In 1960s Palau, life was raucous, laughable, and harrowing. I lived with a Palauan family in a decrepit old shack of plywood and cardboard which almost burned down. When my elusive heart throb finally led me to her room one night, I barely avoided coming under the knife. I could never have imagined I would find myself stranded one stormy night on a reef infested with sea snakes; or find myself positioned in the middle of a riot between locals and the US Coast Guard. But whether diving with Life Magazines Stan Wayman, fending off sharks for underwater photographer Doug Faulkner, fishing with Lee Marvin, or searching for starfish, it was mostly all good.

The companion to PBS’s Kimchi Chronicles, this beautiful, poignant, and transportive Korean cookbook features stunning photography and more than 90 recipes for every meal of the day—with a foreword by Jean-Georges Vongerichten. In the PBS series Kimchi Chronicles, Marja Vongerichten and three-star Michelin chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten gave viewers an insider’s look at Korea as they traveled the country and experienced its authentic flavors and cultural traditions. As the show's companion cookbook, The Kimchi Chronicles includes a recipe for every dish featured, such as Jean-George’s Fast, Hot Kimchi, Spice-Rubbed Korean Chicken, Grilled Stuffed Squid, Bibimbap, and Seafood and Scallion Pajeon, and explains how they can be easily duplicated in an American kitchen. Chef Vongerichten also offers original dishes with a lighter, modern flair that show how the flavors of the Korean table can be readily integrated into any meal. With tips and tricks for stocking your pantry, choosing the proper tools, and more, The Kimchi Chronicles is an informative, inspiring, and entertaining introduction to Korean food.

When Rimi learns the real reason behind Shusei’s betrayal, it strengthens her resolve to bring him back from the point of no return, but her failure to provide Kojin with a suitable dish still hangs over her head. On top of everything else, the interrogation over her kidnapping begins. While Shohi stands as the judge, a misunderstanding puts him at odds with his chancellor, leading to a worst-case scenario: Kojin announces his plans to resign and leave the capital! Get ready for the tangled web of emotions unraveling in the ninth volume of Culinary Chronicles of the Court Flower!

Everything you never knew about sushi—its surprising origins, the colorful lives of its chefs, and the bizarre behavior of the creatures that compose it Trevor Corson takes us behind the scenes at America's first sushi-chef training academy, as eager novices strive to master the elusive art of cooking without cooking. He delves into the biology and natural history of the edible creatures of the sea, and tells the fascinating story of an Indo-Chinese meal reinvented in nineteenth-century Tokyo as a cheap fast food. He reveals the pioneers who brought sushi to the United States and explores how this unlikely meal is exploding into the American heartland just as the long-term future of sushi may be unraveling. The Story of Sushi is at once a compelling tale of human determination and a delectable smorgasbord of surprising food science, intrepid reporting, and provocative cultural history.

The Vatican Chronicles is a tongue-in-cheek novel about the most dangerous act of nuclear terrorism in the twenty-first century, a romp of international intrigue and espionage by a man who spent thirty-three years in the field. The explosive story begins in Washington and focuses on the most recent shipment of plutonium by Japan from Cherbourg to Nagasaki—a shipment that could produce three hundred Nagasaki-size bombs. A bizarre attack on His Holiness at the Vatican’s summer palace and the murder of a well-known cardinal in the Vatican hospital lead a much-loved and popular pope and an unloved and unpopular intelligence agency to form an unlikely joint venture to save a key priest at an obscure monastery near Kyoto. As readers, we are treated to a Japan no Westerner is permitted to see, and made privy to a Vatican initiative so daring it may not be revealed. The harrowing escapade of nuclear terrorists will succeed unless a handful of Americans and Japanese, aided by the Vatican, can discover who is behind the threat and stop them. Wikipedia defines roman à clef (French for novel with a key) as “a novel about real life events that is overlaid with a façade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people. The reasons an author might choose roman à clef format include writing about a controversial subject and/or reporting inside information (and) the opportunity to turn the tale the way the author would like it to have gone.”

This is the story of a handful of boys in 650BC Israel who encounter lifes challenges head on. Good friends, family, faith in God and trust that total strangers can be relied upon even when there seems to be no other choice. Perhaps family life 2650 years ago was not as different as we hope to see them today. Husbands are commanded to love their wives, sons adore their fathers, and daughters display the Godlike feminine qualities of their mothers. But regardless of the times we live in, life is full of hardship and danger. How we react to that danger tells the lord and mankind who we really are. Jacob listened for an hour or more, putting together the story as they talked on and off about why they were here and who had sent them. Finally he decided that is was futile to try to save anyone: evidently there was no one left to save. As far as he knew he was the sole survivor of the once proud little village of Hamadi. It was hard for him to control his emotions as he sat in his hiding place and listen to the soldiers talk of the atrocities they had performed upon his people, but then his thoughts turned to Lehi and Ishmael.

NAACP IMAGE AWARD WINNER • “Phenomenal . . . transforms the kitchen into a site for creating global culinary encounters, this time inviting us to savor Afro-Asian vegan creations.”—Angela Y. Davis, distinguished professor emerita at the University of California Santa Cruz JAMES BEARD AWARD NOMINEE • IACP AWARD FINALIST • ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Vogue, San Francisco Chronicle, Forbes, Food & Wine, Salon, Garden & Gun, Delish, Epicurious More than 100 beautifully simple recipes that teach you the basics of a great vegan meal centered on real food, not powders or meat substitutes—from the James Beard Award-winning chef and author of Afro-Vegan Food justice activist and author Bryant Terry breaks down the fundamentals of plant-based cooking in Vegetable Kingdom, showing you how to make delicious meals from popular vegetables, grains, and legumes. Recipes like Dirty Cauliflower, Barbecued Carrots with Slow-Cooked White Beans, Millet Roux Mushroom Gumbo, and Citrus & Garlic-Herb-Braised Fennel are enticing enough without meat substitutes, instead relying on fresh ingredients, vibrant spices, and clever techniques to build flavor and texture. The book is organized by ingredient, making it easy to create simple dishes or showstopping meals based on what’s fresh at the market. Bryant also covers the basics of vegan cooking, explaining the fundamentals of assembling flavorful salads, cooking filling soups and stews, and making tasty grains and legumes. With beautiful imagery and classic design, Vegetable Kingdom is an invaluable tool for plant-based cooking today. Praise for Vegetable Kingdom “In the great Black American tradition of the remix and doing what you can with what you got, my friend Bryant Terry goes hard at vegetables with a hip-hop eye and a Southern grandmama’s nature. To paraphrase Maya Angelou, Bryant wants us to know that once we know vegetables better, we will cook vegetables better. He ain’t lyin’.”—W. Kamau Bell, comedian, author, and host of the Emmy Award–winning series United Shades of America “[Terry’s] perspective is casual and family-oriented, and the book feels personal and speaks to a wide swath of cooks . . . each dish comes with a recommended soundtrack, completing his mission to provide an immersive, joyful experience.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)