Magazines for parents too busy to read books

Are you an adoptive parent or a prospective adopter?
Adoptive Families magazine covers current adoption issues and has articles by adoption lawyers and doctors about medical and legal questions, plus international adoption information and many other parenting topics.
www.adoptivefamilies.com

Are you a new parent?
American Baby covers all the basics for expectant and new parents. Health, development, product evaluations, behavior advice and nutrition are covered.
http://www.americanbaby.com/

Are you the parent of a child or teen with special needs?
Exceptional Parent: the magazine for families and professionals caring for people with special needs covers autism, accessibility, mobility, assistive devices, and much more.
www.eparent.com

Do you homeschool your children?
Home Education is a standard title for homeschooling families, and winner of a Parents' Choice award.
http://www.homeedmag.com/

Looking for some new ideas for family time?
FamilyFun Magazine can help spark creative togetherness - it's main focus is family activities.
http://www.familyfun.go.com/

Interested in helping your preschool child learn?
Parent & Child from Scholastic focuses on the learning link between home and school, with an emphasis on early learning.
Parent & Child website

Other popular parenting magazines available include:
Parents
Parenting

All these magazines are available at the library and back issues (other than the current issue) can be checked out for 3 weeks.

Items available at one branch can be requested for delivery to another.

For Literary Types

The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) has a blog which features prominent contemporary writers writing about prominent contemporary writers (and some not so contemporary).

If you look forward each year to the announcement of the
National Book Award winners, then this blog is for you:
Critical Mass

The New York Review of Books also has a blog that was started slightly less than a year ago:
A Different Stripe

And here's a link to their regular publication:
New York Review of Books

To keep up with what's happening across the Pond,
check out the Times Literary Supplement

For the more esoteric reads,
try the LitBlog Co-Op, an effort to "unite the leading literary weblogs for the purpose of drawing attention to the best of contemporary fiction, authors and presses that are struggling to be noticed in a flooded marketplace."

Recently added eAudiobooks

Here are some adult, teen and children's titles now available to download:

Ivy + Bean by Annie Barrows.

Death of a scriptwriter by M.C. Beaton.

The Flamenco Academy by Sarah Bird.

Freddy and the Ignormus by Walter R. Brooks.

Go put your strengths to work : 6 powerful steps to achieve outstanding performance / Marcus Buckingham.

The secret by Rhonda Byrne.

Since you're leaving anyway, take out the trash by Dixie Cash.

Curiosity killed the cat sitter by Blaize Clement.

Summer of light by W. Dale Cramer.

Get organized the clear & simple way : reclaim your home, your office, your life / Marla Dee.

Forbidden fruit : love stories from the Underground Railroad / by Betty DeRamus.

A meeting in the ladies' room by Anita Doreen Diggs.

Understanding the holocaust by David Engel

Grave surprise by Charlaine Harris.

Invisible by Pete Hautman.

Infamous by Virginia Henley.

Renovating Becky Miller by Sharon Hinck.

Far North by Will Hobbs.

Where have all the leaders gone? by Lee Iacocca with Catherine Whitney.

Betrayal of the mountain man by William W. Johnstone with J.A. Johnstone.

Deepwater by Matthew F. Jones.

The treasure of Jericho Mountain by Cameron Judd.

Dog days : dispaces from Bedlam Farm by Jon Katz.

Justice Hall by Laurie R. King.

Rules by Cynthia Lord.

The Spellman files by Lisa Lutz.

Living an empowered life! : techniques for creating clarity, confidence, optimism, and wealth! by Denise Lynch.

Christianity at the crossroads : the Reformations of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by Thomas F. Madden.

The year of secret assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty.

Dark sky by Carla Neggers.

In search of Eden by Linda Nichols.

Astrid & Veronika by Linda Olsson.

Rant : an oral biography of Buster Casey / by Chuck Palahniuk.

The Cupid chronicles by Coleen Murtagh Paratore.

The wedding planner's daughter by Coleen Murtagh Paratore.

Miss Julia strikes back by Ann B. Ross.

Invisible prey by John Sandford.

The lady in blue by Javier Sierra ;translated by James Graham..

Dear Mr. Jefferson : letters from a Nantucket gardener / by Laura Simon.

For more information about downloadable audiobooks, see
NetLibrary on the library's website.

For a list of compatible playing devices, see Supported Portable Listening Devices

Cheesemaking and Bread baking

Artisanal cheeses are coming into their own as the next big local resource.

The Atlas of American Artisan Cheese includes a listing by state of specialty cheese producers,
plus indexes by types of cheese: cow, goat, sheep, water buffalo, raw milk and organic.

For learning about how cheeses are made, the The Cheese Nun on DVD provides a fascinating and delightful personal journey as Sister Noella Marcilleno becomes a champion for artisanal cheesemakers on both sides of the Atlantic.

If you're ready to try it on your own, Home Cheese Making: recipes for 75 homemade cheeses will get you started.

For general information about all types of cheese, check out
The Cheese Primer by Steve Jenkins which discusses the principles of cheesemaking and describes the cheeses of Europe and North America.

To accompany your cheese, some resources on bread baking include:
Video Bread Series.
This is a very non-threatening set of 8 DVDs, good for a complete novice, on all aspects of bread baking: kneading, rising, punching down, etc., plus tips on pizza making, muffins, sweet rolls, pie crusts, and how to really get some use out of your dusty bread machine.

If you're more comfortable with the bread baking process, check out Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads which offers over 600 pages of bread baking recipes. It covers more than just bread, and is very thorough in approach.
America's best-loved bread-baking authority returns with the 30th anniversary edition of the New Complete Book of Breads, the definitive version of this baking classic.