Dear Great Book Guru, I was at a wonderful Mardi Gras party this week. The food was delicious especially the little party treats that I was told came from a recipe Sea Cliff luminary Gina Cressey (now a Maine resident) has shared with a multitude of her friends. Where can I get this valued recipe and, yes, do you have a good book to recommend, preferably one with a culinary theme? Food Fanatic

Dear Food Fanatic, How lucky you are- I have answers to both your questions. Gina's recipe for Party Rolls is in the Sea Cliff Civic Association Progressive Dinner Cookbook. I have served these many times and always to rave reviews. Now let's get to that good book for you: THE COOKBOOK COLLECTOR by Allegra Goodman. Two sisters, so alike so different…. Emily is the CEO of a Silicon Valley startup firm and Jess is a doctoral student in philosophy at Berkeley. The women lead parallel lives, each devoted to the other, each baffled by the other's choices in men, clothes, food, whatever. While there is much discussion of restaurants, favorite dishes, and family recipes, the underlying theme is one of substitution. The sisters substitute reading cookbooks for cooking (how many of us are guilty of that one?), collecting instead of using, starting instead of finishing. The characters that surround them: parents dead and alive, lovers, friends, and yes, a pair of rabbis, all add to this richly colorful tale. The sisters' adventures crisscross the country from Boston to L.A. giving us insight into life on both coasts, into the worlds of technology and academia, all of this with a touch of mysticism thrown in. Definitely there is food for thought in this book!