Read: Lorraine Johnson - City Farmer, Adventures in Urban Food Growing

As we prepare to move to our new home with immense yard, filled with gardening dreams, this was the perfect book to read. Inspirational stories of urban farms and gardens, edible landscapes, innovative growing methods and places.

Want to Read: Alice Waters - The Art of Simple Food

This book is in a recent New York Times Magazine's list of "If You Could Have Only One Cookbook, What Should It Be?". Seasonal cooking with great ingredients from farmer's markets. Sounds like just the thing as we get geared up for our greater gardening endeavours!

Want to Read: Suzanne Goin - Sunday Suppers at Lucques

This book is in a recent New York Times Magazine's list of "If You Could Have Only One Cookbook, What Should It Be?". A mash up of Mediterranean with California; easy to break down the recipes into manageable components. What's not to love with that?

Want to Read: Marcella Hazan - Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

This book is in a recent New York Times Magazine's list of "If You Could Have Only One Cookbook, What Should It Be?". I love Italian food, and could always learn more about how to cook it.

Want to Read: Patricia Wells - Bistro Cooking

This book is in a recent New York Times Magazine's list of "If You Could Have Only One Cookbook, What Should It Be?". French cooking. Likely to bring back memories of great meals we had there.

Want to Read: Cook's Illustrated - The New Best Recipe

I love Cook's Illustrated - the explanations of the work that went into developing the recipe help convince me to actually follow the steps - and if I do, it works! This book is in a recent New York Times Magazine's list of "If You Could Have Only One Cookbook, What Should It Be?".

Want to Read: Mark Bittman - How to Cook Everything

I love Mark's column for the New York Times - very practical yet inspiring. This book is in a recent New York Times Magazine's list of "If You Could Have Only One Cookbook, What Should It Be?".

Read: Johanna Spyri - Heidi

I was missing the Alps, so picked up my copy of Heidi, which I bought second hand several years ago, and haven't read in a very long time. The descriptions of the Alps and its cheeses were great reminders of our time in Grenoble. I was able to much better picture their home and herding life after having visited a museum about traditional Alpine life. But I'd forgotten about the heavily religious overtones and embarrassingly simplistic characters. Not sure I'm going to re-read this one again.

Read: Orson Scott Card - Enchantment

This was a re-read, possibly the fourth time. I took it along as I spent some time waiting out the home inspection while we were selling my house. Always a good read - the author does a great job of making this Sleeping Beauty fairy tale come alive in a plausible and modern way.