cooking, crafting, and art

In attendance:

Holley, Emmet O’Neal
Jon, BPL Avondale
Mary Anne, BPL Southern History
Kelly, BPL Springville Road
Jiemin, BPL Central
Samuel, BPL Five Points West
Mondretta, Leeds
Michelle, Irondale
Maura, Trussville
Pam, BPL Woodlawn

A big THANK YOU goes out to Michelle and the fine folks at the Irondale Library for hosting, and feeding, the RA Roundtable last week!  The crafting and art book display was an inspired idea that I hope other hosting libraries will consider emulating (*wink, wink*).

Mark your calendars for Wednesday, October 14th at 9am at the Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest for a discussion of mysteries, thrillers, and horror.  I hope you’ll be able to join us!

I was voted in again (it’s me, Holley!) as moderator for the 2016 JCPLA Roundtable season and we have a great line up coming up next year!

February 10, 2016 @ BPL Five Points West - Consumer Health

April 6, 2016 (avoiding ALLA) @  BPL Avondale - Audiobook/Digital downloads                    

June 8, 2016 @ Emmet O’Neal - LGBT Fiction

August 10, 2016 @ (TBD) - Debut Fiction

October 12, 2016 @ BPL Woodlawn - Celebrations

December 14, 2016 @ BPL Southern History - Art/Oversize/Worst Donations

Please consider sending in your personally created annotation for the book(s) you shared with RART this morning.  In addition to adding flavor to the regular blog post, I will anonymously post the review on the title’s Encore entry on your behalf! 

CraftFail: When Homemade Goes Horribly Wrong by Heather Mann

Pinterest is my Matterhorn; a Matterhorn that I have never bested.  As a veteran craftfailer, I adored this book.  It is a comfort to know that I’m not the only one that has WAY more ambition than talent.  Heather Mann, publisher of the CraftFail.com blog, has compiled the worst of the worst of the craft fails that have been submitted to her and they'll keep you laughing long after you’ve turned the last page.
Holley, Emmet O’Neal

Color: A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finlay

I love this book beyond all reason, but it is nearly impossible to read it without internet access at hand as you will want to look up every single artwork Finlay mentions in her quest to explore and understand the physical materials that color our world as well as the social and political meanings that color has carried through time. From the secretive world of aboriginal art in Australia to the modern Chilean farmers breeding and bleeding insects for their viscous red blood; from traveling ancient silk trade routes to crossing the Mediterranean, join Finlay on a global adventure of epic proportions.
Holley, Emmet O’Neal

The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum

If you’re an accomplished cake baker, you NEED this book. And even if you aren’t, have a look at it anyway and it may inspire you to attempt cake baking you thought was far beyond your skills. The Cake Bible is one of the most beautiful cookbooks I have ever seen, with mouthwatering photos that will make you want to lick the pages. And it always helps to know what the finished product is supposed to look like.

Some reviewers on Amazon said that they didn’t care for how specific the instructions were and that the recipes didn’t allow for substitutions, but for a cook like me the specific instructions would be a great help—whenever I try a new recipe I always follow the instructions exactly and then tweak afterwards if I think I can improve it, though it would be hard to imagine improving on these incredible creations. For each cake, Beranbaum gives precise instructions, lists of needed supplies, and helpful explanations for why each recipe needs this particular combination of ingredients to turn out right. And there are different levels of difficulty; if you don’t think you can attempt one of the more spectacular items like the Art Deco Cake, try a pound cake or loaf cake instead.

I don’t have a bucket list written out, but on the one I carry around in my mind, one of the items is to try and make a cake from this cookbook—a cake? Or maybe two or three? And how to choose? As a chocolate lover, I can definitely hear some of the fudgier alternatives calling my name. But whether I ever make anything from it or not, The Cake Bible passes my prime test for cookbooks: it is an enjoyable read for its own sake. Find her online at http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/.

Mary Anne, BPL Southern History

A Cookbook for Poor Poets and Others by Ann Rogers

I broke one of my rules for Readers Advisory and went “off catalog” for this cookbook, because it’s not in the system and it deserves to be. Rogers is a child of the Depression era and this book was inspired by her ideas of the perfect “nickel dinner”: i.e. real food that was cheap but good. The closest thing to this ideal was “a big fresh roll—the French or Italian kind—the crust shattering with the first bite . . . it smells of yeast and wheatfields and waterfalls and salt flats . . .” Out of this idea the perfect rules for the civilized nickel dinner emerged, and they are:

Always have fresh bread.  Always use butter. And always serve wine.

The first version of Poor Poets came out in the 60s and even then the cost of living was catching up with the nickel dinner; today it would be considered an impossible dream, as you can hardly find a decent ten or fifteen dollar dinner. But the principles remain the same. Poor Poets is about food that’s frugal but tasty for those lean times when no checks have been coming in, and there are some more extravagant recipes for more prosperous occasions. Some of the common sense advice that still applies:

“Let the ‘weekend specials,’ not the palate, be the deciding factor in what to eat when.”

“Ground beef was invented for Poor Poets.”

In the Instructions for Western Chili: “This is a no-panic recipe for the ingredients  can be varied every which way. Furthermore it will feed up to twelve if it’s served over macaroni, rice, or corn chips.”

Since no one can be practical all the time, some novelty recipes are included, like Javanese Rijstafel (basically a buffet with mounds of steamed rice and about fifty different sides to serve over the rice), or Leckerlein, a type of cookie/cake that takes up to two years to make since the cookies are soaked in rum and aged. Most people don’t have that kind of patience—I know I don’t—but the recipe is interesting and there are plenty of others for sweets that don’t take nearly as long.

In 1979 there was a new edition: The New Cookbook for Poor Poets and Others. It may now be time for an even newer addition, since life keeps getting more expensive. But keep that dream of the nickel(?) dinner going with Rogers’ fundamentals. Don’t forget the fresh bread, the butter, and the wine!

