Books

March 7, 2015

Review: Disney U: How Disney University Develops the World’s Most Engaged, Loyal, and Customer-Centric Employees

Disney U: How Disney University Develops the World's Most Engaged, Loyal, and Customer-Centric Employees
Disney U: How Disney University Develops the World’s Most Engaged, Loyal, and Customer-Centric Employees by Doug Lipp

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When discussing the Disney Institute book with my previous manager he mentioned that there was another book written by a gentlemen by the name of Doug Lipp. Of course that night I went on a hunt for the book and couldn’t find it in the city. So I promptly ordered it and was excited to read it.

My obsession with Disney’s level of customer service continues to grow. Their ideas and way they do things are so simple yet so amazing that those who have been to Disney know that they are walking into a totally different world.

This book focuses on Disneyland in California. The tips and stories in it are fantastic and at the end of each chapter there is a series of questions to help you look and evaluate on how your company is training and keeping customers engaged. It is so very true that if the company doesn’t invest in their employees and make them a priority then in most cases the employee won’t care and provide the service that will make the company profitable.

This book is geared more towards management however I was able to take many things away from this book and have placed many ideas in my back pocket for suggestion at the appropriate time or when the conversation arises at work.

It’s a great read and I highly recommend it if you oversee employees, or are involved in employee training in anyway. If you aren’t involved in these areas it is still a great read with stories of Walt, quotes and just other fantastic stories and examples of customer service and employee involvement.

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December 19, 2014

Review: The Christmas Scrapbook: A Harmony Story

The Christmas Scrapbook: A Harmony Story
The Christmas Scrapbook: A Harmony Story by Philip Gulley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was an adorable book! It was well written and I fell in love with the characters right away. What drew me to this book was the title. I am a scrapbooker and I can appreciate the trouble that Sam the main character went through. When this simple adventure of creating a gift for his wife ends up causing the whole town to believe he’s dying made me chuckle the whole time I was reading. It was a good wholesome story and I am going to seek out the other books because sometimes you just need a story like the one told in this book.

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May 24, 2014

Review: The Book of (Even More) Awesome

The Book of (Even More) Awesome
The Book of (Even More) Awesome by Neil Pasricha
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved the first Book of Awesome, so reading this book was a no brainer. Even better when I picked it up for $3.99. AWESOME!

In this book Neil continues to point out all the little things in life that are awesome like being the only person on the beach or eating the tips of pies. There were so many awesome things that made be sigh and go yes, I know that feeling and it is awesome.

This book is a fantastic quick read (granted I didn’t read it quickly), and it is a great book to reach for when you are feeling blue because sometimes we all need a reminder that the big things don’t matter, it’s all these small awesome things that complete life.

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August 29, 2013

Review: Momzillas

Momzillas
Momzillas by Jill Kargman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I confess, I loved this book.

I was expecting a light easy summer read which I found however as I read the book I found myself relating and feeling for the main character Hannah more than I expected to. Hannah finds herself moving across the country with her husband to New York and suddenly finds herself immersed in a different culture of parenting then she is use to. She finds herself batting against what she believes to be best for her family and what society expects of her.

This is where I really related to Hannah. I use to have a hard time relating to other Mom’s and at times I still do. We are constantly comparing ourselves to each other and to what people have done before us.

The women in this book are uptown New Yorkers with chauffeurs and nannies whom get messages and manicures weekly, as well as hop onto private jets to exotic places all over the world. I know there are women like that in this world having watched the show Pregnant in Heels and wanted to throw something through the TV.

I also found myself laughing hysterically at The Wiggles references as I came across it on the same day that Anthony Wiggle followed me on Twitter and we discussed a meeting when they are in town for a coffee. (True story!)

The main message of the book to be true to yourself and the rest will fall into place, by being true to yourself you will attract others just like you is so very true and it was shocking to have the book end with such a strong message.

It was a great summer read. Even if you don’t have children or can’t relate it’s an interesting look into how some people live. Yes this is a work of fiction but some of the stuff is so outrageous you know there is a speck of truth behind it.

