The timely and critically acclaimed debut novel that's becoming a word-of-mouth phenomenon...

When Lucy O'Rourke was 2 her father threw her into the New Jersey surf. She passed the flotation test then, but nature—wild and human—has been subjecting her to variations on the theme ever since. True, the thirtyish photographer-protagonist of Waltzing the Cat is drawn to dangerous locales, from the Ecuadorian jungle where murderous grand caymans lie at the ready to the Provincetown beaches where her latest nominee for Mr. Right seems only a hair less lethal. But as she has yet to learn, the most elemental struggles begin at home. In the heartbreaking title story, Lucy's classically disconnected WASP family channels all available affection through Suzette, their roly-poly feline (29 pounds and counting!). "The cat and I were always friends until I left home and fell in love with men who raised dogs and smelled like foreign places. Now when I come home for a visit the cat eyes me, territorial, like an only child."

Lucy's survival strategies also desert her when it comes to men. They're trouble when they don't want her, more so when they do. In addition, they're adept at giving the answer "no"—a trait they share with the males in Pam Houston's equally fine first book, Cowboys Are My Weakness. In "The Whole Weight of Me," for instance, Lucy's latest lad yet again eases himself out of things when she tells him she wants to see him soon. "'That would be great,' he said, in a voice that said clear as a bell that it wouldn't. And it was like someone had spliced together the wrong rolls of film from two different movies; it was that instantaneous how everything changed."

A less graceful, less wry writer would not be able to map Lucy's self-conscious journey of discovery with such ease and agility. Houston's adventurer is the sort of woman who runs into Carlos Castaneda after she's just missed a plane. What everybody says now is, How do you know it was really him, like that is the pertinent question. It was him, I say, like I learned in graduate school, or another man by the same name. I mean, is it less interesting if it was just some guy who thought he was Carlos Castenada, or more? On the other hand, she's also the type who gets recognized while checking out a display of animal-shaped dildos——"the kangaroo, the rabbit, the great brown bear, noses and ears turned inward, poised at the ready"—in the first sex shop she's dared to enter. Wherever Lucy is, her creator—often in the space of a single sentence—can quickly fill in the most crushing experience with a mix of longing and expertly timed comedy. —Kerry Fried

Today's knitters are chic, smart-and busy. Although they love to knit and enjoy making gifts for family and friends, they're constantly faced with the challenge of finding enough time to actually finish what they've started. Last-Minute Knitted Gifts solves this problem. Joelle Hoverson, owner of Purl, the hip knitting supply store in downtown Manhattan, has designed more than 30 fun, fresh, beautiful patterns, most of which can be made in less than ten hours-some in as little as two!

Known for her keen sense of color, Hoverson includes instructions for classic gifts like baby booties and bonnets, sweaters, and scarves, plus imaginative options like a cashmere tea cozy, a felted yoga mat bag, floor cushions, and a poncho-surely something for everyone on the gift list. And to make each present extra-special, Hoverson offers easy tips on how to incorporate knitting and other yarn embellishments into the gift wrap. AUTHOR BIO: Knitwear designer Joelle Hoverson is the owner of Purl, an upscale knitting supply store in New York City's trendy SoHo neighborhood. Since opening in 2002, Purl has been featured in Oprah Winfrey's O magazine, Lucky, and Time Out, as well as on Martha Stewart's syndicated television show. From 1996 to 2000, Hoverson worked as a senior style editor for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. She holds a master of fine arts degree from Yale University.

Anna Williams is a freelance photographer based in New York City. Her work appears frequently in Martha Stewart Living, Oprah Winfrey's O magazine, Food & Wine, Gourmet, Real Simple, In Style, Elle Decor, and other national publications.

"The rambunctious animals of BUNNICULA and HOWLIDAY INN are back with another comic escapade sure to garner an even wider audience."-Booklist. "A clever tale abounding with puns, wild chases and slapstick humor."-School Library Journal

Harold and Chester could hardly believe it. The Monroe family was going on vacation without them! Bunnicula, the family rabbit, would be boarded with a neighbor. But they, the family's loyal dog and cat, were to stay with strangers at the foreboding Chateau Bow-Wow...

