If you are one of those people who just can’t get enough of Christmas, come on down to East Side Books and check out our large selection of Adult Holiday Fiction by some of your favorite authors.

Because Santa is checking who is naught and nice, I will admit that I did not even know there WAS such a thing as Adult Holiday Fiction until I stopped by East Side Books yesterday and witnessed owner Diane Doonan surrounded by a sea of books with mostly green and red covers. The only Christmas book I had heard of was Skipping Christmas by John Grisham the well known author of numerous legal thrillers (and author of the excellent novel The Painted House which I recommend highly). Skipping Christmas is described as a fun take on the craziness of Christmas.  I think Christmas is crazy so I added a copy to my pile (leaving a few others for you all), and browsed through the growing stacks surrounding Diane.  What I found was that many well known authors, especially in the genres of Romance and Mystery, have written a Christmas themed book or two or three.

Leading the way is romance writer Debbie Macomber with her many holiday titles including A Gift to Last, Home for the Holidays, On a Snowy Night, and Glad Tidings. Macomber is dyslexic and has only a high school diploma, but was determined to be a writer.  A mother of four, she worked for five years at her kitchen table on a rented typewriter before finally publishing Heartsong. She now has over 150 romance novels to her credit.  Another popular romance novel writer who likes to dip her pen into holiday fun is Janet Dailey.  Christmas favorites by her are Eve’s Christmas, Scrooge Wore Spurs, Let’s Be Jolly, and A Capital Holiday. If you are a fan of popular mystery and romance writer Sandra Brown, she has a Christmas read out called Tidings of Great Joy.  This title is described as a “sexy, holiday read to curl up with”.  (Oh my.)

If mysteries and Christmas are your thing then you are in luck because we have a number of books that fit that bill.  Superstar suspense writer Mary Higgins Clark weaves a Christmas tale in her two novels Silent Night and All Through the Night.  If that doesn’t fill you to the brim with holiday Mary Higgins Clark, then check out Deck the Halls and The Christmas Thief, two titles that she co-authored with her writer daughter Carol Higgins Clark. Popular Victorian mystery novelist Anne Perry has about half a dozen Christmas titles to her credit.  Perry really walks the talk: as a young girl she was convicted, along with her friend Pauline Parker, of murdering Parker’s mother.  Both girls served five years in prison and were banned from ever seeing each other again. Perry’s life was made into the movie Heavenly Creatures staring Kate Winslet. Mystery writer Margaret Maron has a brand new Deborah Knott mystery coming out this month called Christmas Morning, but I am a big fan of her earlier work, Corpus Christmas, featuring Lieutenant Sigrid Harald.  If you haven’t read either of these excellent series by Margaret Maron, now is a great time to start.

Jan Karon, the author of the popular Mitford series, has penned several Christmas books, including Shepherds Abiding (The Mitford Series Book #8), Mitford Snowmen, and Ester’s Gift. Since Santa is watching, I should also mention The Christmas Jars by Jason R. Wright.  There are very few things that make me cry–our yearly family Thanksgiving prayer circle, when my children awe me, and sappy T.V. commercials–but this book, embarrassingly enough, made me bawl like a baby.  The only other book that has done that to me is Tuesday’s With Morrie by Mitch Albom.  I know, I know, I KNOW, but there is something about a simple, heartwarming story that kills me.  I just picked up a copy of another of Wright’s books, The Wednesday Letters. I’ll let you know if I breakdown, or better yet, run on down to East Side Books and purchase your own copy and let me know if you turn into a blubbering mess.

Regardless of your genre preference, stop by East Side Books today for your reading dose of holiday cheer!  And whether you have been naughty or nice this year, we are always happy to help you locate a title.  Have a Merry Merry Christmas from all of us at East Side Books.

If I had to find the positive upswing in the economic downturn, I would have to say that squeezing my pennies has lead me to counting my blessings and getting back to what’s important.  This is especially true this holiday season.  This year at our house we are creating a whole new kind of Christmas holiday. I have found that not having to dive into the gift buying frenzy has simplified our celebration to a level that feels…well…almost sane, and is allowing us to embrace a Christmas spirit that is festive, merry, and filled with good cheer.

To feel my way through this new spirit of Christmas (because, in all honestly, my usual Christmas demeanor resembles that of a grumpy old troll), I stopped by East Side Books to peruse the Christmas books.  Christmas angel and owner Diane Doonan suggested I look at The Frugal Gourmet Celebrates Christmas by Jeff Smith and The Winter Solstice by John Matthews as a holiday overview.  Both books are filled to the brim with holiday stories, prayers, craft making, and recipes. The lovely photos and illustrations alone are well worth the price of the books.  I learned to cook from Jeff Smith cookbooks and know his recipes to be simple and satisfying.  (Check out our other Jeff Smith cookbooks in the Cooking Section of East Side Books.)

This year my youngest daughter has turned crafty, and I am excited to steer her talent toward holiday decorations and ornament making.  I discovered that our Craft Section holds a goldmine of Christmas crafting books.  Kim, my fellow employee, swears by the Martha Stewart’s Christmas manuals and I have to say that her pages are bursting with fresh ideas and tempting recipes.  I was also drawn to the Christmas crafting and recipe compilations of Carol Field Dahlstrom.  Her books are a delightful discovery of simple decorating and gift ideas, as well as pages of mouthwatering recipes with large gorgeous photos and clear instructions.  I also recommend you check out Gooseberry Patch Christmas, Quick & Easy Christmas Crafts, The Los Angeles Times Book of Christmas Enertaining, and The Spirit of Christmas for an amazing array of quick and beautiful gift ideas and holiday recipes. We also carry a number of the Better Homes and Garden’s holiday crafting books that specialize in cross stitch patterns and needlepoint projects.