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August 12, 2013

Review: Everything’s Eventual: 14 Dark Tales

Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales
Everything’s Eventual: 14 Dark Tales by Stephen King
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have been looking at various Stephen King books to read however I have often been dismayed by the size of them. Reading an 800 – 1,000 page book often takes me months because of the time I spend reading and I do read a little slow at times. I came across this book as I was browsing the library looking for something to jump out.

It’s book contains 14 short stories and was reasonable in size. The first short story Autopsy Room 4 had me at the edge of my seat. It was just fantastic. There were several other stories that I really enjoyed. They were Lunch at the Gotham Cafe, 1408 (I now want to see the movie) and Riding the Bullet. The rest of the stories were ok and I actually ended up reading half a story then skipping the rest of The Little Sisters of Eluria.

This book took me a while to read because my expectations of the stories that followed the first one were so high that I was disappointed.

It was a good read, but not the best. I have purchased Under The Dome and plan on reading that in the future. The Green Mile still stands as my favourite Stephen King Book so far but I guess I’ll have to read more of his work to ensure it truly is my favourite book.

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April 14, 2013

The Magic of Dr Seuss

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I’ve come to appreciate Dr Seuss even more then I did before. He has become a staple in our house. At the moment we only have 3 of his books. Green Eggs and Ham, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish and Hop on Pop. As a child I had every book in the collection but they were on loan and were returned once we outgrew them.

Adam and I read the books we have at least twice a day. Sometimes I roll my eyes because I hate some of the lines like “box gox in yellow socks” and realistically how many times can you read Green Eggs and Ham. After this weekend the answer is as many times as Adam wants me to.

On Friday we took the books over to my parents house and Adam sat down to read with Gramma. Gramma started reading but stopped at the last word. Adam had no problem completing the sentence. He’s not reading the word, he’s memorized it however it still blew my mind.

Tonight I decided to try the same thing with One Fish, Two Fish. He was not only able to finish the last word but on some pages he was even able to say entire sentences. It made me proud.

Tonight has reinforced the importance of reading time. I didn’t really feel like reading but I did anyways. I’m so glad that I did. Going forward I don’t care if it’s past bed time or late at night. We will sit every night and read at least one book.

When I read the words aren’t going in one ear and out the other. They are sticking and in time Adam will be able to read on his own and we will have taught Adam maybe one of the most important thing he’ll ever learn.

March 4, 2013

Organization & The Price Gouge

I’m on a mission. At first I thought I was crazy but after researching it turns out I’m not. I swear a couple weeks ago I saw something I wanted to get for Adam’s room. It’s a sling book case with storage in it.

We have a sling bookshelf and an organizer in the living room and I love them. You can just toss things in and it maybe be unorganized but still presentable when company comes over. The ones we purchased were from Toys r Us and were about $100 for both items after tax.

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What I saw was a hybrid of both of these items. It wasn’t quite like this one but along the same lines.

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The one I swear I saw had bins like the shelving unit we have on the bottom and not drawers. I have been searching everywhere I can think of in the city that sells things like this and can find ones in themes like Cars and Tinkerbell but none that are Espresso in colour. It’s driving me nuts because I’m sure I saw it while looking at the flyers but for the life of me I can’t remember who was selling them.

In the process I’ve also found another shelf that I actually like even more. I found it on the Target website and it looks like this.

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The bottom is bucket type storage, and a few bookshelves too. I love this and it’s only $71.99 which is reasonable to me. Unfortunately Target isn’t quite open in Canada yet so I started to look at Canadian retailers. I’ve found it at Sears for almost double the price. What the hell? I can understand a few dollars more but double the price seems excessive to me.

I’m looking for similar items at Meijers because my Dad is in there a few times a week and he can bring one back for me, but I am seriously considering that it’s time for some cross border comparison shopping. I know we’re getting gouged on diapers and it seems we’re getting gouged on furniture. It makes me sit here and wonder what else I’m paying way too much for.

