The Lost Art of Mixing and
The School of Essential Ingredients
by Erica Bauermeister

Since I write a food column as one of my many part-time jobs, I can’t resist books about food. In The Lost Art of Mixing, we are introduced us to Lillian, a restaurant owner who holds Monday cooking classes on the one evening her restaurant is closed. While her eight students have come to learn the art behind Lillian's amazing culinary magic, this soulful book makes clear that each is searching for a deeper meaning in their lives. The close friendships that are formed while learning to become insightful cooks by intuition rather than recipes really caught my fancy and held my attention.

In The School of Essential Ingredients, more characters are added to the mix. Bauermeister gives a big stir to the lives of her characters and leaves us eagerly awaiting to the final outcome.

The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
by Deb Perelman

Perelman, overwhelmed by the availability of recipes on the internet, and having no formal cooking training, began her award-winning blog, Smitten Kitchen. On the book’s beautifully crafted pages, you'll find over 100 common sense recipes for preparing exceptional food. I'm a cookbook collecting fiend, and this is one of the best I've seen in a long time.

The Fever Tree
by Jennifer McVeigh

The main character of this historical novel (late 1800s, England and South Africa) keeps irritating me with her poor decisions and uppity attitude. However, I find myself picking up the book to read every chance I get so I think this must be effective writing! It's published by Amy Einhorn, one of my favorite publishers—she also brought us The Help and A Good American.

The Price of Civilization
by Jeffrey Sachs

I read this book for the Current Events book group. While I’ve been disappointed by the failures of some of our elected leaders, this book gives an honest, hard look at American politics, American people, and the gaps between the two. If you're a numbers/charts person, there's plenty for you to feed on in The Price of Civilization. If you're not, there's plenty for you, too!

Private
by James Patterson

Jack Morgan owns and operates a state-of-the-art investigation company. If clients are looking for privacy and thoroughness, Jack is the person they want on the case. Even owners of several NFL teams seek Jack's help. Extremely short chapters (2-3 pages each) make the book a very quick read.

The Memory of Running
by Ron McLarty

Smithson "Smithy" Ide loses both of his parents and sister in the span of a week. He's overweight, friendless, a chain-smoker, and a drunk. Yet after finding his old Raleigh bike, he sets out looking for he knows not what. Smithy encounters new souls, and tries to remain connected to the place he calls home.

Memoir of the Sunday Brunch
by Julia Pandl

Pandl finds humor in the everyday happenings of life, even behind the pancake station during the Sunday brunch at her father’s restaurant. She is from Milwaukee. This is her first book and we hope for more.

Joy for Beginners
by Erica Bauermeister

Kate agrees to go white-water rafting in the Grand Canyon only if her six friends will each agree to accept a challenge of Kate's choosing. The author writes with compelling prose and wry wit. This would be a great choice for a book club.

Island Apart
by Steven Raichlin

Claire befriends the "hermit" while house sitting on Chappaquidick Island and is very much surprised by what she discovers. This book reminds one not to "judge a book by its cover.”

Rise and Shine
by Anna Quindlen

A tale of two sisters, one a rich celebrity and the other a social worker who helps homeless women. The third character is New York City, of special interest to me because my daughter, like Beagle’s Hannah E., moved there. The characters and plot of Rise and Shine are staying with me, and Anna Quindlen surely can write.

My Brother’s Book
by Maurice Sendak

This is not a children’s book. It’s like a poem by William Blake. It’s about the death of Sendak’s beloved brother, or his life partner, or whomever the reader has loved and lost. I don't pretend to understand all of it, but the last page is dazzling. I bought a copy and plan to bring it out whenever I need solace. I imagine I’ll also be giving it to grieving friends.

The Cruelest Month
by Louise Penny

Here’s a timely pick—a book set in April (which T.S. Eliot called “the cruelest month.”) I’m continuing to read my way through this series, which is set in Canada and features Chief Inspector Gamache, with whom I have fallen in love. While there’s a murder investigation, what I enjoy is the character development and the relationships between the characters, many of whom are in each book in this series. I particularly recommend the audio books—the reader has the perfect accent for them.

The Last Gift of Time: Life Beyond Sixty
by Carolyn Heilburn

Although I’ve read most of Heilburn’s books, I missed this one when it came out in 1997. In it Heilbrun—distinguished author and scholar, happily married mother of three, and grandmother—tells why she had always resolved to take her own life at the age of 70 and the reasons that led her to negotiate, day by day, the choice to live instead. She discovered—as I have—the many joys of the decade of one’s sixties. The book is still available in paperback.