90. The Little Library Cookbooks, by Kate Young

What is a reader's dream cookbook? One that has delicious recipes but also a wealth of literary references to inspire your next read? It turns out these books exist! With her Little Library series of cookbooks Kate Young has carved out a particular niche intertwining her love of food with the books that have inspired her and shaped her life. And so you might find a recipe for French Toast inspired by Maria Semple’s comic novel Where d’You Go Bernadette? or lemon verbena lemonade to accompany the perfect picnic inspired by Charles Ryder and Sebastian Flyte lounging on the lawn together in Brideshead Revisited. These are cookbooks with two indexes, one of things to eat, the other of things to read. We talk about lockdown cuisine, book recommendations and the difficulties of finding the right book club – and of course a ton of book recommendations.

Books mentioned were: Midnight Chicken by Ella Risbriger, A Half-Baked Idea by Olivia Potts, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, The Stranding by Kate Sawyer, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, The Song of Achilles by Madeleine Miller, Real Life by Brandon Taylor, Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, Babette’s Feast by Isak Dinesen and Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid.

And you can find all the details about Kate, her books and her recipes at her website thelittlelibrarycafe.com

Enjoyed this episode? Looking for more? Check out thebookclubreview.co.uk where you can find our archive of over 80 shows to browse through, including our most recent episode on Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart, we’ve also covered everything mega-hits like Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens and Normal People by Sally Rooney to hidden gems from the backlist like All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West. You can also explore our ‘library’ of book reviews and articles, and find our weekly round-ups of reading inspiration under ‘what to read’.

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