Poor Poets on Cookbook of the Day:

http://cookbookoftheday.blogspot.com/2009/06/new-cookbook-for-poor-poets.html

Poor Poets at Willow Manor:

http://willowmanor.blogspot.com/2010/06/poor-poets-and-others.html
Mary Anne, BPL Southern History

The I Hate to Cook Book by Peg Bracken

(powells.com) "There are two kinds of people in this world: the ones who don't cook out of and have NEVER cooked out of The I Hate to Cook Book, and the other kind... The I HATE TO COOK people consist mainly of those who find other things more interesting and less fattening, and so they do it as seldom as possible. Today there is an Annual Culinary Olympics, with hundreds of cooks from many countries ardently competing. But we who hate to cook have had our own Olympics for years, seeing who can get out of the kitchen the fastest and stay out the longest." —Peg Bracken

Philosopher's Chowder. Skinny Meatloaf. Fat Man's Shrimp. Immediate Fudge Cake. These are just a few of the beloved recipes from Peg Bracken's classic I Hate to Cook Book. Written in a time when women were expected to have full, delicious meals on the table for their families every night, Peg Bracken offered women who didn't revel in this obligation an alternative: quick, simple meals that took minimal effort but would still satisfy. 50 years later, times have certainly changed — but the appeal of The I Hate to Cook Book hasn't. This book is for everyone, men and women alike, who wants to get from cooking hour to cocktail hour in as little time as possible.
Kelly, BPL Springville Road

How to Quilt: Techniques and Projects for the Complete Beginner by Rachel Clare Reynolds

(powells.com) This is the ultimate go-to quilting guide for the complete beginner - no prior knowledge of quilting, or even sewing, is assumed. Ten fully illustrated techniques are included, covering everything a novice needs to know, including skills such as rag quilting, hand-tied wadding, English paper piece and square work. The techniques are accompanied by nine simple projects, enabling the reader to put their newly acquired knowledge into practice. Projects include a pin cushion, lavender-filled keepsake, bed/cover, bed runner, throw, cushion, tea cozy, scarf and cot quilt. Approachable and friendly in style, this beautifully illustrated book aims to give beginners the confidence to take up quilting, then use it as a basics skills 'bible' to have to hand when they need it.
Kelly, BPL Springville Road

Knitting in Plain English by Maggie Righetti

(powells.com)  Righetti gives readers what they've asked for: advice on making all different garments, working with new patterns and different kinds of yarn, and even an introduction to her own legendary history. Neither aggressively hip nor bafflingly encyclopedic, Knitting in Plain English offers basic principles that will make any project---from a basic blanket to an intricate sweater---rewarding. Having Knitting in Plain English on the shelf is like having your own knitting teacher available to help at all times with any thorny problem.
Kelly, BPL Springville Road

Sheet Pan Suppers: 120 Recipes for Simple, Surprising,Hands-Off Meals Straight from the Oven by Molly Gilbert

(powells.com) It’s the one-pot meal reinvented, and what is sure to become every busy cook’s new favorite way of getting dinner on the table. It’s Sheet Pan Suppers—a breakthrough full-color cookbook with more than 120 recipes for complete meals, snacks, brunch, and even dessert, that require nothing more than a sheet pan, your oven, and Molly Gilbert’s inspired approach.

The virtue of cooking on a sheet pan is two-fold. First there’s the convenience of cooking everything together and having just one pan to clean up. Then there’s the cooking method—roasting, baking, or broiling—three techniques that intensify flavors; in other words, food tastes better when cooked on a sheet pan (move over, slow cooker). But the real genius here is Molly Gilbert’s fresh, sophisticated approach. There are easy dinners for weeknight meals—Chicken Legs with Fennel and Orange; Soy-Mustard Salmon and Broccoli; Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Squash, Apples, and Onions. Special occasion meals—Rack of Lamb with Herby Bread Crumbs and Buttered Carrots; Asparagus and Black Cod in Parchment. Meatless meals—Israeli Couscous-Stuffed Peppers. Plus surprise extras, including in-a-snap party snacks—Baked Brie and Strawberries, Corn and Crab Cakes with Yogurt Aioli; quick brunch dishes like Greens and Eggs and Ham, and Baked Apricot French Toast; and, of course, dessert—Stone Fruit Slab Pie, Halloween Candy S’mores. Maximum ease, minimal cleanup, and mouthwatering recipes. In other words, a revelation that will change the way we cook.
Kelly, BPL Springville Road

White Trash Cooking and Sinkin’ Spells, Hot Flashes, Fits,and Cravin’s by Ernest Matthew Mickler

(powells.com) A quarter-century ago, while many were busy embracing the sophisticated techniques and wholesome ingredients of the nouvelle cuisine, one Southern loyalist lovingly gathered more than 200 recipes—collected from West Virginia to Key West—showcasing the time-honored cooking and hospitality traditions of the white trash way. Ernie Mickler’s much-imitated sugar snap-pea prose style accompanies delicacies like Tutti’s Fancy Fruited Porkettes, Mock-Cooter Stew, and Oven-Baked Possum; stalwart sides like Bette’s Sister-in-Law’s Deep-Fried Eggplant and Cracklin’ Corn Pone; waste-not leftover fare like Four-Can Deep Tuna Pie and Day-Old Fried Catfish; and desserts with a heavy dash of Dixie, like Irma Lee Stratton’s Don’t-Miss Chocolate Dump Cake and Charlotte’s Mother’s Apple Charlotte.
Kelly, BPL Springville Road

(cookbookvillage.com) Sinkin Spells Hot Flashes Fits and Cravins cookbook by Ernest Matthew Mickler, author of White Trash Cooking, captures more of Ernie's recipes and stories. Anna Bell's Fudge Pie, Aunt Fanny's Fishfried Oysters, Wee Jean's Turniped Sausage Casserole, and Beulah Harris's Double Freezed Ice Cream are some of the recipes found inside Ernie's cookbook.
Kelly, BPL Springville Road

How to Mix Colors (Pocket Art Guides) by Gabriel Martin Rig

(powells.com) Art students and amateur painters alike will find advice and instruction in Barron's popular Pocket ArtGuides series. This book explores the fundamentals of choosing and mixing colors as it applies to watercolors, acrylics, and oils.
Samuel, BPL Five Points West

Artists’ Techniques and Materials (Guides to Imagery) by Antonella Fuga

(powells.com) An artist's materials--the bold brushstrokes of a Van Gogh oil painting, the sparkling gold leaf in a Byzantine mosaic, the fragile translucence of a porcelain vase--are not just the accessories of his or her work. They are the physical embodiment of the artist's creative vision and a reflection of the historical context in which they were used.

This latest volume in the popular Guide to Imagery series discusses the materials and processes used in eight media: painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, mosaics, ceramics, glass, and metalwork. Within each of these categories, Antonella Fuga examines the range of materials and techniques that have developed over the centuries. For instance, in the chapter on drawing, she analyzes the use of charcoal, red chalk, and pastels, among other media. Capsule descriptions in the margins list essential information about the subject under discussion, and details of the artworks employed as examples are called out. The book concludes with a brief overview of contemporary techniques. Richly illustrated with artworks from many of the world's important museums, this book provides art enthusiasts with new insights into the creation of many of the world's great masterpieces.

