When enthusiastic home cook, Jennifer Reese lost her job she wondered if making homemade staples would be more cost effective. Is homemade mayonnaise cheaper than the tub you buy in the store? And just as important, does it taste better? Her book, Make the Bread, Buy the Butter has over 120 recipes for the from-scratch cook - looking for both cost savings and taste improvements.
Reese’s journey to make and taste homemade versions of cupboard regulars like peanut butter and bread and the more exotic like camembert and prosciutto includes helpful input from her family. She makes it sound like making your own ginger ale isn’t crazy – but actually fairly easy, cheaper than store bought, and delicious. Her voice throughout the book is casual and often really funny. The best part of the book is her interest in the highly practical and includes a ‘hassle factor’ for each item. Every recipe has a realistic cost comparison with store bought and an indication of how difficult each item is to make. Right there is bold print is a verdict on each item: Make it or Buy it. A few items get a warning. Make or buy cream cheese? Reese says to make it once and then decide. Make or buy English muffins? Depends on whether you are eating them plain or as a base for eggs benedict.
I’ve worked in libraries for years including a few in Texas, so it is a wonder that I’ve never read a western. Part of the problem then with reading your first book in a genre is that you lack the language to properly describe it or make comparisons. Now I wonder if I shall ever read another for the fear that the next one won’t hold up to 
Ida Mae Jones is a young African-American woman living with her family in Louisiana. Her father who taught her to fly a small crop duster has passed away, and her brother has signed up to serve in World War II. It is not surprising that Ida Mae feels caught between her family obligations and her love of flying. She learns about the Women Airforce Service Pilots – a civilian organization that served to fly airplanes under the military with the goal of freeing up qualified men to serve in combat. The WASP pilots transferred planes and equipment from assembly plants to military bases and often trailed targets in the air for anti-aircraft artillery practice. 
A graphic novel about Jeffrey Dahmer? I am not a true crime reader. I am not even a fake crime reader, so I didn't think I would be interested. Boy, was I wrong. Last week I took 
Like many readers, I loved loved loved 
Whether you’re inside enjoying the cool air or outside braving the weather at pool-side, consider that small country across the pond. Yes, England, and we’re not talking about the Olympics but a Downton-Abbey type novel set in contemporary times. Are the rich really different from you and me? Screenwriter, novelist, and actor, Julian Fellowes tackles this subject in Snobs, a novel about a middle-class woman named Edith who would love the wealth and title of the Earl, Charles Broughton, whom she’d love to marry. 
r Michael Koryta’s new book isn’t coming out until August 7 but you can already place a hold in our catalog. 
“An action packed historical novel set on the high seas!” claims the book jacket for 
Although summer officially began just last week, it seems as though it's been hot and dry forever. As we water our gardens and lawns, it's hard to envision a major flood. But join us for a discussion about The Johnstown Flood--still the deadliest flood in US history. It happened in 1889 when the South Fork Dam (fourteen miles upstream from Johnstown, Pa.) failed. The American Red Cross, which Clara Barton had founded in 1891, led the relief effort with Barton herself taking charge. The flood caused many sociological repercussions because the community that was spared included summer homes of many millionaires including Andrew Carnegie and Andrew Mellon, while the community below that suffered had many poor Irish and German immigrants.
June is generally recognized as LGBT Pride Month. In honor of this, the