Some Quiet, Quality Library Time

I ran to the library today... Returned all those cookbooks (which I didn't make ANYTHING out of -- they had some good recipes, but the last couple of weeks I've done very little cooking). I also returned a novel or two that I started and didn't enjoy. I love new choices, though, and I checked out several that I have high hopes for. Among them:

• Kitchen Express: 404 Inspired Seasonal Dishes You Can Make in 20 Minutes or Less by Mark Bittman -- I know, I know. Another cookbook. This one is really neat, though, because all of the recipes are not really recipes. They are written in easy-to-read, conversational paragraph form. May be a bit difficult to go without an ingredient list, but I like the way the recipes read, as though Bittman is in my kitchen teaching me new techniques.
• The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly -- I've put off finishing the last three books in the Michael Connelly library, simply because I didn't want my reading of him to be over! I hate when I finish every book a particular author has read and then I have to wait until they write something new. Some of those writers are so darn slow! Then again, I don't think I'd be quite as happy with the end result if they hurried through (think Danielle Steel or other prolific but terrible authors). But now I've taken the dive, so I give myself a week or so to finish all of his books. (I've already read 80 pages into this one!)
• The Garden of Last Days by Andre Dubus III -- I finally read his House of Sand and Fog years after it was written and the movie came out. It was wonderful in its true emotion and grit. I'm looking forward to this one which just came out last year.
• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver -- Have you noticed a trend in my memoir/ nonfiction reading lately? I've been consumed by foodie writings... Well, you only live once. You've got to go with what you know (and like) sometimes.
• Wishin' and Hopin': A Christmas Story by Wally Lamb -- Lamb doesn't seem like the type to write a just-in-time-for-Christmas novel. He's only written three novels over a 15-or-so-year career. In other words, he's not popping off a new novel every 3-6 months to make millions. Nevertheless, this does have the words "Christmas" and "story" in the title... Even though I'm not big on seasonal books, I'm diving straight in because I have absolutely no qualms about reading anything at all written by Lamb. It'll be fabulous, and I'll let you know that it was after it's completed!

Happy reading!