Thursday, June 30, 2011

Share Your Love for Cereal: Fighting Obesity & Giveaway (ends July 9th)



This is the fourth and final installment of the Share Your Love for Cereal Campaign.

Who isn't concerned about obesity in children? Today obesity levels for all age groups are creeping upwards, but most alarming are the childhood rates because this can lead to a lifetime of weight issues and associated health risks.

A recent study shows 77 percent of D.C. parents believe maintaining a healthy body weight is important to ensuring their child´s health.

When it comes to fighting childhood obesity, there is a lot to love about cereal. Frequent cereal eaters tend to have healthier body weights. That´s true of men, women and children who choose sweetened cereals.

* Teen girls who eat cereal are less likely to become overweight than non cereal eaters.
* Boys´ cereal consumption is associated with lower body mass index (BMI).

For more information, go to www.cerealbenefits.com




Giveaway: Today, General Mills and My Blog Spark is offering one Metroreader follower (Note: to enter giveaway you must publicly follow Metroreader) a Share Your Love for Cereal gift pack which includes sample size cereals and an on the go pack!

Mandatory First Entry: What information would be valuable for parents to get from cereal companies to help understand the benefits of cereal?

Note: You must list your email address in the body of the comment (you can list it as mary123 (at) yahoo(dot)com). If you do not list your email address your entry will not count.

Extra Entries: Follow me on twitter (DCMetroreader) and on Facebook (Metroreader). NOTE: These extra entries MUST be left in a separate comment or will not count.



Disclosure: To facilitate this posting I received a sample cereal pack and information from General Mills through MyBlogSpark. No compensation was received for the opinions expressed in this posting.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Passage



Publisher's Summary. Passage" is an incredible true story of Grace Balogh and her courage during a turbulent time in American history.

Through her journals, "Passage" recounts the struggles of the Great Depression; America fighting two wars: one with unconditional public support and the other with public indifference; the letters from servicemen that are poignant and timeless; and the emergence of a Cold War that pits two ideologies against each other.

Threats to the American way of life prompt the FBI to recruit Grace Balogh as an undercover agent whose job is to infiltrate a cell planning violent overthrow of the United States government. Grace leads this secret life largely unknown to her family and friends.

"Passage" takes the reader on a journey into events of the 1930's, 1940's, and 1950's that read like the headlines of today.

Review. Under the category of “truth is stranger than fiction” is the incredible life story of Grace Balogh as detailed by her daughter Sandy Powers in Passage. To the world (and her children) Grace Balogh appeared to be just another Middle America housewife and mother. However, shortly after her death, Powers uncovers her mother’s astonishing past which included a stint as volunteer spy for the U.S government; eyewitness to a murder; child abuse survivor, and an adoptee with a stolen inheritance!

Grace’s story spans from 1915 through the mid-1950s and is conveyed through her journals, letters, and newspaper clippings. An American saga is how I would describe Grace’s life because much of it reads as if written from the headlines of the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s: a young Depression era mother struggling to feed her growing family; a World War II supporter and correspondent to several GIs; and a U.S. communist party spy for the government in the McCarthy Era. In fact, Grace does make the news as this headline attests: “Housewife Tells of Aid to FBI by Joining Reds.”

Passage is a book that I literally could not put down! Page after remarkable page kept me riveted to the final entry. And when it finished I wanted more which is always the mark of a great read! I especially would have liked additional information about the identity/ back story behind Grace’s biological parents. Still I loved Passage’s authenticity which included not only verbatim letters, journal entries, and newspaper articles, but also copies of official documents including a real ration booklet. Details like these made Passage feel like I was rummaging through Grace’s personal archives!

Thanks to Power’s Grace Balogh’s fascinating story is able to be shared with not only her children, but readers everywhere!



