Jell-O Girls

　　Jell-O is one of those foods that was an absolute staple of my childhood: with whipped cream, in salads, and my aunt even made a mold that put carrots in purple gelatin. Granted, I don’t consume as much Jell-O now as much as I did then (although my kids love Jell-O snack packs in their lunches), but I was nonetheless intrigued by this biography that recently floated across my desk: Jell-O Girls: A Family History. Author Allie Rowbottom is the great-great-great niece of the original Jell-O patent holder, and her dying mother urged her to write the volume that depicted the Jell-O curse that plagued the female members of the Rowbottom family. I’ve just started it, but it’s a captivating narrative bio that offers a fascinating, mysterious history behind an everyday grocery product. [Gwen Ihnat]

A supermarket made of felt

　　If you happen to live in or visit L.A. in August, you’ll have the chance to check out a grocery store made entirely of felt fabric. It’s a piece of art created by Lucy Sparrow and will be on display at The Standard museum through August; absolutely every piece of the 31,000 items in the supermarket is made of soft, comforting fabric. And if you really like the fuzzy banana, good news: Everything is for sale. [Kate Bernot]