Because I love to bake, I couldn’t resist moseying on over to the Holiday/Entertaining shelf in our Cooking Section.  There I found a number of must have holiday cookbooks beginning with Christmas 101 by Rick Rodgers.  Besides the clever title, Rodgers’ book is filled with holiday recipes that can take you from appetizer through dessert with ease.  He has lots of helpful hints throughout that will make holiday entertaining and cooking a snap.  When it comes to cookbooks, I am like a child, I want lots of pictures, that is why I was drawn to An Edible Christmas by Irena Chalmers.  In this lovely cookbook every recipe is accompanied by a photo that looks good enough to eat.  I can’t imagine the time that must have gone into creating this book, but I want to tell Ms. Chalmers, wherever she may be,  that I truly appreciate it. The recipe for Raspberry Crisp Cake on page 151 looks simply irresistible.  This cookbook won’t stay on our shelves long.  Lastly, I had to sit and leaf through the Better Homes and Garden Cookies for Christmas cookbook.  There is nothing more I like make (or eat) than cookies.  The Scandinavian Almond Bars on page 63 are something I really must try.

If you are looking to swing into the holiday mood, drive your sleigh over to East Side Books and check out our wide selection of holiday books for yourself.  If you need any help locating a title, please ask one of our friendly elves for assistance.  And above all, have a very merry and happy holiday season.

I don’t think it will surprise anyone if I state that when it comes to gift giving, I give books.  Specifically, used books.  (See the blog on Top Five Reasons to Shop East Side Books for further explanation.)  Occasionally, I throw in a batch of baked goods and a handmade craft or two, but the book is a given.  Although I always try to match the perfect book to the right person, there are some favorite titles that I find myself giving again and again.  Curious, I asked owner Diane Doonan and well-read, fellow employee Kim, if they too had favorite books that they found themselves giving over and over again.  To my delight, they did, titles different from mine and some I haven’t even read yet. (Hint…Hint…)

Diane quickly rattled off a list of favorites children’s books starting with The Children’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson.  Stevenson, also the author of Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, wrote these beautiful and whimsical poems for his own children. In continuous print since 1885 when it was originally published, The Children’s Garden of Verses is considered a classic.  Diane has lost count of how many sets of the Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie books she has given as gifts.  A childhood favorite, she thinks the pioneer period is an important cultural aspect of our history that should be appreciated.  She also loves the picture book Mama, Do You Love Me?, a story set in Alaska with beautiful illustrations and a timeless message of the limitless love a parent has for a child.  For the teenagers on her list, Diane gives them a copy of Douglas Adams’ series The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, described as one of the funniest spoof on science fiction ever written.  Diane says this is a book that teens don’t tend to find on their own, but love the ironic humor once they read it.

Kim’s list consisted of a little bit of everything–thoughtful nonfiction as well as quality literature and even some light escapism.  First on her list was Gifts from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh.  Kim describes this slim volume, a classic first published in 1955, as “a great reminder to slow down and care for one’s soul.  I read it every year on vacation.”  From Lindbergh’s nonfiction introspection, Kim dives right into a fictional journey of self-discovery with the recommendation of The River Why by David James Duncan.  A tale of fishing and much more, this book is frequently a top ten book favorite for male readers.  The title Ahab’s Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund is a book Kim recommended me and that I have shared with many others.  Kim describes it as “a beautiful, lyrical story that is one to be savored.”  If you need a gift of well-written, intelligent historical fiction, Kim recommends the bestselling, award-winning Outlander series by Diane Gabaldon. A combination of history, romance, and time travel, this series is escapism at its best.  On the lighter side, Kim recommends the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich which starts with One for the Money.  She says she has “given this book again and again” and that it is “absolutely the funniest series I have ever read.”

I have a few recommendations of my own.  The first are a trio of books that I call Coming-of-Age stories.  These titles are Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons, Joy School by Elizabeth Berg, and Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli.  Although these are three very different books, what they have in common is a strong young female protagonist who uses the bumps in the road to learn about who she is.  I’d love for any of these girls to be a daughter of mine.  Next, I recommend anything by Willa Cather and Edna Ferber, both Pultizer Prize winning authors, who write of the midwest with a sharp eye and beautiful language.  My Antonia and O Pioneers! are the most well known work of Cather although I loved The Song of a Lark. Not as beautifully written as the other two, the storyline has stayed with me for over 20 years. I just discovered Ferber in the last few years and it is like discovering a gold mine.  So Big is my favorite so far.  For a modern take on the themes of Cather and Ferber, check out the work of Kent Haruf.  Plainsong is one of the most beautiful, heartbreaking novels I have ever read from the first line to the last.  For a unique exploration of landscape, mother-daughter relationships, and breast cancer, I give the perfectly rendered Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams. Williams is one of the most articulate non-fiction writers working today.  Another is Gretel Ehrlich, the author of the amazing collections of essays Solace of Open Spaces and Islands, the Universe, and Home. Her keen eye and lovely imagery makes Ehrlich an author to savor.  Also excellent is her book A Match to the Heart, her experience of being struck by lightening.  Lastly, I have given away a number of copies of The Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman.  I read this book in my twenties and it began a journey of shifting my whole way of seeing things.

If you are looking for that perfect gift for each person on your list, stop by East Side Books and let us help you.  Nothing makes us happier than helping match the right book with the right person.  The above books are the titles we tend to give over and over again, but we each have lengthy lists of books that we would love to recommend and help you find.

Holiday season is here, so let the gift giving begin!  If your list is as long as mine, I suggest you head to East Side Books for a stress-free shopping experience that will solve all your gift buying needs and leave you plenty of time for other holiday pursuits such as untangling the outdoor colored lights from the moving reindeer antlers.

In case you have yet to become a used bookstore convert, let me give you the top five reasons to shop East Side Books:

1. Buying gifts at East Side Books will save you money. That’s right.  Our low prices, an average of $8 for Adult Fiction, $6 for Young Adult Fiction, and as little as $1 for Children’s Books, are a bargain when compared to what you would pay for cheaply made knick knacks or plastic toys.  Our NonFiction prices vary depending on the book, and are remarkably inexpensive.  And I’ll let you in on a little secret, if you spend a few minutes perusing our shelves you are sure to find some gems for just a dollar or two hidden here and there. Even our Rare and Vintage Books are a steal.  You could spend $20.00 on a first edition cherished childhood favorite or on an acrylic scarf/hat set from Kmart.  You decide which would be more meaningful.

