“More than any other food, cheese has personality,” writes Liz Thorpe in her gorgeous, yummy, almost overwhelming treatise, The Book of Cheese: The Essential Guide to Discovering Cheeses You’ll Love . “Punk cheeses, boring cheeses, comfort cheeses” and her own favorites, based on flavor, texture, scent and surprise, but Thorpe urges everyone to follow his or her own nose and taste buds. Her theme is: take a chance, discover something new. Start with a cheese you like—maybe one you remember from your childhood—and then consider it as a “gateway” cheese, a “jumping off point” to try something like it but beyond on a spectrum that goes from “approachable” to “intense,” to maybe even “stinky.” Thorpe, who grew up in a Connecticut town where pizza reigned supreme, believes that cheese is “an everyday eating food,” especially with others. She serves various kinds of cow, goat and sheep cheeses to friends and family, including her young daughters and offers suggestions about “pairing” various