Reading Fanatic Reviews
All Nonfiction ReviewsMinimum Viable Marketing by Brandi C. Johnson
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Minimum Viable Marketing*
Solid Marketing Information for Business Owners
In the currently wild-and-crazy publishing field, so often nonfiction books have little substance, seeming to be cobbled together from a variety of websites and other sources. I am pleased to say that this book is not one of that ilk. The author has worked in marketing at a corporate level for a long time and has been coaching private clients as well. She brings her expertise and knowledge to this book that does offer incredible value even if it is clearly meant to be a lead magnet for her mailing list and services. The book is just chock-full of information.
First she defines marketing and what she considers to be the critical components of it these days, namely your website, email marketing, and what she calls amplification channels (like social media and other platforms); she suggests picking two of the latter to focus on. The book covers a broad range of topics. Even a brief glimpse at the table of contents makes you think, how minimum is this, really? There are so many pieces to the puzzle, and I actually do believe marketing is overwhelming these days for a small business owner or entrepreneur who doesn’t have a dedicated marketing staff.
For some topics, she goes into greater detail than others. She relates a fair amount of information about email marketing throughout the book, including down-to-brass-tacks ideas for your welcome series of emails. But even on topics that she doesn’t discuss at length (like YouTube and Pinterest), she gives solid tips and strategies. There’s a lot of talk about branding, niches, and other hot buzzwords in marketing these days. I will have to admit that as a struggling entrepreneur, I wish modern marketing wasn’t quite so complicated as it seems to be in these days of human-to-human marketing. If you are an entrepreneur or small business owner, you will most likely find many nuggets of wisdom in this book that will help you level up your marketing game.
Declutter Your Home by Madeline Crawford
Available at Amazon only
NOT with Kindle Unlimited
Declutter Your Home*
Standard Tips with a Few Unusual Sections
I am one who definitely has always had a clutter issue, so I’m always quick to snap up books like this in hopes of gaining more insight into getting more control of my clutter issue. This book is organized like most books on decluttering, focused on rooms or spaces in a home. There are a few introductory chapters, including an overview of the process and the proper mindset with which to approach decluttering. What follows is then a breakdown of how to declutter each room or space in the house including closets, storage areas, entryways, home office, basement, and even the garage. She even had a few more unusual chapters, like on decluttering books and paper, how to handle things of value to you, and decluttering before moving. I felt that most of the room chapters were far too short to be of much value. Most of the tips scattered throughout, including the introductory section, were ones that you see in just about any other decluttering book. I did like one tip: go into a room and notice what doesn’t belong; take care of that first.
While I found myself nodding along with some stuff that she said in the introduction and I appreciated the chapter on books, I found parts of this book almost laughable. There was a point at which she said something along the lines that you should gather all your clutter into a pile and go through it. As if that could even happen! I found the chapter on books and paper especially interesting, as this is my clutter problem area. But even then, I couldn’t quite imagine myself decluttering my books and papers as she mentioned. The clutter issues she seems to be addressing are more minor ones. If you’ve read other books on the subject, you likely do not need this one.
Modern Sourdough by Michelle Eshkeri
Modern Sourdough*
Expanding the Possibilities of Sourdough Baking
I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, so I know and love sourdough. I was delighted to see this particular cookbook at one of my book review sites, and I knew I had to check it out. The author owns a bakeshop in north London called the Margot Bakery. This book is simply divided into an introductory section which gives you basic skills and techniques required for sourdough baking, and this is followed by the recipe section which starts off with breads before going into other sweet and savory sourdough options (including pastries!). The book ends with a collection of specialties from the bakery that don’t include sourdough starter.
As someone who has worked with a sourdough starter, I found her introductory section helpful. If someone was interested in working with sourdough starters and the resulting goods made from them, this would be a good primer for sourdough baking. In very detailed steps, she tells how to make a starter. Other information includes how to care for and bake with starters and the dough process. After this introductory section, she dives right into the recipes. Most of the recipes in the bread section are the standard and typical breads from various countries around the world as well as favorites of different ethnicities. Probably most cultures that enjoy leavened bread are represented here. Of course, there are a lot of French and Italian breads, like brioche and ciabatta; however, there are a few surprises as well, like Lepeshka (Jewish) and Jachnun (from Yemen).
Things start to get interesting when the book moves on to pastries. In all my time working with sourdough starters, I had never considered making pastries. There’s even a laminated dough recipe that you use to make croissants, pain au chocolat, and several other pastries. There are definitely recipes that will get you thinking about sourdough baking in a completely different way. I love that. There’s a sweet sourdough section separate from the pastries; some interesting cultural staples like babka, panettone, and stollen. The savory sourdough section had more unusual delights, like Pugliese Potato Focaccia and Onion Focaccia Tarte Tatin. Some recipes from the basic bread chapter are repurposed in these later chapters. For instance, the brioche dough is used to make a recipe called Brioche Feuilletée and the focaccia dough is used to make Sourdough Pizzas. The author even gives some ideas to do with day-old breads, like stuffed twice-baked croissants and a bread pudding.
The recipes use only sourdough starter for the leavening. Given my experience working with sourdough, I know that this can be a dicey proposition. If I were making these breads and my starter didn’t look lively after the refreshment stages, I would probably add a little commercial yeast to hedge my bets. Except during the warmer months when my starter would sometimes overflow its container, I always added a teaspoon of regular yeast to my doughs.
After so many sourdough wonders, I was surprised at the Margot Specialties section, but I am glad the author included it. Salted caramel chocolate chip cookies, what’s not to like? And there are also other cookies and yummy sounding (and looking) recipes like Custard Tart with Caramelised Breadcrumbs and Blood Orange Polenta Cake. Fun stuff!
When I initially flipped through the book for my BookTube review, I had noticed there were both Imperial and metric measurements. However, I hadn’t realized that, for the breads at least (not toppings and extras), these are actually done as weights not as dry measures. I will admit I don’t even own a kitchen scale. I am a dump cook most of the time and cup-and-spoon measurer when baking. So, be warned, if you are interested in this book, you will need a kitchen scale and be willing to work with the weights of ingredients. The recipes look so good that I may be upgrading my kitchen tools.
Another thing that I noticed is that all of the sourdough recipes require either two or three refreshment stages before the bread (or good) can actually be made. The first refreshment stage is done with the entire starter that you have. Then 8-12 hours after that, there are one or two other stages. It seems that most of the sweeter breads had two refreshment stages, the second stage being one in which sugar was added to the starter. So making any recipe from this book would be a time commitment. It takes mere seconds to do a refreshment of a starter, but timing it around busy lives and schedules is what makes it tricky. And, of course, there is something about our modern human nature that wants results NOW!
The book is well photographed. If you love bread, you’ll be wishing you could jump on a plane to London and try some made by the hands of the author who created the recipes. Every recipe has a photo and truly gives a sense of what these breads and other baked goods look like. The author also included some detailed photos of more complex techniques, like braiding challah.
If you are already an experienced sourdough baker, you will be thrilled with the possibilities that this book opens up for you. If you are new to sourdough baking, this book provides good foundations and explanations as well as recipes that you can use in the early stages of learning as well as ones that will challenge you later.
The Vibrant Life by Amanda Haas and Erin Kunkel
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, Scribd, 24 Symbols, Thalia, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, Indigo (Chapters), and Bol.de
The Vibrant Life*
Great Cookbook for Reading… and Cooking!
