Planning Ahead for Thanksgiving!

Hard to believe, but it's less than 6 weeks until Thanksgiving!  Time to dust off old recipes or why not look through some of our many cookbooks and start a new family tradition?

A Thanksgiving Holiday Cookbook by Emily Raabe

Learn how to make turkey pot pie, corn pudding, and other Thanksgiving dishes.  Recipes are geared so that the whole family can join in!

Thanksgiving Entertaining by Lou Seibert Pappas

Everything from how to prepare a traditional New England style Thanksgiving feast to a more contemporary California influenced Thanksgiving meal.

Historical Thanksgiving Cookery by Robert W. Pelton

Want to try the Thanksgiving dinners that Americans in the past have enjoyed?  This volume contains the favorite recipes from the early days of our nation - from the Revolutionary War through the Civil War.








We have these and many other cookbooks - come in and explore!

Mama Cass before The Mamas and The Papas

California Dreamin' from Pénélope Bagieu depicts Mama Cass as you've never known her, in this poignant graphic novel about the remarkable vocalist who rocketed The Mamas & the Papas to stardom.

Before she was the legendary Mama Cass of the folk group The Mamas and the Papas, Ellen Cohen was a teen girl from Baltimore with an incredible voice, incredible confidence, and incredible dreams. She dreamed of being not just a singer but a star. Not just a star―a superstar. So, at the age of nineteen, at the dawn of the sixties, Ellen left her hometown and became Cass Elliot.

At her size, Cass was never going to be the kind of girl that record producers wanted on album covers. But she found an unlikely group of co-conspirators, and in their short time together this bizarre and dysfunctional band recorded some of the most memorable songs of their era. Through the whirlwind of drugs, war, love, and music, Cass struggled to keep sight of her dreams, of who she loved, and―most importantly―who she was.

Life in an Internment Camp in America During World War Two

In 1942, the United States began searching the homes of immigrants who had come to America from Germany, Japan and Italy and, even with no evidence of any crime, many were taken away in handcuffs and removed to what was referred to as "custodial detention" with no charges, no trials and no recourse.

Even though their cause was supported by President Roosevelt's wife Eleanor, Executive Order 9006 was signed requiring the forced removal of all people of Japanese decent from certain areas - including the entire state of California.  Families were forced to leave their homes and were shipped to internment camps - even those who were born in the United States.  The plan was to trade these 'prisoners of war' for Americans being held overseas.

'The Train to Crystal City' is the story of the upheaval and struggles faced by the families forced to leave everything behind them.  The author, Jan Jarboe Russell, focuses the story on two teenagers whose families were sent to the Crystal City internment camp - Ingrid, born in New York in 1930 to German immigrants who had migrated to the United States in 1923, and Sumi, born in 1928 to Japanese immigrants.

Putting personal faces on a little known and often forgotten portion of American history, the stories of the two girls and what happened to their families are not easily forgot once the book is finished.

Eat, Drink and Be from Mississippi

How could I find a title for this blog entry that is any better than the title of this book? Nanci Kincaid's Eat, Drink and Be from Mississippi is a beautifully written, lyrical novel about two kids born in Hinds County, Mississippi and their lives there and in California. The two main characters, Courtney and Truely Noonan are your typical "rural Mississippi" kids- Courtney is destined to grow up as the wife of a blue-collar man, just like her mama, and Truely is a High School football star who is trying to live up to his daddy's aspirations. Their world is fine until Courtney arrives at home one day, delivered by her college roommate, and announces to the family that she wants to move to San Francisco to attend Art School. The family is shocked and scandalized, but Courtney leaves, makes her fortune, and is eventually followed by Truely who makes his own fortune in California. The book follows both Courtney and Truely as they use the values they've learned in Mississippi and their relationships with each other and the folks around them to forge a life and create their own happiness in California. The characters are developed and the descriptions of everyday life in California and Mississippi are wonderful (Courtney makes a mean pot of greens, even if she does live in Saratoga, CA). Nanci Kincaid has written several books, but if you enjoy this one, try also reading As Hot As It Was You Ought to Thank Me. This is a touching story about Berry Jackson, a young teenager growing up in Pinetta, Florida, who spends her days soaking up the lives of her parents, her two brothers and an amusing assortment of odd neighbors and friends. The truths and lies she unearths during her observations help her develop her own sense of self and mature into adulthood.

Peek Inside the Head of Carol O'Connell

The stand-alone novel by Carol O'Connell that I recently read, was a shivery, suspenseful journey for me. Bone by Bone is set in the Northern California town of Coventry and details the story of two brothers who go out into the woods one day and only one returns. No one knows what happened to younger brother on that day, not even his older brother, Oren. Oren becomes an investigator for the Army CID and after leaving that job returns to Coventry after twenty years to visit his family. Oren's visit begins well, until pieces of human bones start appearing on his family's front porch. Are pieces of Josh returning, bit by bit? Who is leaving these mysterious human parcels? Oren is compelled to finally solve Josh's mysterious disappearance, a puzzle that has haunted him and his family for years, but navigating through the layers of secrecy in Coventry is challenging. O'Connell's story features great characters, an on-the-edge-of-your-seat mystery and prose that richly describes Northern California. This book is a great choice for a cold, rainy day as you won't be able to set it down to complete any other tasks, until you are finished!