Review copy provided courtesy of the author.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros


Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea has started a fun new meme, First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. Below is the first paragraph/chapter of Don't Kill the Birthday Girl by Sandra Beasley:


There are only two birthdays that stand out in my memory as distinct, chronologically certain events. One: my sixteenth birthday, when we watched, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. That was the year my friend Elizabeth, while using the swing anchored to the underside of our second-story deck, pushed off so hard that the whole shebang – girl, swing, unhooked chains – went sailing twenty feet out into the woods behind our house. Two: the year I got diagnosed with mononucleosis, too late to cancel an Italian themed dinner party. So I stood in front of a stove for two hours – achy, glands swollen, stone-cold sober – cooking pasta for two dozen while my friends went through six bottles of wine. That was, undoubtedly, my twenty-first birthday.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Mailbox Monday -- June 27th


The reason why I love Mondays -- Mailbox Monday hosted this month by the Bluestocking Guide. Below are the books I received this week:

1) As Husband's Go by Susan Isaacs. Publisher's Summary. Call her superficial, but Susie B Anthony Rabinowitz Gersten assumed her marriage was great—and why not? Jonah Gersten, MD, a Park Avenue plastic surgeon, clearly adored her. He was handsome, successful, and a doting dad to their four-year-old triplets. But when Jonah is found dead in the Upper East Side apartment of second-rate "escort" Dorinda Dillon, Susie is overwhelmed with questions left unanswered. It's bad enough to know your husband's been murdered, but even worse when you're universally pitied (and quietly mocked) because of the sleaze factor. None of it makes sense to Susie—not a sexual liaison with someone like Dorinda, not the "better not to discuss it" response from Jonah's partners. With help from her tough-talking, high-style grandma Ethel, who flies in from Miami, she takes on her snooty in-laws, her husband's partners, the NYPD, and the DA as she tries to prove that her wonderful life with Jonah was no lie.

2) An Atlas of Impossible Longing by Anuradha Roy. Publisher's Summary. On the outskirts of a small town in Bengal, a family lives in solitude in their vast new house. Here, lives intertwine and unravel. A widower struggles with his love for an unmarried cousin. Bakul, a motherless daughter, runs wild with Mukunda, an orphan of unknown caste adopted by the family. Confined in a room at the top of the house, a matriarch goes slowly mad; her husband searches for its cause as he shapes and reshapes his garden.

As Mukunda and Bakul grow, their intense closeness matures into something else, and Mukunda is banished to Calcutta. He prospers in the turbulent years after Partition, but his thoughts stay with his home, with Bakul, with all that he has lost—and he knows that he must return.

3) Cleaning Nabokov's House by Leslie Daniels. Publisher's Summary.
"I knew I could stay in this town when I found the blue enamel pot floating in the lake. The pot led me to the house, the house led me to the book, the book to the lawyer, the lawyer to the whorehouse, the whorehouse to science, and from science I joined the world."

So begins Leslie Daniels's funny and moving novel about a woman's desperate attempt to rebuild her life. When Barb Barrett walks out on her loveless marriage she doesn't realize she will lose everything: her home, her financial security, even her beloved children. Approaching forty with her life in shambles and no family or friends to turn to, Barb must now discover what it means to rely on herself in a stark new emotional landscape.

Guided only by her intense inner voice and a unique entrepreneurial vision, Barb begins to collect the scattered pieces of her life. She moves into a house once occupied by Vladimir Nabokov, author of the controversial masterpiece Lolita, and discovers a manuscript that may be his lost work. As her journey gathers momentum, Barb deepens a connection with her new world, discovering resources in her community and in herself that no one had anticipated. Written in elegant prose with touches of sharp humor and wit, Cleaning Nabokov's House offers a new vision of modern love and a fervent reminder that it is never too late to find faith in our truest selves.

4) Skipping a Beat by Sarah Pekkanen. Publisher's Summary. What would you do if your husband suddenly wanted to rewrite all of the rules of your relationship? This is the question at the heart of Skipping a Beat, Pekkanen's thought-provoking second book.

From the outside, Julia and Michael seem to have it all. Both products of difficult childhoods in rural West Virginia – where they were simply Julie and Mike – they become high school sweethearts and fall in love. Shortly after graduation, they flee their small town to start afresh. Now thirty-somethings, they are living a rarified life in their multi-million-dollar, Washington D.C. home. Julia is a highly sought-after party planner, while Michael has just sold his wildly successful flavored water company for $70 million.

But one day, Michael collapses in his office. Four minutes and eight seconds after his cardiac arrest, a portable defibrillator jump-starts his heart. But in those lost minutes he becomes a different man. Money is meaningless to him - and he wants to give it all away. Julia, who sees bits of her life reflected in scenes from the world's great operas, is now facing with a choice she never anticipated. Should she should walk away from the man she once adored – but who truthfully became a stranger to her long before this pronouncement - or give in to her husband's pleas for a second chance and a promise of a poorer but happier life?

