We are starting the New Year of 2012 by facing our fears!  My Year with Eleanor by Noelle Hancock provides inspiration and entertainment as Noelle loses her high paying job and is inspired by an Eleanor Roosevelt quote to confront her fears.  Noelle's account of facing her physical and emotional fears moves from the somewhat silly to the serious as the book progresses and we realize just how many fears Noelle is dealing with.  Join us as we learn about the wonderful Eleanor R. and the psychology of fear.

Spending the past week in North Carolina made me want to make a Southern bundt cake.  When I think of Southern cooking/baking, I think Paula Deen.  As a coconut lover I chose the coconut pound cake recipe from Paula's book Paula Deen Celebrates!  This recipe was serious business:  4 sticks of butter and 6 eggs!  If you hate coconut do not get near this cake.  And, if you're dieting you can probably gain weight just by looking at this cake.  

All that being said, it's a great cake.  Easy to make, rich, and can be topped with frosting (as Paula herself suggests).  

P.S. Tomorrow is the big day:  National Bundt Day. Check out one (or more) of our many baking books to find some new recipes.

This might be the world's easiest "cake."  Most people love it and it takes very little time to make.  It's pretty much foolproof and looks great.   Unfortunately, circumstances beyond my control have severely limited my bundt cake making time.  So, when I saw this bundt I knew I had to make it. 

Check out tomorrow's post for new cakes celebrating National Bundt Day (Nov 15).  And, if inspired, please share your favorite bundt cakes with us in the comments section. 

I am not a natural baker.  I often like the idea more than actually baking anything.  That being said, sometimes I find great satisfaction in baking and other times... Well, they're like today.

For my second bundt (leading up to National Bundt Day, Nov 15) I chose to make "The Naughty Senator" (yes, I planned this to coincide with voting today) from the book All Cakes Considered by Melissa Gray.  Each recipe in the book was made by Melissa and tested by NPR's All Things Considered staff.  Very cool.

The Naughty Senator is a peppermint and chocolate rum marble cake.  To me it sounded... kind of good and kind of weird.  Well, it's both!  However, here's where my lack of baking satisfaction comes into play:  I did everything exactly according to the recipe.  I did, I swear!  But, instead of having a pastel green and chocolate swirled artful design my cake had color blobs.  And, it was really puffy.  And, unfortunately, it was slightly overcooked.  So... what to do?  Consider it a complete failure?  Nope, I frosted it to respectability.  Or at least to making it look a little better.    

Taste? Not bad. But, definitely not for mint haters.  The rum flavoring?  I couldn't really taste it, but I just used a non-alcoholic extract. Maybe that makes a difference.

Wouldn I make it again?  Probably not.  But, the name alone made it the perfect cake for today. 

Join us Monday, May 2 at 7:00 PM in the library's meeting room.  Didn't have time to read the book?  No worries, come anyway and enjoy the discussion and guest speaker.

As we all emerge from our winter hibernation, our eating habits probably need some improving, so join us to discuss Mindful Eating by Jan Chozen Bays and hear what Barb Geske has to add to the conversation.  Barb is a nutrition and fitness coach who doesn't believe in deprivation, only "balance and choices."  Check out her blog with recipes, insights, advice, and encouragement.  Then see her in person and have fun with the Better Living Book Club!

Join us for a reading and book signing by popular Michigan Notable Author Heather Sellers.  ELPL is very excited to host author and Hope College Professor Heather Sellers, author of the nationally known book, You Don't Look Like Anyone I know: A True Story of Family, Face Blindness, and Forgiveness. 

The mission of the The Better Living Book Club is to read practical and inspirational material that enhances our lives.  As life gets more complicated, we'll focus on readings with suggestions for living more fully with greater joy and less stress

Come to the Better Living Book Club on Monday, March 7 at 7:00 pm and discover the benefits of regularly expressing gratitude.  Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier by Robert Emmons, Ph.D. will be discussed.  If you haven't read this book, but have read another title on gratitude, join us and add your book to the discussion.  We'd be grateful!

