Average customer rating:
- Read "rage" First
- More Hard Boiled than the movie, a ripping read!
- As gritty as Ellroy and as clever as Parker
- It's thems, the nasty 'licemens!
- Chester Himes at His Best
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Cotton Comes to Harlem
Chester Himes
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Himes, Chester
| African American
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
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Himes, Chester
| ( H )
| Authors, A-Z
| Literature & Fiction
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General
| Mystery
| Mystery & Thrillers
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General
| Mystery & Thrillers
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Similar Items:
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A Rage in Harlem
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The Real Cool Killers
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The Heat's On
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The Collected Stories of Chester Himes (Himes, Chester)
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The Crazy Kill
ASIN: 0394759990
Release Date: 1988-11-28 |
Book Description
Black flim-flam man Deke O'Hara is no sooner out of Atlanta's state penitentiary than he's back on the streets working the scam of a lifetime. As sponsor of the Back-to-Africa movement he's counting on the big Harlem rally to produce a big collection--for his own private charity. But the take ($87,000) is hijacked by white gunmen and hidden in a bale of cotton that suddenly everyone wants to get his hands on. With Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones on everyone's trail and piecing together the complexity of the scheme,
Cotton Comes to Harlem is one of Himes's hardest-hitting and most entertaining thrillers.
Customer Reviews:
Read "rage" First.......2004-04-14
This novel has some of the same characters as Himes' Rage in Harlem. This is not a sequel and it is not imperitve that you read "Rage" first, but I think that you will like this book more if you have read about Coffin Ed and Gravedigger Jones in the early novel.
More Hard Boiled than the movie, a ripping read!.......2002-05-12
Chester B. Himes wrote a series of "Hard Boiled" detective novels set in Harlem during the the 1950's and 60's. His two main protagonists were "Coffin Ed" Johnson and "Grave Digger" Jones, a couple of black police detectives operating in the seedy underworld of Harlem and New York City. Himes himself had served time for armed robbery in Ohio. While in prison he first read the works of Dashiell Hammet("The Maltese Falcon","The Thin Man",etc.)and decided that he could write similar fiction set in Harlem's vibrant African-American culture. He moved to France after his prison release and then began to write (in French!) his own brand of mysteries set in the New York City section that had become world famous for it's culture, nightlife and intellectual renaissance. The first of these mysteries was "A Rage in Harlem"(first published in French as "For Love of Imabelle" in 1959). Coffin Ed and Grave Digger were only minor characters in this first novel, but by the time of the 5th novel "Cotton Comes to Harlem" they were the stars of the series.
In "Cotton..." a ex con named Deke O'Hara scams $87,000 from a group of families who want to go to Africa to start a new life free from segregation and prejudice. Before O'Hara can abscond with the money a group of white gunmen steal it in the middle of the "Back to Africa" rally O'Hara is hosting and then escape. All this takes place in the first few pages, and the action only steps up the pace from that point on. Cotton Ed and Grave Digger are assigned to the case, and their brand of brutal, violent police work may not be always legal, but they have their own code of honor, which demands that they do all in their power to see to it that the families get their money back, as in most of the cases it amounts to their life savings. Through a maze of deceit and treachery filled with white supremacists, voluptuous women, scam artists, underworld informants, and real to life street people the two cops thread their way with both violence and guile. I won't spoil the ending, but suffice it to say that Himes delivers.
The book was made into a movie in 1970 which played up the humorous aspects of the book. While there is much mordant and cynical humor in Himes' writing, the book is much more than that, and deserves a place in the "Hard Boiled Detective" Hall of Fame. If you like this one I would recommend Himes' other works, especially "The Real Cool Killers".
A definite 5 stars.
As gritty as Ellroy and as clever as Parker.......2002-03-30
... The book doesn't concern Bible Flowers. It's about the efforts of two black detectives, "Grave Digger" Jones and "Coffin Ed" Johnson, to recover $87,000 in money stolen from a con-man/storefront preacher in 1960s Harlem. Along the way, Grave Digger and Coffin Ed encounter a few murders, a southern colonel, and a 50-pound bale of cotton.