2. Buying used books is recycling. Used books are an easy way to participate in recycling.  Besides, there is something interesting about reading a used book and coming across a line that has been underlined or a grocery list that has been tucked between the pages.  Don’t even get me started on how cool handwritten flyleaf inscriptions are.  A used book has a history that makes it just a little bit more special.  The younger generation is leading the way in recycling awareness and participation.  Give your favorite kid a gently used book in an effort to do your part to recycle and watch your coolness meter climb.

3. Shopping at East Side Books is supporting a local business and local people. Shopping locally is more than a campaign of bumper stickers and logos. Let’s face it, when the economy starts to slip, small towns start to die.  Shopping locally, which puts money in the pockets of local people who in turn can spend that money locally, is essential to keeping our little oasis in the high desert afloat.  Yes, it is convenient to shop online in your p.j.s, but I encourage you to get dressed and come on down to East Side Books.  For the same price or less, you will find the perfect gift AND actually interact with friendly, interesting people.  Not only is shopping at East Side Books shopping locally, you are buying a USA product and supporting the publishing industry.  No products Made In China on our shelves.

4. East Side Books offers unique, one-of-a-kind gifts. Even though gift hunting can be time consuming–and it is tempting to drive to a mall and buy 14 back scratchers for all the males on your list and 10 bottles of fleur de stinky perfume for all the females–we all know that there is something special about opening a gift someone picked out just for you.  Eastside Books offers a wide variety of titles on all imaginable subjects.  We have an extensive vintage and rare book selection as well as first editions and books signed by the author. We carry sets of classic literature, and our poetry and play sections are well-stocked.  We have cookbooks, art books, biographies, and memoirs.  We carry nature books, Western and local history books, Christian books, and books to improve your mental and physical health.  We have books on hunting and fishing, rock climbing, and rock art.  We have travel guides, wedding guides, and guides on how to train your dog, horse, or garden.  Our books can teach how to quilt, sail, organize, raise rabbits, or identify shells, birds, and edible plants. You get the picture–the categories go on and on.  And that’s just the books.  We have CDs, DVDs, videos, and books on tape.  We have sheet music and comics.  We even sell cards, bookmarks, and bags.  And if you talk to Diane, you can buy some outstanding grassfed beef.  Who needs the mall when you have the diversity of East Side Books?

5. Shopping at East Side Books makes the world a better place. I agree with Christopher Morley:  “When you sell a man a book you don’t sell just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue – you sell him a whole new life.  Love and friendship and humour and ships at sea by night – there’s all heaven and earth in a book, a real book.” When you give someone a book you give them a new adventure, an opportunity to discover a whole new way of looking at the world.  Books can open up your soul for examination, squeeze your heart, and set your on your way.  I don’t believe there are people who don’t like to read, I believe there are people who just haven’t found the right book.  Come into East Side Books and let us help you find the right book, the perfect gift for the people on your holiday list.  Buy a book, change a life.

Happy Holidays to you all!  May your season be bright, happy, and carefree.

Every reader has a guilty pleasure when it comes to books. Some sneak in bodice ripping romances when no one is looking; some won’t board an airplane without a mystery about a cat detective or a cook who solves mysteries or better yet, a cooking cat sleuth; and some buys stacks of cheap sci-fi for those days when an escape from reality is needed.  My guilty reading pleasure is young adult fiction–novels written for junior high and high school students.  Strange choice for me since I tend to think of 13 through 18 as “the dark years” and have yet to attend a high school reunion.  During those years all I wanted to do was grow up, but now I find myself in an empty parking lot trading a popular teenage series covered with brown paper so no one can see with a well-read friend.

While I admit to being completely sucked into the Twilight series despite the never ending teenage angst and the disgustingly co-dependent relationship of the main characters, much of the new teen lit out there today is highly readable and amazingly sophisticated, taking on issues of environmental armageddon, power struggles between good and evil, and Robin Hood themes of the poor triumphing over the rich.  The main characters are unlikely heros and heroines who fight their battles with integrity, intelligence, and sheer grit.  To see what I mean, check out The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay, a powerful trilogy by Suzanne Collins.

Books written for teens are receiving a lot of attention lately.  The New York Times Book Review and other publications are printing article after article citing this new popularity of adults reading young adult lit. There is even a new term out there to describe these popular books: Crossover Young Adult Fiction. The exploding interest in teen novels can be traced back to J.K. Rowling and her Harry Potter series.   She was responsible for igniting the reading fire in several generations of new readers as well as stirring a forgotten longing in adults for the magical world of imagination.  When Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was published, the seventh and last in the Potter series, there was speculation that the end of the series would create a vacuum in the publishing world.  Fortunately for all of us, this wasn’t the case as a whole new crew of talented authors stepped up to satiate the growing appetite for literature that is immediate, high energy, and often fanciful.

Our shelves at East Side Books are teeming with quality young adult novels just waiting for you to crossover and give them a read.  A wonderful place to start is The Looking Glass Wars series by Frank Beddor.  This series puts a whole new clever spin on Lewis Caroll’s famous work Alice in Wonderland. I also suggest you check out Christopher Paolini’s Eragon adventure series, which he self-published and promoted until it was picked up three years later by Alfred A. Knolf.  Cornelia Funke (now isn’t that a great writing name) has gained popularity lately with her breakout bestsellers Inkheart, Inkspell, and The Thief Lord. Although written for the 10 to 15 year old age group, Funkes books are enjoyed by all and described as “magical, with characters who literally leap from the page.”  If you are looking for something a little lighter, search out the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series by Ann Brashares, the story of four friends and a pair of…well…magical pants.  Despite the silly sounding premise, Brashares work is surprisingly fresh and absorbing. So much so that movies have been made from the first two books.