As wry and engaging as her debut, but with quiet depth and newfound maturity, Skipping a Beat is an unforgettable portrait of a marriage whose glamorous surface belies the complications and betrayals beneath.


All thanks to Simon and Schuster!

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Benefits of Cereal & Giveaway (ends July 2nd)




Growing up while I loved Popeye the Sailor cartoons I refused to eat spinach. No amount of pleading or cajoling could convince me to eat this nutritionally packed vegetable because cooked spinach looked and tasted like slimy leaves. One day in college, however, a friend served me a spinach salad for lunch and I loved it! That's when I discovered that I could enjoy vegetables raw that I despised cooked. Since making this connection I have served my family numerous veggies raw that would be left untouched cooked. Because no matter how healthy it is if it doesn't taste good, they won't eat it.

A recent study shows D.C. parents say taste is the number one thing they look for when searching for breakfast options (81 percent).

Did you know?

* Cereal is a great breakfast option because it is the number one dietary source of many key nutrients including iron, zinc and folic acid. Frequent cereal eaters tend to have better nutrient intakes.

* A typical breakfast contributes more than 30 percent of needed calcium, iron and B vitamins while delivering less than 20 percent of daily calories.

* In addition, ready-to-eat cereal is the top source of whole grain in kids´diets.

And Big G is the only leading line of kids' cereals to contain at least 8 grams of whole grain (48 grams recommended daily) and a good source of both calcium and vitamin D in every serving. In addition, cereal is an inexpensive but nutrient-dense option. On average, a bowl of cereal with milk is approximately 50 cents per serving.

For more information, go to www.cerealbenefits.com.



Giveaway: Today, General Mills is offering one Metroreader follower (Note: to enter giveaway you must publicly follow Metroreader) a Share Your Love for Cereal gift pack which includes sample size cereals and a cereal dispenser!

Mandatory First Entry: What are some easy ways you help your child get necessary nutrients like vitamin D, calcium, iron, folate and zinc into the foods they eat?

Note: You must list your email address in the body of the comment (you can list it as mary123 (at) yahoo(dot)com). If you do not list your email address your entry will not count.

Extra Entries: Follow me on twitter (DCMetroreader) and on Facebook (Metroreader). NOTE: These extra entries MUST be left in a separate comment or will not count.



Disclosure: To facilitate this posting I received a sample cereal pack and information from General Mills through MyBlogSpark. No compensation was received for the opinions expressed in this posting.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Winner! Winner! Cereal for Dinner!


Congrats to the following winners:

Share the Love Cereal Pack:

Schnitzomage

First Time Dad:

Headlessfowl

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros


Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea has started a fun new meme, First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. Below is the first paragraph/chapter of Life by Keith Richards:



Why did we stop at the 4-Dice Restaurant in Fordyce, Arkansas, for lunch on Independence Day Weekend? On any day? Despite everything I knew from ten years of driving through the Bible Belt. Tiny town of Fordyce. Rolling Stones on the police menu across the United States. Every copper wanted to bust us by any means available, to get promoted and patriotically rid America of these little fairy Englishmen. It was 1975, a time of brutality and confrontation. Open season on the Stones had been declared since our last tour, the tour of ’72, known as the STP. The State Department had noted riots (true), civil disobedience (also true), illicit sex (whatever that is), and violence across the United States. All the fault of us, mere minstrels. We had been inciting youth to rebellion, we were corrupting America, and they had ruled never to let us travel in the United States again. It had become, in the time if Nixon, a serious political matter. He had personally deployed his dogs and dirty tricks against John Lennon, who he thought might cost him an election. We, in turn, they told our lawyer officially, were the most dangerous rock-and-roll band in the world.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Mailbox Monday -- June 20th


The reason why I love Mondays -- Mailbox Monday hosted this month by the Bluestocking Guide. Below are the books I received this week:

1) The Soldier's Wife. Publisher's Summary. novel full of grand passion and intensity, The Soldier’s Wife asks “What would you do for your family?” “What should you do for a stranger?” and “What would you do for love?”