On Monday, April 4 at 7:00 pm, clutterbuster Rita Wilhelm of Cluttergone will join us to discuss Unclutter Your Life in One Week by Erin R. Doland. Doland's book was reviewed by organization expert Peter Walsh as "Simple, practical advice that makes one week truly life changing. A great resource. "  Come to our discussion and share your clutter issues with an expert who can help.                                                                                                         

Join us Monday, February 7 at 7:00 to discuss Positive Energy by Dr. Judith Orloff, a psychiatrist and medical intuitive, as she offers insights on having a more nurturing life.

"Dr. Orloff presents a powerful new approach to increasing energy, relieving fatigue, and finding inner peace. Highly recommended!"
-- Dean Ornish, MD.
Author, Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease

Been too stressed to read about achieving inner peace?  No worries, come and just listen to a fun discussion!

Wasn't that an inspiring evening with Jackson Kaguri last night?  You can find out more about Nyaka School here.  You can find out more about the book, and watch some video clips here.

5 new Lit Kit titles have been added to the collection. Lit Kits are everything you need for a book discussion group in one bag. For more information on Lit Kits click here.

New titles just added.
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Cutting For Stone
The Help
Little Bee
Two Old Women

Mario Vargas Llosa is the winner of  this year's Nobel Prize in Literature. The Peruvian writer is known for his political works that focus primarily on Latin American corruption and power. The last South American to win the prize was Gabriel Garcia Marquez in 1982.

New York Times Article

The night falls faster and the wind howls around our heads.  We are moving into the dark season.  Yes, it almost seems as though ghosts are peeking from high windows and furtive figures are lurking behind every tree as we move closer to All Hallows Eve.

Don't feel it yet? Then, get some dark inspiration from October's two book displays in the library!

Ghastly Ghosts & Ghouls presents the classic ghost story and all its transformations ... to get you scared out of your boots!

Killer Thrillers highlights all your favorite authors whose novels pit an ordinary human being against the darker forces of human nature. Thrillers take you through high stakes, non-stop action plots with twists that both surprise and excite.  The intense pace never lets up until the adrenalin packed climax.

Since childhood, I've had a fascination with times of warfare and the people who live in them ... the French Revolution, the Civil War, both World Wars.  Through the years, I've read many memorable books on and around the topic, from The Warriors: reflections on men in battle, by J. Glenn Gray, to The Great War and Modern Memory, by Paul Fussell (both of which I highly recommend).

It's no surprise, then, that my eye alighted upon "Beyond Fear: Great Combat Memoirs of the 20th Century," an article in the current issue of Military History.  The editors draw attention to 9 memoirs that demonstrate the spirit, strength, pain, and raw courage that have enabled the best to survive the worst, from World War I through Vietnam.

For a truly compelling reading experience, try a book from the list:

With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa, by E. B. Sledge.
Quartered Safe Out Here: a recollection of the war in Burma, by George MacDonald Fraser.
The Coldest War: a memoir of Korea, by James Brady.
A Rumor of War, by Philip Caputo.
We Were Soldiers Once...and Young:  Ia Drang, the battle that changed the war in Vietnam, by Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway.

As we celebrate Father's Day on Sunday, June 20, 2010 ... here are some great recent books that remind us of the importance of fathers in our lives ... no matter how old we get.

The Council of Dads : my daughters, my illness, and the men who could be me, by Bruce S. Feiler.

Father Fiction : chapters from a fatherless childhood, by Donald Miller.

Not My Boy! : a father, a son, and one family's journey with autism, by Rodney Peete.

My Father, the Captain : my life with Jacques Cousteau, by Jean-Michel Cousteau.

Losing My Cool : how a father's love and 15,000 books beat hip-hop culture, by Thomas Chatterton Williams.

No Wonder My Parents Drank : tales from a stand-up dad, by Jay Mohr.