Samuel, BPL Five Points West

Lidia’s Commonsense Italian Cooking: 150 Delicious andSimple Recipes Anyone Can Master by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich

(powells.com) Lucinda Scala Quinn, author of Lucinda’sRustic Italian Kitchen and long-time executive food editor for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, has been a frequent guest on Martha, co-host of PBS’s Everyday Food, and host of her own Martha Stewart–produced TV show on the Hallmark Channel, Mad Hungry. The down-to-earth, home-style Italian recipes in this cookbook are the kind of food she grew up on, making this book a favorite of hers. The book has stunning photographs by acclaimed photographer Quentin Bacon along with mouthwatering recipes, like Gnocchi with Pesto, Bucatini Puttanesca, and Linguine with Clams, which readers are sure to visit again and again when making Italian classics at home.
Samuel, BPL Five Points West

Quick & Easy Japanese Cuisine for Everyone by Yukiko Moriyama

(amazon.com) Here is the perfect introduction to a new sphere of Japanese cuisine. Besides the popular party foods such as Sukiyaki and Shabushabu, included are other Japanese modern and daily menus. Full of delicious recipes for health-conscious persons, this book is ideal for nutritious and budget saving recipes. Every recipe comes with practical step-by step photographs.
Samuel, BPL Five Points West

Middle Eastern Home Cooking by Tess Mallos

(powells.com) Tabouleh, Chicken and Orange with Sweet Rice, Lamb and Okra, Stuffed Tomatoes, Figs in Syrup, and a range of flavorsome coffees are just a few of the tempting and delicious recipes you will find in Middle Eastern Home Cooking. Discover how simple it is to create these and other tantalizing Middle Eastern dishes in your own kitchen. With beautifully illustrated, easy-to-follow recipes, Middle Eastern Home Cooking features a mouth-watering selection of dishes that anyone can make.
Samuel, BPL Five Points West

Sweet Paul: Eat & Make: Charming Recipes + Kitchen Crafts You Will Love by Paul Lowe

(powells.com) It began as a little blog highlighting the recipes and crafts of the Norwegian-born food and prop stylist Paul Lowe. Six years later, Sweet Paul is an online magazine followed by millions and a print quarterly sold nationwide in specialty stores. Praised by the New York Times as “a trove of seasonal delights,” it is turning heads with its easy, elegant food and style-setting aesthetic.

Divided into Morning, Brunch, Noon, and Night, with color palettes to match, Sweet Paul Eat and Make includes breakfast dishes like Morning Biscuits with Cheddar, Dill, and Pumpkin Seeds and brunches like Smoked Salmon Hash with Scallions, Dill, and Eggs. For lunch, there’s a super-quick Risotto with Asparagus, and for dinner, Maple-Roasted Chicken and a stunning Norwegian specialty, Worlds Best Cake. Rustically chic craft projects; paper flowers made out of coffee filters, a vegetable-dyed tablecloth, and a trivet from wooden clothespins; will captivate even those who are all thumbs.
Jiemin, BPL Central

The Complete America’s Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook:2001-2015

(amazon.com) This newly revised edition of The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook includes all 15 seasons (including 2015) of the hit TV show in a lively collection featuring more than 950 foolproof recipes and dozens of tips and techniques.
Mondretta, Leeds

How Can it Be Gluten Free Cookbook: Revolutionary Techniques, Groundbreaking Recipes

(powells.com) Gluten-free cooking takes a quantum leap forward with this collection of groundbreaking recipes and revolutionary techniques. We tried thousands of recipes (most were pretty awful) before we figured out the secrets to making favorite foods without gluten. In this landmark book we'll tell you what works (and why) and share the simple and economical recipe for the America's Test Kitchen's Gluten-Free Flour Blend as well as comfort foods like Lasagna with Hearty Tomato-Meat Sauce, Baked Macaroni and Cheese, and tender and moist Meat Loaf.

Learn how we reinvented the rules of baking to produce tall, light-textured Classic Sandwich Bread, Chewy Sugar Cookies with crackly tops, the ultimate Chocolate Layer Cake, flaky and tender Pie Dough for Deep Dish Apple Pie, decadent Fudgy Brownies, and more. We include an extensive basics chapter that's a road map for understanding the science of gluten, and offer taste test results of gluten-free products. Our test kitchen doesn't settle for second best, why should you? This is the gluten-free cookbook you've been waiting for.
Mondretta, Leeds

Heart of a Small Town: Photographs of Alabama Towns by Robin McDonald

(powells.com) With 126 color photographs and 30 quotes from noted Alabama storytellers, Robin McDonald creates the "mood" of small towns everywhere as they quietly retire from service.

Heart of a Small Town is Robin McDonald’s paean to a time when small rural communities all over this country bustled with life. Concentrating on Alabama, he draws his subjects from those areas of the state that have been bypassed by major highways and left somewhat deserted. Places like Verbena, Mentone, Burnt Corn, Newbern, Epes, and Enterprise; places in the Black Belt, in Wiregrass Country, in the Piedmont. There he records common objects—screen doors, broken sidewalks, storefront displays, neon signs, rusting pickup trucks, kudzu-covered walls, and church windows—with an uncommon sensitivity.

Matched with quotations from writing that grew out of these places, the images take on an unusually vibrant life. Robin McDonald's photographs are animated and enriched by the lyrical quotations borrowed from southern writers, some less well known, like Augusta Evans Wilson and Viola Goode Liddell, and some well known, like Truman Capote, Zelda Fitzgerald, James Agee, Vicki Covington, and Rick Bragg. They echo with the hopes and joys and the struggles and grief of folks who have called these places home.
Mondretta, Leeds

Visions of the Black Belt: A Cultural Survey of the Heart of Alabama by Robin McDonald and Valerie Burnes

(powells.com) In Visions of the Black Belt, Robin McDonald and Valerie Pope Burnes offer a richly illustrated tour of the Black Belt, the fertile arc that represents the cultural efflorescence of Alabama’s heartland. Like knowledgeable friends, McDonald and Burnes guide readers through the Black Belt’s towns and architecture and introduce the region’s great panoply of citizens, farmers, craftspeople, cooks, writers, and musicians.

A constellation of Black Belt towns arose during Alabama’s territorial decades, communities like Selma, Camden, Eutaw, Tuskegee, Greenville, and many more. Visions of the Black Beltrecounts their stories and others, such as Demopolis’s founding by exiles from Napoleon’s France. As an escarpment of clouds scuds across an indigo sky, the ruins of Alabama’s lost capital of Cahaba reveal the secrets of its lost squares. Also on this picturesque tour are the Black Belt’s homes, from artless cabins wreathed in fern to ozymandian manses wrapped by stately columns, such as Kirkwood and Reverie.

Among the emblematic houses of worship lovingly photographed in Visions of the Black Belt is Prairieville’s St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, noted for its “carpenter gothic” style. Also reflecting the region’s history of faith are poignant graveyards such as Greenville’s Pioneer Cemetery with its homespun memorials of seashell-and-concrete and the elegant marbles clad in ebon lichen of Selma's Live Oak Cemetery.

In photos and text, McDonald and Burnes bring to life the layers of history that shaped the Black Belt’s tastes, sounds, and colors. Their gastronomic discoveries include the picant crawfish of the Faunsdale Bar & Grill and Gaines Ridge Dining Club’s famed Black Bottom pie. They bring the sounds of the Black Belt to life by presenting a wide range of musicians and musical events, from bona fide blues and soul masters to Eutaw’s Black Belt Roots Festival.

