Staff Picks

This pick is no April Fool's joke. How many times are you reading and, when you come across a word you don't know, you just gloss over it? If you keep a compact dictionary handy, you will be surprised how many times you use it and how often the word you thought meant one thing really means another. Sure, I still use my large dictionaries and online resources, especially when writing, but when I'm in bed or at the beach with a good book, the paperback dictionary does the trick. And if one must use American English, The American Heritage Dictionary is my favourite.

I spent a winter in Pakistan between the two terms Ms. Bhutto served as prime minister, and that time provided great insights into a nation, culture, and religion I would not have otherwise. Islam is no more the religion we see on CNN than Christianity is what we see via our televangelists. Eerily, Ms. Bhutto (beloved as simply Benazir to her loyalists) finished this book just days before her recent assassination. There are a number of books trying to sell you on a particular view of the the tensions between Islam and the West, but Ms. Bhutto comes as close to putting forth a "pure" essence as humanly possible.

This book has been one of my favorite winter reads--it is set in winter, and I read it about every other winter--for twenty years. At the core is 25-year-old Philip, beginning to experience life as a gay man, and his parents, Owen and Rose, who begin to face the realities of their own lives. "Superbly crafted" has become a cliche in the publishing world, but every time I read it, The Lost Language of Cranes earns that distinction.

This cookbook is my new favorite. We tend to think of chefs' recipes as complicated, but these are dishes easily prepared by culinary laypeople--or, perhaps more accurately, foods that professionals would prepare at home for their own friends after a long week of more ambitious cooking at work. This December I not only (once again) ignored the rule not to prepare a new recipe for company without a trial run, but I decided to debut a recipe from this book at a holiday party hosted by my boyfriend for his work buddies. (More specifically, for them to meet me and decide whether or not I was suitable material.) Common sense said not to, but I was determined that the Virginia Willis' Peach-Dijon Crusted Pork Tenderloin would be much nicer than the ubiquitous sliced ham. How right I was. The recipe was foolproof, people ate well and, most important, I got approved.

Why go to Commander's Palace for chicory coffee-lacquered game hens or to West Hollywood for tuna with edamame puree when you can create such haute cuisine at home? Addiction counselor-cum-QVC personality Hope Fox tells you how in Impress for Less! She's canvassed some of the country's most popular fine restaurants, provided recipes and included sources for unusual ingredients. Best of all, the book starts with Atlanta. If you want your house full of guests to enjoy Canoe's marinated beets and goat cheese, she not only tells you how to make it but where to order the goat cheese and the piping bag so it looks just like chef Carvel Gould prepares it. Bon appetite!

Maupin's Tales of the City series was my favorite reading of the late 80s. For those of us who felt that we, too, lived a while at 28 Barbary Lane, the title itself is a reason to cheer. Now our beloved Mouse returns as narrator to face life in middle age while reuniting us with our old friends, including that unforgetable landlady/mother, Anna Madrigal.