Review: Bacon & Butter: The Ultimate Ketogenic Diet Cookbook by Celby Richoux

Synopsis: For many of us, the idea of dieting conveys unpleasant notions of flavorless piles of lettuce and overpriced freezer meals. But the secret to losing weight isn’t starving yourself or eating processed “diet food.” With Bacon & Butter: The Ultimate Ketogenic Diet Cookbook you’ll begin dropping pounds immediately—and learn how to keep them off for good—by following a low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diet packed with tasty, wholesome meals that you’ll love. Your journey towards a healthier life and slimmer waistline begins here and now, with useful features such as:
-150 delicious ketogenic diet recipes that will keep your body in ketosis, complete with nutritional information for each recipe

-Clear guidance on what ketosis is and which foods are truly keto-friendly

-Knowledgeable guidance from Celby Richoux who has experienced firsthand the incredible, transformative results of the ketogenic diet

-Ideas for how to stick to your new ketogenic diet—from common social situations like office parties to holiday dinners.

Whether you've come to keto through the guidance of your doctor or you're looking for a sustainable way to lose weight, Bacon and Butter is your complete ketogenic diet resource for keeping your diet on track and your taste buds happy. (from the online description)

Review: As with other Keto-centered (or Low-Carb) cookbooks, this one starts with an overview of the science behind Keto and the reasons for adopting it. It then moves into recipes from breakfast, condiments, different proteins, vegetables, and desserts.

The first section, on Keto, is simple and lacks depth or any real science. However, having read most of the science, it is accurate, if overly-simplified.

The recipes that follow are nothing spectacular, but solid and tasty-looking. You can probably find variations on all of them free on the internet. A few that caught my eye were desserts that did NOT use fake-sweeteners, something rare in Keto-cooking. I copied those out for my edification, as well as several for stuffed chicken thighs and a salmon recipe with chipotle cream sauce.

The recipes are clear and concise, easy to follow, with no unique or special cooking techniques and do not require anything kitchen tools but what is generally found in the average kitchen.

Worth reading, if you want solid Keto recipes, but you might be better served by borrowing this volume from the library or a friend.  

Bookmarks: 3 of 5

Awards: None

ISBN: 978-1-62315-520-9
Year Published: 2014
Date Finished: 10-1-2018
Pages: 248

Review: Ninjak: Weaponeer (Volume 1) by Matt Kindt, Clay Mann, Butch Guice, Juan Jose Ryp

Synopsis: Then: Meet inexperienced MI-6 recruit Colin King on his first mission in the field as he learns the basics of spycraft and counterintelligence, and develops a volatile relationship with his first handler.
Now: Colin King is Ninjak, the world’s foremost intelligence operative, weapons expert, and master assassin. And he’s hunting the Shadow Seven — a secret cabal of shinobi masters with mysterious ties to his training and tragic past. (from the online description)

Review:  My first introduction to Ninjak was in the other Valiant Universe comics – namely X-O Manowar and Bloodshot. He was always an amusing character. And I was excited to find this volume in a used book shop!

It did not disappoint. Told in the present and flashbacks, both to his childhood and his start as a spy, we see where he came from and where he ended up. It is fascinating. Strong, fast-paced story, with dynamic art and bold colors, takes us on a whirlwind adventure from his boyhood home to jungles dark with danger to bright cities even more deadly. Complex villains and shadowy characters fill out the story, making it a fun and intriguing read all the way through.

My only qualm was that some of the story was rushed, and I ardently wanted more detail! But this is a good sign in a story.

Valiant comics are worth more attention, with equal quality and depth as a DC or Marvel character. I highly recommend if you want a small manageable universe to explore, filled with complex heroes and dangerous foes.

