Holiday cooking & crafting.(Recommended readings)

Although you may not yet be thinking about Thanksgiving, a slew of Christmas and other holiday books is coming. This year's select titles run the gamut from down-home to sophisticated, narrow to broad, and sentimental to downright snarky. Crafters and cooks often determine whether to buy a particular title based on the number of projects or recipes in it they think they'll use. And many rely on their library to have a book (or to be able to get it through interlibrary loan) so they can preview it. Here are 15 titles to consider for the upcoming holiday season. [This article first appeared, slightly expanded, in 9/1/11 BookSmack!--Ed.]

The Big Book of Holiday Paper Crafts. Leisure Arts. 2011. 288p. illus, index. ISBN 9781609002466. pap. $19.95. CRAFTS

While this book covers holidays throughout the year, the bulk of it is dedicated to the fall and winter seasons, specifically Halloween and Christmas. The majority of the projects are cards, but there are also scrapbook pages, gift bags and tags, place markers, and decorative containers. The directions at times assume knowledge of paper crafting, so beginners will be able to use it only as an idea book for when their skills progress. Designer tips add instructional value, and templates and well-photographed end products are big pluses. Each project includes a supply list, but, as noted in the introduction, some supplies may have been discontinued. Perfect for libraries looking to update their paper-crafting collection with idea books filled with contemporary designs and materials.

Bragdon, Allen D. The Gingerbread Book. Skyhorse, dist. by Norton. Oct. 2011. c.172p. illus. ISBN 9781616084905. $19.95. COOKING

Gingerbread and craft construction would seem to be timeless topics, but photographs of the results become dated. This new edition of a 1984 title is a useful volume for its descriptions of gingerbread house construction techniques, process photographs, and historical recipes for gingerbread and corollary items such as sauces and drinks; however, the end-result photographs …