As World War II draws closer and closer to Guernsey, Vivienne de la Mare knows that there will be sacrifices to be made. Not just for herself, but for her two young daughters and for her mother-in-law, for whom she cares while her husband is away fighting. What she does not expect is that she will fall in love with one of the enigmatic German soldiers who take up residence in the house next door to her home. As their relationship intensifies, so do the pressures on Vivienne. Food and resources grow scant, and the restrictions placed upon the residents of the island grow with each passing week. Though Vivienne knows the perils of her love affair with Gunther, she believes that she can keep their relationship—and her family—safe. But when she becomes aware of the full brutality of the Occupation, she must decide if she is willing to risk her personal happiness for the life of a stranger.

Thanks to Hyperion Books!

2) State of Wonder by Ann Patchett. Publisher's Summary. Dr. Marina Singh, a research scientist with a Minnesota pharmaceutical company, is sent to Brazil to track down her former mentor, Dr. Annick Swenson, who seems to have all but disappeared in the Amazon while working on what is destined to be an extremely valuable new drug, the development of which has already cost the company a fortune. Nothing about Marina's assignment is easy: not only does no one know where Dr. Swenson is, but the last person who was sent to find her, Marina's research partner Anders Eckman, died before he could complete his mission. Plagued by trepidation, Marina embarks on an odyssey into the insect-infested jungle in hopes of finding her former mentor as well as answers to several troubling questions about her friend's death, the state of her company's future, and her own past.

Once found, Dr. Swenson, now in her seventies, is as ruthless and uncompromising as she ever was back in the days of Grand Rounds at Johns Hopkins. With a combination of science and subterfuge, she dominates her research team and the natives she is studying with the force of an imperial ruler. But while she is as threatening as anything the jungle has to offer, the greatest sacrifices to be made are the ones Dr. Swenson asks of herself, and will ultimately ask of Marina, who finds she may still be unable to live up to her teacher's expectations.

In a narrative replete with poison arrows, devouring snakes, and a neighboring tribe of cannibals, State of Wonder is a world unto itself, where unlikely beauty stands beside unimaginable loss. It is a tale that leads the reader into the very heart of darkness, and then shows us what lies on the other side.

Thanks to Harper Audio!

3) The Upright Piano Player by David Abbott. Publisher's Summary. Henry Cage seems to have it all: a successful career, money, a beautiful home, and a reputation for being a just and principled man. But public virtues can conceal private failings, and as Henry faces retirement, his well-ordered life begins to unravel. His ex-wife is ill, his relationship with his son is strained to the point of estrangement, and on the eve of the new millennium he is the victim of a random violent act which soon escalates into a prolonged harassment.

As his ex-wife's illness becomes grave, it is apparent that there is little time to redress the mistakes of the past. But the man stalking Henry remains at large. Who is doing this? And why? David Abbott brilliantly pulls this thread of tension ever tighter until the surprising and emotionally impactful conclusion. The Upright Piano Player is a wise and acutely observed novel about the myriad ways in which life tests us—no matter how carefully we have constructed our own little fortresses.

Thanks to Random House!

Friday, June 17, 2011

The Truth Behind the Bowl Cereal Giveaway (ends June 25th)

Last week, I discussed why I love cereal for breakfast. This week, I have more good news to share. Take a look at the chart below:




Amazing isn't it?

Did you know that cereal is one of the healthiest things you and your family can eat? According to Dr. Keith Ayoob, an internationally recognized dietitian," your child´s favorite cereals may actually help fight childhood obesity," said Dr. Keith Ayoob Ed.D., RD. "Cereal provides key nutrients that are important to overall health and cereals, including sweetened cereals, provide less than 5 percent of a child´s daily sugar intake."

A 2009 study of children aged 6 to 18 shows cereal eaters have healthier body weights than those who don´t eat cereal, regardless of sweetness level.

Cereal eaters consume less fat than non-cereal eaters.

Not all cereals are equal and it´s important to read the labels -- General Mills is proud of its commitment to reduce sugar in all of its kids´ cereals to single-digit levels per serving.

General Mills has more than 30 nutritious cereals with 130 calories or less per serving.

Bon Appetit!