No sooner had Harold and Chester settled into their bungalows than Louise, a French poodle involved in a messy love triangle, disappeared. Chester believed the six other guests were capable of anything — even murder. Would you trust a pair of dachshunds who howled at the moon and were rumored to be part werewolf? Or crazy Lyle, a cat convinced he was a secret agent?

All Harold and Chester knew was that in spite of themselves they had entered the crime detection business and neither foul play nor foul weather would stop them from finding out whodunit!

Separated from their owners on an overnight camping trip, Harold and Howie the dogs and Chester the cat spend a spine-tingling night in the deep woods, where they hear the hare-raising story of how Bunnicula, the vampire rabbit, first came to America.

What's more fun: eating food or reading about it? Justifying the latter proposition in style, Best Food Writing 2000 offers an enticing selection of the year's best book, magazine, newspaper, newsletter, and Internet food prose. It culls the work of a wide range of authors, including Maya Angelou, Madhur Jaffrey, Calvin Trillin, and John Thorne—writers associated with food and not. Foodies and nonfoodies alike will welcome Best as a rich source of literary snacking.

Within its five parts, which include "Stocking the Larder," "Dining Around," and "Personal Tastes," the book offers delights such as Eric Asimov on America's most expensive restaurant; Grace Young exploring wok cookery; Anthony Bourdain recounting a chef's day in the life; and Anne Willan on the Burgundian table. Readers will also enjoy Vince Staten on barbecue, Jim Quinn's "Recipes for Dummies," Laura Fraser on giving up vegetarianism, and Trillin on the perfect bagel. What emerges finally from the book is a sense of how we feed ourselves, in every way. A look at this compelling question, plus a host of other food-related matters, makes this collection a small joy. —Arthur Boehm

For food lovers, the next best thing to eating is reading about it. Best Food Writing 2001, compiled by Holly Hughes, offers these and other readers the year's most memorable food writing from books, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and Web sites. Like its predecessor, Best Food Writing 2000, the book is a banquet—51 pieces on food in all its nutritional, gustatory, psychological, sociological, and, in short, personal glory. Dip into the book anywhere and enjoy, for example, Jeffrey Steingarten on bluefin tuna, Molly O'Neill discussing the glories of soup, William Grimes on comfort food, and Coleman Andrews on eating in Rome. Readers also journey to Paris (of course) in the form of Michael Lewis's wonderfully cranky paean to cassoulet (with recipe), and with John T. Edge in his search for the best Parisian Southern fried chicken (it exists); they also follow humorist Calvin Trillin as he seeks desperately for superior ceviche in Peru, Ecuador, and Queens, New York. Also included are excerpts from Ruth Reichl's bestselling Comfort Me with Apples and Patric Kuh's The Last Days of Haute Cuisine. There's more, of course, on topics as diverse as the agonies of dinner-party hosting, a chef's-eye view of dining out, and preparing perfect rice. Ideal for bedtime reading, the book also makes a great gift for fellow foodaholics who can't get enough of their favorite passion. —Arthur Boehm

For food lovers, the next best thing to eating is reading about it. Best Food Writing 2001, compiled by Holly Hughes, offers these and other readers the year's most memorable food writing from books, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and Web sites. Like its predecessor, Best Food Writing 2000, the book is a banquet—51 pieces on food in all its nutritional, gustatory, psychological, sociological, and, in short, personal glory. Dip into the book anywhere and enjoy, for example, Jeffrey Steingarten on bluefin tuna, Molly O'Neill discussing the glories of soup, William Grimes on comfort food, and Coleman Andrews on eating in Rome. Readers also journey to Paris (of course) in the form of Michael Lewis's wonderfully cranky paean to cassoulet (with recipe), and with John T. Edge in his search for the best Parisian Southern fried chicken (it exists); they also follow humorist Calvin Trillin as he seeks desperately for superior ceviche in Peru, Ecuador, and Queens, New York. Also included are excerpts from Ruth Reichl's bestselling Comfort Me with Apples and Patric Kuh's The Last Days of Haute Cuisine. There's more, of course, on topics as diverse as the agonies of dinner-party hosting, a chef's-eye view of dining out, and preparing perfect rice. Ideal for bedtime reading, the book also makes a great gift for fellow foodaholics who can't get enough of their favorite passion. —Arthur Boehm