If you are one who likes to sit and read cookbooks as I do, this is the perfect cookbook to do that with. The author has expansive headnotes for most recipes, which I always love, and occasionally breaks up the recipes with small essays on topics like massage and taking care of your skin. (There are even chapters on yoga and strength training.) The author adheres to an anti-inflammatory diet and has some personal preferences which are definitely reflected in the book. She uses dairy very sparingly, preferring alternate milks and even sometimes making her own. She believes in eating a lot of green vegetables and lean protein but completely avoids gluten. The recipes I looked at seemed inventive yet refreshingly simple. These two adjectives do not always go hand-in-hand with recipes! The book has a typical organization, starting with breakfasts and drinks, moving on to veggies, then looking at dishes based around different protein choices, and her twelve staple recipes before ending with dessert. The recipe titles essentially say what the ingredients are. Ones that sounded particularly good to me include Quinoa Salad with Butternut Squash, Toasted Pepitas, and Raisins; Chai-spiced Cashew Milk; and Late Summer Salad with Heirloom Tomatoes, Stone Fruit, Goat Cheese, and Pistachios. Before the recipes, there’s an introductory section that includes her food philosophy, favorite ingredients, and must-have tools. If you’re looking for a cookbook that’s a great read as well as filled with healthful recipes, this book might be right up your alley.
Energy Healing for Relationships by Keith Sherwood and Sabine Wittman
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play, Scribd, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, and Indigo (Chapters).
Energy Healing for Relationships*
Good Book for Energy Work
I was surprised at the depth and breadth of the information in this book. I myself have worked with subtle energies for a long time as a Reiki practitioner. While this book is specifically looking at energy as it relates to couples and families, the authors actually give an excellent grounding in the concepts of chakras and the five elements. In fact, if you are drawn to this book but fear you don’t have much of a background, I would say go ahead and get it because the authors educate you as well as give you exercises in energy work and energy healing. You’ll come away much more knowledgeable and grounded.
The book has a logical organization, which I always appreciate. The book starts discussing what subtle energy fields are and gets the reader working with them. The book moves on to talking about you as an individual and specifically discusses energy work to help find a partner that resonates with your energy. Once we have a handle on our own energy, the book then guides how to approach expanding energy consciousness to include a partner. The natural progression then moves on to the partners preparing to welcome children into the family and then into energy work for healthy children and family structures. A final chapter at the end looks at some contemporary difficulties that one could face in the real world and how we can heal our energy if they impact us. The book is brimming with exercises. Every chapter has at least several, and some chapters have quite a few. I found the exercises to be simple, for the most part, but able to lend insight into self, other, and the family as a unit. Not all of the exercises truly have to do with healing, though many of them do. However, one could argue that any energy work done well has a healing aspect. If energy work interests you at all, or you have an interest in alternative methods for better relationships, you may very well enjoy this book.
Air Fryer Cookbook for Beginners by Elena Rose
Available at Amazon only
Free with Kindle Unlimited
Air Fryer Cookbook for Beginners*
Yummy-Looking Giant Collection of Air Fryer Recipes
As someone who eats vegetarian and sometimes vegan but has a family of omnivores, I love a cookbook that has recipes for everyone. This book certainly fills the bill. It is a collection of over 600 recipes. It has the standard division by type of protein or ingredient, but I was delighted to find a specifically vegan section. Vegetarians will actually find quite a lot in this book even though it starts off with a parade of meat dishes. For vegetarians, there are sections on vegetables and sides, appetizers and snacks (many of which are vegetarian), rice and grains, and the vegan one I talked about. There is, of course, also a section for desserts as well as an “Air Fryer Favorites” section. Before the recipes, the book starts off with an introduction, with a couple of paragraphs of tips, mistakes to avoid, and benefits, etc. I thought the introduction was ordered kind of strangely. For instance, the second-to-last topic is the benefits. To me, that would seem like something to lead the intro section off with. But that is a minor quibble. The recipes that I looked at seemed relatively simple and straightforward, and some of them sounded quite tasty. The author does explore some international cuisines as well as healthful spins on American classics. The recipes I looked at appeared to be in proportion, which is always so important in any recipe but especially important when you’re dealing with a fixed-sized appliance like an air fryer. If you have an air fryer and are looking for inspiration, this could be just the ticket.
Vegan Mac & Cheese by Robin Robertson
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, Thalia, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, Indigo (Chapters), and Bol.de
Vegan Mac & Cheese*
Vegans Can Get Their Mac Back
I will admit that it was harder me to switch from vegetarianism to veganism than from omnivore to vegetarian. (Something I still grapple with!) The reason? Dairy… and more specifically… cheese. One of the things it is so easy to miss when you go vegan is the creamy meltiness of dairy. It is hard to replicate, and it is a common component of many comfort foods. Well, at least now with this cookbook, vegans can have their mac and cheese back. Or, as the author says, “mac uncheese.” However, for simplicity, I will just be going it mac and cheese in this review.