Raymond Chandler wrote that detectives must walk the mean streets, but they must not themselves be mean. Well, Grave Digger and Coffin Ed walk the mean streets just fine, but the "not being mean" part gives them trouble; they doubt the feasibility of solving a case without, say, slapping around a few witnesses or firing a few shots into a crowd. Despite the detectives' unhesitating brutality, this novel compares well to the best of Raymond Chandler and Robert B. Parker. This is due not only to the spot-on dialogue and the stark, vivid character depictions, but also the detectives' uncompromising determination to bring justice to Harlem. The plot is better, i.e., less predictable, than any of Parker's, and Himes's depiction of 1960s Harlem is so bizarre, yet compelling, that it invites comparison to Carl Hiassen's Florida rather than Chandler's LA. Add to this Himes's unique, excruciatingly honest depiction of race relations in the 1960s, and you have one of the best detective novels I have read in years.
...
It's thems, the nasty 'licemens!.......2001-08-15
The dialogue, the action, the characters, it's Harlem world and it's all here! What else do you want?
Chester Himes at His Best.......2001-08-13
As a mystery writer with my debut novel in its initial release, I genuinely admire the works of Chester Himes. I consider COTTON COMES TO HARLEM his finest work. Deke O'Hara is a recently freed con man, and his con of a lifetime has gone bad. His take has been highjacked, and our tough urban cops Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones are on his tail (as well as the tail of everyone else involved in the con and the highjacking of the small fortune). Himes writes terrific dialog, and he captures his setting perfectly. His characters are vivdly drawn, and his plot is a fastmoving steameroller taking many unexpected twists and turns. COTTON COMES TO HARLEM is THE BOOK by Chester Himes that every mystery reader ought to read.
Average customer rating:
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Cotton Comes to Harlem
Manufacturer: Allison & Busby
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000I1HX4M |
Average customer rating:
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Cotton Comes to Harlem
Manufacturer: G. P. Putnam's Sons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Dutch
| Foreign Language Books
| Specialty Stores
| Books
ASIN: B000EPRBC6 |
Product Description
Originally published in 1964 in France as "Retour En Afrique" featuring Coffin Ed Johnson & Grave Digger Jones.
Average customer rating:
- This REALLY should be in print
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The Harlem Cycle: Cotton Comes to Harlem; Blind Man with a Pistol; Plan B
Chester Himes
Manufacturer: Payback Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Himes, Chester
| African American
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Anthologies
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
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Himes, Chester
| ( H )
| Authors, A-Z
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Thrillers
| Mystery & Thrillers
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General
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
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ASIN: 0862416922 |
Customer Reviews:
This REALLY should be in print.......2006-02-01
These final three novels in the Harlem Cycle form a natural trilogy and truly belong together in one volume. Kudos to the publishers who put it together, and a great big giant raspberry to them for letting it go out of print. Only the first volume of this three-volume omnibus collection (each of which collects three novels) remains available, while this much-more-important final volume -- the ever-more-surreal, complex and disturbing conclusion to Himes' chef-d'ouevre -- languishes. Bring it back, PLEASE.
Average customer rating:
- Moving and songlike
- A thoughtful, lyrical masterpiece
- Combination of fantasy, drama and reality -- Superb!!
- Very disappointing
- Unhappily ever after
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Swan's wing
Ursula Synge
Manufacturer: Bodley Head
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General | Essays | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Literary Criticism & Collections | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 037030425X |
Customer Reviews:
Moving and songlike.......2001-03-24
This book is a jewel among plain river stones, a slim volume and yet deeply penetrating. Though it is not heavy reading, it is graceful and philosophic, sorrowful and enlightening. It is a glimpse at the mortality of man's creations and the imperfection in all we make. But it is not a pessimistic story; indeed, it shows how we carry on, despite our fall from grace, in a world of our own making.
A thoughtful, lyrical masterpiece.......2001-03-24
This is the story of Matthew, a stone carver who abandons a life of riches, a full stomach, and comfort to search for the perfection he feels his work has always lacked. He longs to create "a man who will step down from the cross and walk" but is told that God alone can do such things, and is tortured by his inability to truly create. On his wanderings, he meets a goose girl, Gerda, who is traveling with a man who is what Matthew seeks. He is Lothar, the youngest of eleven princes who were transformed into swans and back again. But Lothar remains between a man and a bird: he has a swan's wing in the place of an arm. He is looking for someone to change the enchantment back. Gerda, who loves him, follows. To Matthew, Lothar is the perfection that he searches for, and goes with them upon their quest. Yet the deep sorrow of the prince is forever pulling at the reader - what is it he truly seeks? an arm? or to once again become a swan? The beauty and simplicity of this work touches the philosopher in us all, and it lingers with us long after the book has been lain aside.