For food lovers, the next best thing to eating is reading about it. Best Food Writing 2001, compiled by Holly Hughes, offers these and other readers the year's most memorable food writing from books, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and Web sites. Like its predecessor, Best Food Writing 2000, the book is a banquet—51 pieces on food in all its nutritional, gustatory, psychological, sociological, and, in short, personal glory. Dip into the book anywhere and enjoy, for example, Jeffrey Steingarten on bluefin tuna, Molly O'Neill discussing the glories of soup, William Grimes on comfort food, and Coleman Andrews on eating in Rome. Readers also journey to Paris (of course) in the form of Michael Lewis's wonderfully cranky paean to cassoulet (with recipe), and with John T. Edge in his search for the best Parisian Southern fried chicken (it exists); they also follow humorist Calvin Trillin as he seeks desperately for superior ceviche in Peru, Ecuador, and Queens, New York. Also included are excerpts from Ruth Reichl's bestselling Comfort Me with Apples and Patric Kuh's The Last Days of Haute Cuisine. There's more, of course, on topics as diverse as the agonies of dinner-party hosting, a chef's-eye view of dining out, and preparing perfect rice. Ideal for bedtime reading, the book also makes a great gift for fellow foodaholics who can't get enough of their favorite passion. —Arthur Boehm

For food lovers, the next best thing to eating is reading about it. Best Food Writing 2001, compiled by Holly Hughes, offers these and other readers the year's most memorable food writing from books, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and Web sites. Like its predecessor, Best Food Writing 2000, the book is a banquet—51 pieces on food in all its nutritional, gustatory, psychological, sociological, and, in short, personal glory. Dip into the book anywhere and enjoy, for example, Jeffrey Steingarten on bluefin tuna, Molly O'Neill discussing the glories of soup, William Grimes on comfort food, and Coleman Andrews on eating in Rome. Readers also journey to Paris (of course) in the form of Michael Lewis's wonderfully cranky paean to cassoulet (with recipe), and with John T. Edge in his search for the best Parisian Southern fried chicken (it exists); they also follow humorist Calvin Trillin as he seeks desperately for superior ceviche in Peru, Ecuador, and Queens, New York. Also included are excerpts from Ruth Reichl's bestselling Comfort Me with Apples and Patric Kuh's The Last Days of Haute Cuisine. There's more, of course, on topics as diverse as the agonies of dinner-party hosting, a chef's-eye view of dining out, and preparing perfect rice. Ideal for bedtime reading, the book also makes a great gift for fellow foodaholics who can't get enough of their favorite passion. —Arthur Boehm

Best Food Writing 2005 assembles the cream of the culinary crop from the past year’s books, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and Web sites. With ten sections ranging from Cooks at Work to You Are What You Eat, Dining Out to Drinking Again, this outstanding collection includes both established food writers and rising stars whose passion comes through on every page. By turns outspoken, subtle, insightful, nostalgic, and playful—and often straight-up funny—Best Food Writing 2005 whets the appetite time and again, whether you’re craving caviar—or corn dogs.

Best Food Writing 2006 assembles, for its seventh year, the most exceptional writing from the past year's books, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and Web sites. Included are the best writers on everything from celebrated chefs to the travails of the home cook, from food sourcing at the greenmarket to equipping one's kitchen, from erudite culinary history to food-inspired memoirs. Like past collections, the 2006 round-up will include pieces from food-writing stars such as Robb Walsh, Ruth Reichl, Thomas McNamee, John Thorne, Calvin Trillin, Amanda Hesser, Colman Andrews, Jason Epstein, and Jeffrey Steingarten. Opinionated, evocative, nostalgic, brash, thought-provoking, and sometimes just plain funny, it's a tasty sampler to dip into time and again, whether you're in the mood for caviar — or hot dogs.