Including two maps and more than 370 full-color photographs,Visions of the Black Belt offers a timeless message of faith, determination, and the rich simplicity of living in harmony with the rhythms of the land and nature. Published in Cooperation with the Black Belt Treasures Cultural Arts Center, Camden, Alabama
Mondretta, Leeds

World of Geekcraft: Step-by-step Instructions for 25 SuperCool Craft Projects by Susan Beal

(powells.com) Geek meets craft in this fun collection of 25 kooky projects for geeks of any affiliation, from D&D dice earrings, Star Trek pillows, and Super Mario cross-stitch to Star Wars terrariums, a Morse code quilt, and much more.

Organized by difficulty from Not a Jedi Yet to Warp Speed, World of Geekcraft covers a range of popular crafting techniques including beading, quilting, applique, embroidery, and needle felting. Best of all, it's easy to get started with step-by-step instructions and handy templates included in the back of the book. With lots of photos and plenty of geekery throughout, this one-of-a-kind book shows that geek and craft go together like...pixels and cross-stitch.
Michelle, Irondale

Summer Cocktails: Margaritas, Mint Juleps, Punches, PartySnacks, and More by Maria Del Mar Sacasa and Tara Striano

(amazon.com) Whether you’re lounging by the pool, cooking over a grill, or relaxing in the hammock, you need a great drink. And with Summer Cocktails, MarТa del Mar Sacasa and Tara Striano will help you discover your favorite fair-weather friends, from Peachy Keen Punch to Ginger-Lemongrass Piña Colada.Summer Cocktails features more than 100 seasonal recipes for punches and pitchers, frosty drinks, classics and throwbacks, and more. Craft your beverages from the bottom up with underpinnings straight from your summer garden, including Strawberry-Rosemary Shrub, Rhubarb Syrup, or Tomatillo and Coriander Tequila. Plus, round out the perfect party with savory snacks to match your cool drinks. Cheers!
Michelle, Irondale

Calling All Cooks by the Telephone Pioneers of America Alabama Chapter

(amazon.com) First published in 1982, this cookbook continues to be in demand. It contains recipes handed down from generation to generation through family and friends. Whether a novice or an expert, no cook's kitchen should be without it.
Michelle, Irondale

A Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara Walker

Another knitting classic. Comprehensive source for knitting patterns and motifs, from the very basic knit-purl combinations, to cables, to detailed lacework. These can be incorporated into various projects. This volume does not contain garment- or item-specific instructions, so it is a timeless resource.
Maura, Trussville

Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitter’s Almanac: Projects for Each Month of the Year by Elizabeth Zimmermann

This is a classic knitting book written by a legend in the knitting world. Her conversational writing style is charming, witty, and encouraging. The book contains projects that are basic and adaptable. She shares her experiences and difficulties with the reader and offers advice and encouragement to knitters of all experience levels. Includes interesting commentary on the historical and cultural aspects of knitting.
Maura, Trussville

Mason Dixon Knitting: Outside the Lines: Patterns, Stories,Pictures, True Confessions, Tricky Bits, Whole New Worlds, and Familiar Ones Too by Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne

Creators of the popular Mason-Dixon knitting blog, Gardiner and Shayne are knitting friends from New York and Nashville, who want everyone to know how much fun knitting can be! The book includes a variety of projects, plus personal stories, advice, and irreverent humor. Also check out their earlier book, Mason-Dixon knitting: the curious knitters' guide stories, patterns, advice, opinions, questions, answers, jokes, and pictures.
Maura, Trussville

Alabama Stitch Book: Projects and Stories CelebratingHand-Sewing, Quilting, and Embroidery for Contemporary Sustainable Style by Natalie Chanin

Sewing projects and stories from Florence-based fashion designer Natalie Chanin, with information on hand-sewing, garment construction, decorative motifs, embroidery, and clearly illustrated instructions for basic stitches. This book encourages appreciation for the history of the garment industry in Alabama and the many hands involved. Includes patterns and instruction for 20 projects.
Maura, Trussville

Bob Moody’s Birmingham: A City in Watercolor by Bob Moody

(amazon.com) Selected watercolors (dating from the 1960s-2014) capture the beauty of Birmingham landmark places, including its industrial sites, city center, its commercial districts and neighborhoods.
(Jon, BPL Avondale)

Chloe’s Vegan Italian Kitchen: 150 Pizzas, Pastas, Pestos, Risottos, and Lots of Creamy Italian Classics by Chloe Coscarelli

(powells.com) "Cheese and creamy sauces are a staple in classical Italian cooking, making it a huge challenge for vegans. Coscarelli (Chloe's Kitchen and Chloe's Vegan Desserts) does the near impossible by offering delicious vegan versions of Italian classics with inventive twists that will please and satisfy. She also provides menu ideas and suggestions for gluten-free, soy-free, and nut-free substitutions. Many recipes include notes or make-ahead tips that will help busy or new cooks. Butternut bruschetta with caramelized onions, and herbed risotto cakes with arrabbiata dipping sauce are simply scrumptious. Artichoke hash browns, braised kale with pine nuts and cranberries, and pomegranate roasted brussels sprouts offer smart and appealing variations of everyday veggies. Pasta, always a main Italian staple, is equally appetizing in Coscarelli's hands including artichoke pesto pasta salad and white lasagna with butternut squash and spinach. She also includes appetizing soups and salads. Heirloom tomato toast, simple yet so appealing, and meatball sliders made with brown rice and mushrooms will appeal to any palate, while Chloe's Rawsagna, a raw lasagna with pine nut ricotta and sun-dried tomato sauce is just stunning. Desserts such as Florentine bar cookies, Nutella cinnamon rolls, and banana coffee cupcakes are also sure to gratify. Filled with old favorites and new dishes sure to become mealtime staples, this collection will delight vegans, vegetarians, and all those looking to eat healthier meals. (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Jon, BPL Avondale

Healthy Slow Cooker Revolution: One Test Kitchen, 40 Slow Cookers, 200 Fresh Recipes

(amazon.com) America's Test Kitchen had a simple goal: Create quick and easy foolproof slow cooker recipes that taste as good as meals prepared on the stovetop or in the oven. They had one more stipulation: They wanted their selections to be healthy, not the fat-heavy main courses featured in many slow cooker cookbooks. It took nearly a year of testing, 1,500 recipes, and $20,000 spent on groceries to find the finalists: 200 new, easy-to-make slow cooker recipes. True to its trusted source, the winning recipes collected here include delicious weekday and holiday meals; snacks, sides, and desserts.
Jon, BPL Avondale

Birmingham’s Best Bites by Martie Duncan, Chanda Temple, and Arden Ward Upton

(amazon.com) You'll find some of your all-time favorite restaurant recipes in Birmingham's Best Bites. Both old and new are featured and an easy to use format. Inspired photograph's make this a pleasing book for any kitchen.
Jon, BPL Avondale

