Recipe for a Foodie Book Club, or, How to Cook the Books

Take one crispy bookseller from upstate New York. Trim off any burnt edges. Combine with one food junkie archaeologist from Athens, Greece. Adjust seasonings, adding more ouzo if necessary. Fold in one Hawaiian transplant fresh picked from the kahakai (beach) and combine gently. The result: a tasty new foodie book club, Cook the Books!

As announced previously, the three of us food bloggers, Johanna of Food Junkie, Deb of Kahakai Kitchen and I, met over at the Leftover Queen's Royal Foodie Joust and discovered our mutual love for reading and cooking. We decided on a bimonthly book pick which we would read, discuss, and then cook from. Our first book pick is "La Cucina", by Lily Prior, where the setting is Sicily and Palermo and features lots of mouthwatering traditional Sicilian cooking. Our host trio is pleased to unveil our new Cook the Books blog designed by the multi-talented Johanna as our new home. Check back there for literary discussion, Sicilian cooking ideas, and maybe some input from the author herself!

December 15, 2008 is the deadline to read the book, cook up something inspired by it in your own cucina and blog about it. After that time, I will post a roundup of the delicious entries and we will poll participants for a winning entry. The Cook the Books champion will receive a cool Cook the Books badge to wear proudly on his or her blog. We will also be asking for your suggestions for the next bunch of book selections, whether they are foodie novels or non-fiction gastronomic memoirs, culinary history or travelogues. We would like to plan a reading list for 2009 so participants can order, beg, or borrow Cook the Books book selections well ahead of time.

To whet your appetite for "La Cucina" here's a link to author Lily Prior's website where you can read more about this and other titles, and hear Ms. Prior read a erotic, yet funny passage from the novel (p. 134 in my hardcover copy) with her delightful English accent. I have been in contact with our Cook the Books author to let her know about our new book club and she has graciously offered to answer any questions we may have, so feel free to hop over to our new Cook the Books headquarters to post a comment or question.

Now, start Cooking the Books!