Double Dexter

If you have read any of these blog posts, I am sure you have discovered that I am a big fan of the Dexter novels written by Jeff Lindsay. This book series stars Dexter Morgan, a forensics blood spatter expert for the Miami-Dade Police Department who is also a serial killer. What??? No, really, he is a good guy because he only kills bad people (murderers, pedophiles, etc.) and mainly ones who have somehow escaped the "letter of the law." I have reccommended this series to many patrons and I have to admit, the responses I get from them are usually either: "I can't believe you like this book, because this guy is really sick," or "I have to read all of the books in this series because Dexter is one of those people you hate and love at the same time!" I absolutely adore Dexter because even though he is a brutal killer, he has a set of standards that he adheres to for his own "killings." The writing and tone of these books is masterful and think you'll enjoy every minute of them. The series is the inspiration for the Showtime television series, Dexter and even though the series followed the books pretty closely in season one, it has since diverged greatly from the books. The new series entry, Double Dexter, details a case that has not been covered in the television series. In this book, a brutal cop killer is targeting MDPD's police detectives, beating bodies so completely that they are completely bloodless and almost battered beyond recognition. This killer seems to be taunting Dexter, trying to drag him out and involve him in his own psychotic game. Has Dexter met his match this time? Jeff Lindsay lives in South Florida with his wife and three children and may be contacted on facebook.com/jefflindsayauthor, at http://www.doubleday.com/ or Dexter-Books.com.

Make the Best Burger in Town...

I am a big fan of hamburgers. To me, there is nothing more American than a big, juicy burger, crunchy french fries and a Coke. I know that burgers are not something you should eat every day, but the library has received a book that can enable you to eat burgers more often but in a healthy way. Joni Marie Newman's The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet contains 101 globally inspired vegan creations that showcase fresh flavors and exciting exotic tastes. The book contains twelve chapters of burger recipes, each from different regions of the world. The book also contains chapters on condiments and sauces, buns and breads, sides and salads and a few desserts. The burger substitutes include tofu, split peas, couscous, wheat gluten flour, and a variety of vegetables. This recipe book is a great inspiration for all cooks and the photographs make every recipe look tasty and may inspire you to invent a few culinary geniuses of your own!

The Garden to Kitchen Expert

The library just received an interesting book for cooks and gardeners alike. The Garden to Kitchen Expert written by Judith Wills and Dr. D. G. Hessayon contains over 680 recipes for the fruit and vegetables that you grow at home. The book contains classic recipes, methods for everyday cooking and new ideas for making the most of an "abundance" of one particular crop. There is also a great section on how to serve your produce fresh, without cooking and also how to store, preserve and pickle the things you grow. Each fruit and vegetable is presented, with full color pictures, followed by sections on storing, no-cook recipes, basic cooking and then fancy recipes. The book contains a wonderful recipe and produce index and covers almost every fruit and vegetable imaginable. Good news---even if you don't grow your own fruit or vegetables, you can still use the recipes in this book to prepare the ones you buy in the store!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We give thanks to all our loyal readers and library patrons. Thank you for your loyal readership this year and may blessings fall down upon you and your family in 2012.

Upcycling Your Life

Upclycling: Creating Beautiful Things with the Stuff You Already Have by Danny Seo is a great new book the library has recently purchased. The premises of the book is "making do with with what you have and using basic skills to create extraordinary results....[in a] hybrid of MacGyver (the rsourceful TV spy)-meets-HGTV. Danny Seo has worked as an interior designer and magazine editor where he has done everything from transforming a celebrity's home to producing magazine stories on creating the perfect Thanksgiving table settings using stuff you might have around the house. For years Danny Seo has been recycling trash and everyday objects into better, brighter and cooler things and he finally coined a phrase for his hobby--upcycling! To Seo, upcycling is a higher form of recycling, because when you upcycle, the end result is better than the material's intended purpose and you end up with something cooler and your own creation. The book begins with a section on what upcycling is, followed by a section on the basic things you need to perform upcycling projects (like a glue gun and an exacto knife). The book has chapters on different types of upcycling projects such as "Ideas for Decorating," "Ideas for Entertaining," Upcycling Ideas for Giving," "Upcycling Ideas for Kids," and "Upcycling the Great Outdoors." Each project includes a great picture of the finished project, a detailed list of supplies and a simple how-to section on creating the project. The projects range from simple to complicated, so a wide range of ages would be interested in creating the projects contained in this book. This is a great book for any crafter who'd like to create something new from something they already have.

Murder Unleashed

Murder Unleashed by Rita Mae Brown is the second book in her canine mystery series starring Magdelena "Jeep" Reed, Magdalena "Mags" Rogers and their dogs King and Baxter. The first book in the series is A Nose for Justice. This cozy mystery is set in Reno, Nevada, and furthers the story of Jeep, a seventy year old who is growing food on her ranch in the hopes of ending hunger in the area and Mags, a former Wall Street trader who was laid off from her job and is finding solace living with her great-aunt. I enjoyed the contemporary events discussed in this book, as the action of this story is centered around a bunch of squatters that are living in a group of vacant, foreclosed homes on one particular street in Reno, without food or electricity. The foreclosure crisis has taken a huge bite out of the real estate market in Reno and many banks and people are reeling from the hit. Big-hearted real estate agent, Babs Gallagher enlists Jeep and Mags to start a community research program to get the water and electricity turned back on in the houses and help the squatters find jobs. When one of their friends is attacked and a former banker is found brutally slain in one of the abandoned homes, Jeep and Mags set out to find the killer. Baxter, King and a host of other canine characters band together to protect their owners, help them find the killer and perhaps find a few clues as to where the missing silver from an old mine is. This is a great series for dog lovers and any other animal friendly mystery readers!

