Mario Batali: Eating Seasonally in 'Molto'

Although it’s not physically possible to be in two places at once, Mario Batali will have you checking your old physics textbook just to be sure. Chef and restaurateur may be the most prominent items on his impressive résumé, but add to that cookbook author, founder of the children’s charity the Mario Batali Foundation, co-founder of the 50,000-square-foot Eataly in New York City, and, most recently, co-host of the daily talk show, The Chew.

'Tis the holidays...Check out more new cookbooks for 2011.

Amid this whirlwind of activity, Batali took some time to answer a ...

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Cheating to Save Your Marriage

Cheat on Your Husband—if that title doesn’t catch your eye you are more jaded than I am. When I first saw the titillating cover, I did a double take and thought, “Someone actually published a book about that?” Until I examined the door hanger on the cover completing the command  “…with your husband.” It made more sense as a marketable topic, but I still wanted to find out more about the book.

Read last week’s 5 Minutes for Books on dealing with your teenage daughter.

Andrea Syrtash writes a relationship column that has exposed her to the ...

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Gabrielle Bernstein: 'Spirit Junkie'

The New York Times has called motivational speaker, life coach and author Gabrielle Bernstein the next-generation guru. Her first book, Add More~ing to Your Life: A Hip Guide to Happiness, established her as the leader of a new wave of soul searchers and a mentor to young women nationwide. Bernstein’s latest, Spirit Junkie, details the author’s spiritual journey in a guidebook that encourages others to overcome their fears and welcome everyday miracles.

Did you read Erica Jong's collection of women writing about sex, 'Sugar in My Bowl'?

You’ve always loved to speak but have said ...

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Living, Loving, Coping With a Teen

When my daughter turned 13, I practically got sympathy cards from my friends. Everyone seemed to think that I was in for six years of roller-coaster emotions—and mostly negative ones at that. “They get nice again about 20,” an experienced friend said. My daughter is 14 and a half now, and I have to say, so far so good. We've had our share of disagreements, but it's not been horrible. In fact, most of the time, she’s delightful. I like spending time with her and it's mutual. (And I did just double-check this with her ...

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Taking on School Food with ‘Lunch Wars’

My third-grade son often eats a school lunch. I feel like I have to defend the fact that I don’t pack him a lunch every day, but the food he gets at school is healthier, cheaper and, of course, more convenient than what I would send from home. Each year, my district implements more changes to make the menu more nutritious, and I couldn’t be happier with the lunches.

Read the last 5 Minutes for Books on The iConnected Parent.

Award-winning documentary filmmaker Amy Kalafa worked with Dr. Susan Rubin, the founder of Better School Food, to create ...

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Off to College: ‘The iConnected Parent’

This month parents all over the country have been saying so long to their kids leaving for college. But is it really goodbye? For this generation, the answer is not at all.

Read the last 5 Minutes for Books on Lauren Shockey's Four Kitchens.

Parents and their young adult kids are more connected than ever due to the immediacy of cell phones and e-mail. The parental expectation that they should be able to reach their child at any time, usually established in high school, doesn’t change much as teens go to college, observe Barbara Hofer, a Middlebury College ...

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A Quick Tour of ‘Four Kitchens’

When I moved to Mauritania, a country located in the Sahara Desert, I wasn't prepared to be served boiled intestines or goat's head on a bed of couscous, the tongue arranged just so, but I did my best. Just between you, me and the Internet, sometimes I fake chewed and fake swallowed, but at least I tried to be polite and eat whatever I was served. So I was amused and offended when I had Mauritanian friends for a nice, normal spaghetti dinner and watched them leave it after one bite.

“We don't like it,” they said ...

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5 Minutes for Books: '500 Acres and No Place to Hide'

Lots of lush land, hearty animals grazing and a wardrobe consisting of overalls and work boots—these are the classic images that come to mind for most folks when they think about life on the farm. For Susan McCorkindale, the first two visions ring true, though she prefers a pair of heels to finish off her country couture. The author continues to chronicle her life as city girl turned a little bit country in her second memoir, 500 Acres and No Place to Hide: More Confessions of a Counterfeit Farm Girl.

Read the review for McCorkindale's first book, Confessions ...

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5 Minutes for Books: 'What's Eating Your Child?'

For years, I struggled with allergies, sinus infections, eczema, anxiety and reflux.  Medications helped control the symptoms, but they worsened with time. In search of better health, I made drastic changes to my diet. Four months later, 95 percent of my issues have cleared completely. I am now convinced that food plays a crucial role in wellness, and I believe it has a dramatic effect on the lives of our children as well.

Read the last 5 Minutes for Books on Sugar in My Bowl.

In her new book, What's Eating Your Child?, Kelly Dorfman explores the relationship between ...

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5 Minutes for Books: Sex, Women and ‘Sugar’

As a 19-year-old, first-year resident assistant in college, I was once given some advice about promoting any type of program I was hosting in my dorm—on all ad signs, place the word SEX in a prominent place, regardless of its relativity. I may not have been brave enough to follow it, but I understood. Sex sells, and sex merits attention.

Read an excerpt from Sugar in My Bowl.

In our sex-saturated culture, one would think it must be a topic of conversation as easy to delve into as the weather. After reading Sugar in My Bowl: Real Women Write ...

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5 Minutes for Books: Playground Dreams with ‘KaBOOM!’