Giveaway: Today, General Mills is offering one Metroreader follower (Note: to enter giveaway you must publicly follow Metroreader) a Share Your Love for Cereal gift pack which includes sample size cereals along with a bowl and spoon set!

Mandatory First Entry: Which cereal benefits surprised you the most?

Note: You must list your email address in the body of the comment (you can list it as mary123 (at) yahoo(dot)com). If you do not list your email address your entry will not count.

Extra Entries: Follow me on twitter (DCMetroreader) and on Facebook (Metroreader). NOTE: These extra entries MUST be left in a separate comment or will not count.



Disclosure: To facilitate this posting I received a sample cereal pack and information from General Mills through MyBlogSpark. No compensation was received for the opinions expressed in this posting.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

First Time Dad



Publisher's Summary. Perhaps the most powerful influence in the world is that of a dad on his child. Baseball gloves, dirty diapers, tiny little hands, first days of school, daddy-daughter dances, and learner's permits... and so much more! There's no way you can be ready for it all, but this is when you need to get a bit of a head start...

First Time Dad by Focus on the Family ministry veteran (and father of 6) John Fuller lets you in on the stuff you really need to know... because in just a few months or weeks or days, your life is going to change--forever. Set good priorities. Break bad habits and/or family patterns. Recognize and recover from some common fathering mistakes. Know that your words have immense power. And learn how to cultivate a lasting parent-child relationship. So, instead of wondering "oh man, oh man, oh man... what am I going to do now?" for 9 months... read this short book (plus it's pretty fun too) and get excited!

"Dad, your job is critical... And you can do it."

Review. Know a father-to-be or a new father? Then First-Time Dad by John Fuller is a perfect gift! Because while becoming a dad is an exciting milestone event, it can also be feel a little overwhelming too.

Stepping in to offer guidance to new father’s everywhere is First-Time Dad. Fuller is a Christian broadcaster/author, but more importantly he is a father of six. One caveat for non-Christian readers is that Christian references are weaved into the book, but not in a proselytizing manner.

In First-Time Dad, Fuller shares practical tips, anecdotes and philosophical points to ponder in bringing up baby, including:

What Fatherhood is All About;

Time and Priorities;

How a Baby Affects Your Family;

Loving Your Wife;

Helping Your Child Succeed; and

Spiritual Formation.


Fist-Time Dad is an accessible book with chapters mixing wisdom and practical advice and is suitable even for the most sleep-deprived fathers!





Review copy provided courtesy of the publicist.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros


Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea has started a fun new meme, First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. Below is the first paragraph/chapter of Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi:





He doesn’t wait until I’m awake. He comes into my unconscious to find me, to pull me out. He seizes my logical mind and disables it with fear. I awake already panic stricken, afraid I won’t answer the voice correctly, the loud, clear voice that reverberates in my hand like an alarm that can’t be turned off.

What did you eat last night?

Since we first met when I was twelve he’s been with me, at me, barking orders. A drill sergeant of a voice that is pushing me forward, marching ahead, keeping time. When the voice isn’t giving orders, it’s counting. Like a metronome, it is predictable. I can hear the tick of another missed beat and in the silence between beats I anxiously await the next tick; like the constant noise of an intermittently dripping faucet, it keeps counting in the silences when I want to be still. It tells me to never miss a beat. It tells me I will get fat again if I do.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Mailbox Monday -- June 13th


The reason why I love Mondays -- Mailbox Monday hosted this month by the Bluestocking Guide. This week was a light week with only one book received as listed below:

1) The Year We Left Home by Jean Thompson. Publisher's Summary. In The Year We Left Home, Thompson brings together all of her talents to deliver the career-defining novel her admirers have been waiting for: a sweeping and emotionally powerful story of a single American family during the tumultuous final decades of the twentieth century. It begins in 1973 when the Erickson family of Grenada, Iowa, gathers for the wedding of their eldest daughter, Anita. Even as they celebrate, the fault lines in the family emerge. The bride wants nothing more than to raise a family in her hometown, while her brother Ryan watches restlessly from the sidelines, planning his escape. He is joined by their cousin Chip, an unpredictable, war-damaged loner who will show Ryan both the appeal and the perils of freedom. Torrie, the Ericksons' youngest daughter, is another rebel intent on escape, but the choices she makes will bring about a tragedy that leaves the entire family changed forever.