Heaven Is For Real

My pastor and several other friends recently read Todd Burpo's Heaven is for Real and suggested that I should read it. The book is a quiet, unassuming story that has lots of power. The book is "a little boy's astounding story of his trip to heaven and back." Todd Burpo is a minister with a wife and three kids, in a small town in the mid-west. Burpo goes through several boughts of sickness himself and his life seems to be evening out when his four-year old son Colton has to have an emergency appendectormy. Colton spends a week in the hospital and no one is sure he will live, until a miracle occurs and he wakes up, alert and almost back to his old self. It is not until several weeks later, during a family road trip, that Todd Burpo and his wife realize that something unusual happened to Colton during his hospital stay. Colton mentions that while he was having his emergency surgery, he "saw his dad praying and his mom talking on the phone in another room." Slowly, Todd and his wife begin to question Coton and they realize that even though Colton did not die, he did visit heaven when he was hospitalized. The writing in this book is beautiful and the message is powerful. Whether you believe in heaven or not, this story will touch you. This story is as much about a family and their quest for healing as it is a story about the power of God. If you like this book, try also reading Don Piper's 90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death & Life.

Blood Wyne

I know you have heard me talk about this author before, but I have to tell you...every one of her books that I read just gets better and better! Yasmine Galenorn's newest book, Blood Wyne is the newest installment in the Otherworld series. Blood Wyne is told from the point of view of Menolly, one of the three D'Artigo sisters who ae half-Fae and half-human and are living Earthside instead of in the fairy realm. The three sisters are each a different type of supernatural beings--Camille is a witch, Delilah is a shapeshifter who turns into a cat and a panther and Menolly is a vampire. They live with Iris, a house sprite, are raising a baby gargoyle named Maggie and have a wide assortment of supernatural beings as friends and lovers. The basic premise of the series is that the three sisters are fighting against Shadow King, a very nasty demon, who is trying to find all of the spirit seals and open a permanent portal between Earthside and Otherworld. In this installment of the series, Menolly is helping to track down a vampire serial killer who is targeting young women and threatening to make Earth very intolerant of vampires! The stories are based in Seattle and it is refreshing to read descriptions of places I have visited and visualize where the stories' action is taking place. Galenorn's writing is magical--her characters are fascinating and the world she weaves is very believable. I look forward to reading the next installment in this wonderful series! If you'd like to "try" reading the Otherwold series, start with the first one, Witchling. The stories can be read alone, but since the characters lives build throughout each book, you will be less lost if you start with book one! Plus, the library has purchased these books in paperback so they are very handy and can be slipped into your purse for convenient "reading-on-the-go!" Yasmine Galenorn is the author of several other series, including the Indigo Court Series, several Berkley Prime Crime titles and casmetic-focused series she writes as India Ink. Check out her website at http://www.galenorn.com/ or follow her at www.twitter.com/yasminegalenorn.

Honey, Have You Seen My Other Sock?

I am sure you are like me and have TONS of "one sock wonders"...you know one sock of a pair that you swear you saw the match for about a week ago? What exactly do you do with a pair of socks that is missing one of them, that you can't bear to part with? Well, you make sock creatures, of course!!! Brenna Maloney's new book, Sockology: 16 New Sock Creatures, Cute & Cuddly...Weird & Wild is a wonderful, exciting, instruction book that teaches you how to creature cuddly creatures from your lonely socks. Benna Maloney gives great advice--she says that you should never throw away any of your socks with missing pairs, because you can use the material later to make fantastic creatures. Once you look at this book you will understand the great appeal of missing socks. Maloney teaches even the novice stitcher how to make sweet, cuddly animals from ordinary socks, using knee highs, crew, and any other types of socks you might have lying around the house. Maloney's writing is half the fun of this book--it's humorous and sarcastic and very entertaing---but she also includes a guide to the stiches she uses, patterns for each creature and suggestions on how to make each creature your own creation. This is a truly fun book for any person with a flair for sewing or crafts---and could be used with a class for a group project as each creature can be sewn by hand or machine. Sock exchange, anyone?

Have a Date with the Grim Reaper

Second Grave on the Left is the new installment in the Charley Davidson series, written by Darynda Jones. Charley is the grim reaper--even if she is beautiful, charming, likes to wear t-shirts and make-up and is a private investigator. This is the second book in the series and the writing in both is hilarious, sarcastic, action packed and sure to amuse any mystery fan. Charley comes from a "police officer" family as her dad and Uncle have been employed by the Arizona Polic Department. Her dad is retired and owns a bar and Charley's office is housed in a room behind the building. Charley can read the emotions of people as well as "see" departed ones. Dead folks are drawn to Charley because she is a brilliant light to them and she helps them cross over from this world into heaven. This creates some interesting challenges for Charley as she is always talking to people that only she sees and they often appear to her in rather inappropriate places (like the shower). Charley also has several admirers and one is a supernatural being that appears to her in spirit form and is her antithesis. Trying to deal with their major attraction to each other is very complicated and leaves Charley breathless most of the time. Charley is aided in her investigation by her office manager, Cookie and the mystery in this book involves one of Cookie's friends who suddenly disappears. Cookie enlists Charley's help in solving the mystery and in the process they uncover a scandal from high school that threatens to have them all killed. Charley is a strong and likable heroine and will be enjoyed by anyone who likes humorous mystery stories--if you are a fan of Janet Evanovich, you will love reading Darynda Jones!