Death by the Book
A Drew Farthering Mystery, book two
by Julianna Deering
Publisher: Bethany House
Pub. Date: March 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-0764210969
Pages: 320
Buy Link: Paperback

Review:

You might've remember me reviewing Rules of Murder by Julianna Deering last year, a throwback mystery in the style of the great Agatha Christie. Now, the author is back with the sequel, Death by the Book, and as you can see by the book cover, the author respects the old-fashion mystery genre.

Once again, Drew Farthering is the main Protagonist, who was looking forward to announcing his engagement to the American, Madeline Parker, but fate has other plans for him for the summer of 1932 when a series of murders occurs in the Village of Farthering St.

While he isn't a professional detective, his love for reading Ronald Knox's mysteries and his experiences that occurred during Rules of Murder have prepared him to take on the mysterious new case (including the death of his family's attorney) that has baffled the police. Along at his side is his friend, Nick, who happens to be the butler's son; together they try to link the attorney's death to the murder of a local physician. The bodies keep piling up that is until the police arrest the murderer, but Drew suspects they have caught the wrong person and the killer is still on the loose.

The New Normal: The Complete First Season
Starring: Justin Bartha, Andrew Rannells, Georgia King, Bebe Wood, NeNe Leakes, Javson Blair, Ellen Barkin
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Release Date: May 13, 2014
Retail: $29.95
ASIN: B00K8HAKAK
Running Time: 484 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Available through Amazon's manufacturing on demand (MOD) service is the 2012-2013 sitcom The New Normal, co-created by Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tick, Glee, American Horror Story). The series aired on NBC for one season and received mixed reviews from critics, a few even calling the series "raciest."

The New Normal centers on a gay California couple, Bryan (played by Andrew Rannells) and David (played by David Bartha), whom decide that they want to become parent. They seek out the perfect surrogate - Goldie (played by Georgia King), and they instantly befriend Goldie and her wiser-than-her-age daughter, Shania.

Life seemed to be going great until Gold's overprotected raciest grandmother, Jane Forrest (played by Ellen Barkin) decides to movie to California to disturb them in anyway possible. To make matters worse, Goldie's slacker ex-boyfriend shows up wanting custody of Shania.

The 22 episodes on the 3-disc set are:

It's odd that the Book Blogger Hop question I posted on Friday involved "if I had ever read a book that had been translated into English" and at the time I had said "no." Then I started reading Colors of Awakening: Into the Mists by O. N. Gandelman. And guess what? The book has been translated into English by Rachel Stomel, so now I'm going to have update by my Book Blogger Hop answer.

In the fantasy adventure, Kate Collins and her two best friends, Sophie Lolens and Alexa Peters, are transported to a strange new, magical world that coexists within our own reality. This new world is called "The Mists." Their lives that they have always known is shattered in an instance and they must now accept their destinies.

I'm trying not to make a habit of revealing too many spoilers in my reviews, so I won't go any further with the synopsis.

After learning how to speak a bit of French, Spanish and German through the Pimsleur Approach method, I decided to give the Pimsleur Approach Italian 1 a try, which well all know Italian is the language of love.

For those of you who don't know about the Pimsleur Approach, I'll give you a short history lesson. The method was originally developed in 1963 by the world renowned linguist, Dr. Paul Pimsleur. His Pimsleur Method changed the way languages are learned. His extensive research lead him to create the two ground-breaking principles - the Principle of Graduated Interval Recall and the Principle of Anticipation. Both this principles are blended onto the audio CDs, this way you no longer have sit in a boring classroom, try to learn from a textbook or download any software. 

Each Pimsleur Approach program has 30 lessons (units) on 16 CDs, with each lesson being 30 minutes in length. The program requires you to listen to one lesson per day. If you haven't grasped the lesson in one session, then just repeat the lesson the next day and continue doing so until you have mastered the lesson. 

If you want schedule next week's post, click here to find the next prompt question. To submit a question, fill out this form.

What to do:

1. Post on your blog answering this question:

  This week's question is submitted by Emma!

Do you read books translation? What are the last 3 books in translation you read?

2. Enter the link to your post in the linky list below (enter your Blog Name and the direct link to your post answering this week’s question. Failure to do so will result in removal of your link).


3. Visit other blogs in the list and comment on their posts. Try to spend some time on the blogs reading other posts and possible become a new follower.  The purpose of the hop is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.

  

My Answer: 

I don't think I have ever read a book that has been translated to English. I have picked up the The Millennium trilogy (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest) by the late Stieg Larsson at a thrift store, but I haven't gotten around to reading them yet.

Available on DVD from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment through Amazon's manufacture on demand (MOD) is Last Man Standing: The Complete First Season and Last Man Standing: The Complete Second Season.

Tim Allen returned to television with the family-sitcom Last Man Standing in 2011. He plays Mike Baxter, the marketing director for the sporting goods store, Outdoor Man, which is owned by  Edward "Ed" Alzate (played by Héctor Elizondo). After spending several years traveling around the world promoting the store and working on the yearly calender, Mike decides to change the store's marketing tactics by vlogging. This also gives him more free time to spend his with wife, Vanessa (played by Nancy Travis) and their three daughters - Kristin, Mandy and Eve. The eldest daughter, Kristen, has a son, Boyd.

Despite premiering to over twelve-million viewers on Tuesday nights, the ratings dropped to half that by the end of the season. The series managed to get picked up for a second season, but with many changes, including the change in showrunner and the move to Friday nights.  Actress Alexandra Krosney, who plays Kristin, was replaced with actress Amanda Fuller. The grandson, Boyd, magically aged three years, now played by Flynn Morrison. Jordan Masterson takes over the role of Boyd's father, Ryan Vogelson. Another major change was the added political tone, in which Mike would bunt heads with Ryan over politics.

The series has maintained decent ratings since moving to Friday nights and will begin its fourth season in the fall. Typically, television shows are released on DVD a few months after a season ends, but for some reason Last Man Standing never received traditional DVD releases, but instead seasons one and two were released through the Amazon's manufacture on demand (MOD).

The episodes featured on the sets are:

Modern Nature-Inspired Quilts
by Bernadette Mayr
Publisher: Design Originals (Fox Chapel Publishing)
Pub. Date: July 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1574218602
Pages: 128
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

I guess you can probably call me a polymath, as I have a wide variety of interests. Besides from reading books and writing short stories, I do like making crafts, which may sound a little odd coming from a man. My mother was a craftier, so naturally I picked up a few crafting hobbies. My favorite is cross stitching or what is known to others as needlepoint. By now you are probably wondering why I'm reviewing a quilt book and not a cross stitch book. Well, my mother is a quilter, as well as a few aunts and friends, so I'm well educated in the hobby. Though I have never actually sewn a quilt, I do have respect for the craft.

There are many quilts books by different authors published monthly, but the cover of Modern Nature-Inspired Quilts by Bernadette Mayr caught my eye. I quickly asked the publisher if I could the review the title and they kindly sent me complimentary copy to review.

There are twenty-five quilt project featured in the book and they are not your traditional patterns. The author, Bernadette Mayr, along with her sister Irmgard Stangl, uses a more contemporary approach; featuring geometric patterns, like free-form shapes and lines, but with an artistic flair. The patches in the patterns are irregular in size and shape, so you never have to worry about using a ruler to measure the correct size.