The Baking Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum

(powells.com) This comprehensive guide will help home bakers to create delicious, decadent, and spectacularly beautiful cakes of all kinds with confidence and ease. With her precise, foolproof recipes, Rose shows you how to create everything from Heavenly Coconut Seduction Cake, Golden Lemon Almond Cake, and Devil's Food Cake with Midnight Ganache to Orange-Glow Chiffon Layer Cake, Mud Turtle Cupcakes, and Deep Chocolate Passion Wedding Cake.
Jon, BPL Avondale

Practical Paleo: A Customized Approach to Health and a Whole Foods Lifestyle by Diane Sanfilippo

(powells.com) Achieving optimal health without calorie-counting, diet foods, or feelings of deprivation has never been easier. Practical Paleo explains why avoiding both processed foods and foods marketed as "healthy" — like grains, legumes, and pasteurized dairy — will improve how you look and feel and lead to lasting weight loss. Even better — you may reduce or completely eliminate symptoms associated with common health disorders! Practical Paleo is jam-packed with over 120 easy recipes, all with special notes about common food allergens including nightshades and FODMAPs.
Jon, BPL Avondale

Check out these great and/or funny online resources!


The Gallery of Regrettable Food




What to Eat in Birmingham

Regretsy - Alas, this blog is no longer with us (that article is obviously out of date, since the forum and archive are also no longer present) but a memorial Tumblr, Missing Regretsy, is doing its best to channel that departed spirit.  I can neither confirm nor deny that searching #regretsy on Twitter and Instagram is a productive use of time.

Sweet Paul

Mason Dixon Knitting



What are YOU reading, cooking, making, and creating?

Science Fiction & Fantasy

The next RART meeting will be on Wednesday, August 12, 2015 at the Irondale Library and the topic up for discussion will be “Cooking, Crafts, and Art.”  Go wild!  As I mentioned, as long as your cookbook is not a jellied salad/vintage gross out, you are cordially invited to prepare something from it to bring to the meeting!  J

A big thanks goes out to the fine folks at the Trussville Library for hosting RART’s Science Fiction & Fantasy discussion and providing the yummy snacks!

In attendance 6/10/15:

Holley, Emmet O’Neal Library
Samuel, Five Points West
Kelly, Springville Road
Mondretta, Leeds
Krysten, Hoover
Maura, Trussville
Laura, Trussville
Jon, Avondale
April, Pinson
Michelle, Irondale

The Martian by Andy Weir

This is adventure at its VERY best. Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a traumatic accident during a Mars landing.  His team leaves the surface without him and what ensues is one man’s struggle to survive against enormous odds.  Watney is snarky, persistent, absolutely brilliant, and profoundly foul-mouthed.  You’re going to love him. 
(Holley, Emmet O’Neal)

The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord

The Sadiri home planet is destroyed and the few members of the very stoic, Spock-like race have been taken in on the planet Cygnus Beta by the varied species of humans to which they are distantly related.  They are now on a search for members of the various races most closely aligned with the Sadiri to make good genetic matches for repopulating the Sadiri race.  Sadiri Commandant Dllenahkh is teamed up with Terran/Ntshune government worker Grace Delarua.  Over the course of their association, they become strongly fond of one another and a dance of flirtation ensues that I have not encountered since Anna met Mr. Bates on Downton Abbey.  The anthropology is a bit tedious, but I just couldn’t put down this sweet love story amongst the stars. 
(Holley, Emmet O’Neal)

Children of Dune by Frank Herbert

(powells.com) Children of Dune brings the best-selling science-fiction series of all time to a breathtaking climax. This third installment finds the desert planet Arrakis in a state of unprecedented stability and prosperity. With the Herculean efforts of the Imperium, it has begun to grow green and lush. The life-giving spice is abundant, and the nine-year-old royal twins are coming into their own. Possessed of their father's supernormal powers, they are being groomed as Messiahs. But there are those who think the Imperium does not need omnipotent rulers. And they'll stop at nothing to make their point.
(Samuel, Five Points West)

Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

(powells.com) Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom's protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.
(Samuel, Five Points West)

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

(powells.com) Young Tristran Thorn will do anything to win the cold heart of beautiful Victoria — even fetch her the star they watch fall from the night sky. But to do so, he must enter the unexplored lands on the other side of the ancient wall that gives their tiny village its name. Beyond that old stone wall, Tristran learns, lies Faerie — where nothing, not even a fallen star, is what he imagined.
(Samuel, Five Points West)

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

(powells.com) Isabella Swan's move to Forks, a small, perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen, Isabella's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Up until now, Edward has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret in the small community he lives in, but now nobody is safe, especially Isabella, the person Edward holds most dear. The lovers find themselves balanced precariously on the point of a knife — between desire and danger.
(Samuel, Five Points West)

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

(powells.com) A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of very curious photographs.  It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow — impossible though it seems — they may still be alive. A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.
(Samuel, Five Points West)

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

(powells.com) First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a "haunting"; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers — and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.
(Samuel, Five Points West)

Midnight Guardian by Sarah Jane Stratford

(powells.com) It’s 1938, and Hitler's tentacles have commenced their stranglehold on Europe. The Nazi empire will soon be purged of all "tainted" bloodlines…including vampires. London’s ancient tribunal of vampires is aghast at the destruction taking place on the Continent and resolves to send its five most formidable vampires; immensely powerful "millennials" who have lived more than a thousand years; to infiltrate and destroy the Nazis. Brilliant and beautiful millennial Brigit is loath to go, for it means leaving behind her vampire lover Eamon, whom she made eight centuries ago. But go she must; her powers are needed if the mission is to have any chance of success. As the millennials attempt to penetrate and sabotage Hitler’s armies, they discover that the Nazis are more capable and more monstrous than they'd ever imagined. Forced to take bolder, more dangerous steps, they soon attract the attention of specially trained vampire hunters loyal to Hitler and his vision of a vampire-free world. Exposed, deep inside enemy territory, with vicious Nazi officers and hunters at her heels, Brigit must attempt a daring escape from the Continent, guarding precious cargo that marks the only hope of salvaging their mission.
(Samuel, Five Points West)

The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by Anne Rice as A.N. Roquelaure

(powells.com) From bestselling author Anne Rice, writing as A.N. Roquleaure. In the traditional folktale of 'Sleeping Beauty, ' the spell cast upon the lovely young princess and everyone in her castle can only be broken by the kiss of a Prince. It is an ancient story, one that originally emerged from and still deeply disturbs the mind's unconscious. Now Anne Rice's retelling of the Beauty story probes the unspoken implications of this lush, suggestive tale by exploring its undeniable connection to sexual desire. Here the Prince reawakens Beauty, not with a kiss, but with sexual initiation. His reward for ending the hundred years of enchantment is Beauty's complete and total enslavement to him...as Anne Rice explores the world of erotic yearning and fantasy in a classic that becomes, with her skillful pen, a compelling experience.
(Samuel, Five Points West)