Be warned - it is not for those of you looking for the story of the 11 swans from fairytales, or for readers of adventurous fantasy. Its purpose is not to thrill or to continue the story of the swans, it is a quiet, insightful look at human nature.
Combination of fantasy, drama and reality -- Superb!!.......1999-10-16
Although after reading the other reviews of this book I can understand how they were disappointed (it supposedly is a continuation of some other story line), I disagree entirely. I picked it up without knowing any previous connection(s) to other fairy tales and fell in love immediately with its combination of fact vs. fiction, good vs. evil, outward appearances vs. inward realities, and finally truth over deception. What I enjoyed most was how we all see others based on the outward appearance, and frequently neglect to search deeper. Parts of the unrequited love element woven within the pages actually made me cry. It was different, totally enthralling and I will reread it over and over. Excellent!!!
Very disappointing.......1999-09-07
The story of the Six Swans has always been a favorite of mine, so I was looking forward to reading a retelling of it. Unfortunately, Swan's Wing did not come close to fulfilling my expectations, and in fact bears little relation to the original. Most of the story is a pretentious, boring tale of an artist called Matthew; he fills up the pages with his internal conflict and self-doubting concerning his ability to create art, his faith in God, and so on. Occasionally the author remembers that this is supposed to be a continuation of The Six Swans, and writes a little about Lothar, the man with a swan's wing, who also experiences much anguish and internal conflict. (It is a very anguish-filled book, both for the characters and for the reader.) Then there's the sweet, beautiful goose girl, Gerda, who must have been there for some reason but I can't recall it. Ailanna, the other reviewer, is right about this book; the characters are uninteresting, and it is overly moralistic and melodramatic. I kept having to put it down and read something else. I forced myself to read a chapter a day. The narrative technique was confusing. For the first half of the book, it is third-person, apart from occasional paragraphs in italics which are told in first-person from Matthew's point of view. All of part two is first person. I can see no particular reason for this strange technique, and can only conclude that it was meant to seem important and literary, and/or the author just felt like it. I do not recommend this book at all. I would like to find a better retelling of The Six Swans to get this out of my mind; unfortunately, I can't find a copy of The Seventh Swan, which is supposed to be good.
Unhappily ever after.......1999-08-13
In the fairy tale of the brothers who were turned into swans by their evil stepmother and saved by the shirts of thistle woven by their sister, one brother got an incomplete shirt. Handsome Lothar is left with the curse of a swan's wing in the place of his left arm. Swan's Wing deals with Lothar's desperate and unhappy quest to find a cure. Three friends accompany him: a wood carver disatisfied with God and perfection, a determined maid in love with Lothar, and a goose. Lothar does not find his cure; he finds the cold Duchess Almira who collects oddities. He is drawn into her web of icy seduction and loses himself. Can his friends rescue him?
At the end of this short but unwieldy novel, the reader no longer cares whether Lothar is rescued or not. He and his companions inspire only indifference, and they seem distant and cold. The whole plot with Almira seems out of place and underemphasized; the wood-carver's many internal dialogues concerning God are dull and preachy. More than half the book is spent in journeying (both physical and spiritual) and all of it is overly moralistic and heavy-handed. The ending is a twist that has none of the impact it supposes it does. Swan's Wing tries for symbolism and lyricism but achieves only melodrama. If you're in a fowl mood, Mercedes Lackey's new one, The Black Swan, is a better bet.
Average customer rating:
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A Swan's Wing.
Kitty. HAMILTON
Manufacturer: Philo: Am Here Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UBKKMW |
Average customer rating:
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Wings of the black swan: Poems of love and loss
Michael Bullock
Manufacturer: Rainbird Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
British | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | 18th Century | 19th Century | 20th Century | Classics | Contemporary | General | Historical | Humor | Letters & Correspondence | Middle | Old | Poetry | Renaissance | Shakespeare | Short Stories
ASIN: 0968489427 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from World Literature Today, published by University of Oklahoma on June 22, 2002. The length of the article is 553 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Michael Bullock. Wings of the Black Swan: Poems of Love and Loss.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
Author: Peter Loeffler
Publication:
World Literature Today (Refereed)
Date: June 22, 2002
Publisher: University of Oklahoma
Volume: 76
Page: 95(1)
Article Type: Book Review, Brief Article
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
Help yourself to a pain-free neck. The simple and effective self-help exercises in Robin McKenzie's Treat Your Own Neck have helped thousands find relief from common neck pain. This easy-to-follow book helps you understand the causes, treatments and exercises to help relieve pain and prevent recurrence.
