Kathleen Flinn is our guest blogger during the week of September 1st. If you have any questions for Kathleen Flinn, add a comment to any of her posts. Here is some more information about The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry:

This is the funny and inspiring account of Kathleen Flinn's struggle in a stew of hot-tempered chefs, competitive classmates, her own "wretchedly inadequate" French, and the basics of French cuisine. Flinn was a thirty-six-year-old middle manager trapped on the corporate ladder-until her boss eliminated her job. So she cashed in her savings and moved to Paris to pursue her lifelong dream of attending the venerable Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. Fans of Julie & Julia and the late Julia Child will be richly rewarded by this vibrant tale of self-discovery, transformation, and ultimately love.

About Kathleen Flinn

Kathleen Flinn has been a writer and journalist for nearly twenty years. Her work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, USA Weekend, Men's Fitness and many other publications. She is a proud member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the Author's Guild. She divides her time between Seattle and southwest Florida. 

The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry
Kathleen Flinn - Author
$15.00 | add to cart
Book: Paperback | 8.26 x 5.23in | 304 pages | ISBN 9780143114130 | 02 Sep 2008 | Penguin 

Kathleen Flinn, The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry, Le Cordon Bleu, cooking school, France, cooking, food, wine, restaurants, books, Penguin Books

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Pro Football Prospectus 2008 covers every aspect of the NFL, but of course a large part of the market for the book is the fantasy football audience. We have projections for all the skill players and advice to help people win their leagues.

As you might imagine,pretty much everyone on the staff of FootballOutsiders.com plays fantasy football themselves. Since we all live spread across the country, we don't necessarily play in the same leagues with each other. Most of us still play fantasy football in the same leagues with the same friends we played with before we started writing about the NFL. That can be a little strange.

Tonight is the auction draft for a Boston-area league started by me and my fraternity brothers from Brown, including some of the same folks that helped me start FootballOutsiders.com a few years ago. This league has been going for ten years, basically with the same rules, although the members have changed as various people moved out of the Boston area and other friends, non-Brown folks, replaced them.

I often tell people that while Pro Football Prospectus 2008 can help you win your fantasy leagues because it has the most accurate player projections, it doesn't guarantee anything because there's more to fantasy football than just knowing who the best players will be.

» Hip-hop icon, ordained minister, father of six, and star of MTV’s top-rated show, "Run's House", Rev Run, discusses his book.

» Listen to other Penguin Podcasts.

Rev Run, DJ Run, Joseph Ward Simmons, Justine Simmons, Joey Simmons, music, hip-hop, rap, celebrity, Run's House, MTV,parenting,advice,discipline,family,children,teenagers,kids,Gotham Books,Penguin,books,author,reading,passage

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The beginning of the season is always a pretty crazy time for those of us in the sportswriting business. When you run your own company/website and are trying to promote a book like Pro Football Prospectus 2008, that makes it triple crazy. Just trying to keep track of what I need to write when and who I'm talking to at what time can be difficult.

Today on the docket: a trip down to beautiful Bristol, Connecticut, to appear on ESPN2 "First Take". Usually, doing media is no problem for me.

Few people know this, but before I was a football expert I was actually a modern rock radio DJ. However, television is a different story, mostly because I'm not used to wearing a suit. Hey, I'm an Internet writer. I think today was maybe the third time all year I had worn slacks instead of jeans.

Fitting everything you want to say into a four-minute segment is difficult, but I've learned to summarize our surprising predictions, because that's what really grabs people. This year's surprising predictions include:

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Author Greg Mortenson To Receive "Sitara-e-Pakistan," Pakistan's Highest Civil Award

Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea, which has been on The New York Times bestseller list for 81 weeks and is currently at #1, has been chosen by the Pakistan government receive Pakistan's civilian award, Sitara-e-Pakistan (The Star of Pakistan), the highest civil award given by the country. The Pakistan Civil Awards were established in 1957, after Pakistan became an independent republic. Since then, only a handful of foreigners have received the honor.

Mortenson said: "It is an honor and humbling to receive this award and it really represents and belongs to the millions of determined children and communities who aspire to hope through education."

The awards will be given at an Islamabad civil ceremony on March 23rd, 2009.

Award-Winning Songwriter Rodney Crowell Joins Dutton Author Daniel Levitin at his Barnes & Noble Launch of The World In Six Songs

In a very unique book launch, Daniel Levitin performed with songwriter, Rodney Crowell at Barnes & Noble Lincoln Center for the launch of his new Dutton book, The World in Six Songs. Crowell and Levitin put on a special musical performance for the audience that helped illustrate Levitin's theory that human identity can be formed out of six kinds of songs.

The World in Six Songs continues on its media blitz, with highlights that include: People "Soundcheck," "On Point," a HuffingtonPost lead review, and interviews on over 30 radio stations.

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Aaron Schatz is our guest blogger during the week of August 25th. If you have any questions for Aaron Schatz, add a comment to any of his posts. Here is some more information about Pro Football Prospectus 2008:

The most authoritative and innovative guide to professional football is back for an all-new season with more cutting-edge statistical analysis, obsessive film study, and trademark humor.

Building on a winning record of accurate predictions, the 2008 annual includes comprehensive coverage of all 32 NFL teams, analysis of off-season personnel changes, and exclusive forecasts for where each team will finish the 2008 season. With statistics for more than 500 skill players along with commentary and KUBIAK projections forecasting their 2008 fantasy football numbers, Pro Football Prospectus is an outstanding and reliable resource for fantasy players, Monday-morning quarterbacks, and die-hard fans everywhere.

» Silicon Valley reporter, Sarah Lacy, discusses her new book, Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good: The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and the Rise of Web 2.0.

» Listen to other Penguin Podcasts.

Sarah Lacy, tech, internet, web 2.0, Silicon Valley, entrepreneur, social networking, Mark Zuckerberg, Penguin, books, author

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John Makinson and Viking/Penguin Author Craig Johnson Way Out West

Penguin Group Chairman John Makinson (wearing the cowboy hat) was recently on vacation in Montana's Bighorn Mountains, where he ran into Viking/Penguin author Craig Johnson. Currently on his "motorcycle tour" promoting his latest books, Another Man's Moccasins (Viking) and Kindness Goes Unpunished (Penguin), Johnson said, "He and the family came out to a dude ranch in the Bighorn Mountains. [My wife] Judy met him at our store two years ago, so I finally got to meet him last week. The photo was John's idea. He had to go get his cowboy shirt and jeans on. What a great guy!"

Trudy Kallman, Penguin Sales Rep, Wins NAIBA's Hellmuth Award

Trudy Kallman, Paperback Sales Representative for Penguin Group (USA), has won the William Helmuth Award, sponsored by the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association to honor "an exceptional salesperson who serves booksellers in the highest manner of professionalism" and who "best embodies the dedication, book knowledge and heart shown by the late William Helmuth of BookTravelers fame."

Mark LaFramboise of Politics & Prose, Washington, D.C., praised Kallman for going out of her way to help stores. "Whether she's working within her own company, Penguin, to help her accounts, or making sure we are knowledgeable of strong titles and good deals, her efforts are always appreciated. Her book knowledge and knowledge of the industry have proven indispensable time and again."