The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

(powells.com) On her nineteenth birthday, Princess Kelsea Raleigh Glynn, raised in exile, sets out on a perilous journey back to the castle of her birth to ascend her rightful throne. Plain and serious, a girl who loves books and learning, Kelsea bears little resemblance to her mother, the vain and frivolous Queen Elyssa. But though she may be inexperienced and sheltered, Kelsea is not defenseless: Around her neck hangs the Tearling sapphire, a jewel of immense magical power; and accompanying her is the Queens Guard, a cadre of brave knights led by the enigmatic and dedicated Lazarus. Kelsea will need them all to survive a cabal of enemies who will use every weapon, from crimson-caped assassins to the darkest blood magic, to prevent her from wearing the crown.
(Maura, Trussville)

Inside a Silver Box by Walter Mosley

(powells.com) In Inside a Silver Box, two people brought together by a horrific act are united in a common cause by the powers of the Silver Box. The two join to protect humanity from destruction by an alien race, the Laz, hell-bent on regaining control over the Silver Box, the most destructive and powerful tool in the universe. The Silver Box will stop at nothing to prevent its former master from returning to being, even if it means finishing the earth itself.
(Mondretta, Leeds)

The Little Green Book of Chairman Rahma by Brian Herbert

(powells.com) A revolution has taken over the government of the United States and the environment has been saved. All pollution has been banned and reversed. It's a bright, green new world. But this new world comes with a great cost. The United States is ruled by a dictatorship and the corporations are fighting back. Joining them are an increasing number of rebels angered by the dictatorship of Chairman Rahma. The Chairman's power is absolute and appears strong, but in The Little Green Book of Chairman Rahma, cracks are beginning to show as new weapons are developed by the old corporate powers, foreign alliances begin to make inroads into America's influence . . . and strange reports of mutants filter through the government's censorship.
(Mondretta, Leeds)

Marsbound by Joe Haldeman

(powells.com) Wounded in combat and honorably discharged nine years ago, Jack Daley still suffers nightmares from when he served his country as a sniper, racking up sixteen confirmed kills. Now a struggling author, Jack accepts an offer to write a near-future novel about a serial killer, based on a Hollywood script outline. It’s an opportunity to build his writing career, and a future with his girlfriend, Kit Majors. But Jacks other talent is also in demand. A package arrives on his doorstep containing a sniper rifle, complete with silencer and ammunition—and the first installment of a $100,000 payment to kill a “bad man.” The twisted offer is genuine. The people behind it are dangerous. They prove that they have Jack under surveillance. He can’t run. He can’t hide. And if he doesn’t take the job, Kit will be in the crosshairs instead.
(Mondretta, Leeds)

Last Light by Terri Blackstock

(amazon.com) Birmingham, Alabama, has lost all power. Its streets are jammed with cars that won t start, its airport engulfed in flames from burning planes. All communications cell phones, computers, even radios are silent. Every home and business is dark. Is it a natural disaster . . . a terrorist attack . . . or something far worse? In the face of a crisis that sweeps an entire high-tech planet back to a time before electricity, the Branning family faces a choice. Will they hoard their possessions in order to survive or trust God to provide as they share their resources with those around them? Yesterday s world is gone. Family and community are all that remain. And the outage is revealing the worst in some. Desperation can be dangerous when a killer lives among them. Bestselling suspense author Terri Blackstock weaves a masterful what-if novel in which global catastrophe reveals the darkness in human hearts and lights the way to restoration for a self-centered world.
(Mondretta, Leeds)

The Blondes by Emily Schultz

(powells.com) A hilarious and whipsmart novel where an epidemic of a rabies-like disease is carried only by blonde women, who all must go to great lengths to conceal their blondness. Hazel Hayes is a grad student living in New York City. As the novel opens, she learns she is pregnant (from an affair with her married professor) at an apocalyptically bad time: random but deadly attacks on passers-by, all by blonde women, are terrorizing New Yorkers. Soon it becomes clear that the attacks are symptoms of a strange illness that is transforming blondes — whether CEOs, flight attendants, students or accountants — into rabid killers.
(Mondretta, Leeds)

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson

(powells.com) What would happen if the world were ending? A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space. But the complexities and unpredictability of human nature coupled with unforeseen challenges and dangers threaten the intrepid pioneers, until only a handful of survivors remain . . .Five thousand years later, their progeny — seven distinct races now three billion strong — embark on yet another audacious journey into the unknown... to an alien world utterly transformed by cataclysm and time: Earth.
(Mondretta, Leeds)

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

(powells.com) Kirsten Raymonde will never forget the night Arthur Leander, the famous Hollywood actor, had a heart attack on stage during a production of King Lear. That was the night when a devastating flu pandemic arrived in the city, and within weeks, civilization as we know it came to an end. Twenty years later, Kirsten moves between the settlements of the altered world with a small troupe of actors and musicians. They call themselves The Traveling Symphony, and they have dedicated themselves to keeping the remnants of art and humanity alive. But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who will threaten the tiny band's existence. And as the story takes off, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, the strange twist of fate that connects them all will be revealed.
(Mondretta, Leeds & Michelle, Irondale)

The Pure trilogy by Juliana Baggott

Pure
Fuse
Burn

(powells.com) Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost — how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers... to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run. There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked: Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. Different. He thinks about loss — maybe just because his family is broken; his father is emotionally distant; his brother killed himself; and his mother never made it inside their shelter. Or maybe it's his claustrophobia: his feeling that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her. When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.
(Michelle, Irondale)

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

(powells.com) LAIA is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empires greatest military academy in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars who claim that they will help to save her brother from execution. ELIAS is the academy's finest soldier — and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias is considering deserting the military, but before he can, he's ordered to participate in a ruthless contest to choose the next Martial emperor. When Laia and Elias's paths cross at the academy, they find that their destinies are more intertwined than either could have imagined and that their choices will change the future of the empire itself.
(Laura, Trussville)

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

(powells.com) Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high. Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered — in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen's Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.