Customer Reviews:
Great book, simple exercises that work.......2007-05-17
After being out a week from work due to lower back pain, a friend let me borrow this one and Treat Your Own Back. Also bought this one 7 Steps to a Pain-Free Life: How to Rapidly Relieve Back and Neck Pain. All three were very helpful as was gettting in a pool & stretching. By combining these exercises Robin recommends with pool stretching, the pain was relieved within a few weeks.
I have also been using Targus AWE26US Ergonomic M-stand for Notebook Computers at work with my notebook which has eliminated most all of my upper neck pain. Also, walking for 20-30 minutes each day at lunch and getting a better chair really helps lower back pain. Steelcase's Leap chair has been the best one I've used so far.
The other thing you hear a lot is not to sit more than 20 minutes without getting up for at least a minute or two. I use this program, "Take A Break", which blinks on my laptop to remind me to do that. [...]
neck health, diskectomy and fusion victim . . . ........2007-03-10
read this book and use the methods BEFORE surgery. What the doctors DO NOT tell you about diskectomy and fusion surgery is that you will be disabled for life and will never be able to do many activities ever again.
The book is excellent for neck mobility and health. Try it as an option before going under the knives. . . .
pain in the neck!.......2007-03-06
I had an awful pain in the neck. I went to a chiropractor and got no relief. So, I ordered this little book. The exercises are simple but effective, common sense really. No more nagging pain and as long as I perform the exercises my neck feels pretty good!
Don't bother with this one.........2007-02-02
This book came from a recommendation from my orthopedic.. he informed me there was pretty much nothing I could do about my low back except for "Quit with the running and high impact exercises". This book basically tells you to sit up straight, but a back support under your lower back, and lie several times a day on your stomach, and push yourself up on your arms and hold that position to reinstate the arch in your lower back.. well, duh.. If you are in decent shape this one is not for you. I could see where it may help if you are old, overweight, out of shape, and don't know what else to do..
Saved me from surgery.......2006-11-01
I dealt with the most severe pain in my life for several months with a herniated disk in my neck. I had had spinal epidurals, lots of pain medication and little relief. I finally made the decision that I was going to need surgery. This was Saturday and I had an appointment for Wednesday with my orthopedic. My sister-in-law sent this book to me and I started the exercises on that Saturday. By Wednesday I felt the best I had felt in over 6 months. I asked my orthopedic what he thought about these exercises. He said they probably would help, he knew about McKenzie, but in the 4 months I had been seeing him he never told me about this book or these exercises. 3 months later I have almost no problems. And I did not need surgery. I also now have a favorite sister-in-law.
Product Description
McKenzie's widely-applied patient handbook for common neck pain will help you learn to relieve your neck problems and prevent recurrence of symptons in the future. Treat Your Own Neck is a handbook that offers a step-by step system of eductaion, awareness, exercise and prevention.
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding Book!! Pain-free within a week...........2007-08-30
Outstanding book!! My pain has almost completely gone and a big thanks to Honorable. Robin McKenzie for coming out such a gem. In fact, I would go one step ahead and recommend that he deserves to get a `Noble Prize' for helping and treating back for so many people in a much simple way. I have undergone so much upper back/neck pain for the past few years and my life was miserable. The pain was unbearable and I went to depression many times which affected both my work life and family life. I couldn't concentrate much and felt like that's the end of my life. I went to several Physiotherapists who gave various treatments where I felt better but the pain again repeated. Out of frustration, I just browsed amazon.com and entered back pain and I found this book. I immediately ordered and did the exercise only for a week 10 times a day as he suggested (It lasts only 2 minutes/time totaling 20 minutes) and my pain was completely gone almost 90%. I immediately bought the neck pad and back pad which he suggested and am pain free now. The exercises are really simple and anyone can do it with minimal effort.
Please do yourself a favor. Please buy this book for $10 to be pain-free instead of spending hundreds of dollars to physio's and if at all to confirm whether you do the exercises in a right way, please do take couple of visits with McKenzie-certified physiotherapists (http://mckenziemdt.org) who will do a better job than a regular physiotherapists.