Stretching from the early 1970s in the Iowa farmlands to suburban Chicago to the coast of contemporary Italy—and moving through the Vietnam War's aftermath, the farm crisis, the numerous economic boomsand busts—The Year We Left Home follows the Erickson siblings as they confront prosperity and heartbreak, setbacks and triumphs, and seek their place in a country whose only constant seems to be breathtaking change. Ambitious, richly told, and fiercely American, this is a vivid and moving meditation on our continual pursuit of happiness and an incisive exploration of the national character.

Thanks to Simon and Schuster!

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Giveaway -- Share Your Love for Cereal (ends 6/18)


Weekday mornings are always a busy time in my house. Sometimes when we're running late, it is tempting to skip breakfast, but as a parent I know that a healthy breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

Recently, General Mills conducted a survey of D.C area parents and found that 97 percent agree it's important for their children to eat breakfast and 86 percent state that cereal is a healthy breakfast choice. Check out the D.C. Breakfast Survey to view the complete findings.

Count me in as a parent who believes in the benefits of cereal. In fact, it is often the breakfast of choice because it is tasty, quick and nutritious. Perfect for those time crunched mornings!

Did you know cereal is one of the healthiest breakfast options you can make? Today cereals are packed wih vitamins, minerals and are often high in fiber. You can learn more about the benefits of cereal by visiting the site Cereal Benefits.


Giveaway: Today, General Mills is offering one Metroreader follower (Note: to enter giveaway you must publicly follow Metroreader) a Share Your Love for Cereal gift pack which includes sample size cereals and an insulated milk pitcher!

Mandatory First Entry: What questions do you wish you could get an expert's opinion on when it comes to cereal as a breakfast option?

Note: You must list your email address in the body of the comment (you can list it as mary123 (at) yahoo(dot)com). If you do not list your email address your entry will not count.


Extra Entries: Follow me on twitter (DCMetroreader) and on Facebook (Metroreader). NOTE: These extra entries MUST be left in a separate comment or will not count.



Disclosure: To facilitate this posting I received a sample cereal pack and information from General Mills through MyBlogSpark. No compensation was received for the opinions expressed in this posting.

First-Time Dad Giveaway Ends Today!




Be sure to get your entry in here, by clicking this link!

Friday, June 10, 2011

Lost and Found


Publisher's Summary. LOST AND FOUND is a dazzling, provocative and in fact radical template for liberating ourselves from old patterns, and transforming how we feel and behave about the precious resources that should, and ultimately can, sustain and support our lives. If it seems impossible to read a funny, brilliant, irresistible book about money that you can't put down, turn to the first page of Lost and Found.

Review.On December 10, 2008, author Geneen Roth and her husband had a comfy million dollar nest egg. No trust fund babies, Roth and her husband had acquired this substantial sum through over three decades of hard work including writing books, leading workshops, and giving speeches. On December 11, 2008, however, Roth and her husband were broke –just another one of the hapless Madoff victims.

In Lost and Found Roth analyzes her relationship with and beliefs about money. Roth confesses, “my relationship to money was no different from my relationship to food, to love, to fabulous sweaters. Because I was never aware of what I already had, I never felt as if I had enough. I was always focused on [what] . . . was to come . . . .” From this 20/20 vantage point she explores how her money “hang -ups” led her to investing in the largest Ponzi scheme in history. Roth wanted to believe that she was special (don’t we all?) with a paternalistic Madoff (who shared the same name as her late father) looking out for her hard earned dollars. After losing almost everything she had, a poorer, but wiser Roth embarks on a new course with her future earnings (which according to Roth are rebounding) of responsibility and awareness.

What I really liked about Lost and Found is that Roth did what so few of the Madoff victims have done (remember the Park Avenue bad lady Alexandra Penney?): acknowledge her part in the fiasco of not paying attention to how her money was managed. To be clear, Roth does not forgive Madoff or otherwise absolve him of blame, but she does admit to having her head in the sand when it came to her finances which enabled Madoff to steal her lifesavings. She also gives a hard number (a million dollars) so that the reader can appreciate the enormity of her loss.

Lost and Found is not your typical money memoir, because Roth while on the comeback trail does not have it all together, but this makes it better!



Review based on a library copy.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Winners!



