5 comments about A New Leaf (Cape Light, Book 4).

1. I am sorry to have to say these things but I feel it necessary to be honest. I am a avid reader and I picked this book up to try this author. This book was very slow and the characters are very shallow.I felt no attachment or pull to any of them. I kept waiting for something to happen but to my dissapointment it never came. You as a reader can tell from the first few chapters exactly what will take place in this book. There was nothing in this book of interest to me as a reader and I will think twice next time before reading anything from this author.



2. Book arrived in excellent condition. Shipped 2 days after I placed order and received in 3 days. Excellent service.



3. From the first time I picked up the first book in the series, I can not wait for the next one to come out. This is truly a wonderfully written series and I enjoy every minute I am reading them.



4. Great service. I was very satisfied with the book and the timely matter that it got here.



5. The book arrived in a very timely manner and was in very good condition. I was pleased with my purchase.

5 comments about The Unlikely Spy.

1. This book was like reading the Mission Impossible series with so many twists and turns but not much of the action.
   
   I am a big fan of Silva's Allon series but found this one to be rather slow reading and no where near as entertaining. Still a good read for 7.99 but probably other books are better to spend the money on.



2. One of the best books i have read,,, right up there with Brother hood of the Rose,,,



3. I won't attempt to summarize the plot of this great novel, as many other reviewers have done that already.
   
   What I will say is that this is one of the most exciting and cleverly written spy novels I have read in a long time. True, there is much that is familiar with other novels of this WWII genre, but the characters, historical placement, plot, scene descriptions, tension, conclusion, and wrap-up make this a book well worth your time. I think that Silva has done a wonderful job in painting a picture of wartime England and Germany, and you can almost feel yourself bumping around in the darkened streets of London.
   
   There are only a couple of places in the book where it seems that the good guys "lucked out", but that is a minor critique. The plot builds and moves through a series of intricate twists that rival the writings of other masters such as le Carre.
   
   A real page turner. I highly recommend it.



4. I stumbled across "Mark of the Assassin" a couple weeks ago. Upon completion, I purchased every available novel written by Silva.
   
   "The Unlikely Spy" is more complicated than most thrillers. It is also not as polished as his later novels. It does clearly show a remarkable talent for research and crafting a tale that expertly weaves both fact and fiction.
   
   My theory however is that maybe Canaris outfoxed Hitler into biting on the ruse that Normandy was not our first choice. I think much of Hitlers staff wanted the war to end and the madness to stop. Clearly better to have the Americans get their first over the Ivans.
   
   Either that or Hitlers spy network pretty well sucked. Of course, gathering accurate intelligence is hard to do. That is why it is usually wrong.
   
   If you like spy thrillers, Silva is at the top of the game.



5. This was my introduction to the work of Daniel Silva. I found the book very satisfying. As with any spy thriller, the narrative is filled with enough twists and turns to make you dizzy. The trick of alternating between the "present" and the "history" is carried off smoothly. I thought the multitude of characters, together with the flashbacks, would confuse me badly; it didn't. The progress of the plot was clear, without the mystifying vagueries that LeCarre used so effectively.
   
   The final unveiling of who-was-good-or-evil was a bit of a let-down, but the forward thrust of the narrative throughout was enough to make this a good read.

No comments about Neat and Tidy: Boxes and Their Contents Used in Early American Households.

1 comments about Gramma Kilburn's Kitchen.

1. Jane Philbrick's memoir and cookbook, "Gramma Kilburn's Kitchen" recalls the seasonal rhythms of a Vermont farm in the first half of the 20th century. The Farm, as the family always called it, was purchased in 1848 and worked for almost a hundred years, until it was sold in 1946.

   Philbrick opens with a brief history of the place and leads the reader on a child's eye tour, through the five barns, the springhouse, the chicken house, the corncrib and the forbidden territory of the ice house; greeting the animals, jumping in the hay, grinding corn for the poultry. The house too brings back memories of warmth and industry with its hand-hooked rugs, Turkey carpet and the big heart of the house - the kitchen.

   Susie Kilburn not only cooked bountiful meals for family and hired help, she also put up her own vegetables and preserves, made real mince meat and served home-cured hams. Philbrick includes "receipts" for all of these delicacies as well as for pork headcheese and sweetbreads and beef tongue. Also included are receipts from other family members and friends - Aunt Ida's Carrot Marmalade, Irene's Doughnuts, Aunt Bertha's Salad Dressing.

   Beginning with spring (maple sugaring and Easter), each section opens with the author's lively remembrances, complemented with farm-life history and the memories of other family members - Philbrick's siblings, mother and aunt. The author also fleshes out the season with excerpts from her grandmother's diaries. Susie kept a diary most of her life but these terse passages reveal no innermost secrets. Instead they paint an intriguing, detailed portrait of farm routines from age 11 to 66, from farmer's daughter to farmer's wife and grandmother.

   "May 1 Wednesday, 1890 Ida put Ma's bedroom carpet back down. Rollo and Frank planted potatoes. Mr. Jones came here to borrow the buckboard to go to Fair Haven. Ida attended a meeting at the school house with Mrs. Jones. Eli Drake carried her home. Harry Northrup came here and staid all night."

   "October 6 Monday, 1941 Gladys washed in the A.M. The men finished filling the silo. Norm worked on the new shed. Ed sent his insurance on the buildings. In the afternoon Gladys varnished the dining room table. Ida came in the afternoon and Carrie Dean called. In the evening Ed took me for a ride up by the lake."

   Then come the recipes - lamb and asparagus and fish and stewed greens in spring; new potatoes and peas, jelly making and canning in summer; apples and pickles and squash in the fall; venison, stews, and baked beans in the winter. And no lack of desserts at any season. "Of course dessert was served at all meals - including breakfast at The Farm."

   The dishes are just what you'd hope to find - hearty, rib-sticking country food. Gramma's Sunday Chicken is a fricassee with egg dumplings, there is a whole collection of doughnut recipes and a section devoted to puddings, including Indian, Rhubarb and Bread. "I thank my lucky stars that I was a child during the time that puddings were still a part of our diet. Now, I am talking about home cooked puddings. There may be a place in our society today for instant puddings but not in this cookbook."

   Within each season are sections focused on special activities - summer harvest, turkey drives, the Rutland Fair, butchering - and ordinary activities like housekeeping, shopping and, of course, cooking. Holidays get special treatment, with mouth-watering menus and recipes for every dish from Roast Turkey Dressed with Oysters to Plum Pudding.

   I should probably mention that the author is my mother-in-law. This is no indication of prejudice. Rather, it means I have had the pleasure of enjoying many of the dishes, from holiday favorites like Cranberry Chutney and Parker House Rolls to year-round fare like Roast Pork, Bread and Butter Pickles, Potatoes au Gratin and Oyster Stew. I can attest that Aunt Ida's Famous Ginger Cookies deserve their fame and Aunt Ida's Swedish Meatballs really are "the very best Swedish meatballs this side of Uppsala or Stockholm."

   Full of memories, history and good food, Philbrick's book is a warm, fascinating and useful tribute to a bygone way of life.

No comments about Colonial architecture in New England: From material originally published as the White pine series of architectural monographs, edited by Russell F. Whitehead ... (Architectural treasures of early America).

No comments about Fenwick Island, Delaware: A Brief History.

No comments about Superb Maine Soups: Innovative Recipes from Simple to Sumptuous.

No comments about Letters to the New Island (Collected Works of W B Yeats).

No comments about Laconia Motorcycle Week (Images of America: New Hampshire).

No comments about Desirable Residences and Other Stories.