Bookmarks: 4 of 5

Awards: None

ISBN: 9781939346667
Year Published: 2015
Date Finished: 10-3-18
Pages: 100

Review: Introduction to Japanese Culture ed. by Daniel Sosnoski (L)

Synopsis: Featuring full-color photographs and illustrations throughout, this text is a comprehensive guide to Japanese culture. The richness of Japan's history is renowned worldwide. The heritage of culture that its society has produced and passed on to future generations is one of Japan's greatest accomplishments. In Introduction to Japanese Culture, you'll read an overview, through sixty-eight original and informative essays, of Japan's most notable cultural achievements, including:

Religion, Zen Buddhism, arranged marriages and Bushido

Drama and Art—from pottery, painting and calligraphy to haiku, kabuki and karate

Cuisine—everything from rice to raw fish

Home and Recreation, from board games such as Go to origami, kimonos and Japanese gardens

The Japan of today is a fully modern, Westernized society in nearly every regard. Even so, the elements of an earlier age are clearly visible in the country's arts, festivals, and customs. This book focuses on the essential constants that remain in present-day Japan and their counterparts in Western culture.

Edited by Daniel Sosnoski, an American writer who has lived in Japan since 1985, these well-researched articles, color photographs, and line illustrations provide a compact guide to aspects of Japan that often puzzle the outside observer. Introduction to Japanese Culture is wonderfully informative, a needed primer on the cultural make-up and behaviors of the Japanese. This book is certain to fascinate the student, tourist, or anyone who seeks to know and understand Japanese culture, Japanese etiquette, and the history of Japan. (from the online description)

Review: The edition I read, from 1996, was a bit dated, and contained nothing of the technology for which us, in 2018, know the Japanese. But the rich culture that defines the Japanese has not changed and Sosnoski's chosen authors explore and explain this with short but eloquent words. However, this is a simple book, intended as an overview and should not be taken as an indepth guide to any of the ideas stated within. Suitable for children, but I would recommend an updated version.

Bookmarks: 3.5 of 5

Awards: None

ISBN: 0-8048-2056-2
Year Published: 1996
Date Finished: 9-17-2018
Pages: 104

Review: The X Factor by Andre Norton

Synopsis: The novel's hero is Diskan Fentress, mutant son of a high-ranking military official who, feeling out of place in a life that requires a certain bearing and poise (he's pitifully overgrown and clumsy), steals a spaceship and runs off to an uncharted world called Mimir to begin a new life. Norton makes the theft of the spaceship ludicrously easy (it amounts to a variation on stealing dad's keys). But clearly Diskan is not the brightest bulb on the tree, either. Crash landing in a frozen, alien wasteland, with barely enough provisions to survive, Diskan soon encounters strange indigenes called the brothers-in-fur. Their ancestors, we learn, inhabited a once-magnificent city named Xcothal, the ruins of which poor Diskan soon finds himself led to. There he meets another human, a girl named Julha Than, and a wounded alien called a Zacathan. He learns that the ruins of Xcothal contain a treasure being sought by a band of outlaws called the Jacks. (from an online review)

Review: A pillar of the early Sci-Fi writers (and female authors in the genre) – Andre Norton wrote 50+ books, with a particular flair for the pulpy adventure-based sci-fi and fantasy novels popular during the early days of those genres.

This one is no different. The main character, an outcast on his own planet, runs away and travels to a planet his father once visited. Here, he travels across the inhospitable waste towards a city, drawn to it by strange dreams and even strangers meetings of the local natives.

There are the general laser pistols, strange native mysteries, dastardly off-planet robbers, the pretty, terrified, girl in need of rescue, and the enigmatic non-humans. As vintage sci-fi goes, this is an excellent example. But for modern eyes, it will seem dated. It’s fast-paced, with a strange ending, and the general drama of an adventure novel.

As with Norton’s other book, this is a fun and pulpy read. 

Bookmarks: 3 of 5

Awards: None

ISBN: N/A
Year Published: 1965
Date Finished: 9-17-2018
Pages: 154

Review: Alex + Ada, Volume 1-3 by Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn

 Synopsis: From JONATHAN LUNA (THE SWORD, GIRLS, Spider-Woman: Origin) and SARAH VAUGHN (Sparkshooter, Ruined) comes ALEX + ADA, a sci-fi/drama set in the near future. The last thing in the world Alex wanted was an X5, the latest in realistic androids. But after Ada is dropped into his life, he discovers she is more than just a robot. Alex takes a huge risk to unlock Ada so she can think for herself and explore life as a sentient android. Can they survive the consequences? (from the online description)

Review: Told in bold colors and modern art, this short series tackles the question of what makes a person. Alex, lonely and depressed, received an unwelcome and unexpected gift – a robot that will mold itself to be exactly what you want. But Alex wants a free being. His choice changes his life – and Ada’s.

