Manga Sutra Volume 2

Like Volume 1, the Manga Sutra is more of a manual than a story. Aki has worked to make his characters involving but it's difficult to see it as a narrative when fun facts are interspersed throughout the story.

I found this one interesting because I felt it gave a peek into the Japanese culture. The love hotels are a foreign concept to me and the idea that hormonal birth control wasn't available until 1999 was a bit of an eye opener.

The way some of the fantasies were introduced made it a fun read so I'll give it a 3.

Manga Sutra Volume 1

The Manga Sutra Volume 1 by Katsu Aki advertises itself as a sex manual. And it is. Makoto and Yura are clueless when it comes to relationships and as a newly married couple has to start from square one. It's amusing and informative at the same time. Although Makoto's brother is a jerk. I'll give it a 3.

The Sneaky Chef

As I've mentioned before I have a very picky eater. I really want him to eat better. I'm investigating methods to help him overcome his pickiness but in the meantime I'd still like to get some nutrients into him. And that's why I picked up The Sneaky Chef by Missy Chase Lapine.

I'm not adverse to lying to my kids to help them get through something. I've told them about the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. I've stretched the truth about something they wouldn't understand. I've done what I can to help them, or to make their childhood magical. Sneaking vegetables into their diet is nothing.

One of the things that I liked about this book is that it not only sneaks in vegetables, it also sneaks in whole grains and sneaks out sugar and fats. It's about much more than the vegetable purees. Some of the recipes look really good too.

I haven't tried to make anything yet, but I'm looking forward to it. I'll give it a 4.

Cooking Rocks! 30 Minute Meals for Kids

One of the things I thought I'd try to help my son overcome his limited diet was to cook with him. What I really needed was a cookbook aimed at kids, with quick recipes and the ability to lay flat on the counter. Rachael Ray's Cooking Rocks! just might be that book.

The recipes look tasty but I think we'll have to start with some of the sweeter stuff to get him interested. I do wish that more pictures of the finished product had been included so that he'd be able to pick the recipe from what it looked like rather than how it sounded.

I'm excited anyway. I'll give it a 3 pending an actual trial of a recipe.

Chibi Vampire Volume 9

Another installment of Yuna Kagesaki's Chibi Vampire. After the last volume I was a little concerned that there was the beginning of a love triangle. Usui and Karin's relationship was complex enough without adding another wrinkle. Thankfully, that didn't happen and introduced something that might actually help them in the long run.

A nice fun read, I look forward to the next volume. I'll give it a 3.

Food Chaining

My 5 year old son is a picky eater. He's not as picky as the children in Food Chaining: The Proven 6-Step Plan to Stop Picky Eating, Solve Feeding Problems, and Expand Your Child's Diet by Cheryl Fraker, Mark Fishbein, Sibyl Cox and Laura Walbert. There were a few things that I can take from this book. I can certainly think about better scheduling of his meals and snack times. I can get a better feel for the types of foods he likes and use that to expand his choices but that's about it.

I found myself skipping large portions of the book because it didn't apply to our situation. There's a lot of focus on underlying problems causing some kind of problem but my child doesn't have any of those issues. Even narrowing it down to a specific type of food isn't that helpful because he's got foods that he'll eat at his grandmother's house but won't touch here and vice versa.

There's also a lot of focus on babies and toddlers. My son was an excellent eater until he was about 3. Then he just started deciding he didn't like things. His diet had dropped down to just whole wheat bread and water but we were able to work it back up to be better balanced. When he started dropping out foods again I thought I'd try to find a way to stop the behaviour before he dropped too many. This book won't help me do that.

I also didn't like the focus on junk food. I don't want to introduce him to unhealthy food to get him to eat healthy food. I was hoping there'd be better advice on how to get fruits, vegetables and meats into his diet but he doesn't like McDonald's Chicken McNuggets and I'm fine with that.

I would've liked more food chain examples for more varieties of food. A better description of their food "types" so that I could figure out if it's a taste thing with him or something else. All in all I'm a little disappointed and can only really give this one a 2.

The Amber Spyglass - His Dark Materials Book III

So I've completed Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy by finishing The Amber Spyglass. And I have to say that I'm disappointed.

One of the things that I really liked about the previous two books was the relationship between Pan and Lyra. I really liked Pan and Pullman decided to remove him from most of the book. Although I have to give him credit for the scene of the children parting from their daemons. It was great and actually had me in tears. I suspect he did it to focus more on the relationship between Will and Lyra but I felt that their story was kind of meh.

The parts dealing with Mary among the mulefa were nearly physically painful for me. They weren't that interesting to me and Mary's view of evolution was flitting awfully close to intelligent design for a book that supports reason as a worthy end goal.

I felt Pullman was a little heavy handed in his completion of the trilogy. I thought he was a little heavy handed in the beginning of the trilogy as well so I can't say I'm surprised. In a world (or worlds) that exhibit the supernatural it's hard to be the champion of the natural. Lyra's story is about accepting free will and actually using it. I liked that message. I think it's an important one. However, one should have to pull down everything to accept one thing. I'm giving this one a 2.

The Subtle Knife - His Dark Materials - Book II

I enjoyed The Subtle Knife more than I liked The Golden Compass. I think part of that is because I liked Will more than I liked Lyra. Where Lyra, ultimately, triumphs because she's clever in a dishonest way; Will is the sort of person who gets labeled "hero" because he is. He does things because he feels they are right. He's just a good person and that comes through. I also liked that through Lyra's association with Will she was becoming more mature and less selfish and more of an actual person.

Pullman redeems himself to me by portraying some adults as actually having virtues which was something I felt lacking the The Golden Compass. He even allows Lee Scoresby to become a more rounded character and I enjoyed that.

I did not enjoy the ending. I'm not expecting everything to be "happily ever after" but I felt that it was not the ending that Will's quest for his father should have come to. Still, I liked the book and couldn't put it down so I'll give it a 4.