October 5, 2012

Review: Fifty Shades Freed

Fifty Shades Freed
Fifty Shades Freed by E.L. James
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Dear E.L. James,

I realize with the lovers of your work come the haters and I unfortunately fit into that category. I wanted to love the books, I wanted to enjoy the characters and I read all the books with hopes that they would get better. I am officially done the trilogy and on your last page you write “That’s all . . . For now.” please for the sake of the haters please do not write any more of these books.

This final book I actually started to skip pages. Whenever Ana and Grey became involved I would skip forward two pages. If the story didn’t make sense when I picked up reading I would go back however most of the time it made no difference. There were so many potential story lines that could have been developed and caught my attention however these story lines like in the previous book fell flat. Areas you could have created a great story were glossed over and filled with a “steamy” scene which in reality became very very boring.

In the epilogue you presented alternate views of the story from Grey’s side and filler from his childhood. These things would have been great throughout the story, I may have felt more for him knowing the true extent of his history.

I did give this volume 2 stars compared to the 1 star for the previous because the last half of the book lacked all those steamy scenes and that made me hopefully for an actual story to develop.

I would probably read another volume if it resulted in the brutal murder of Ana and Grey however now that there are minors in the pictures that just makes me a heartless person wishing their parents dead so I guess I will not be reading anything else published by you.

For those considering reading this series, save yourself the torture and skip it. It was truly painful to finish this book and the excitement of never having to read these books again is indescribable in words.

Sincerely,
Shannon

Disappointed reader and hater of this trilogy.

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August 11, 2012

Review: The Christmas Wedding

The Christmas Wedding
The Christmas Wedding by James Patterson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

James Patterson is my favorite writer. I collect his books, well I did before a child came along and money had to be better used. I’m finding more and more that I am disappointed in his books. He started co-writing with several different authors and in turn is putting out 5 or more books a year however the quality compared to when he writes on his own isn’t there.

This was no exception. His previous love stories where he wrote on his own were fantastic. They made me laugh and made me cry. This book, The Christmas Wedding was flat and uninspiring.

The plot could have so much potential. A bride getting married on Christmas not revealing who the groom is, even to the groom until she’s at the altar. Well the person she picked was predictable, the story didn’t progress and the focus on the family story around her was a gloss over and filler to what could have been a complex, involving story.

On the upside it was a quick read, unfortunately that is about all it offered.

It’s sad when I give 50 Shades of Grey a higher rating then a James Patterson book.

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July 8, 2012

Review: Fifty Shades of Grey

Fifty Shades of Grey
Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

With an open mind I put this book on my to read list. Libraries were banning it because of the content, people were talking about it. People love it, people hate it. I had to see for myself what all the commotion was about.

This is not the type of book I would normally pick up. It’s classified as an Erotic Romance for Mature Audiences. Before reading the whole book I read in another article to read page 256 and that sets the tone for the book. Well page 256 made me question if I wanted to read the book but I was going to read it anyways.

I have found my guilty pleasure for the summer. This book in no ways is well written and the story is a typical well used story of an innocent young girl falling in love with the powerful older man. However there was something about the book that hooked me.

Very few books have kept me until 1 am reading. As well as I flew through this book in a little over a week which is very fast for me. Maybe I was curious to see what happened next. I had issues with Mr Grey’s character and I was getting angry at Ana for sticking around with him because well, he has some dark issues in my mind and his stalking tendencies would make me run for the hills.

I do intend to read the other two books in the series however reading them back to back feels like it’s too much for me personally. I need a break from the content of the book. Granted I am writing this with a curiosity that makes me want to run out and get book 2 and start it right this second.

Honestly the book wasn’t as shocking as I thought it would be. Almost everything portrayed in it can be seen in an R rated movie. Some scenes were written with a little more detail which makes me wonder how they are going to make a movie out of it. (The movie rights have been sold and it’s in pre-production as we speak.)

I will not judge if your read the book and love it or hate it. It’s a book that has people talking, it has people reading and maybe even people who don’t read a lot are picking up the book. In my eyes regardless of the content that can’t be a bad thing can it?

For giving me a cheap thrill, an easy read and a summer guilty pleasure that is why I gave this book 4 stars. If I had to rate on quality of writing, content and creativity the rating would be much lower.

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