Even established authors of adult fiction are jumping aboard the Young Adult ship.  Alice Hoffman, best known for her Oprah Book Selection Here on Earth and Practical Magic which was made into a movie, is also the author of several teen novels including Green Angel, The Foretelling, and Incantation.  Hoot by well known journalist and novelist Carl Hiaasen is a Newbery Honor Book and spent 2 years on the New York Times Bestseller List.  Terry Pratchett, Clive Cussler, and James Patterson all have young adult novels on their list of credits.  Another successful crossover author is British novelist Neil Gaimen.  You may not recognize his name, but you have probably hear of his creepy and slightly off kilter young adult novels Neverwhere, The Graveyard, and Coraline, which was made into a popular movie.

Please stop by and check out any and all of the forementioned titles.  Just pretend you are buying them for your favorite teenager.  If you need any assistance in your search, please don’t hesitate to ask one of our staff members and we’ll be happy to help you.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good party as much as the next person, especially when it’s potluck.  Nothing is better than an evening of shared food, stories, and laughter with close friends and new friends-to-be.  And since I love to cook, I am happy to contribute my dish to the mix.  But after receiving an invitation, I have learned to dread the simple phrase: “Oh, can you just bring an appetizer?”  An appetizer.  Always the appetizer.  I have even tried heading off the appetizer request with the preemptive: “Can I bring dessert?  A salad? A vegetable dish?  A main course?”  Anything BUT the appetizer.  And usually the reply is: “Oh, no, just an appetizer.”

The problem is that although I have five three-ring binders stuffed with instructions for my favorite dishes, I don’t really have any good appetizer recipes up my sleeve.  As far as I am concerned, there are about three options: cheese and crackers, vegetables and hummus, and if you are really running behind schedule, chips and salsa (bought in the refrigerator section not the canned goods shelf).  If you don’t coordinate with the others appetizer assignees, you are apt to have a whole lot of hummus on your hands.

I decided that this November, as we head into holiday party season, I was going to tackle this appetizer angst head on.  To do so, I headed to East Side Books, my place to solve all problems big and small.  I was happy to discover that the cookbook section entitled Entertaining has a number of resources to help you and me get out of the appetizer rut.

I started by perusing Good Housekeeping’s Perfect Parties from 1971.  It was $1.00 then and is still $1.00 now.  Although it is heavy on the dessert side of entertaining, the long, handwritten inscription on the flyleaf–complete with recommended recipes and pages numbers–is well worth the money.  If you are looking for a new take on spreads and dips, look not further.  This cookbook features seven different recipes for cheese spreads and thirteen dip recipes including “Lusty Italian Dip”.  I mean, really, how can a party not be exciting when serving “Lusty Italian Dip” alongside your carrot sticks, celery, and radishes.

But, if you, like me, wanted to broaden your appetizer horizons past cheese balls and dips, then delve into the next three titles for a creative take on the hors d’oeuvre world.

Appetizers by Mabel Hoffman is divided into categories that help make selecting a recipe a snap.  If you are looking to bring a “Poultry Pickup” then you might want to turn to page 52 and consider the “Chicken Dijon Tidbits” or to page 56 for the “Turkey Rounds” recipe.  Hoffman includes a whole chapter on easy (and inexpensive) Pates, Molds, and Spreads for those of you who want a dish you can prepare in advance.  I was interested in the “Cheese Cookie” recipe on page 131, her version of refrigerator log sliced cheese crackers, and her slightly appalling but terribly irresistable recipe for “Corkscrew Noodle Chips”.  (Fried and seasoned cooked noodles.  I guess everyone is digging deep when it comes to appetizers.)

Mastercook has put out a book called Appetizers & Aperitifs which devotes half of the volume to recipes for alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.  The food recipes seem simple yet unique.  I would consider making “Tiny Cream Puffs” from page 114, only 5 ingredients and 30 minutes cooking time.  I was also drawn to “Mustard Bread” which is described as “French bread slathered in a mustard, poppy seed, onion, and bacon spread, topped with Swiss cheese and baked or grilled in foil.”

The most serious of the appetizer cookbooks appeared to be The Hors D’Oeuvre Book by Coralie Castle.  This thick volume has everything from “Crab Melba” to “Terrine of Salmon” to “Potted Brie with Cognac and Almonds”.  If you want to get really serious about your appetizers and are aiming to impress, this is the book for you.  I have to admit that the “Gorgonzola Canapes” on page 7 were calling my name.

Of course, you can find an appetizer chapter in many general or regional cookbooks.  I picked up a copy of The Deaf Smith Country Cookbook by Marjorie Winn Ford, Susan Hillyard, and Mary Faulk Koock from our Vegetarian section and was immediately interested in the recipe for “Parmesan Crowns” on page 30.  Our shelves are loaded with cookbooks of amazing variety.  If you are eating low carb, check out our many low carb cookbooks for appetizers that work within your diet.  We have a number of Italian and Chinese cookbooks that have excellent appetizer sections.  And as always, we are happy to help if you need assistance finding what you are looking for.

I don’t know about you, but I am feeling hungry and inspired.  I think I just might throw a party and all of you are invited.  All you need to bring is…just an appetizer.

I once ran a kitchen at an isolated retreat center in Washington state.  The primarily vegetarian food we served three meals a day seven days a week was the only game in town.  Eat it or go hungry.  This is what I learned from that experience: if you want to ignite a powder keg under a group of seemingly good people take away their power to control their own food.  Community staff members once argued for three hours at a meeting about whether or not sugar dispensers should be allowed to remain on the tables. When the wife of one staff member told me her husband hated onions, a vegetable we put in almost every single dish we made, I began making him small “onion-free” portions.  After the first meal, her husband came into the kitchen to thank me and broke down crying.  It is alittle unnerving to see a middle age man cry over the lack of onions. Anyone who has tried to make a toddler eat an despised vegetable knows that food wars are not limited to isolated communities.

