If you’ve never visited the East Library’s nonfiction section, you’re missing out.

The shelves are crammed with self-help books, memoirs, history tomes, biographies, cookbooks and do-it-yourself manuals. Some of my favorite nonfiction works combine subgenres to give readers a two-for-one experience. “Cupcake Diaries” (HarperOne, 228 pages) by celebrity baker sisters Katherine Kallinis and Sophie Kallinis LaMontagne, for example, is a memoir mixed with recipes.

The Kallinis sisters own Georgetown Cupcake, a successful bakery in the Washington D.C. area. A few years ago, the women quit their lucrative careers in finance and fashion to pursue their dream of selling their favorite baked treats. “Cupcake Diaries” tells the story of the influences and experiences that led to their decision. The book also details some of the sisters’ Georgetown Cupcake highlights.

For me, the bakery’s opening on Valentine’s Day 2008 is the most inspiring story. With no money for advertising, the sisters placed a simple sign in the window a few days before the opening. In the wee hours of that morning, they arrived at the bakery with their mother and began baking 500 cupcakes. They had no idea how many (if any) customers would show up. But an hour before the bakery opened, a line of people had formed along the sidewalk. And a mere two hours after opening, the women had to close the shop and bake 300 more cupcakes. They reopened the bakery that afternoon and sold the additional stock.

Further successes followed. The sisters were invited to bake with Oprah and Martha Stewart. And in 2009, they were discovered by the TLC Network and given their own television series, “DC Cupcakes.”

Photographs of Georgetown Cupcake’s signature treats are found throughout “Cupcake Diaries” and give a clue as to why the bakery has done so well. The cupcakes are miniature works of art, fit to be served at the most extravagant affairs. To see if the cupcakes are as flavorful as they are beautiful, I baked one of the recipes within the book.

My Lemon Blossom Cupcakes were not quite as pretty as those created by the Kallinis sisters, but I choose to believe they were every bit as delicious. I plan on making several other recipes within the “Cupcake Diaries.” And when I’ve exhausted all those, I may create some of my own recipes. The Killinis sisters and their “Cupcake Diaries” have inspired me. To find your inspiration, I suggest a visit to the nonfiction section of a local library.   

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Miller is an author of young adult novels. For information or to offer column suggestions, visit www.anitalaydonmiller.com or email anita.l.miller@att.net.

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