A bundle of books sure to please this holiday

Crawfish Mountain

By Ken Wells

Random House $24.95

Wells returns again to his beloved Bayou Black neighborhood near Houma, this time naming it Black Bayou and populating it not only with his colorful Cajun characters, but those dastardly Texas oilmen.

His characters are mostly good Cajun folk like Justin Pitre who’s determined to keep Big Tex oil bigwig Tom Huff from running another pipeline right through the little island his grandpa left him. Then, there’s Joe T. Evangeline, the state’s happy-go-lucky governor who’d rather chase a skirt than polluters and who provides the funniest sex scenes ever penned by Wells.

The book, while fiction, and funny fiction at that, dramatizes the devastating loss of our wetlands by manmade forces, especially oil-company canals. Wells dedicates his book to Louisiana saying, “We can’t let them wash her away.” Amen.

Atchafalaya

By C.C. Lockwood

LSU Press $39.95

He’s been doing it for over three decades, exploring and photographing the wilderness and natural beauty of our ecological treasures. Probably no one knows the 1.4 million acres of the Atchafalaya Basin as well as Lockwood and his great love and affection for this Louisiana treasure is clearly evident in his words and photographs.

Lockwood delights in telling of his friends who populate the Basin area, fishing with them and listening to their tales, some of mighty tall. Given the choice of going back and seeing the virgin cypress in the Basin or going to heaven, he sums up his affection, by choosing the cypress. That says it all.

Krewe

By Errol Laborde

Carnival Press $16.95

With Thanksgiving and Christmas just around the corner, thoughts are surely turning to Mardi Gras, arriving early February. And, what better way to prepare for the celebration than to return to those golden days of yesteryear when and where it all began.

Laborde, publisher and editor of New Orleans Magazine among others is well versed and knowledgeable about the history of New Orleans Carnival and presents here not only the founding of the modern celebration but many historical photos and lithographs.

How Sportsmen Cook

By Colette Lottinger

Louisiana Publishing $19.95

Here is a real “down to earth” book of recipes collected by Lottinger from friends, family and others, mainly sportsmen who hunt and fish for the ingredients. The emphasis is on fish, shellfish and game but other frequently cooked dishes are included as well.

The popular Spahr’s Restaurant in Des Allemands offers its recipe for “Bill’s Softshell Crab Chips”; TV personality Frank Davis offers “Crunchy Fish”; Opelousas’ Dr. Nicky DeJean and Byron Briggs join in delivering “Dr. Nicky’s Ranch Style Snapper.”

The recipes have so far won kudos in our home and hopefully, we’ll eventually try them all.

Acadian Plantation Country

Cookbook

By Anne Butler

Pelican Publishing $25

Following her successful “Bayou Plantation Country Cookbook”, Butler utilizes the same format, which, in addition to the tasty recipes, features fascinating photos and stories of the places and people in Iberia, Lafayette and several other Acadiana parishes.

Tour Avery and Jefferson Islands; visit Vermillionville and T’Frere’s. Try the recipes for Alligator and/or Frog Legs Sauce Piquante. Perfect for local cooks or Yankee friends who don’t know “nuttin’ about good eatin’.”

Cat Yoga

By Rick Tillotson

Clarkson Potter Publishing $14.95

Cat lovers are sure to delight in this portfolio of feline pictures and antics. And the cats that want to be as lithe and limber as they were meant to be will love it. Owners may even attempt to emulate some of the poses. Warning! Don’t even try it.