The book is divided into several chapters, starting with basic recipes and ending with some creative ideas for leftovers. In between, the author travels the globe mac-n-cheese style, highlights vegetable versions, and provides some dishes that may in some way mimic people’s previous meaty favorites. The book is full of inspired mac and cheese recipes. The sauce recipes I found to be quite fun. The author is very creative, mimicking the flavors and textures reminiscent of dairy mac and cheese. Nutritional yeast is in most recipes, and miso is common as well. As I have made the Happy Herbivore’s vegan nacho cheese, I can attest to the fact that these two ingredients impart flavor and complexity that is reminiscent of dairy cheese. The author often incorporates vegetables in the sauces, too, which would give both body and flavor. Vegetables used in sauces include red bell peppers, carrots, rutabagas, and potatoes.
The basic chapter is just what it sounds like–several basic sauces highlighting different approaches to vegan uncheese sauces (tofu, nutritional yeast, or cashew based) and even an allergen-free sauce. She even had a powdered version you can pre make to have on hand so you could whip up a homemade mac and cheese dish almost as quickly as that little blue box you get at the store. By the way, she doesn’t use store-bought vegan cheeses in these recipes, though she does talk about them in the introduction. If you like them, though, she recommends adding some to your sauce for another flavor/texture note.
What’s fun about a lot of these sauces (the basics and the other in the book), I think, is that you could mix and match them. Once you find a couple of sauces that you like, you could experiment with them. Use different add-ins, use different pasta shapes, or even use the sauce in a completely different recipe. When I experimented with vegan cheese sauces before, I actually found them very versatile. They make an excellent base for a pizza or something to toss vegetables in.
I thought the global cheesy mac chapter was a lot of fun. Some recipes don’t really come across to me as real mac and cheese type recipes, like the Greek Spinach Orzo Bake or the Blushing Baked Ziti (but it does sound tasty!). However, this is just a minor quibble. I thought that the aforementioned Blushing Baked Ziti and Salsa Mac and Queso sounded particularly good. The next chapter is about incorporating more vegetables into your mac and cheese, both into the sauce and added into the dish. There was even one creative dish that uses spaghetti squash instead of pasta. Where I think the author got the most inventive was in the final chapter, where she gives some fun ideas about what to do with pasta leftovers. She does provide some more “normal” suggestions in the introduction, but in this chapter, she gives you ideas of how to use your leftovers to make mac and cheese balls, mac and cheese pizza, and mac and cheese quesadillas amongs other yummy-sounding delights. I love a cookbook that pushes the boundaries of expectations like that and fires the imagination.
I’ve enjoyed this author’s cookbooks for years, and this book will soon become another favorite, I’m sure. All my family, even the confirmed omnivores, loves the chili recipe from one of her slow cooker cookbooks! I wonder if I could find another such recipe in this cookbook?
If you’re vegan and have loved mac and cheese, this book will be right up your alley. If you’re a mother who would like to add more vegetables to her children’s diets, you may very well appreciate the sauces that incorporate vegetables right into them. If they’re whizzed into a sauce, the kids may never know. Of course, if they’re like some of my younger relations, they don’t want any mac and cheese unless it’s from that little blue box!
The Joy of Missing Out by Tonya Dalton
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, Thalia, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, Indigo (Chapters), and Bol.de
The Joy of Missing Out*
Can Joy be Found in Productivity?