A book for a pain free lifestyle.......2007-08-04
I occasionally have severe neck pain that leads to debilitating headaches, and finally bought this book to stop the pain (I already own McKenzie's "Treat Your Own Back"). The exercises in this book were great, but the real value of the book was learning how to keep my head in correct posture and learning how to shape my pillow to stop the neck pain from sleeping. This is an excellent book, and it's really helped me stop my neck pain from reoccurring. I highly recommend it to everyone suffering from neck pain.
Excellent.......2007-07-12
I was given this book years ago when in therapy for a herniated disk and found it as useful the second time as the first. It is best to do the exercises in conjugation with approved physical therapy however. A couple of the exercises i did too extreme and aggravated the neck. The therapist helped show me where to stop the movement appropiately.
DJD Neck.......2007-03-24
I formerly had a copy of this book, as well as another by the same author. I loaned each of them to persons with neck & back problems, and never got them back! I think it was because they are so helpful to people with neck and back pain. I recommend this book without reservation, merely cautioning the reader to read it completely before starting the recommended excercises.
Amazon.com Reviews
Richard Sax has it right: the most accomplished pastry-chef creations don't provide the direct pleasures of good-old homemade desserts. Sax's Classic Home Desserts, first published in 1994, more than makes the point. A classic itself, the book offers more than 350 clear, accessible recipes for the world's home desserts--everything from cobblers and crisps to puddings, pies, and sauces to ice creams, simple pastries, and cakes of all kinds--while providing tips for success, a truly useful glossary of baking equipment, plus 48 color photos depicting the confections in their simple glory. It's hard to imagine a cook--would-be, amateur, or professional--who wouldn't want this comprehensive collection.
In chapters covering every conceivable homemade dessert type, which, besides those listed above, includes sweet pancakes and dumplings, cookies, creams, fools, jellies, tarts, and more, Sax offers a repertoire that's both old-fashioned, and, where desirable, innovative. (But discreetly so: he likes to add a little fresh ginger to his plum crisp, for example.) The recipe titles tell all: Southern-Style Peach and Raspberry Cobbler, Peanut Butter Pie with Fudge Topping, The World's Best Lemon Tart, Double Chocolate Pudding, and Split-Level Lime Chiffon Pie are representative American offerings. Old World specialties include Sephardic Walnut Cake with Honey-Lemon Syrup, Ricotta Strudel from Trieste, and Custardy Prune Pudding or Far Breton, one of Brittany's best-loved sweets, among others. A full repertoire of cookies, from New Mexican Anise Christmas Cookies to 1950s Pecan Puffs, makes the book a great holiday baking resource. With information on techniques, historical and anecdotal notes, and reprints of old recipes, the book is a trove of good information as well as great dessert-making direction. --Arthur Boehm
Book Description
For this collection, unmatched in the field of dessert cookbooks, Richard Sax devoted more than a decade to searching out and perfecting 350 of the world's best and most beloved home desserts. Everything the cook longs for is here: cobblers and crisps, cakes and cookies, puddings and souffls, pies and pastries, ice creams and sauces. Extensive sidebars - profiles of cooks, engaging recollections of favorite desserts, quotations from hundreds of literary works, and excerpts from fascinating old recipes - make this an indispensable, lively volume. Winner of a James Beard Award and a Julia Child Award!
Customer Reviews:
Unsure.......2007-10-05
I was very excited to get this book seeing that it got 2 awards. But I've now completed 2 recipes with less than stellar results. The first was, "All-time-best summer fruit torte". Now here is my odd experience. The batter before cooking tasted amazing which was very exciting. The torte looked beautifully decorative coming out of the oven. I had followed each instruction carefully. I served this for a party of 12 and not a single person said a positive word (my own disappointment was apparent when I took a bite myself - not even as good as a store bought cake!). Ok, so I gave him a second chance with Greek Custard-Filled Phyllo Pastry (Galaktaboureko). Thank heaven I didn't make the mistake of serving that one to guests!!! The recipe calls for possibly 4x the actual amount needed for the custard (I believe this to be a mistake, just look at the photo inside the book as proof!). It was a horrible wiggly mess (not a flaky syrupy dream similar to Baklava). I am almost out of hope, please tell me which recipes are sure to be true and a pride to serve!?
