Simply Sensational Cookies by Nancy Baggett

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Sophisticated, contemporary cookie recipes from one of America′s most respected baking experts comes Simply Sensational Cookies, a delicious collection of cookie recipes that covers both the classics that mom used to make and modern, innovative ideas for the adventurous baker.

Whether you′re a novice baker, an experienced cook, or a parent looking for new treats to try, this is the ideal cookbook for cookie-lovers, with more than 200 recipes ranging from fast and simple no-bake preparations to challenging projects for experienced bakers featuring more than 200 recipes, from traditional cookies like chocolate chip to sophisticated, savory cocktail nibbles with gorgeous and inspiring photography throughout.

Whether you need quick treats for the kids to snack on or fancy fare for your next cocktail party, Simply Sensational Cookies offers a wide range of recipes that will satisfy your every craving. (description from publisher)

Bobbi Brown: Pretty Powerful by Bobbi Brown

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From Bobbi Brown, world-famous makeup artist, Pretty Powerful is a new kind of makeup manual that starts with who you are, rather than how you look.

In this book, Bobbi interviews dozens of real women, celebrities, and athletes about what beauty means to them and shows, step-by-step, how to achieve each look. Along the way, she shares her trade secrets for striking eyes, youthful skin, pretty lips, and perfect brows for any age, skin color, or beauty type. Brimming with hundreds of stunning makeover ideas, recommendations for the best tools and products, inspiring beauty stories, and expert tips not found anywhere else, Pretty Powerful is the must-have guide for lasting beauty, inside and out. (description from publisher)

Young House Love by Sherry Petersik

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With design ideas for every style, skill level, and budget, from the beloved couple behind the popular blog younghouselove, Sherry and John Petersik’s new book Young House Love is filled with hundreds of fun, deceptively simple, budget-friendly ideas for sprucing up a home.

With two home renovations under their (tool) belts, 5 million blog hits per month, and an ever-growing audience since the launch of their blog in 2007, Sherry and John are home-improvement experts primed to pass on a slew of projects, tricks, and techniques to do-it-yourselfers of all levels. Whether an experienced decorator or a total novice, on a tight budget or with money to spend, any homeowner or apartment dweller will find ideas for his or her own home makeovers here. Learn to trick out a thrift-store mirror, spice up plain old roller shades, “hack” your Ikea table to create three distinct looks, and so much more. With all new ideas (no repeats from the blog!) and more than 250 photographs and illustrations, this is a book that readers will return to again and again for the creative projects and easy-to-follow instructions in the relatable voice the Petersiks are known for. Adding a little wow factor to your home has never been more fun! (description from publisher)

Coffee Is Good For You by Robert J. Davis

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A guest post from Sharon:

Which of these statements are true?

  • Genetically modified foods are harmful
  • Aspartame is unsafe
  • High-fructose corn syrup is worse for you than sugar

If you said none of the above, you are correct!

But if you’re in the majority of people who are both angry and frustrated with conflicting health information, Robert Davis steps in here to help.

The introduction of his book, Coffee Is Good For You, breaks down why there’s so much confusion as to what is good or bad for you, then goes on to explain how the scientific method fits into nutrition studies. For example, different kinds of studies are more reliable than others, and you should always look at who’s funding the studies, and whether or not they had any say as to what goes on in them. A lot of people skip over the introduction of most books, but this one is definitely worth your time!

After the introduction, we get to the meat of the book. Each chapter is divided into categories of nutrition claims (fats, sugars, diets, etc), then broken down further into a specific claim, which is marked as yes, no, half-true or inconclusive, followed by the findings of pertinent studies. If this all sounds very dry, don’t worry: Davis is extremely good at dropping bits of trivia and humor to keep you interested in what’s being said.

Once you’ve read Coffee Is Good For You, just make sure you can soften your know-it-all response of, “Actually…” when someone inevitably recites scraps of flawed information.

Into the Silence : the Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest by Wade Davis

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On June 6, 1924, two men set out from a camp perched at 23,000 feet on an ice ledge just below the lip of Mount Everest’s North Col. George Mallory, thirty-seven, was Britain’s finest climber. Sandy Irvine was a young Oxford scholar of twenty-two with little previous mountaineering experience. Neither of them returned.