Congrats to the winners of the following giveaways:

20 Years Younger:
delilah0180
pocokat

Passage
abookishaffair
lizzi0915
teakettle58

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros


Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea has started a fun new meme, First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. Below is the first paragraph/chapter of the money memoir Lost and Found by Geneen Roth:


I was standing in my kitchen wondering what to have for lunch when my friend Taj called.

‘Sit down,’ she said.

I thought she was going to tell me she had just gotten the haircut from hell. I laughed and said, ‘It can’t be that bad.’

But it was. Before the phone call I ad thirty years of retirement savings in a ‘safe’ fund with a brilliant financial guru. When I put down the phone, my savings were gone and my genius financial guru, Bernie Madoff, was in handcuffs. I felt as if I had died and, for some unknown reason, was still breathing.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Mailbox Monday -- June 6th



The reason why I love Mondays -- Mailbox Monday hosted this month by Bluestocking. Below are the books I received this week:

1) Does the Noise in My Head Bother You? by Steven Tyler. Publisher's Summary. "I've been mythicized, Mick-icized, eulogized and fooligized, I've been Cole-Portered and farmer's-daughtered, I've been Led Zepped and 12-stepped. I'm a rhyming fool and so cool that me, Fritz the Cat, and Mohair Sam are the baddest cats that am. I have so many outrageous stories, too many, and I'm gonna tell 'em all. All the unexpurgated, brain-jangling tales of debauchery, sex & drugs, transcendence & chemical dependence you will ever want to hear."

The son of a classical pianist straight out of the Bronx of old Archie comics, Steven Tyler was born to be a rock star. Weaned on Cole Porter, Nat King Cole, Mick—and his beloved Janis Joplin—Tyler began tearing up the streets and the stage as a teenager before finally meeting his "mutant twin" and legendary partner Joe Perry. In this addictively readable memoir, told in the playful, poetic voice that is uniquely his own, Tyler unabashedly recounts the meteoric rise, fall, and rise of Aerosmith over the last three decades and riffs on the music that gives it all meaning.

Tyler tells what it's like to be a living legend and the frontman of one of the world's most revered and infamous bands—the debauchery, the money, the notoriety, the fights, the motels and hotels, the elevators, limos, buses and jets, the rehab. He reveals the spiritual side that "gets lost behind the stereotype of the Sex Guy, the Drug Guy, the Demon of Screamin', the Terror of the Tropicana." And he talks about his epic romantic life and his relationship with his four children. As dazzling, bold, and out-on-the-edge as the man himself, Does the Noise in My Head Bother You? is an all-access backstage pass into this extraordinary showman's life.

Thanks to Harper Audio!

2) State of Wonder by Ann Patchett. Publisher's Summary. Ann Patchett has dazzled readers with her award-winning books, including The Magician's Assistant and the New York Times bestselling Bel Canto. Now she raises the bar with State of Wonder, a provocative and ambitious novel set deep in the Amazon jungle.

Dr. Marina Singh, a research scientist with a Minnesota pharmaceutical company, is sent to Brazil to track down her former mentor, Dr. Annick Swenson, who seems to have all but disappeared in the Amazon while working on what is destined to be an extremely valuable new drug, the development of which has already cost the company a fortune. Nothing about Marina's assignment is easy: not only does no one know where Dr. Swenson is, but the last person who was sent to find her, Marina's research partner Anders Eckman, died before he could complete his mission. Plagued by trepidation, Marina embarks on an odyssey into the insect-infested jungle in hopes of finding her former mentor as well as answers to several troubling questions about her friend's death, the state of her company's future, and her own past.

Once found, Dr. Swenson, now in her seventies, is as ruthless and uncompromising as she ever was back in the days of Grand Rounds at Johns Hopkins. With a combination of science and subterfuge, she dominates her research team and the natives she is studying with the force of an imperial ruler. But while she is as threatening as anything the jungle has to offer, the greatest sacrifices to be made are the ones Dr. Swenson asks of herself, and will ultimately ask of Marina, who finds she may still be unable to live up to her teacher's expectations.

In a narrative replete with poison arrows, devouring snakes, and a neighboring tribe of cannibals, State of Wonder is a world unto itself, where unlikely beauty stands beside unimaginable loss. It is a tale that leads the reader into the very heart of darkness, and then shows us what lies on the other side.