Issue of food intrigue me.  All you have to do is Google “what is the healthiest diet for humans” and peruse the 1.5 million hits to see that others share my interest.  It would seem that there is no bigger divide in the food world than that between those who are carnivores (meat eaters) and vegetarians (non-meat eaters).  But even here it is hard to have a discussion regarding the merits of either one because there are no hard and fast rules for what constitutes a vegetarian.  (You know what I mean, all those “vegetarians” you have met who eat “only chicken and fish”.)  According to the Online Oxford Dictionary a vegetarian is “a person who does not eat meat or fish, and sometime other animal products, for moral, religious, or health reasons.”  But even within this definition you can have diets that are vegan (no meat as well as no dairy, eggs, and sometimes honey products) or raw foodies who eat only live food (uncooked, unprocessed, mostly organic food).

When I need help deciphering the ins and outs of an issue, I turn to the shelves of  East Side Books.  In this case, to the section called Food Issues and, of course, our Vegetarian Section.  From what I can tell, people are drawn to vegetarianism for one or more of the following three reasons: ethical, health, or for frugality.  (There are also some religions that enspouse some types of vegetarian diet such as Seventh Day Adventist and Hindus, but I’m not going to mix religion with book reviews.)

Ethical Vegetarianism

Most people know by now that the production of beef needed to sustain our current consumption takes an enormous toll on the environment.  (According to www.earthsave.org, it takes 12 pounds of grain, 55 square feet of rainforest, and 2500 gallons of water to product one pound of beef.), but when Frances Moore Lappe published Diet for a Small Planet in 1971, her ideas linking how we eat to the health of our planet were groundbreaking news.  If you have any interest in vegetarianism, Lappe’s enduring bestseller is a place to start.  She emphasizes the importance of eating a plant-centered diet for the ecological health of our planet.  Her next book, Food First, broadens the conversation to include the issue of the impact of food production practices on global hunger.

About 15 years after Lappe made a splash with Diet for a Small Planet, John Robbins entered the scene with his powerful book Diet for a New America. Robbins, the son of one of the founders of Baskin-Robbins, detached himself from his family’s business and became a vocal advocate for a plant-based, vegan diet for personal and environmental health.  His opinion is that the meat and dairy industries are responsible for the decline of human health as well as the world hunger crisis.  Diet for a New America has sold over a million copies and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.  Robbins wrote The Food Revolution in 2001, which discusses factory farming, the problems of genetically modified food, and the importance of buying organic.

If environmental vegetarianism interests you, check out www.meatlessmondays.com .  Sponsored by a non-profit initiative in association with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, their goal is to “help reduce meat consumption by 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”  Don’t be surprised to see Lappe and Robbins’ names pop up frequently throughout their website.

East Side Books has a number of Lappe and Robbins books in our Food Issues Section.

Vegetarianism for Health

Some people are drawn to vegetarianism for the health benefits of eating low on the food chain.  If you want to find out how a high-fiber, low fat vegetarian diet can help you, check out Eat More, Weigh Less by Dean Ornish, M.D.  Ornish, a cardiologist, believes that the healthiest diet is one that emphasizes beans, fruit, grains, and vegetables while avoiding dairy (except for nonfat dairy in moderation), fats, sugar, alcohol, and meat.  Eat More, Weigh Less can be found in our Diet Section.

In Diet for a Small Planet, Lappe to introduced the idea of “protein combining,” the practice of combining foods such as rice and beans, to make a complete protein, a necessity for vegetarians.  She includes a whole section on how to practice healthy vegetarianism and supplies recipes as well.  May All Be Fed by John Robbins offers information on the health benefits of a vegan diet and a wide range of vegan recipes developed by Chef Gia Patton.

Vegetarianism to Save a Buck

Let’s face it, a bag of rice and a couple cans of beans are going to cost a lot less and make more a lot more meals than one good top sirloin.  Meat and dairy products are expensive, even compared to the cost of buying organic fruits and vegetables.  In our current economic climate (don’t you never want to hear that phrase again?), stretching a dollar is more important than ever.  To help you expand your meatless recipe collection beyond pasta and grilled cheese sandwiches, check out the cookbooks in our Vegetarian Section located directly under Food Issues.  Two of my favorite cookbooks are the classic Moosewood Cookbook by Molly Katzen and The Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas.

My copy of Moosewood Cookbook is held together by silver duct tape, and loses pages every time I open it, but you couldn’t pay me to give it up.  This cookbook was the bible at the retreat center kitchen where I worked, and for good reason.  The New York Times has listed Moosewood Cookbook as one of the top ten best selling cookbooks of all time.  Each recipe is easy to follow yet has a special spin that helps it stand out from your usual vegetarian fare.  I especially love the handlettering that make up the text of the book.  I have to say that The Vegetarian Epicure, while not as well known as the famous Moosewood Cookbook, is possibly an even better cookbook.  Some of my most memorable cooking experiences have come from the pages of this book.  There is also The Vegetarian Epicure Book Two.

Also, when cooking vegetarian fare, don’t be afraid to veer from the vegetarian cookbooks. Most recipes can be easily adapted to fit within your own type of vegetarianism.  For example, many of the recipes in The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook by Gloria Bley Miller can substituted tofu for any meat or fish. Beans are a staple in many Mexican dishes and many helpful recipes can be found in The Cuisine of Mexico by Diana Kennedy.  In many Italian dishes, meat can be omitted completely.  Check out Lidia’s Family Table and A Taste of Italy for some great recipe ideas.

What you eat and why is a very personal decision that each person must make for themselves.  As always, at East Side Books, we have shelves full of quality books at bargain prices to help you wind your way through any complicated issue.  If you need any assistance, please ask one of our staff.

P.S. from Diane,

I just had to add these images from a “vintage” vegetarian book that just came in…don’t those lentil linkettes look delicious?  The articles though, written in 1973, still look relevant and informative, but you may have to try Boca burgers instead of the linkettes!