I’m lucky to live in an area of northern Colorado that is family friendly. There are several large playgrounds with many amenities, and every school has a playground that’s open to the public. There is a lot of open space, perfect for a game of kickball or to throw a football around. 

Read the last 5 Minutes for Books on the art of running.

Not everyone is so lucky.  After Darell Hammond read about two children who died while playing in a car because they had nowhere else to go, he decided to build them a playground.  Fifteen ...

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‘Sugar Nation’: This is Why You're Diabetic

Jeff O’Connell was the picture of health. Tall and thin, the Men’s Health writer never thought he’d have to worry about Type 2 diabetes, a disease that seemed to only afflict the overweight. But his father was diabetic, and O’Connell would be too if he didn’t act quickly. Sugar Nation follows the author’s 18 month-long quest to improve his health sans medication through exercise and a low-carb diet. Here, he tells us about the unexpected coincidences that led to his recovery.

Read more new and notable nonfiction books for July. 

Would you have been ...

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5 Minutes for Books: The Art of Running

Until recently, I enjoyed various forms of exercise, but hated running. That changed in January 2010, when I started a “Couch to 5K” program. Since that time, I have completed a 5K, 10K and even a half-marathon. Running is now an integral part of my life, and it has made me stronger, more confident and more sanguine.

Why?

In To Be a Runner, bestselling author Martin Dugard provides the perfect explanation: "The act of running is a decision to be the best possible version of yourself. It is a striving to be more than mediocre, if only for that burst ...

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5 Minutes for Books: The Difficulties of Motherhood in ‘Black Milk’

I'm sitting in Haifa's apartment when the talk turns to male-female roles. “It's hard for women,” she sighs. “Those mens (sic) get everything they want. We have to give up so much, to take care of houses and children. My art, my ideas...” she sighs again and lets the sentence trail off.

Read the last 5 Minutes for Books on Bonding Over Beauty. 

Haifa is an Iraqi refugee in her mid-60s. Her husband is a renowned artist, famous in his own country and region. Haifa feels that she has lost much of herself and promotes only her ...

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5 Minutes for Books: 'Bonding Over Beauty'

Each summer I hit the motherhood reboot button, thinking  “This year we’ll have the perfect summer full of educational activities and field trips, family read-alouds, and special bonding experiences tailor-made for each child.”  I don’t generally meet all my goals, but we end up doing more than sitting around staring at screens, which might otherwise be the default.

Read the last 5 Minutes for Books on myth-busting titles.

Erika Katz’s Bonding Over Beauty has given me some ideas for special projects that I can do with my soon-to-be teen daughter during these days of leisure. She and ...

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5 Minutes for Books: Myth Busters

Professors of pediatrics and authors of Don’t Swallow Your Gum, Aaron Carroll and Rachel Vreeman have been featured on The Dr. Oz Show, CNN, in the New York Times and many other media outlets. Now, they follow the success of that myth-busting book with Don’t Cross Your Eyes…They’ll Get Stuck That Way!: And 75 Other Health Myths Debunked.

Read more lifestyle and parenting advice with 5 Minutes for Books. 

Here, Carroll and Vreeman use various studies to uncover a variety of health-related myths.  I found myself reading aloud to my husband almost every one, amazed to ...

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5 Minutes for Books: ‘Grow the Tree You Got’

This is no gardening manual—Tom Sturges’ Grow the Tree You Got is a parenting book containing advice “and 99 other ideas for raising amazing adolescents and teenagers.” I’ve read plenty of parenting books, but the problem is that after about 50 pages, while I’m nodding “yes, yes, this is just what I need,” the rest of the book often just delivers more of the same. 

Read Dr. Oz and Dr. Roizen's latest, YOU: The Owner's Manual for Teens.

I have a daughter who will soon be 13. I know what I want to do to ...

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The Teen Years with Drs. Oz and Roizen

Michael F. Roizen, founder of RealAge.com, and Mehmet C. Oz, Emmy-winning host of The Dr. Oz Show, are two of America’s most trusted doctors. They also happen to be the bestselling authors of the YOU health series and have teamed up again, this time for YOU: The Owner’s Manual for Teens.

Read more new releases on health and wellness at Kirkus.

Roizen and Oz hope the book will help teens better understand their bodies and minds as they navigate the turbulent adolescent years. Recently, Roizen talked to us about his writing partnership with Oz and what they ...

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5 Minutes for Books: 'The Art of Roughhousing'

Calm down. Not in the house. Our couch is for sitting. These are the sentiments that are very often coming out of my mouth directed toward my three children. Living in a small house is one reason why I encourage quiet indoor games, and the fact that the vast majority of our furniture is of the Swedish build-it-yourself variety, thus not the sturdiest in the land. Truly, though, I know that I am simply more comfortable when my children are not being wild...as children are wont to do.

Read more 5 Minutes for Books at Kirkus about holidays from ...

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Modern Love in ‘Marriage Confidential’

Pamela Haag applies a keen analytical eye (she holds a doctorate in history from Yale) to compassionately and often humorously dissect today’s affectionate, stressed-out, passion-challenged, child-centered, semi-happy, low-conflict marriages (including her own) to ponder “What’s missing and what can be done?” Academic studies, surveys, interviews and personal experiences enrich her multifaceted narrative peek, Marriage Confidential, into modern marriage. Here, Haag tells us about her foray into one of humankind's most universal—and potentially frustrating and rewarding—experiences.

Read more books on marriage.

Although this is not a self-help book, if you had to pick one best piece ...

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