Cookbook Club

Last night the Library's Cookbook Club had its third meeting. We meet the fourth Tuesday of the month at 6:00 PM.

The first book we cooked from was How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. We liked beginning with this book because it had recipes for all types of foods and meals and lots of practical kitchen tips.

Our second book was Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. The recipes in this book use vegetable purees to make the dishes healthful, a good trick for parents of picky eaters. However, we decided we all love vegetables and need no tricks!

For our third meeting, we chose recipes from Southern Living Homestyle Cookbook, our favorite so far. This book had so many appetizing recipes. It is definitely worth checking out.

 

Cookbook Club will meet again on September 25 with dishes from Michael Symon's Live To Cook. Request this book today if you would like to join us!

Summer Reading Ends

Summer is coming to an end and we celebrated our Summer Reading Program "Reading is Soooo Delicious" with a party on July 28 with games, activities, and cake, all of which you can see below. Thank you to everyone who participated. We hope you had a summer full of good reads and will keep reading right into Fall.

Sack Races

Chalk Drawings

Hula Hoops

Bubbles

Face Painting

Pizza!

Cake made by Mrs. Maisel! It was SOOOO delicious!

And everyone took home a book to keep!



The Video Games are Back!

Heya KPLer's!

Many you were asking when the video games would be coming back? I'm happy to let you know that we got in a brand new bunch of them, and as KPL's resident gamer I'd like to tell you which gems jumped out to me in this collection. So without further ado...

Tetris Evolution (XBox 360)

One For the Family

- What's not to love about Tetris? The famous russian puzzler on the Xbox 360 gets a sleek HD gloss over and an updated chill version of its noteable theme song as you play. The traditional Tetris gameplay is there, but what makes this worth picking up is all the nifty variations to the game it contains.

There are up to 8 different game modes such as Marathon, Race, Hotline, and Eraser allows you to switch up the dynamic of the game, and if you have multiple controllers, you can play all of the modes up to 4 players at a time. There may not be a lot of new innovation to Tetris but it doesn't need to. If you love this classic puzzler, then you'll love this cleaned up version of it.

Marvel VS. Capcom 3: Fate of two worlds (PS3)

A Superstar Smash-up

- This long awaited sequel to the popular Marvel vs Capcom franchise boasts an impressive character list of 36 playable characters with 18 from each universe. Select your favorite team of three from the likes of Ryu from Street Fighter, Dante from Devil May Cry, or Chris Redfield from Resident Evil, and have them go against your fantasy version of the avengers with originals like Iron Man, X-men like Storm, or the outrageously silly Deadpool.

This version features simplified controls and has an extensive tutorial for new players to get up to speed with their favorite characters, but the game features all sorts of intricacies for the experienced player to harness their craft and play on a very competitive level. With a 3 on 3 tag system the combat is constantly fast and frantic, and each character has number of super moves to trounce your opponent in style. If you enjoy this one, know there is an newer version with even more characters to use. I personally have played this one a lot.

Dante's Inferno (Xbox 360)

Not One for the Kiddos

- Walk the path of Dante in this faithful recreation of the famous poem.... Well, except Dante wasn't a religious crusader... And his girlfriend wasn't kidnapped by the devil... and he didn't thrash his enemies with the scythe of the Grim Reaper.. Well, Ok. This game has about as much in common with Dante's famous poem as Edward from Twilight has with Romeo, but I guess to drive a plot it's as good as anything else.

The game is a shameless God of War rip off to say the least. The same controls of light attack, heavy, and ranged. There are a handful of puzzles to solve. There are a handful of good voice actors outside of a lot of terrible ones. Despite all that though, the game's familiarity is actually its saving grace because its executed well and is very fun to play. A number of the levels and monsters in this game have some very innovative and cool looking design to them, so its easy to keep playing to see what crazy thing you will see next.

