Local page-turners

"Blue Moon Vegetarian," by Paula Coomer; Booktrope Editions; 198 pages; $14.95 print/$4.99 e-book.

By the time Clarkston author Paula Coomer hit 50, her body was sounding the alarm bell. Type 2 diabetes was looming, she was more than 100 pounds overweight, had high cholesterol and a host of other complaints. Seeking a better life she and her then-fiance, Phil, embarked on a new year as vegetarians.

In "Blue Moon Vegetarian" Coomer recounts their first year, offering savory recipes, advice and personal reflections on how their plant-based diet changed their health and their relationships. Before she was a Washington State University English professor, Coomer worked as a public health nurse. That background bolsters her discoveries and research into alternative protein sources like hemp seed, and societal epidemics caused by food that has had the life processed out of it.

Fifty billion is spent each year on coronary bypasses in the U.S., part of a $2.2 trillion health care bill. Coomer, now vegan and gluten free, believes food will heal us. With recipes like Agave Caramel Corn, Oatmeal-Walnut Burger, and Phil's Fabulous Three Bean Nachos, she offers a tasty journey toward health.

Coomer will be reading, signing and offering recipe samples from her book:

• 5-8 tonight, BookPeople, 521 S. Main St., Moscow.
• 7-9 p.m. Friday at a book launch party with cover art artist Kelsey Grafton at the Blue Lantern Coffee House, 325 Main St., Lewiston.
• 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday with artist Kelsey Grafton at And Books Too, 918 Sixth St., Clarkston.
• 3-5 p.m. Dec. 20 at Vig's Health Food Store, 922 16th Ave., Lewiston.

"Harvest Heritage, Agricultural Origins and Heirloom Crops of the Pacific Northwest," by Richard Scheuerman and Alexander McGregor; WSU Press; 186 pages; $32.95

Idaho is responsible for growing more than 80 percent of the world's sweet corn seed supply. Family wheat farms drive the economy in eastern Washington, but the Inland Northwest wasn't always an agricultural powerhouse.

"Harvest Heritage, Agricultural Origins and Heirloom Crops of the Pacific Northwest," tells the story of how it became one, beginning with imported heirloom grains and fruits planted in subsistence gardens by Spanish explorers, fur traders, missionaries and some American Indians. Pioneer settlers brought more seed varieties from around the world, sowing the earth with horse- and mule-powered equipment. Demand for food exploded with the industrial revolution.

The book's authors are Alexander C. McGregor, the Pullman president and chief of McGregor Company, a fertilizer and farm supply firm; and Richard D. Scheuerman of Spanaway, Wash., a Pacific Northwest historian and faculty member at Seattle Pacific University. Photographs are by John Clement of Kennewick.

The authors and photographer will sign copies of the book:

• Noon-1 p.m. today at the 22nd holiday book fair in the Terrell Library at Washington State University
• Noon-2:30 p.m. Friday at the LaCrosse Market/Library
• 3-5:30 p.m. Friday at the Colfax Library
• 11 a.m.-noon Saturday at the Endicott Food Center
• 1-3 p.m. Saturday at the St. John Museum/Library

"The Disciples of King Gambrinus, Vol. II, Capitalists and Town Fathers," by Herman Wiley Ronnenberg; Heritage Witness Reflections; 493 pages; $24.95.

While some pioneers came to the West seeking gold, others went to work brewing the golden elixir those riches could buy. In Idaho beer has been behind patented inventions, brick buildings, grand hotels and the growth of the grain market.

"The Disciples of King Gambrinus, Vol. II, Capitalists and Town Fathers," tells the life stories of 27 successful Gem State beer brewers and three sets of brothers, including the German Ernest Weisgerber, who set up shop in Lewiston in 1862 and was possibly Idaho's first brewer.

The book takes its title from the mythical King Gambrinus, said to have introduced beer and brewing to Europe. The first volume in the series covered unsuccessful and unfortunate brewers of the Inland Northwest.

Ronnenberg, of Troy, is also the author of "Pioneer Mother on the River of No Return, the Life of Isabella Kelly Benedict Robie," and "John Lemp: The Beer Baron of Boise."

His books can be ordered by calling (208) 835-6511 or emailing ronn@idaho.tds.net.