Best Baking Cookbook

I always check out cookbooks from the library with good intentions of trying out some of the recipes, but when it comes to actually cooking something out of it, I fail miserably. However, I actually came across this cookbook (Williams-Sonoma: Essentials of Baking) as I was shelving one day, took it home, actually figured out how hard it would be to make each recipe, and followed through in making several of the recipes. (It must be because I love bread, and there are tons of great bread recipes.) I highly suggest this cookbook above all others; I have made more things from this cookbook than I have any other.

Summer 2008 Reading List Thus Far

Sharon Creech
Meg Cabot (I know, I'm still in middle school)
Terry Pratchett
Douglas Adams
Chuck Palahunik
Frances Meyer
Christopher Moore
Lemony Snicket- I need to finish 10-13
Nick Hornby
Joanne Harris
Anita Diamant
Gail Carson Levine
C.S. Lewis
Jerry Spinelli
James Patterson
John Grisham
Janet Evanovich- I hear from old people at the library all the time that her Stephanie Plum series are hilarious
Eoin Colfer- I still need to read the Artemis Fowl series- I've been putting it off since roughly 6th grade

Right now I'm working on reading Fight Club- I'm about a 1/4 in, Ella Enchanted (which my student teacher Mrs. Spaulding never finished reading to us in Mrs. Foster's 5th grade class), Terry Pratchett's Hogfather, which I just started today, and am finishing up the latest book in the James Patterson Maximum Ride series. Crazy.

I'm On the Fence About This One

My friend came into work the other day and returned the book Dairy Queen, which I then asked if it was any good. Her response took a couple seconds, and then said (more or less), "Yeah...it was okay. There's nothing too special about it; I didn't really think it was good, but then there were times as I was reading it that I found I couldn't put it down. I mean, I knew that it wasn't that great, but for some reason I couldn't stop reading it. I guess that means it's good." I was intrigued and so instead of reading all the other books that were (and still are) piled on my desk, read this one instead. I found that her recommendation of this book pretty much sums it up. To give you a brief synopsis of what it's about, here goes: a girl who has 2 older brothers who play football, and a younger one who is destined for NFL greatness is set among a dairy farm in Wisconsin. She (D.J.) is forced (for lack of a better word) being the only one in her family who can milk the cows and take care of the farm due to her father's bad hip and her brothers' star careers in sports. As the book goes on D.J. ends up training the star quarter back of the rival high school's football team all summer and learns how to overcome her social awkwardness, inexperience with boys (other than her jock brothers), develops a voice (in the literal sense; she rarely talks), and learns to embrace herself and try out for her high school's football team. The first half of the book was mediocre, but once D.J. made the decision to try out for football, things picked up. My friend's opinion of the book sums up perfectly how I felt once I finished it. However, because the second half of the book showed promise, I'm now reading the sequel, The Off Season. I know. Go figure.