Catherine Coulter

Contemporary Thrillers Power Play (2014) by Catherine Coulter and read by MacLeod Andrews and Renee Raudman had some likeable and despicable characters but with an overly burdened plot (or should I say “plots”?) and mystical elements (most notably a villain capable of instant hypnosis), this audiobook was just okay.  I did like the reading; having…

Food Tidbits

Lunar New Year dishes. The 100 pleats on a chef’s hat are said to represent all the ways you can cook an egg. Waffle House has its own record label: Waffle Records.

Living With Meaning

When Meaning Has Waned Being Mortal by Atul Gawande Musings on California’s new doctor-assisted suicide law – San Francisco Magazine 2016 February 11. Does It Dignify? God’s Hotel by Victoria Sweet

Fern Michaels

When the Snow Falls is a collection by Fern Michaels, Nancy Bush, Rosanna Chiofalo, and Lin Stepp connected by couples finding romance in snowy climes.  The library has this filed with the Christmas books but the stories didn’t have much to do with the holidays. I most related to Fern Michaels’s story, more for its…

Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Match Me If You Can as a book on CD read by Anna Fields was an amusing long-drive listen with a few LOL moments and only a couple of winces and eye rolls.  The Chicago setting and realistic professional (and somewhat professional) women was appreciated.  As in some of the Regency romance series the preponderance…

Fish Farming

The cover story of the 2015 October 26 print edition of the Christian Science Monitor overviews the growth of aquaculture, fish farming.  I appreciated the focus on sustainable methods both in China and in the United States.  The article skirts the issues of slave labor used to harvest seafood (for human consumption and/or fish food),…

Postcards From Aunt Pennie

Oscar de la Renta: The Retrospective 2016/05/12: de Young Museum in San Francisco, Aunt Pennie and Grandpa Marshall. Pierre Bonnard : Painting Arcadia 2016/04/06: Legion of Honor in San Francisco, Aunt Pennie and Grandpa Marshall. Pierre Bonnard was a French painter and sculptor active from 1890 to his death in 1947.  He was a member…