The biggest problem, however, is as I eluded to at the start: This game is NOT FOR KIDS, in any way. I'd argue its not suitable for anyone under 17. The game is incredibly violent as you can imagine from the box alone, the game shows a LOT of exposed skin in all the wrong places, and some of the monsters and enemies have things so graphic I can't even describe them on this blog. The game is pretty good, but be warned. Games like this are why there are ESRB ratings at the bottom of the case.


So that's all I have for now, There are some other honorable mentions such as Super Smash Brothers for the Wii, Final Fantasy 13 for the PS3, and the Half-life 2: Orange Box for XB360. Come and take a look at what else we have in right by our circ desk next time you come in!

Not All E-books Available Through Libraries

If you're an e-book reader and use CLEVNET's emedia you may not always find the e-books you're looking for. Some publishers do not allow library lending through OverDrive, a library e-book distributor.

OverDrive -- a Cleveland, Ohio company -- provides digital content and rights protection to schools, libraries, publishers, and retailers. The CLEVNET Consortium uses OverDrive to provide patrons with access to e-books. Some member libraries purchase additional e-books and make them available to their patrons. At this time, Kirtland Public Library card holders only have access to the e-books available via CLEVNET.

Publishers who do not allow library lending through OverDrive include MacMillan, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Penguin. E-books published by these companies will not be available through CLEVNET.

HarperCollins allows twenty-six checkouts per copy and Random House offers e-books for library lending at high fees. Other publishers working with OverDrive are BBC Audiobooks America, Harlequin, and Bloomsbury.

There are still many titles available through CLEVNET e-media. See the help page to learn more about using OverDrive, specific devices, and downloading.

Summer Vacation Reading Part 2

Well I am back at work from my 2 week vacation.  During the first week I stayed home and volunteered at a children's camp my church sponsors.  During the second week I was relaxing on a small island in the Georgian Bay in Canada.  If you guessed that I read more while I was lolling on the deck in Canada, you guessed wrong!  I actually read more while I was at home.  After all day at camp, I was too tired to do anything else but read!

So...Here are the books I read on my Summer Vacation.


1.  A Bad Day for Mercy by Sophie Littlefield
Stella Hardesty is a smart, funny, feisty widow living in Missouri.  She has a little sewing shop that keeps her busy and a quiet little side business helping out women in abusive relationships.  Stella has a heart of gold and some of the funniest lines ever -- she tells it like it is!

2.  Fire In the Hole by Elmore Leonard
Had to read this short story collection because the title story is about US Deputy Marshal Raylan Givens and Boyd Crowder.  If you have seen the TV series "Justified" you know who I'm talking about.  This story was excellent, as were all the others.  Leonard has an excellent way with words -- and creates interesting characters.  (This book was on my list for vacation)


3.  The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo
I read Jo Nesbo because he is Norwegian and so am I.  This mystery in this novel takes place in present day Oslo, and on the German/Russian front line during WWII.  The story involves Norwegian soldiers who fought for the Germans against the Russians during WWII.  (this was on my list for vacation) 


4.  The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian
(this was published very recently and I was pleasantly surprised to get it!)  This a story of  the Armenian genocide by the Turks that took place in 1915.  Elizabeth Endicott, a proper Bostonian young lady, and her farther arrive in Aleppo, Syria to help provide food and medical care to Armenian refugees who have survived the desert march out of Turkey.  While there, Elizabeth meets and falls in love with Aram, an Armenian engineer who's wife and infant daughter were murdered during the diaspora.  Aram & Elizabeth's story is told by their granddaughter who discovered it quite by accident -- she had never been told about the events of 1915.  Elizabeth and Aram are based on the author's own grandparents.  This is a great story and the only book I read while I was away.


A confession -- I tried to read Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel and had to put it down.  It took too much concentration!  What I read was very good and I will certainly try this again!

I wanted to read A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin too.  I thought I had my son's copy at home, but when I went to pack it,  I discovered I had returned it to him. I think I will get this in CD format and listen to it while I am painting trim in my house and/or knitting!