August 2021 List of the Month: The Cookbooks of Home

August is almost here, and I thought it would be a good idea to gather some of the suggestions already made in various Talk threads, for List of the Month topics/themes, and to solicit further suggestions and ideas from all of you.

Topics/themes already requested include:

1. Campus Novels (this could be expanded to college fiction?)
2. Poetry (could be general, or more specific)
3. Non-English language works (this would need to be made far more specific)
4. Desert Island Books (not clear whether this means books you'd take to a desert island, or books about
people on desert islands, i.e.: the Robinsonade)
5. The First Book You Remember Reading
6. Books with Characters You'd Like to Meet
7. Native American Literature (possibly fiction, non-fiction, or both; potentially in November)
8. Scary/Creepy Books (potentially in October)
9. Best Books of a Certain Decade or Other Time Period
10. Best Youth or YA Fiction of a Certain Period
11. Your Country/State's Bestseller/Classic/Best/Most Recent Book
12. Best Sports Writing
13. A Twist on Cookbooks (i.e.: representative of your local cuisine)
14. Owned but Unread (books that you've been wanting to read but haven't)

So which of these, or other topics, do you all favor for our August list? I am drawn to the college fiction idea myself, as the academic year often begins in August or September, but we do not need to be driven by seasonal concerns.

My suggestion is that list of the month be set as its own group. Easier to see for those who are interested. Easies to ignore for those who aren't.

One of the books I'd put in my list for campus novels would be Curtis Sittenfeld's Prep, so if we go that route, could we call it "campus novels" and not "college novels/fiction"? As I'm typing, I'm realizing I'd also put Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go on there, too, so already almost half my list takes place on non-college campuses.

This, then, I suppose opens the list up to corporate campuses, which could be interesting . . .

I think it'd be fun to juxtapose the Northern and Southern hemispheres: so here in the North, August is high summer and we're thinking about going back to school (for many countries, I assume not universally).

I've never visited the Southern hemisphere, but ... dead of winter? Thinking about Spring?

Suggests a Fire and Ice theme.

I like the idea of a dedicated group for this.

Of the topics mentioned in >1 AbigailAdams26:, I think numbers 5, 11, and 13 sound like the most interesting, not-been-done before ideas.

Do we want to duplicate lists that already exist? There is a list of best campus novels that anyone could contribute to: https://www.librarything.com/list/597/all/Best-Campus-Novels

I also would prefer to see lists with a narrower scope. For instance, scary and creepy books is pretty broad, and there are already tons of such lists.

>1 AbigailAdams26: I like 11, 12, & 13. I can see me contributing to any of these.

>1 AbigailAdams26: For number 4, why not one month for each? Books that take place on a beach, and books that you would read on the beach. One list for August, the other for . . February?

I too think the list of the month could use its own group. Maybe with an occasional pointer/reminder topic here in TaLT?

Did I miss the announcement of the August list?

>2 MarthaJeanne: I like this idea, and would be happy to create a new group, for all discussion threads going forward. I'm not sure if the existing ones can be moved, once the new group is created, but will look into it.

>8 perennialreader: No, you haven't missed it! Last week was a little hectic, with lots of staff out.

I see that the only choices above that got more than one vote were #11 and #13. I'm inclined toward #13, but not sure how to define one's "own" cuisine. Does this mean the cuisine one was raised in, predominately? The cuisine of where one currently lives?

>10 AbigailAdams26: I would say any regional cookbook representative of of that region.

I've spent my whole life in the American South and I once had someone ask me if I had ever made chicken spaghetti. I had never heard of it and she told me that it was a well-known southern dish. Well, the south is a big place with many regions.

So I would say not too narrow or too broad. :)

>10 AbigailAdams26: not sure how to define one "own" cuisine. Does this mean the cuisine one was raised in, predominately? The cuisine of where one currently lives?

I think it would be fine to let contributors answer that question for themselves, focusing on what they know best.

>11 perennialreader: Yes, I suppose we could instruct people to add cookbooks reflecting the cuisine of "their" part of the world, leaving it up to them whether this means the region where they grew up, where their family comes from, or where they currently live. For many people, the three are definitely not all the same. Then there's people like me, who aren't really sure what typifies the cuisine of where we find ourselves! ;)

>12 paradoxosalpha: Yes, true. I hadn't seen your comment, when posting the above.

What if the instructions were: "Post cookbooks reflecting the cuisine of your home country or region?" Then, people would be free to define "home" for themselves.

OK, the August List of the Month has been created, and is awaiting contributions!

https://www.librarything.com/list/43165/all/

>16 AbigailAdams26:

My home town is so ethnically diverse that just about any cookbook would reflect its cuisine!

>17 lilithcat: Fair enough! You will have a wide field to select from, then. :)

Following up on my earlier comment, I have created a dedicated group for discussion of the List of the Month project, here:
https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/23491/List-of-the-Month

All are welcome to come and join the group!