Thanks to Harper Collins!

3) Grand Pursuit by Sylvia Nasar. Amazon Product Description. In a sweeping narrative, the author of the mega-bestseller A Beautiful Mind takes us on a journey through modern history with the men and women who changed the lives of every single person on the planet. It’s the epic story of the making of modern economics, and of how it rescued mankind from squalor and deprivation by placing its material fate in its own hands rather than in Fate.

Nasar’s account begins with Charles Dickens and Henry Mayhew observing and publishing the condition of the poor majority in mid-nineteenth-century London, the richest and most glittering place in the world. This was a new pursuit. She then describes the efforts of Marx, Engels, Alfred Marshal, Beatrice and Sydney Webb, and Irving Fisher to put those insights into action—with revolutionary consequences for the world.

From the great John Maynard Keynes to Schumpeter, Hayek, Keynes’s disciple Joan Robinson, the influential American economists Paul Samuelson and Milton Freedman, and India’s Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen, she shows how the insights of these activist thinkers transformed the world—from one city, London, to the developed nations in Europe and America, and now to the entire world.

In Nasar’s dramatic account of these discoverers we witness men and women responding to personal crises, world wars, revolutions, economic upheavals, and each other’s ideas to turn back Malthus and transform the dismal science into a triumph over mankind’s hitherto age-old destiny of misery and early death.

This idea, unimaginable less than 200 years ago, is a story of trial and error, and ultimately transcendent, rendered here in stunning narrative.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster!

4) The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollok. Publisher's Summary. In The Devil All the Time, Donald Ray Pollock has written a novel that marries the twisted intensity of Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers with the religious and Gothic over­tones of Flannery O’Connor at her most haunting.

Set in rural southern Ohio and West Virginia, The Devil All the Time follows a cast of compelling and bizarre characters from the end of World War II to the 1960s. There’s Willard Russell, tormented veteran of the carnage in the South Pacific, who can’t save his beautiful wife, Charlotte, from an agonizing death by cancer no matter how much sacrifi­cial blood he pours on his “prayer log.” There’s Carl and Sandy Henderson, a husband-and-wife team of serial kill­ers, who troll America’s highways searching for suitable models to photograph and exterminate. There’s the spider-handling preacher Roy and his crippled virtuoso-guitar-playing sidekick, Theodore, running from the law. And caught in the middle of all this is Arvin Eugene Russell, Willard and Charlotte’s orphaned son, who grows up to be a good but also violent man in his own right.

Donald Ray Pollock braids his plotlines into a taut narrative that will leave readers astonished and deeply moved. With his first novel, he proves himself a master storyteller in the grittiest and most uncompromising American grain.

Thanks to Randomhouse!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

First-Time Dad Giveaway (ends June 11th)



Publisher's Summary. Perhaps the most powerful influence in the world is that of a dad on his child. Baseball gloves, dirty diapers, tiny little hands, first days of school, daddy-daughter dances, and learner's permits... and so much more! There's no way you can be ready for it all, but this is when you need to get a bit of a head start...

First Time Dad by Focus on the Family ministry veteran (and father of 6) John Fuller lets you in on the stuff you really need to know... because in just a few months or weeks or days, your life is going to change--forever. Set good priorities. Break bad habits and/or family patterns. Recognize and recover from some common fathering mistakes. Know that your words have immense power. And learn how to cultivate a lasting parent-child relationship. So, instead of wondering "oh man, oh man, oh man... what am I going to do now?" for 9 months... read this short book (plus it's pretty fun too) and get excited!

"Dad, your job is critical... And you can do it."

Giveaway Rules. Just in time for Father's Day, I am giving away ONE copy of this insightful book!

Entry: For this giveaway, you must be a follwer of Metroreader. Comment with your email address in the body of the comment (you can list it as mary123 (at) yahoo(dot)com). If you do not list your email address your entry will not count.

Extra Entries: Sign up to follow my blog (or let me know that you are a current follower); follow me on twitter (DCMetroreader) and on Facebook (Metroreader). NOTE: These extra entries MUST be left in a separate comment or will not count.

The giveaway is open to Canadian and US residents only.
You must be 18 years of age or older.


Giveaway ends June 11th . Good Luck!