In this magisterial work of history and adventure, based on more than a decade of prodigious research in British, Canadian, and European archives, and months in the field in Nepal and Tibet, Wade Davis vividly re-creates British climbers’ epic attempts to scale Mount Everest in the early 1920s. With new access to letters and diaries, Davis recounts the heroic efforts of George Mallory and his fellow climbers to conquer the mountain in the face of treacherous terrain and furious weather. Into the Silence sets their remarkable achievements in sweeping historical context: Davis shows how the exploration originated in nineteenth-century imperial ambitions, and he takes us far beyond the Himalayas to the trenches of World War I, where Mallory and his generation found themselves and their world utterly shattered.  In the wake of the war that destroyed all notions of honor and decency, the Everest expeditions, led by these scions of Britain’s elite, emerged as a symbol of national redemption and hope.

Beautifully written and rich with detail, Into the Silence is a classic account of exploration and endurance, and a timeless portrait of an extraordinary generation of adventurers, soldiers, and mountaineers the likes of which we will never see again. (description by publisher)

Turn Here, Sweet Corn : Organic Farming Works by Atina Diffley

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When the hail starts to fall, Atina Diffley doesn’t compare it to golf balls. She’s a farmer. It’s “as big as a B-size potato.” As her bombarded land turns white, she and her husband Martin huddle under a blanket and reminisce: the one-hundred-mile-per-hour winds; the eleven-inch rainfall (“that broccoli turned out gorgeous”); the hail disaster of 1977. The romance of farming washed away a long time ago, but the love? Never. In telling her story of working the land, coaxing good food from the fertile soil, Atina Diffley reminds us of an ultimate truth: we live in relationships—with the earth, plants and animals, families and communities.

A memoir of making these essential relationships work in the face of challenges as natural as weather and as unnatural as corporate politics, Turn Here, Sweet Corn is a firsthand history of getting in at the “ground level” of organic farming. One of the first certified organic produce farms in the Midwest, the Diffleys’ Gardens of Eagan helped to usher in a new kind of green revolution in the heart of America’s farmland, supplying their roadside stand and a growing number of local food co-ops. This is a story of a world transformed—and reclaimed—one square acre at a time.

And yet, after surviving punishing storms and the devastating loss of fifth-generation Diffley family land to suburban development, the Diffleys faced the ultimate challenge: the threat of eminent domain for a crude oil pipeline proposed by one of the largest privately owned companies in the world, notorious polluters Koch Industries. As Atina Diffley tells her David-versus-Goliath tale, she gives readers everything from expert instruction in organic farming to an entrepreneur’s manual on how to grow a business to a legal thriller about battling corporate arrogance to a love story about a single mother falling for a good, big-hearted man. (description from publisher)

Van Gogh: Up Close

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This sumptuously illustrated book offers a completely new way of looking at the art of Vincent van Gogh, by exploring the artist’s approach to nature through his innovative use of the close-up view.

Focusing on the last years of the artist’s career–from 1886 until his death in July 1890–an international team of leading scholars in the field examines Van Gogh’s radical approach to the close-up and sets it in the context of contemporary and historical references, such as his hitherto unrecognized use of photography and his fascination with the Old Masters and with Japanese art and culture. One hundred key paintings dating from his arrival in Paris in 1886 to the end of his career show how Van Gogh experimented with unusual visual angles and the decorative use of color, cropping, and the flattening of his compositions. In some paintings he zoomed in on a tuft of grass or a single budding iris, while depicting shifting views of a field or garden in others.

Van Gogh: Up Close not only reveals how these paintings became the most radical and innovative in the artist’s body of work but also demonstrates that, far from being a spontaneous or undisciplined artist, Van Gogh was well aware of the history of art and was highly conscious of his efforts to break new ground with his work. (description from publisher)

Joe: the Coffee Book by Jonathan and Gabrielle Rubinstein

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Joe: the Coffee Book is a beautiful, hip guide to the world of coffee brought to you by New York City’s popular connoisseur coffee chain, Joe. Written from the point of view of owners (and siblings) Jonathan and Gabrielle Rubinstein, the reader is welcomed into the tight-knit international specialty coffee community of committed growers, buyers, roasters, entrepreneurs, baristas, and drinkers. Their mission: to source, purchase, roast, serve, and drink the world’s finest coffees.

