My Cookbook Collection

You often hear stories of writers who were insatiable readers as kids. But I don’t exactly fit that stereotype. As soon as I could read, the only books I was interested in reading were cookbooks. I asked for them for my birthday and for Christmas gifts. I begged my parents to subscribe to Gourmet magazine. All the other genres of literature? They didn’t appeal as much to me.

These days I do read other types of books—poetry, fiction, romance novels. Although, if given the choice, I still reach first for cookbooks. Now I use them for inspiration for my own work, so I need them close by when I’m in the kitchen. And I need a lot of them! My collection keeps growing. Is it even possible to have too many books?

Recently, I bought two wooden bookshelves and painted them to match our walls. Then I organized my cookbooks (alphabetically by author’s last name, if you’re curious). My cookbook collection is finally looking its best.