The books I write about are stocked at virtually all general interest independent bookstores across the country. But titles do sell out on occasion, especially at this time of year. Fortunately, indie bookstores order from warehouses that deliver books daily, which means a store can replenish stock quickly, often within a day or two. So if you don't see a title you want on the shelf, make sure to ask at the counter if the book can be ordered or is already on the way.

With the holiday season in full swing, let's take a look this week at a few interesting and recently published cookbooks on independent bookstore shelves this month - titles that reflect new tastes, trends, and interests.

ISA DOES IT: Amazingly Easy, Wildly Delicious Vegan Recipes for Every Day of the Week by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. The best-selling vegan cookbook author has a much-visited website, "Post Punk Kitchen", and has been named favorite cookbook author in VegNews for seven years running. With her newest collection, Isa serves up 150 new recipes, tips, and strategies for easy, delicious vegan meals from scratch every day of the week, often in 30  minutes or less. There's a joke about how you know if someone's a vegan - just wait, they'll tell you -  but there is no denying the appeal for many. I'll confess to not having much interest in Bistro Beet Burgers or Sweet Potato Red Curry with Rice and Purple Kale (is there a foodie rule that kale must be used in at least one meal a day - jut asking), but Isa Does It is a terrific cookbook for the more enlightened.

ONE GOOD DISH by David Tanis. The former Chez Panisse chef, well-known for his weekly New York Times column, "City Kitchen", offers 100 recipes that epitomize comfort food, Tanis-style. That means you'll find an eclectic array of dishes geared to casual dining, with chapter headings like Bread Makes the Meal, Strike While the Iron Is Hot, and Eating With a Spoon. If the likes of quail eggs with flavored salt; speckled sushi rice with toasted nori, and cooked kale (see above) with Spanish chorizo and red pepper flakes sound appealing, One Good Dish is one good choice.

SAVING THE SEASON: A Cook's Guide to Home Canning, Pickling, and Preserving by Kevin West. A native of Tennessee, journalist West has made a name for himself with his five-year-old blog, savingtheseason.com. In this book, he presents an illustrated, practical guide for home cooks and  preserving enthusiasts, with 220 recipes for "putting up" sweet and savory jams, pickles, cordials, cocktails, candies, and more, complemented by 300 full-color images and organized by seasons. Perfect for anyone interested in enjoying local fruits and vegetables throughout the year, Saving the Season will help you can just about everything but laughter.

PROVENCE 1970: M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, James Beard, and the Reinvention of American Taste by Luke Barr. This is fascinating book for fans of food and history, a chronicle of a singular confluence of iconic culinary figures. More or less by coincidence, James Beard, M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, Richard Olney, Simone Beck, and Judith Jones found themselves together in the South of France in the winter of 1970. They cooked and ate, talked and argued about the future of food in America, the meaning of taste, and the limits of snobbery. The conversations among this group were chronicled by M.F.K. Fisher in journals and letters - some of which were later discovered by Luke Barr, her great-nephew. He has taken that correspondence and used it to recreate a time and place populated with with extraordinary people and ideas.