This book is The Associate, which (I believe) has a normal entry with a name elsewhere in AllConsuming.net.

I was expecting another “Marley” (my fault, not the book’s) so I was disappointed. I think the best essays were the last few, so I am glad I hung in there and finished it.

This book lists the subject (Ray Scampinello) and a co-writer, but it is written in third person, probably so it can often contain glowing words about the subject. Sorry, autobiographies (co-writer, listed ghostwriter, or silent ghostwriter) should be written in first person without all of the “he’s so great” descriptions. This is probably also the poorest writing I’ve encountered in a book with a professional co-writer.
Some of the anecdotes in the book are interesting, but there’s too much fluff separating them and too much bad writing to suffer through to get to them. I really wanted to like this book but I was very disappointed in it.

Barry Eisler’s latest novel departs from the John Rain series to two estranged brothers in the west coast, as different as they can be: one (Ben) a soldier running black ops, and the other (Alex) a lawyer in a well-heeled law firm doing patent and software work. But when Alex’s client and the patent examiner reviewing his new software are murdered, and Alex looks to be next, he calls his big brother for help. Adding to the mix is Alex’s Iranian female co-worker, whom Alex has a crush on and Ben does not trust.

Although I missed the exciting locales of the “Rain” series, I enjoyed the writing and storyline in this book as much as the “Rain” series. It was really hard to put it down. Eisler proves again he is a master storyteller.

This was a quick and interesting (if superficial) read. But it was much more about her marriage (and marriage problems) than her struggle with weight loss.

A cute small-format book with photos of the Stanley Cup in various places with the opposite page telling a little bit about that place that makes it unique or interesting. Not nearly as much information about the Cup’s travels with players as I would have liked, and one segment misidentifies the U.S. Capitol as the White House (which made me wonder how many other places are wrong).
My biggest gripe, which probably wouldn’t be noticed by most readers, is that the majority of the photos appear to have been taken with a cheap point-and-shoot camera, the pictures developed at a cheap lab, and then the photos were scanned with a cheap scanner for use in the book (some of the photos - like the keepers of the Cup - look good, so it wasn’t a printing issue).
Still, it was an entertaining, quick read.

This wasn’t as good as the original trilogy, and it bogged down in parts, but this was still a lot of fun and an enjoyable summer movie.

This book is a little uneven, but laugh out loud funny in parts, even if you aren’t a hockey dad (or mom), or even a hockey fan. It is a good portrayal of the sacrifices made and rewards received by parents of travel hockey players.

This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. A thrilling storyline combined with strong character development and excellent writing made this book a page-turner for me. My only complaint, a minor one, is that this was written by a British author for a British audience, so I struggled with some of the references.

An eye-opening guide to some of the nutritional information of some popular foods. My criticism is that sometimes it only gives totals for an entire meal, so you can’t tell the breakdown for each item (for example, to make swaps or leave out the unhealthiest portions of the meal), and some of the “don’t each this” recommendations are based only on fat or sodium. Still, it’s an easy-to-read (lots of photos), easy-to-understand guide to making better food choices.