There was a period of time during my twenties where I only read short stories.  It didn’t matter if they were in an anthology, the collected work of one author, or a gathered in a literary magazine.  I couldn’t get enough of the short story form.  These days I hardly ever pick up a short story collection, but when I do, I always make a commitment to reading more.  There is something satisfying about getting a peek at a slice of  life.  When we lived in St. Paul, Minnesota, we used to walk the old neighborhoods in the early evening when the lights of the houses shone and shadows moved back and forth within.  Reading a short story is like being able to walk up those bright windows and look in for an hour or so, just enough time to get an understanding of the lives of the residents.

Most writer’s know that while publishing a short story in a literary magazine is one way to get your foot in the door, delivering a short story collection to an editor is setting yourself up for disappointment and rejection.  Although many short story collection receive critical acclaim and receive numerous awards, short fiction doesn’t sell, which is surprising. With the world around us traveling faster and faster, and communication becoming more and more brief because of email, text, and twitter, I would think the short story would be the perfect reading material of the new millenium.

Since many short story writers are not as well known as novelist, it can be more challenging to select a collection.  You have to choose blindly with little information about style, subject matter, or even genre.  One way to ease into finding quality short fiction is to come in the backdoor.  By that I mean, often, some of my favorite authors have an earlier short story collection.  A recent example of this is Aimee Bender who just came out with the popular summer novel The Sadness of Lemon Cake (which will probably hit East Side Books in the next six to eight months.  New titles take a little bit of time to circulate around to our New Books Table.)  I enjoyed Bender’s book, and when searching for her other titles discovered she had written the short story collection Girl in the Flammable Skirt, a book I’ve seen often and which received critical acclaim.  I have discovered that this is true for a number of author.  Annie Proulx, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award for The Shipping News (which if you haven’t read, stop right now and run run run down to East Side Books and pick up a copy), has published five collections of short stories: three in a series called Wyoming Stories, and two more collections called Close Range and Heart Songs.  Jhumpa Lahiri is best know for her novel The Namesake, which was later turned into a movie, but before The Namesake, she received the Pulitzer Prize for her debut publication Interpreter of Maladies. She has recently published a new short story collection called Unaccustomed Earth.  Amy Bloom’s novel Away recently became a book club favorite (another to pluck from our shelves if you have not yet read), but among critics she was better know for her two short story collections Come to Me and National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist A Blind Man Could See How Much I Love You.

It is not only modern authors who have switched deftly from the genre of short story to novel and back again.  Some of the most powerful writers of this century have also penned a significant number of excellent short stories.  Ernest Hemingway had several volumes of wonderful short stories, many featuring the character Nick Adam.  “The Killers” is his best known story.  John Updike, one of only three writers to win the Pulitzer Prize more than one, published to critical acclaim a collection of his short fiction in 2003 called The Early Stories which included over 100 of his short stories from between the mid ’50s to the mid ’70s.  Joyce Carol Oates, one of the most prolific writers working today, splits her work between short stories and novels.  Her most well known story is “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”. Creepy and thought provoking, this work was expanded into a movie called Smooth Talk. Irish author William Trevor is both an excellent novelist and short story writer.  His book After Rain includes the story “The Piano Tuner’s Wife”, which is one of the finest and most beautiful short pieces of fiction I have ever read.  Last, but certainly not least, is southern writer Flannery O’Conner who in her short life, she died at the age of 39, published a number of wonderful short story collection as well as several powerful novels.

Although most short story writers are also novelist, some writers stick with the single form of short stories and become masters of their trade.  The most well known of these is O. Henry, a pseudonym for William Sydney Porter.  O. Henry began writing short stories while serving a five year term in a prison for charges of embezzlement.  While there he published 14 stories.  Once released he went on to write and publish hundreds more.  His stories are know for their wit and clever plot twists and endings, the most famous story being “The Gift of the Magi.” The O. Henry Award is a prestigious annual prize given to the most outstanding short story of the year.  Irish born Frank O’Connor is another master of the short story.  Drawing from his own life experience of Irish family life, O’Connor published over 11 original collections of short stories.  Alice Munro is a Canadian short story author who is been called “one of the greatest contemporary writers of fiction.”  Set in small town Canada, her stories focus on the human condition as seen through the window of daily life.  She is joined by a number of other female short story writers who have left their mark on the shelves including Grace Paley, Ann Beattie, Alice Adams, and Bobbie Ann Mason.  Perhaps the reason you even see short story collections on the bookstore shelves is because of Raymond Carver, who single handedly revitalized the short story form in the 1980’s with the publication of his collections What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Where I’m Calling From, Cathedral, and Elephant.  His story “A Small, Good Thing” is a powerful and beautiful story about grief, forgiveness, and kindness.  Unfortunately, Carver struggled with monetary and martial issues as well as alcohol abuse for most of this life, and died at the age of 50.

Some people say the reason they don’t like short stories is because just as they are getting into it, the story ends.  For these readers, they might want to try “interconnected short story collections.”  An excellent example of this is the recent Pulitzer Prize winning book Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, a slim book of thirteen linked stories that cover a thirty year period of an unforgettable woman’s life.  Another recent interconnected short story collection is The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie, 22 powerful stories about modern life on the Spokane Indian Reservation.  (You have to love Alexie’s long titles. Don’t miss his powerful young adult novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.)   Past popular interconnect short story collections are The Things They Carry by Tim O’Brien about his experience in Vietnam, and Melissa Banks’ A Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing, which made me laugh aloud several times.  The classic of interconnected short story collections is John Steinbeck’s The Red Pony, four related stories about the coming-of-age events in a young boy’s life as he grows up on a Salinas ranch.  The title story, The Red Pony, is Steinbeck’s most well known short story, powerful and gut wrenching, it often incites mixed reactions from readers.

If you have been automatically picking up novel after novel, we encourage you to branch out and try a short story collection.  If you need any assistance finding any of the above mentioned titles, please ask our staff for assistance.  As always, if we don’t have what you are looking for we are happy to add your title to our Wants List or to place a special order.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I will admit that October is not a good month for me: I scare easily.  When I was a kid, reading a Nancy Drew mystery under the covers at night by flashlight was enough to set my heart racing.  (No, Nancy!  Don’t go upstairs when you hear mysterious  footsteps overhead!  Call 911 and GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!) The movies Poltergeist and The Blair Witch Project scared me out of my mind.  And I have been known on one occasion to be found sitting in my car in the driveway in my nightgown after hearing strange voices in my house.  (We were picking up someone else’s channel through the baby monitor.  My husband was just glad I called him home from work rather than calling the police.)

