The Toadstool Bookshops of Keene, Milford, and Peterborough, NH

We've had 'The Talk' about sex with our teenage daughter. Several of them actually. We're pretty sure she would feel comfortable asking most questions, but we also knew there would be questions she would be just to embarrassed to ask. We were looking for a good, general sex book she could use as a reference. Even with updates, the Comfort's Joy of Sex seemed pretty dated. Sex for Dummies (yes there is one) by none other than Dr. Ruth Westheimer seemed pretty stodgy and designed more to be read from cover to cover than used as a reference. Then we found The Guide to Getting It On. Most excellent. At almost 900 pages it covers absolutely everything anyone could ever thing to ask and much, much more. The writing style is snappy, clever and never condescending. It is just plain fun to read. Any household with a teenager or two should have this book on the shelf. And, hey, Mom and Dad might learn a thing or two.

Even if you are a florist, you will be amazed at how little you probably know about the commercial flower business. In three major sections - Breeding, Growing, Selling - Amy Stewart covers every detail of the huge floral industry. Considering that the end product is a small, delicate flower, I was amazed at the huge scale of many parts of the process. The giant flower shows in Europe, the immense farms in South America and Africa, the dozens of big freight airliners flying hundreds of thousands of roses into Miami in the week before Valentine's Day. So many flights, in fact, that most of those planes have to fly back to South America empty. Much of the price of a rose at Valentine's Day is the cost of all that jet fuel for all those empty planes. In the best tradition of John McPhee, Stewart squeezes in lots of information, but still takes time to flesh out the people involved. The flower industry has its own collection of quirky people famous only to those on the "inside". It has its own language, strange superstitions, and legends. Anyone who has ever received or given a flower ought to read this book. Anyone who buys flowers on a regular basis certainly should. Fun and informative. Highly recommended.