This holiday season, switch out those shortbread cookies with something spicier. If you are from the school of thought that beer makes everything better, then you need this book.

Cookies & Beer (Andrews NcNeel Publishing) is the first book that brings together two things that should never have been separated in the first place. As author Jonathan Bender writes in his introduction, the idea isn’t so far-fetched: Beer and cookies share some of the same ingredients like fruit, grains and spices.

There is something for every palate in this “cookbook,” with chapters that include cookies with breakfast, fruit, chocolate, savory, and holiday flavors. And if you aren’t into baking, Bender offers up pairings for packaged cookies like Oreos and Girl Scout cookies, as well as a recipe to use leftover beer for homemade milkshakes and syrup. The final chapter – my favorite – includes recipes that call for using beer in the batter. I mean, Stone Smoked Porter Mocha Chocolate Cake Cookies? Yum.

Bender, a Kansas City-based journalist who’s been writing about beer for the last four years, used his own experience and did extensive tasting research in order to choose the best matches. The pairings are designed to complement one another. So next time you grab a cookie, reach for a beer instead of milk (extra bonus for those who are lactose intolerant!).

After you’ve made your cookies and cracked open a beer, sit down and take a few moments to appreciate some advice from the world’s smartest people. The Best Advice in Six Words: Writers Famous and Obscure on Love, Sex, Money, Friendship, Family, Work and Much More (St. Martin’s Press) is the latest installment of Larry Smith’s Six Words book series. Launched in 2006 in anticipation of the microblogging explosion, Smith Twitter-ized the world of advice, asking people to submit thoughts on specific topics in exactly six words (and you thought Twitter’s 140 character limit was rough).

In his latest book, out this month, Smith features 1,000 six-word morsels (according to the preface, these were only a fraction of the submissions he received), given by both famous and not-so-famous people. The advice covers a wide range of topics, including love, sex, education, work and friendship. A few of my favorites include: “Free cheese only comes in traps” (Ed Boland); “Big heads weigh your life down” (Ruth F. Hunt); “Love thy neighbor as thy iPhone” (Greg Oose); “The greener grass has weeds too” (Christina Elliott); “Smile while you still have teeth” (Abbey Playle); “Always check Urban Dictionary before repeating” (Abby Lull); and “Secret of life: friends, family, bacon” (Katie Couric).

As you can read, the advice in this little book isn’t the typical “reach for the stars” type found in those other quotation and coffee table tomes. Because it’s humorous, sweet and serious, there’s a bit of advice for every one of your moods. I’ve already dog-eared many of the pages in my copy and can tell you it’s worth including in your personal library.

 by Kimberly Dunbar