So you might not find me browsing the shelves of East Side Books Horror Section (ALL HORROR BOOK ON SALE FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER), and I admit, I have only read one of Stephen King’s novels.  It was for a book club and I read it so fast the words blurred as my heart beat a million miles an hour.  There was something about a missing arm and an evil spirit in a bottle and twin girl ghostS that kept showing up and leaving wet footsteps.  It was weird and creepy.  I know, I know, King is a master of his genre–I don’t dispute his skill or his fan base (and King’s book On Writing is one of my favorites.  See the blog “So You Want to Be A Writer.”), but I would like to point out that before there was King and all his bestsellers, there was Poe.

One of the earliest and best horror writers of all time is Edgar Allan Poe .  Unlike King, Poe was not a happy or successful man.  His short life (1809-1849) was filled with drug and alcohol abuse, mental instability, and the deaths of loved ones.  His work was often rejected and criticized despite the fact that years later he would be recognized as a brilliant writer of gothic short stories and poems.  Obsessed with death and bodily decomposition, Poe often wrote from the point of view of a murdering narrator.  Two of his most frightening stories are The Cask of Amontillade and The Tell-Tale Heart.  I mean F-R-I-G-H-T-E-N-I-N-G. I don’t want to give anything away, but let’s just say that Poe delves into the horrors of being buried alive and the possibility of dismembered body parts coming back to life.  Even Poe’s own death is shrouded in mystery.  He died a few days after being found unconscious on a city street, and the cause of death remains unclear.  Theories range from alcohol abuse to murder to rabies.  For a good scare, check out Poe’s collected work in the Fiction Section and Poetry Section.

As much as Poe and King are the reigning royalty of horror writing, for me to be scared silly, I don’t need all those blood and guts details spelled out.  What I need is just a hint of possibility, the anticipation of something or someone jumping out from behind the curtains or a thumping coming from a seemingly empty room, to send me into a complete fright.   And that is what I love about the following three authors.  These writers brilliantly craft an atmosphere of fear and chilling anticipation allowing the imagination of their characters and readers to create their own worst nightmares.  If you haven’t read these classics, you are in for a treat.

Wilkie Collins is the author of The Moonstone and The Woman in White. Despite being burdened with an unfortunate first name, Collin’s work, The Moonstone, has been called by T.S. Eliot “the first and greatest English detective novel” and is an excellent book.  But it is The Woman in White, published in 1859, that is filled with chilling plot twists and turns.  A midnight encounter with a woman in white leads the main character into a tangled web of crime, poison, and kidnapping.  A classic Victorian thriller, Wilkie’s The Woman In White is complex and sure to raise the hair on the back on your neck.

The author Henry James is mostly known for his famous siblings, Alice and William, and his eloquent novels about the social standing of his characters, most notably, Daisy Miller, Portrait of a Lady, and The Wings of the Dove. But it is James’ gothic Victorian novella that has been called “the world’s greatest ghost story.”  Turn of the Screw is the story of a governess who tries to protect her young charges from the evil apparitions that begin to haunt the estate.  But are the ghost real? Is the governess suffering from delusions? Are the children able to see the ghost or are they being possessed by them?  James spins a frightening tale of suspense and terror.  Find Turn of the Screw shelved in the Fiction Section.

If you are wanting more modern spine chilling tale, check out The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, author of the famous short story The Lottery.  In this novel, a professor of the paranormal and three young volunteers explore the supernatural phenomenons of Hill House.  Jackson steadily builds the suspense to a frightening and powerful conclusion.  I was completely absorbed by Jackson’s story and at the same time completely freaked out. Stephen King calls The Haunting of Hill House “one of the finest horror stories of the late 20th century.”  This is a classic you definitely want to pick up today.

My girls are at the age where they have discovered Nancy Drew.  (Check out our extensive Nancy Drew collection in the Children’s Mystery Series Section.)  Instead of reading under the covers, they snuggle up with their dad on the couch and he reads a chapter a night.  There is much giggling at the funny voices their father uses for the dialogue, and there is ongoing speculation over clues as the mystery unfolds.  Twinset sweaters aside, Nancy is still entertaining.  And she still doesn’t heed my warnings not to proceed down the dark hidden passageways with just a flashlight.  Even all these years later, Nancy is braver than me.

If you have any trouble finding the above mentioned books, please ask one of our staff for assistance.  We can also place a special order or put your requested title on our Wants List.

My grandmother, born and raised in Iowa, was convinced that there wasn’t any problem that couldn’t be solved over a good steak dinner.  She, of course, was horrified when I embraced vegetarianism for ten years.  In her mind, all the woes in my life could be easily explained by the lack of meat on my plate.  I have, over the years, gradually included meat protein back into my diet, but have struggled with the quality of meat available.  A steak from the store didn’t taste the same as the beef I remember growing up and sometime it was so bad it was inedible.  Information was leaking into the press about the less than stellar conditions of meat packing plants.  And what about all those hidden hormones and antibiotics?  Pass the broccoli please.

The great part about living in a small town is where all the edges overlap.  Not only is East Side Books a gem of a used bookstore, but the sons of owner Diane Doonan have begun selling natural local grass fed beef.  Eating locally has become the latest, and possibly the smartest, new food fad. Barbara Kingsolver took a recent departure from fiction writing to pen Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, her account of the year her family only ate what they grew and raised themselves or bought locally.  Her book is wonderfully interesting and opened a floodgate of interest in local eating, inspiring others to follow in her footsteps.  One example of these local food devotees are Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon, a couple living in the Northwest who made a year long commitment to eat foods grown and processed within 100-mile radius of their apartment.  They wrote about their experience in the book Plenty, which is in turn hilarious and thought provoking.

