to think, as it was not my normal read. Late one night, and since the book is under 200 pages, I picked up the book and started reading about Julie. Honestly, I have never heard of the Ziglar family before, and after a few chapters, I was hooked. Julie has been through many rough patches in her life and you instantly feel for as she struggled to find grace. There is a lot of heartache, but there are also moments of joy and happiness through Growing Up Ziglar.  I recommend the book to all.




About the Author: 

Julie Ziglar Norman is the daughter of Zig Ziglar and worked for twenty years as his personal editor. With a background in sales and business management, she has become a dynamic international motivational speaker. Julie lives in Texas with her husband, Jim, and continues the Ziglar legacy of encouragement through The Ziglar Woman Faith and Family Conferences. 

StoryBranding: Creating Standout Brands Through the Power of Story
BY: Jim Signorelli
PUBLISHED BY: GreenLeaf Book Group Press
PUBLISHED IN: 2012
ISBN: 978-1-60832-145-2
Pages: 234
Reviewed by Billy Burgess

        I thought I would expand my reading by signing up to review this book from GreenLeaf Book Group Press, whom kindly sent me a complimentary copy. After viewing the ridiculous high priced Super Bowl commercials, I flipped opened StoryBranding without any other knowledge on marketing. The book is in nonprofessional’s terms, along with a few quirky diagrams, so you do not have to be a marketing genius to understand it. Jim Signorelli’s view of marketing is simpler than you may think.

    In today’s economy, consumers are not going to waste their money on pointless products. They spend their money on things their family needs. Companies hire marketing agencies to sell their products to consumers, which can be difficult if the consumers cannot connect with the product. The product needs to tell the truth, as us customers are tired of lies. Jim Signorelli uses new, but simple ways of marketing to today’s customers by telling the story of the product/brand. You cannot just have an expensive flashy advertisement; most customers would be put off by it. It is like telling me to buy, when you should be showing me why I want to buy this brand.

    It took me longer to finish this book, because of several dry chapters. In addition, at times I thought the chapters repeated the same information. StoryBranding is primary aimed for marketers and brand owners, but small business owners, writers, and bloggers can easily find the book useful. Honestly, I did not find StoryBranding to be groundbreaking. I am not in marketing, but I found most of the information to be common sense. After viewing recent commercials/advertisements, in my opinion, it seems brands have lost their creative edge and they have no idea what the consumers want. Maybe, if they had some common sense they will read StoryBranding.