Superb dessert cookbook.......2006-12-22
Richard Sax has distilled the essence of quality desserts into this superb cookbook. The recipes use quality ingredients, and the resulting products are equally high-quality. There is no lack of butter, eggs or cream (read fat or calories) in most of the recipes, so they would not be appropriate for some. However, if you are looking for the kinds of desserts you might buy in a fine bakery, this is the book for you. I made the cheesecake and the coconut cream pie for Thanksgiving. Both were immediate hits.
Essential kitchen resource.......2006-02-25
This is not the first time I've purchased this book as a gift. My edition was an earlier printing and is one of the essential resources on my kitchen bookshelf. The recipes are flawless. And along with the tantalizing photos, historical sub-text and personal comments by Mr. Sax, this is a cookbook to love and to treasure for as long one is active in the kitchen.
Delicious Recipes--A favorite cookbook of mine for 11 years!.......2005-05-20
I received this as a gift in 1994, the year it was first published. Although I have a large cookbook collection now, I use less than ten on a regular basis. Classic Home Desserts is a great cookbook and is my staple for baking desserts, especially for cake recipes.
I feel that healthy eating is best, but desserts do have a special place-mostly reserved for holidays and special occasions in our household. My policy is that if I am going to eat a dessert, I want it to be worth the calories, fat and carbs. There is nothing worse than eating a dessert that is flavorless or just inferior quality-but you won't have that problem with baking from THIS cookbook.
After getting married and then, later, after having children, I began a tradition to bake a birthday cake for my family members from scratch and this cookbook is my recipe source. Each time I serve a dessert from this book I receive numerous compliments. Several people have also suggested that I open a bakery or start a home business baking desserts. This always surprises me as all I did was follow the directions in the recipes in this book-nothing special was done on my part and certainly the recipes are not my original creations. For the cakes, I am always surprised when people are shocked when they find that the cake actually has flavor-because they have grown used to grocery store baked cakes which have almost no flavor!
Our family favorite for yellow cake is the 1-2-3-4 cake, it is very moist and flavorful and always receives rave reviews. I also use the 1-2-3-4 cake recipe, as per the books directions, as the cake portion of the Boston Crème Pie. The Applesauce-Carrot Cake is the absolute best carrot cake I've ever had in my life, and friends and relatives agree. (I amend the recipe by omitting the lemon from the frosting and use vanilla extract instead for a traditional cream cheese frosting that is not lemon flavored). The Chocolate Cloud Cake is to die for, and a must-try for chocoholics (use the best chocolate you can find for the best flavor). The All-American Fudge-Chunk Brownies are delicious and a far cry from supermarket boxed mixes.
I was raised in a home where cakes were baked from boxed mixes from the grocery store. I now know that cakes from scratch with quality ingredients are far superior in taste. Baking cakes from scratch is also not difficult at all and takes just a few minutes more than using a boxed mix (the extra time is the 3-4 minutes it takes to cream the butter and sugar).
A Kitchen Aid stand-up mixer is also a kitchen must-have and makes baking so easy!
Cookbooks that have different recipes than Classic Home Desserts which are also staples for baking in my kitchen are: The King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary Cookbook for the bread recipes (easy to make with the stand-up mixer) and for Italian cookies and Christmas cookies: Sweet Maria's Italian Cookie Tray: A Cookbook by Maria Bruscino Sanche.
This book would make a wonderful gift!
A Dessert Bible.......2005-03-16
How could anyone quibble with this book? There is so much historical information coupled with good sense and excellent recipes. So many of the desserts are simple to prepare and impressive when served. I reach for this book often and have given it as a gift; when it was out of print for a while I searched for it second hand. If you have never made the pumpkin pie recipe, this is a great place to start (consider substituting Irish Whiskey for Bourbon) or perhaps try the Panna Cotta with Poached Pears in Merlot sauce. This is one of the all-time great dessert cookbooks. By the way, the "World's Best Lemon Tart" really is incomparable.
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- Crewel Yule (Needlecraft Mysteries)
- Curse of the Bane (The Last Apprentice)
- Dead Girls Don't Wear Diamonds: A Blackbird Sisters Mystery (Blackbird Sisters Mysteries)
- Death and Restoration (Art History Mystery)
- Death of a Stranger
- Death of Riley (Molly Murphy Mysteries)
- Deceptions (Laws of the Blood, Book 4)
- Decider
- Depth Perception (Berkley Sensation)
- Dutch Uncle (Hard Case Crime)
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