Francine Prose: By The Book

“Impossible Creatures,” by Katherine Rundell (Alfred A. Knopf, 2024) Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. So we asked them, and all Denver Post readers, to share their mini-reviews with you.

What dishes did Denver try making at home in 2024? Part of that answer can be found within the city’s libraries, which loaned cookbooks to thousands of hungry readers over the year. They include volumes on purely soups, one-pan meals and healthy and sustainable cooking. Ina Garten’s memoir from this year was a New York Times bestseller, but local readers also returned to her for her dinner recipes. Related: 5 things I’ve learned from writing cookbooks Below are the most popular cookbooks of 2024, according to the Denver Public Library system, which tracks e-book and physical book loans separately. Electronic cookbooks “Every Season is Soup Season: 85+ Souper-Adaptable Recipes to Batch, Share, Reinvent, and Enjoy” by Shelly Westerhausen Worcel (251 checkouts) “Health Nut: A Feel-Good Cookbook” by Jess Damuck (184 checkouts) “5 Ingredient Mediterranean: Simple Incredible Food” by Jamie Oliver (130 checkouts) “Perfectly Good Food: A Totally Achievable Zero Waste Approach to Home Cooking” by Margaret Li & Irene Li (129 checkouts) “The Complete Plant-Based Cookbook: 500 Inspired, Flexible Recipes for Eating Well Without Meat” from America’s Test Kitchen (122 checkouts) Print cookbooks “Go-To Dinners: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook” by Ina Garten (194 checkouts) Related Articles Restaurants, Food and Drink | ACLU sues Colorado school district over removal of “highly sensitive” library books Restaurants, Food and Drink | Hundreds of bookstore staffers — including one in Colorado — get holiday bonuses from author James Patterson Restaurants, Food and Drink | The Book Club: “When We Flew Away,” by Alice Hoffman, and more short reader reviews Restaurants, Food and Drink | East Colfax brewery closing after 10 years of pouring literature-themed craft beer Restaurants, Food and Drink | Dick Kreck, whose wild Denver Post columns and books celebrated Mile High City, dies at 83 “Milk Street Simple” by Christopher Kimball (193 checkouts) “Dinner in One: Exceptional and Easy One-Pan Meals” by Melissa Clark (175 checkouts) “Skinnytaste Simple: Easy, Healthy Recipes Using 7 Ingredients or Fewer” by Gina Homolka (166 checkouts) “Smitten Kitchen Keepers: New Classics for Your Forever Files” by Deb Perelman (160 checkouts) Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, In The Know, to get entertainment news sent straight to your inbox.

Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. So we asked them, and all Denver Post readers, to share their mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer?

Staffers at Thank You Books in Birmingham, Alabama, San Francisco’s City Lights Books and The Nook in Cedar Falls, Iowa, are among 600 booksellers receiving $500 holiday bonuses from James Patterson, the bestselling novelist who has been awarding independent store employees since 2015. “Booksellers save lives. Period,” Patterson said in a statement released Tuesday through his publisher, Little, Brown and Company.

Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. So we asked them, and all Denver Post readers, to share their mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer?

Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. So we asked them, and all Denver Post readers, to share their mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer?