Boots ‘n’ Beans (Nonfiction)

From his standard “Chuck Wagon Beans” to “Mad Jack’s Gunpowder Beans Resapee” to “Boston Bombers,” hilarious cowboy cartoonist Boots Reynolds offers a cornucopia of every recipe to ever come out of a can of beans. His painting “Beans and Frank” soon led to drawings from Reynolds’s 70 years of illustrating the funny side of the West. State governors, cowboy champions, ranchers and even First Lady Laura Bush add their own country vignettes and favorite bean recipes. When you stop laughing at the stories and cartoons, heed this warning: If you can’t boil water, don’t try these recipes at home.