(Laura, Trussville)

Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman

(powells.com) War between dragons comes to Goredd in the much-anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel Seraphina by Rachel Hartman. As Seraphina travels the Southlands in search of the other half-breeds to help in the war effort, the dragon General Comonot and his Loyalists fight against the upstart Old Guard, with the fate of Goredd and the other human countries hanging in the balance.
(Laura, Trussville)

The Mirror of Her Dreams by Stephen Donaldson

(powells.com) The daughter of rich but neglectful parents, Terisa Morgan lives alone in a New York City apartment, a young woman who has grown to doubt her own existence. Surrounded by the flat reassurance of mirrors, she leads an unfulfilled life—until the night a strange man named Geraden comes crashing through one of her mirrors, on a quest to find a champion to save his kingdom of Mordant from a pervasive evil that threatens the land. Terisa is no champion. She wields neither magic nor power. And yet, much to her own surprise, when Geraden begs her to come back with him, she agrees. Now, in a culture where women are little more than the playthings of powerful men, in a castle honeycombed with secret passages and clever traps, in a kingdom threatened from without and within by enemies able to appear and vanish out of thin air, Terisa must become more than the pale reflection of a person. For the way back to Earth is closed to her. And the enemies of Mordant will stop at nothing to see her dead.
(Krysten, Hoover)

A Man Rides Through by Stephen Donaldson

(powells.com) Aided by the powerful magic of Vagel, the evil Arch-Imager, the merciless armies are marching against the kingdom of Mordant. In its hour of greatest need, two unlikely champions emerge. One is Geraden, whose inability to master the simplest skills of Imagery has made him a laughingstock. The other is Terisa Morgan, transferred to Mordant from a Manhattan apartment by Geradens faulty magic. Together, Geraden and Terisa discover undreamed-of talents within themselves, talents that make them more than a match for any Imager . . . including Vagel himself. Unfortunately, those talents also mark them for death. Branded as traitors, they are forced to flee the castle for their lives. Now, all but defenseless in a war-torn countryside ravaged by the vilest horrors Imagery can spawn, Geraden and Terisa must put aside past failures and find the courage to embrace their powers, and their love, before Vagel can spring his final trap.
(Krysten, Hoover)

Harrison Squared by Daryl Gregory

"Gregory (Afterparty) delivers a thoroughly entertaining novel built on H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos. The titular Harrison Harrison lost the lower part of one leg in the same boating accident that killed his father. Now 16, he's moving with his research scientist mother to the Massachusetts town of Dunnsmouth. The other children in school are eerily quiet, the town has no cell phone coverage, and a fish-boy steals his comics. Things go from strange to tragic when his mother is lost in another boating accident two days after moving. Refusing to believe his mother is dead, Harrison investigates with the help of a girl named Lydia and the aforementioned fish-boy, Lub. They encounter enemies including a knife-wielding maniac known as the Scrimshander and a monstrous fish-woman intent on destroying the world. Gregory delivers an enthralling and exciting tale that should intrigue both readers unfamiliar with Lovecraft and longtime fans of the stories. The occasional in-jokes (buoys named after Lovecraft, Poe, King, and Straub, and of course Dunnsmouth itself) are subtle enough to not distract from the rich tale, and the YA vibe ensures a broad audience. Agent: Martha Millard, Martha Millard Literary Agency. (Mar.)" Publishers WeeklyCopyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(Jon, Avondale)

The Water Knife by Paulo Bacigalupi

(powells.com) In this near-future thriller portraying a severely drought-ridden Southwest, the fate of the region depends on three people — Angel, a Las Vegas water knife whose job it is to ensure his city stays flush; Lucy, a journalist; and Maria, a young refugee. Frighteningly bleak but a pleasure to read, The Water Knife is a riveting, all-too-timely tale.
Recommended by Tate, Powells.com
(Jon, Avondale)

Wayward Pines series by Blake Crouch

Pines

Wayward

The Last Town

(powells.com) Secret service agent Ethan Burke arrives in Wayward Pines, Idaho, with a clear mission: locate and recover two federal agents who went missing in the bucolic town one month earlier. But within minutes of his arrival, Ethan is involved in a violent accident. He comes to in a hospital, with no ID, no cell phone, and no briefcase. The medical staff seems friendly enough, but something feels?off. As the days pass, Ethan's investigation into the disappearance of his colleagues turns up more questions than answers. Why can?t he get any phone calls through to his wife and son in the outside world? Why doesn?t anyone believe he is who he says he is? And what is the purpose of the electrified fences surrounding the town? Are they meant to keep the residents in? Or something else out? Each step closer to the truth takes Ethan further from the world he thought he knew, from the man he thought he was, until he must face a horrifying fact ? he may never get out of Wayward Pines alive. Intense and gripping, Pines is another masterful thriller from the mind of bestselling novelist Blake Crouch.
(Jon, Avondale)

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell

"Is The Bone Clocks the most ambitious novel ever written, or just the most Mitchell-esque? We begin in the punk years with a teenage Talking Heads — obsessed runaway from Gravesend, England, named Holly Sykes. She becomes a pawn in a spiritual war between the mysterious 'Radio People' and the benevolent Horologists, led by the body-shifting immortal Marinus. Many more characters and places soon find themselves worked into Marinus's 'Script' across the book's six sections: there's Hugo Lamb, a cunning, amoral Cambridge student spending Christmas 1991 in Switzerland, where he encounters an older Holly tending bar; then it's the height of the Bush/Blair years, and our narrator is Holly's husband, Edmund Brubeck, a war reporter dispatched to Baghdad. Another flash-forward lands us in the present day, where the middling novelist Crispin Hershey weathers a succession of literary feuds, becomes confidante of a New Agey Holly and her daughter, then has his own unsettling encounter with the Radio People. In the penultimate section, Marinus reveals the nature of the Script — the secret conflict lurking just beneath mortal affairs — and how Holly may be the key to a resolution whose repercussions won't be known until 2043, when the aged Holly rides out a curiously sedate end-time in rural Ireland. From gritty realism to far-out fantasy, each section has its own charm and surprises. With its wayward thoughts, chance meetings, and attention to detail, Mitchell's (The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet) novel is a thing of beauty. (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(Jon, Avondale)

Strands of Sorrow by John Ringo

(powells.com) BOOK 4 AND CONCLUSION OF THE BLACK TIDE RISING SERIES FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR. Sequel to Islands of Rage and Hope, To Sail a Darkling Sea, and Under a Graveyard Sky. A hardened group of survivors fights back against a zombie plague that has brought down civilization. With the world consumed by a devastating plague that drives humans violently insane, what was once a band of desperate survivors bobbing on a dark Atlantic ocean has now become Wolf Squadron, the only hope for the salvation of the human race. Banding together with what remains of the U.S. Navy, Wolf Squadron, and its leader Steve Smith, not only plans to survive—he plans to retake the mainland from the infected, starting with North America. Smith's teenage daughters have become zombie hunters of unparalleled skill, both at land and on the sea, and they may hold the key to the rebirth of civilization on a devastated planet.
(Jon, Avondale)