Although it would probably be challenging to sustain yourself on only locally raised food here in Bishop, we are fortunate to have resources such as the seasonal Saturday morning Farmer’s Market located in the parking lot of the Bishop City Park and the pick-your-own-organic-fruits-and-vegetables Apple Hill Ranch located just south of town in Wilkerson.  In the last couple of year, locals have begun raising the question: We see a lot of cattle grazing out in the fields surrounding Bishop, why is it we don’t have access to local dairy and beef products?  The Doonan family, certified organic alfalfa ranchers living north of town, asked that same question and decided to do something about it.  Last spring the industrious brothers Jake and Matt Doonan, ages 18 and 16, started a grass fed beef project to see if raising natural beef in the Owens Valley was an economically feasible industry.  They raised the livestock, found a small, clean processing plant, and secured buyers. (See contact email below for more information about this ongoing project.)

I was fortunate enough to purchase several 20 lb. boxes of their beef.  Having a freezer full of beef made me feel nostalgic for my grandmother.  Thinking of her, I thawed a roast and plopped it into my largest crockpot. (See Salsa Verde Beef recipe below.)  At dinner that night my husband took a forkful of roast, raised an eyebrow at me, and asked,”Where did you get this roast?”

“Why?” I asked.

“Taste it,” he said.

Could I possibly have messed up a simple roast? Again. With trepidation, I took a bite.  Flavor and richness danced a jig in my mouth.  Not only was it good, it was hands down the best beef I’d ever tasted.  “This is amazing,” I said.  I took another bite.  Better than the one before.  “This is magical.”  My husband didn’t answer.  He was too busy concentrating on his dinner.  Our girls, not big meat eaters, were so intrigued by our reaction that they asked to try some.

“This is good,” announced Clara.

“Really good,” said Emma with her mouth full. “This is Magic Beef.”

With giddy enthusiasm, I explained to the girls that the reason this beef was so magical was because it was raised locally and naturally.  “This cow used to be one of the cows grazing in fields just outside of town.”  Both girls looked at their plate in horror and leaned backwards as far as they could from the dinner table.  Apparently that was too much information for my soft “town” daughters.

Despite the fact that my girls are squeamish when their dinner becomes a bit too local, people are paying more attention to not only where their food comes from but the quality of their food.  Beef, pork, eggs, and dairy have gotten a bad rap in the past, but as more research is coming to light, the general public is discovering that meat and dairy products might not be the culprits behind America’s growing health and obesity issues.  In his book Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser write of the devastation the fast food companies have wrecked on our health, landscape, and economics.  The chapter “What’s in the meat” may make you rethink eating fast food ever again.  Michael Pollen’s book The Omnivore’s Dilemma explores how industrial farming and agricultural subsidies have greatly compromised the health of our nation.  It isn’t the beef that is killing us, or the poultry or eggs or dairy product, it is how these products are being raised and processed that is our health undoing.

My grandparents ate meat for lunch and dinner almost every day of their lives.  My grandmother pour cream over her cereal for breakfast.  Neither believed much in exercise.  But they didn’t believe in fast food either and never set foot in a McDonald’s or Burger King.  Cookies came from the oven and not the store.  Fruits and vegetables from the garden were canned or frozen, and eaten throughout the year.  Meals were an event, a ritual where everyone sat together at the table with a full place setting, three times a day, no matter what.  Both lived to be in their 80s.  Maybe there is something to be said for my grandmother’s steak theory after all.

We, at East Side Books, realize that one diet does not fit all. (See the blog What Exactly Is a Vegetarian?!?!?.) All you have to do is come in and check out our Food Issues Section where the above mentioned books are located along with many others, to see that what we eat is a complex and increasingly popular and important topic.  Stop by and raise your awareness today, and if you need any assistance in your search, please ask one of our staff for help.

The Doonan brothers’ natural grass fed beef project continues.  After the initial success last spring, the boys will be selling more local beef this Fall and Spring.  For more information you can contact them at bxd@starband.net.

Below is my recipe for Salsa Verde Magic Beef and Magic Beef Stew with Dumplings.  We’d love to hear from you, so please share your own thoughts or your favorite meat recipe in the comments section below.

Salsa Verde Magic Beef

1 beef roast, any cut (preferable natural grass feed)

1 jar of salsa verde

1 or 2 onions, sliced (optional)

Place thawed roast into a crockpot. (Sometimes my roast isn’t thawed all the way…or at all depending on how well I planned ahead.  A frozen or partially frozen roast takes longer to cook.)  If using onions, toss onions over roast.  Pour salsa verde over roast and optional onions.  Set crockpot on Low and cook for 7 to 9 hours depending on the size of the roast.  Before serving, shred beef.  Serve with warm flour or corn tortillas, shredded green cabbage, grated cheese, red salsa, chopped cilantro, and sour cream.

Magic Beef Stew with Dumplings

1 pound or so of beef stew meat (preferable natural grass fed)

flour, salt, pepper, oil

1 chopped onion

2 garlic cloves, pressed

2 to 3 sliced carrots

4 diced red potatoes

1/2 bag frozen green beans

1 large can or 2 box cartons of beef broth

1/2 bottle of cheap red wine

pepper, marjoram, basil, parsley

baking powder, salt, milk

Put stew meat in plastic bag and toss with 3/4 cup of flour, and a dash of salt and pepper.  In a large dutch oven or large heavy bottomed pot, saute beef in oil until browned. Add onion, garlic, and carrots.  Cook until vegetables soften slightly.  Add beef broth and wine plus a healthy amount of pepper, marjoram, basil, and parsley.  Add potatoes. Let simmer uncovered on very low for many hours.

When 20 minutes away from eating, turn up stew temperature to bring to a boil.  Meanwhile, mix together 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1 1/2 tsp of baking soda, 3/4 tsp of salt, 1 1/2 tbsp of oil, and 1 cup milk.  When stew boils, add green beans.  When stew returns to a boil, drop dumpling dough on surface of stew.  Boil 10 minutes uncovered.  Cover and boil 10 more minutes.