@ Your Library
Let’s root for the warmer weather! This weather is making me think about summer and special events with friends and family. That means I went looking for new recipes (I hope I’m not the only one who tries new recipes out on guests). What’s for Dessert by Claire Saffitz is filled with ‘simple recipes for dessert people.’ Yum! Rhubarb strawberry shortcake, all-in-shortbreads with chocolate, coconut and pumpkin seeds, caramelized pear tart, molten chocolate olive oil cakes and so many more recipes that made me want to start entertaining right away. For ‘modern recipes from the Heartland’ try Fresh Midwest by Maren Ellingboe King for cheesy potatoes, Norwegian Fondue, a shrimp salad on toast or tomato salad with crispy rye bread crumbs just to get started. Lots of yummy dishes to try. I love baking bread and found Baking Bread with Kids by Jennifer Latham a great introduction to a variety of breads that kids and adults will love.
Power is something that only a few obtain in great quantities and two new books look at how it can be both used and abused. Untold Power by Rebecca Boggs Roberts is the story of ‘the fascinating rise and complex legacy of First Lady Edith Wilson.’ I have to admit I didn’t know much about her and had never given her much thought, but hearing the author talk about her research and writing of Mrs. Wilson’s story was marvelous and made me want to know so much more about this reluctant first lady.
Andrew S. Weiss and Brian “Box” Brown are the author and illustrator of Accidental Czar: the life and lies of Vladimar Putin. Here is another person with power that I didn’t know much about, except for the news stories. How did he get to be such a powerful man? This book answers many of my questions.
I am not a fan of horror fiction, yet Stephen King’s latest Fairy Tale is really drawing me in. A teen befriends an old man hiding the fact that his shed holds a portal to another world in which good is pitted against evil and a boy and his dog must lead the battle.
Craig Johnson, author of the very popular series in book and TV called “Longmire” is back with the eighteenth installment in Hell and Back. And David Rosenfelt continues his popular K team novels with Good Dog, Bad Cop, with an absolutely adorable cover of a dog in the back seat of a cop car.
Community is the theme of so many stories today, in closing, here are four. Maureen by Rachel Joyce continues the story begun ten years ago in The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. Meredith Alone by Claire Alexander introduces Meredith who hasn’t left her house in 1,214 days. Tara Conklin explores what community can provide and what we owe community in Community Board. Our need for community is explored in David Rhodes book Painting Beyond Walls set in the driftless area of Wisconsin.