The Kitchen Library is a monthly synopsis of recently published cookbooks.

It might be summer if .‘.‘. the stack of new barbecue and grilling books on my desk has begun to look like the leaning tower of Pisa. Here's a look at some recent selections.

Title: "Beer-Can Chicken and 74 Other Offbeat Recipes for the Grill" (Workman Publishing, $12.95)

Author: Steven Raichlen

Summary: This book is all in fun. The fourth book in Raichlen's "Barbecue! Bible" series starts with the legendary title recipe: a whole chicken, spice-rubbed and grilled upright while perched on a can of beer. Raichlen then takes backyard cooks through a menu of other birds on a can such as Pineapple Juice Quail to Duckling a l'Orange (on a can of orange soda).

An amazing 11 pages of the book are dedicated to FAQs about beer-can chicken from what sort of beer to use to the best way to take a beer-can chicken off the grill. It's sort of a beer-can chicken for dummies.

The second half of the book focuses on other offbeat ways to grill - on a stick, under a brick, in a leaf, in the coals - and grilled side dishes, desserts and out-of-the-ordinary dishes from eggs to seaweed.

Format: 336 pages, paperback. The 4(tm)-by-9-inch size is hard to handle and won't stay open. The small format means that recipes sometimes are scattered across three or four pages, making them difficult to follow.

Title: "Dressed to Grill: Savvy Recipes for Girls Who Play With Fire" (Chronicle Books, $16.95)

Authors: Karen Brooks, Diane Morgan and Reed Darmon

Summary: This book tries too hard to be clever and includes many stereotypes of women. Some of the recipes might not be so bad if you can get past the juvenile and sometimes risque names such as "Forget Caesar: A Bang-Up Cleopatra Salad," and "Think Big and Long Grilled Asparagus."

Other than the cutesy names, there's nothing really special about the recipes. You probably have similar ones already without subjecting yourself to this forced humor.

Format: 108 pages, hardcover. Spiral-bound pages make the book easy to use since it lies flat. Most of the recipes are limited to one page or facing pages.

Title: "Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook: Recipes and Recollections from the Pit Bosses" (Chronicle Books, $18.99)

Author: Robb Walsh

Summary: Walsh lets the pit masters explain the cooking process with tips from trophy winners on cooking, selecting wood and the intricacies of rubs and mops. The book is as much about the history and legends of Texas barbecue as it is about the recipes. Black-and-white photography takes you from turn-of-the-century squirrel roasts into modern barbecue culture.

The 85 recipes range from easy basics to advanced barbecue cookoff procedures such as Jim Goode's Plugged Brisket. Not only beef but pork, mutton and sausages are included in the book with a surprising variety of side dishes and sauces such as grapefruit-chipotle sauce and recipes from Lady Bird Johnson and Barbara Bush.

Format: 269 pages, paperback. Most recipes are limited to one page or facing pages. They might be hard to find, however, because they aren't grouped according to the type of recipe but according to their place in Texas barbecue lore. Recipes for meats, side dishes and desserts are scattered throughout the book.

Title: "Al Roker's Big Bad Book of Barbecue" (Scribner, $27.95); "George Foreman's Big Book of Grilling, Barbecue and Rotisserie" (Fireside, $14)

Summary: A celebrity author is generally an automatic turnoff for me when it comes to cookbooks, but these two, especially Foreman's, aren't half bad.

Foreman and co-author Barbara Witt explore the international flavors that Foreman enjoyed during a lifetime of professional sports. The book includes American classics such as Baby Back Ribs and Crispy Cajun Catfish, but the focus is on flavors from around the world with dishes such as Spicy Lime and Cilantro Chicken, Curried Salmon Steak and Fiery Orange Sesame Flank Steak. Recipes cover meats, poultry, fish, vegetables - even fruits and pizzas. A variety of sandwiches, salads, marinades, rubs, salsas and sauces also is included.

If you're looking for new flavors on the grill that aren't too complicated to prepare. The recipes work on stovetop, electric or outdoor grills.

On the other hand, Roker concentrates on all-American dishes. There's nothing out of the ordinary here: a variety of burgers, steaks, ribs, chicken, kebabs and a handful of grilled fish recipes.

About half the book is devoted to appetizers, side dishes and desserts.

Format: Foreman - 224 pages, paperback. The recipes sometimes stretch to three pages, not because they are that long but because of the disjointed format, which uses lots of wasted space. I'd prefer less white space and containing the recipes to one or two pages to make them easier to follow.

Roker - 256 pages, hardcover. Numbered steps in recipes make them easy to follow.

Title: "The Barbecue America Cookbook" (The Lyons Press, $19.95)

Authors: Rick Browne and Jack Bettridge

Summary: "The Barbecue America Cookbook" is based on the 13-part PBS series of the same name. It is as much a travelogue as it is a cookbook. The book takes you through the contests, restaurants, cities and towns that have become America's barbecue shrines. Along the way the authors celebrate the outlandish competitions, humor and smoky back-alley pit grills that make up the world of grilling.

The more than 100 recipes are good basic barbecue and side dishes without a lot of embellishment. Good barbecue doesn't need any.

The book also includes a list of barbecue festivals and the best places across America to eat Q.

Format: 216 pages, paperback. Recipe format is straightforward and easy to follow. Generous use of color photos - not of the food but of the people who cook it - keep the book interesting. I could've lived without the simulated drips of barbecue sauce on practically every page.

Title: "Williams-Sonoma Grilling" (Simon & Schuster, $16.95)

Author: Denis Kelly

Summary: This book by far is the prettiest to look at, but what else would you expect from Williams-Sonoma? Slick, styled color photographs accompany every recipe, inspiring you to try each one. You only hope your attempt at cooking the dish turns out half as attractive.

The more than 40 recipes in this book are more creative than those in the other books listed, yet they're fairly simple to make. They include updated classic fare and new ideas for steak, seafood, poultry, vegetables and pizza. Tempt family and friends with a grilled entree of scallops brushed with spicy wasabi or baby back ribs with honey-jalapeno marinade.

Format: 119 pages, hardcover. All recipes are contained on one page, a plus for any cookbook, but the format with ingredients and directions listed side by side can be a little confusing. In addition to a photograph of the finished dish, each recipe is accompanied by a photographic side note that highlights a key ingredient or technique.