City of Savages by Lee Kelly

(amazon.com) After the Red Allies turn New York City into a POW camp, two sisters must decipher the past in order to protect the future in this action-packed thriller with a dual narrative.
It’s been nearly two decades since the Red Allies first attacked New York, and Manhattan is now a prisoner-of-war camp, ruled by Rolladin and her brutal, impulsive warlords. For Skyler Miller, Manhattan is a cage that keeps her from the world beyond the city’s borders. But for Sky’s younger sister, Phee, the POW camp is a dangerous playground of possibility, and the only home she’d ever want. When Sky and Phee discover their mom’s hidden journal from the war’s outbreak, they both realize there’s more to Manhattan—and their mother—than either of them had ever imagined. And after a group of strangers arrives at the annual POW census, the girls begin to uncover the island’s long-kept secrets. The strangers hail from England, a country supposedly destroyed by the Red Allies, and Rolladin’s lies about Manhattan’s captivity begin to unravel. Hungry for the truth, the sisters set a series of events in motion that end in the death of one of Rolladin’s guards. Now they’re outlaws, forced to join the strange Englishmen on an escape mission through Manhattan. Their flight takes them into subways haunted by cannibals, into the arms of a sadistic cult in the city’s Meatpacking District and, through the pages of their mom’s old journal, into the island’s dark and shocking past.
(Jon, Avondale)

The Remaining by D.J. Molles

(amazon.com) In a steel-and-lead encased bunker a Special Forces soldier waits on his final orders.
On the surface a bacterium has turned 90% of the population into hyper-aggressive predators.
Now Captain Lee Harden must leave the bunker and venture into the wasteland to rekindle a shattered America.
(Jon, Avondale)

The Peripheral by William Gibson

(powells.com) William Gibson returns with his first novel since 2010's New York Times–bestselling Zero History. Where Flynne and her brother, Burton, live, jobs outside the drug business are rare. Fortunately, Burton has his veteran's benefits, for neural damage he suffered from implants during his time in the USMC's elite Haptic Recon force. Then one night Burton has to go out, but there's a job hes supposed to do — a job Flynne didn't know he had. Beta-testing part of a new game, he tells her. The job seems to be simple: work a perimeter around the image of a tower building. Little buglike things turn up. He's supposed to get in their way, edge them back. That's all there is to it. He's offering Flynne a good price to take over for him. What she sees, though, isn't what Burton told her to expect. It might be a game, but it might also be murder.
(Jon, Avondale)

The Patron Saint of Plagues by Barth Anderson

(powells.com) In this biological thriller of the near future, postinsurrection Mexico has undermined the superpower of the United States. But while the rivals battle over borders, a pestilence beyond politics threatens to explode into a worldwide epidemic. . . .Since the rise of the Holy Renaissance, Ascension, once known as Mexico City, has become the most populous city in the world, its citizens linked to a central government net through wetware implanted in their brains. But while their dictator grows fat with success, the masses are captivated by Sister Domenica, an insurgent nun whose weekly pirate broadcasts prophesy a wave of death. All too soon, Domenicas nightmarish prediction proves true, and Ascensions hospitals are overrun with victims of a deadly fever. As the rampant plague kills too quickly to be contained, Mexico smuggles its last hope over the violently contested border. . . .Henry David Stark is a crack virus hunter for the American Center for Disease Control and a veteran of global humanitarian efforts. But this disease is unlike any he’s seen before, and there seems to be no way to cure or control it. Racing against time, Stark battles corruption to uncover a horrifying truth: this is no ordinary outbreak but a deliberately unleashed man-made virus . . . and the killer is someone Stark knows.
(Jon, Avondale)

Coming Home by Jack McDevitt

(powells.com) Thousands of years ago, artifacts of the early space age were lost to rising oceans and widespread turmoil. Garnett Baylee devoted his life to finding them, only to give up hope. Then, in the wake of his death, one was found in his home, raising tantalizing questions. Had he succeeded after all? Why had he kept it a secret? And where is the rest of the Apollo cache?

Antiquities dealer Alex Benedict and his pilot, Chase Kolpath, have gone to Earth to learn the truth. But the trail seems to have gone cold, so they head back home to be present when the Capella, the interstellar transport that vanished eleven years earlier in a time/space warp, is expected to reappear. With a window of only a few hours, rescuing it is of the utmost importance. Twenty-six hundred passengers—including Alexs uncle, Gabriel Benedict, the man who raised him—are on board.

Alex now finds his attention divided between finding the artifacts and anticipating the rescue of the Capella. But time wont allow him to do both. As the deadline for the Capellas reappearance draws near, Alex fears that the puzzle of the artifacts will be lost yet again. But Alex Benedict never forgets and never gives up—and another day will soon come around...
(Jon, Avondale)

Devil’s Eye by Jack McDevitt

(powells.com) Interstellar antiquities dealer Alex Benedict receives a cryptic message asking for help from celebrated writer Vicki Greene, who has been mind-wiped. She has no memory of her past life, or of her plea for assistance. But she has transferred an enormous sum of money to Alex, also without explanation. The answers to this mystery lie on the most remote of human worlds, where Alex will uncover a secret connected to a decades-old political upheaval and a secret that somebody desperately wants hidden, though the price of that silence is unimaginable.
(Jon, Avondale)

Ashfall trilogy by Mike Mullin

Ashfall

Ashen Winter

Sunrise

"In this grim, postapocalyptic tale, the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts, covering much of North America in volcanic ash and plunging the world into nuclear winter. Fifteen-year-old Alex Halprin refused a family trip to visit relatives in Illinois, so he's home alone in Iowa when the eruption occurs. After seeing a neighbor kill three looters, Alex heads east through falling ash, dropping temperatures, and torrential storms, hoping to find his family. Soon he's joined by another survivor, Darla Edmunds, with whom he falls in love. Debut novelist Mullin puts his characters through hell, depicting numerous deaths in detail ('Blam-Blam! His head pretty much burst, showering my legs with blood and bits of hair and skull and brain'). There's also cannibalism and a rape before the novel comes to a believable ending; 'happy' is perhaps too much to ask for, but Alex does find a measure of stability. The book is well written and its protagonists are well-drawn, particularly the nontraditional and mechanically inclined Darla. Although more appropriate for older teens due to its violence, this is a riveting tale of survival. Ages 14 — up." Publishers Weekly Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(Jon, Avondale)

Ashes trilogy by Ilsa Bick

Ashes

Shadows

Monsters

(amazon.com) An electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky, destroying every electronic device, wiping out every computerized system, and killing billions. Alex hiked into the woods to say good-bye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Now desperate to find out what happened after the pulse crushes her to the ground, Alex meets up with Tom—a young soldier—and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP.  For this improvised family and the others who are spared, it’s now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human. Author Ilsa J. Bick crafts a terrifying and thrilling novel about a world that could be ours at any moment, where those left standing must learn what it means not just to survive, but to live amidst the devastation.
(Laura, Trussville)

Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

The earth’s rotation inexplicably begins to slow and how this plays out for 11-year-old Julia is compelling to watch.  Julia doesn’t particularly care about what has caused this problem and only really gets information about current events through the filter of her parents and neighbors as they all fight to decide whether to continue to follow a 24-hour schedule or try to keep up with the increasing length of the actual days.  This is much more a character study than strictly an apocalyptic adventure and I found the difference refreshing. 
(Holley, Emmet O’Neal)