This book wasn’t quite what I was expecting. The title, of course, is a spin on the fear of missing out (FOMO), which is quite a catchphrase these days. My thought was that the joy of missing out (this book) would be the opposite of the fear of missing out, but that’s not how this book comes across. In fact, it is about productivity and uses the author’s four-part system to analyze and build that. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t associate joy with productivity! It almost feels as if the author is combining two buzzwords in trying to cobble together a method. The book is heavily anecdotal, particularly of the author’s life, though she also includes discussion of other people’s issues and forays into solving them. In general, storytelling is a good way to get across nonfiction concepts, but it must be done with a light hand. Examples shouldn’t go on for too long, and they should definitely correlate to whatever the topic is. These personal experiences and anecdotes often failed one or both of these criteria. The storytelling at times overwhelmed the message, so I wasn’t really clear what I was supposed to be taking away. That’s the danger of storytelling; the actual message can get lost in a high noise-to-signal ratio. The book, too, seems to be focused more on mothers of at-home children. Whether you’re looking at the topic from the perspective of the joy of missing out or productivity, not everyone who needs such guidance fits into that category. All in all, I found this to be a disappointing read.
10-Minute Tidy Home by Sara L. Hunter
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, Mondadori, Angus & Robertson, and Indigo (Chapters)
10-Minute Tidy Home*
Basic Home Organization Tips
Don’t let the title give you high hopes. This 200-plus page book will not get your house tidy in 10 minutes. Rather, the book is full of ideas about how to organize each room in your home so that it will be more tidy; these tips are meant to be done in 10 minutes each. It really isn’t about decluttering or cleaning, the latter mentioned in the subtitle of the book. I found some of the tips to be super basic and common sense, while others were ideas I had not thought of. Not every tip would be something that everyone would use or need, but there is a lot in here that gives food for thought about how to have a more organized home. Despite what the author promises, not every tip would take only 10 minutes to accomplish. Some would take only minutes, while others could take hours depending on your current level of disorganization. In the introduction, the author does suggest that whatever task you attempt, to only do it in small 10-minute doses so that way you don’t give up, overwhelmed by the task or the greater sense of all that you need to accomplish.
The book is split into three parts. Part 1 is what I talked about above, where she gives tips for each room in the home, including the garage. She takes her organizational skills beyond stuff in the house for parts two and three. In part 2, she gives tips for having stress-free holidays, house guests, and parties. In part 3, she discusses travel and moving. I did find the book helpful, and I believe I will be implementing some of her ideas.
The Boston Freedom Trail in Words and Pictures by Robert Wheeler
Available at Amazon in paperback only
The Boston Freedom Trail in Words and Pictures*
Find Your Inner Bostonian on the Freedom Trail
Every American–by birth or by choice–is by some measure a Bostonian. The tides of history that shaped that city flow through us as our American birthright, whether deep in our hearts as that understood but unspoken patriotic bedrock of our country or through a more conscious choice to make the ideals of freedom that brought about revolution our own (whether or not you espouse the freedoms of the right or the left politically).
If you’re expecting a glossy, touristy book about the Boston Freedom Trail, you will be surprised. While it does have some pictures of each site along the Trail, as well as occasional watercolors, the photos recall to mind mostly small moments at these places. Some sites have the traditional, done-from-a-distance views, but most are surprisingly small and intimate looks at these famous places, perhaps just the head of a statue or the top of a church steeple or an unobtrusive corner of a building. Along with these photos, the author has given a couple-paragraph synopsis of the historical significance or description of the place.
While I am not a Bostonian, I did visit the city nearly 30 years ago and spent some time visiting the historic Trail. I was amazed at how this book transported me back. Before we even left home, I had done a significant amount of research about the history of what we would be seeing on each leg of our journey. But nothing prepared me for the emotional impact that actually walking the streets of American history would have on me. I wish I could remember the particular place on the Trail where I actually had to sit down and catch my breath because I was so overwhelmed with what Boston means American history and every American. As I looked at each picture and read the commentary in this book, I was struck not only by the history reflected by the sites on the Freedom Trail but also how it continues to grow, showing the impact of other non-Revolutionary war historical events and what they mean to the people of Boston. I would like to see the memorials to the Holocaust and the Irish famine; they were not there when I went.
If you enjoy American history, you will find this book’s narrowly focused look at a small part of Boston to be a treasure. Perhaps you, too, will find the beating heart of your inner Bostonian.
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