Cheese, Please!

Who doesn't love cheese? So many flavors, forms, textures, uses! We've just added two new books on the subject to the collection: Cheese Making and World Cheese Book. Here you get the whole spectrum: cheeses you can make in your own kitchen to be self-sufficient and a comprehensive guide to global varieties. That's a lot of cheese!

Make Preserves, Jams, Pickles and Cordials This Summer

Get your jam pot ready. The River Cottage Preserves Handbook by Pam Corbin will inspire you to pick and preserve the season's bounty. I especially liked the recipe for red currant jelly and sweet cucumber pickle but there are many others to choose from. The photos are gorgeous! This cookbook was originally published in Great Britain but this edition was edited for U.S. publication.

Some Like it Hot

Bumbling Bounty Hunter Stephanie Plum is no stranger to dangerous situations. But things hit a little too close to home in Janet Evanovich's 16th Plum installment, Sizzling Sixteen ,when Stephanie's sleazy boss, Vinnie, is kidnapped and held for ransom because of outstanding gambling debts. As much as Stephanie would like to leave Vinnie to the dogs who nabbed him, no Vinnie means no work. And no work means paycheck. And no paycheck means no new shoes (or no food or rent payments, for that matter). And, oh yeah, Vinnie is family... Stephanie teams up with former 'ho, Lula, and trigger-happy office manager, Connie, to find Vinnie--and in the process anger the wrong people. In the end, the good guys win and the bad guys are put behind bars for a long, long time. Add to the mix a Hobbit convention, a hungry alligator, a sexy male bounty hunter, and plenty of firepower. While Plum adventures aren't particularly deep, they're a fun way to pass an afternoon. And Sizzling Sixteen delivers in a big way!

Presumed Guilty

Prolific bestselling author Jodi Picoult tackles another difficult topic in her latest work, House Rules. Jacob Hunt is an 18-year-old who loves forensic science, knows all sorts of strange facts, and has a younger brother. Jacob also has Asperger's Syndrome and Jess, his tutor, has been murdered. All of the quirks that come with Jacob's autism make him look guilty. Even Jacob's family and lawyer aren't sure of his innocence--will the jury find the truth?

What is in your closet?

What to Wear for the Rest of your Life: Ageless Secrets of Style, by Kim Johnson Gross, is a look at your closet for the woman of a certain age. It is sometimes a bit redundant so you won't need to read every word to get the information you need. There are many hints, tips and stories about how to put together an outfit or collect a wardrobe. There are also personal stories of the author's experience surviving divorce and changing careers which are moderately interesting. The book is divided into sections such as: "mother of the bride or groom", "but you don't look like a grandmother" and "how to wear a shirt when you no longer have a waist". It is easy to find a chapter for your particular situation.

Thefacebook

Many of my friends and coworkers access their Facebook accounts with startling regularity (some might deem them "addicted") and find it a useful tool for connecting with folks near and far. The Facebook Effect traces the path of the online phenom from its humble beginnings in a nineteen-year-old's dorm room to its current successful status in less than a decade.

When a Scratch Could Kill You

Lauren Belfer's new novel, A Fierce Radiance, takes place in New York during WWII, with all the fears and uncertancies of that era. There are interweaving plots,a murder,a love affair, and death. The main storyline, however, is the development of penicillin. Before antibiotics, you could die of a scratch,an infection, the flu, or meningitis. Penicillin changed life as the people then knew it. Big drug companies were competing to see who could develop the technology to produce the drug because of the huge profits involved. The government was trying to control production to be able to use penicillin for it's armed forces. Although this sounds grim, the novel is a complex, interesting read.