By explaining how exemplary coffee is produced—and revealing the actual brewing techniques used to create great coffee at home—this book provides all you need to explore and enjoy the vast world of coffee. Illustrated with fresh and quirky photos, Joe will have you sipping your favorite brew with even greater pleasure and appreciation. (description from publisher)

Making Piece: a Memoir of Love, Loss and Pie by Beth Howard

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When journalist Beth Howard’s young husband dies suddenly, she packs up the RV he left behind and hits the American highways. At every stop along the way – whether filming a documentary or handing out free slices on the streets of Los Angeles – Beth uses pie as a way to find purpose. Howard eventually returns to her Iowa roots and creates the perfect synergy between two of America’s greatest icons – pie and the American Gothic House, the little farmhouse in Eldon, Iowa immortalized in Grant Wood’s famous painting, where she now lives and runs the Pitchfork Pie Stand.

Making Piece powerfully shows how one courageous woman triumphs over tragedy. This beautifully written memoir is, ultimately, about hope. It’s about the journey of healing and recovery, of facing fears, finding meaning in life again, and moving forward with purpose and, eventually, joy. It’s about the nourishment of the heart and soul that comes from the simple act of giving to others, like baking a homemade pie and sharing it with someone whose pain is even greater than your own. And it tells of the role of fate, second chances and the strength found in community.

DVDs for October

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October 2

People Like Us– Chris Pine, Elizabeth Banks

A twenty-something, fast-talking salesman’s latest deal collapses the day he learns his father has suddenly died. Against his wishes, Sam is called home to put his father’s estate in order and reconnect with his estranged family. While there, he uncovers a startling secret that turns his entire world upside down – he has a 30-year-old sister he never knew existed Rated PG-13

October 9

The Raven – John Cusack,

Baltimore 1849. While investigating a horrific double murder, police detective Emmett Fields makes a startling discovery: the killer’s methods mirror the twisted writings of Edgar Allan Poe. Suspecting Poe at first, Fields ultimately enlists his help to stop future attacks. But in this deadly game of cat and mouse, the stakes are raised with each gruesome slaying as the pair races to catch a madman before he brings every one of Poe’s shocking stories to chilling life, and death. Rated R

October 11

Prometheus – Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender

Explorers have discovered a clue that brings them to the origins of mankind on Earth. This leads them on a journey that takes them to the darkest corners of the universe.Rated R

 

October 16

Moonrise Kingdom – Bruce Willis, Bill Murray

Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, tells the story of two twelve-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore, and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in more ways than anyone can handle.PG – 13

Madagascar 3 – Europe’s Most Wanted – Voices of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock

Your favorite characters are back in their most hilarious adventure yet! Alex, Marty, Melman and Gloria are on the run through Europe in this wildly-entertaining and outrageous comedy critic’s call ‘charming and very funny’! With the fame-loving King Julian and take-charge Penguins, the whole crew joins the circus to escape Captain Dubois of Animal Control Rated PG

Tyler Perry’s Medea’s Witness Protection – Eugene Levy, Tyler Perry

Madea’s back in an all-new movie. A Wall Street investment banker has been set up in a mob-backed Ponzi scheme, forcing him to be put under witness protection with his entire family in Madea’s house down South. Rated PG-13

Abraham Lincoln : Vampire Hunter – Benjamin Walker, Dominic Cooper

Abraham Lincoln, history’s greatest hunter of the undead, must risk the presidency, his family, and his life to protect America from the bloodthirsty vampires.Rated R

 

October 30

Dark Shadows – Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter

Imprisoned vampire Barnabas Collins is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin. The dysfunctional remnants of the Collins family have fared little better and are in need of his protection. Rated PG-13.

 

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