Plugin recommendation

Hi

Can anyone recommend a plugin that will suit my needs. I’ve been searching for over an hr now and don’t seem to be getting any where!

I’m looking for a plugin that will display a list of posts from say a specific category or hand picked by myself. I want to be able to display the post title and the content inside the post (would be really nice if I could control how many words from the post it displays too!).

All I seem to be able to find is things that post just the title or the title and an image.

Any recommendations welcome, don’t mind if I have to put a code snipet into the html or use a widget.

Thanks!