The story is fast-paced and as complex as it can be in such a short series. It would perhaps benefit from a longer run which would allow more exploration of the side-characters and the topics addresses. As it was, the story was rushed, a bit, although complete. It could have gone deeper but lacked time. This doesn’t mean the characters lacked depth or completeness. But the story didn’t allow for the relationships to grow as would seem realistic.

Although not the best graphic novel ever, the ideas and art make it worth reading. It will be particularly interesting to anyone who enjoys considering the ideas put forth by Asimov in I, Robot. 

Bookmarks: 3.5 of 5

Awards: None

ISBN: 978-1-63215-006-6 / 978-1-63215-195-7 / 978-1-63215-404-0
Year Published: 2015 / 2015 / 2015
Date Finished: 9-15-2018
Pages: 110 / 105 / 99

Review: A Midnight Opera, Volumes 1-3 by Hans Steinbach

Synopsis: Rock star Einblick DeLaLune tries to hide a dark secret that he is actually a centries-old werewolf. (from the online description)

Review: I picked this up on a whim at 2^nd and Charles, and although it received rather bad reviews most places, I thought it amusing, interesting, and fun. An immortal – something of a cross between a vampire and werewolf – after having ensured the safety of his people, decides to become a Rock’n’Roll legend! And yet, at the height of his career, those who once persecuted his people – the other immortals – return and he is forced to choose between his life and love, and his people. In the middle, is his brother, who never left the fight to free their people – and the evil, dark-haired immortal female who is all that humans feared in immortals.

Told in bold strokes and dynamic art, with lots of black and white, this is a fast-paced story that jumps between the Dark Ages and Modern Time. The author is German, and so the view of Europe has an authenticity that is pleasing after reading so many attempts by Americans to properly capture that land in writing.

While this isn’t a new or unique story, it is a fun take on an old theme, and  quite a perfect read for a dark and storming night.  

Bookmarks: 3.5 of 5

Awards: None

ISBN:1-59816-265-9 / 1-59816-417-6 / 1-4278-0007-3
Year Published: 2005 / 2006 / 2006
Date Finished: 9-12-2018
Pages: 95 / 101 / 89

Review: Light Brigade by Peter Tomasi, Peter Snejbjerg, and Bjarne Hansen

Synopsis: There's a war in heaven and Earth is the battleground in this original supernatural action adventure/horror story set during World War II. This epic tale revolves around a ragtag squad of U.S. soldiers that must recover the mysterious Sword of God, a heavenly artifact coveted by angels and demons, before the descendants of fallen angels disguised as Nazis. If they aren't successful, the world will be destroyed. It's a good thing they've got a mysterious, immortal Roman Centurion fighting on their side to even the odds. (from the online description)

Review: With classic artwork and dynamic colors, the authors of this work tell an interesting story. Angels, at war, have chosen for their battlefield, the snowy woods in Europe at the end of World War II.

The story is interesting enough to read, but by no means, new or unique. The idea of a War in Heaven is not new, going at far back as Milton, or even more. This is told from the viewpoint of the soldiers who get tangled up in the war. Chosen by one of the heavenly combatants as worthy and necessary, the human soldiers are asked to protect Holy Relics from the dastardly hands of the unworthy.

As I picked this up for 50 cents at a used book sale, I am inclined to be more generous to the story than otherwise. Amusing and worth the 30 or so minutes it takes to read it, it is neither good enough to recommend nor bad enough to condemn. It is merely a slightly altered version of an old and common story. 

Bookmarks: 3 of 5

Awards: None

ISBN: 1-4012-0795-2
Year Published: 2005
Date Finished: 9-7-2018
Pages: 100