Allowing Books to Talk to Each Other
Spending the last few days trying to write my personal statement for a possible doctorate program application, I find myself restless. Part of it has to do with having taken an amazing trip to Japan in December and then immediately visiting family in Florida and then returning to dealing with mundane daily tasks. Part of it has to do with beginning to prepare for a move and debating what items to move and which to toss or re-home. However, most of it has to do with trying to explain how my research from the past few years fits into future research plans, and finding the words to convey these thoughts.
This led me to answering an Instagram prompt by Jessica Carbone for her upcoming cookbook studies class, asking for photographs of our cookbook shelves and some minor text. Looking around I realized that over the past few years I stopped shelving my cookbooks separate from other books. However, over the past few years, my cookbooks have primarily become either research material, or books I read when I need to relax. I am more of an armchair cook than an actual cook (although I spent significant time and energy in my thirties learning basic cooking skills) and use my cookbooks to remember trips I have taken and to spark memories that involve food experiences.
As I begin to think about packing up my books, I also realized that I have somewhat organized my books by size and not in any other way. I do have my cookbooks catalogued in my Eat Your Books account and in my general LibraryThing catalogue. My Library Thing account exists so I don’t buy the same books in multiple formats by accident, although I sometimes buy multiple formats on purpose. I am finding that I enjoy shelving my physical books in a way that may seem random, but allows me to see the books in new ways. Books I would never connect seem purposely placed in conversation with each other. As I work on my personal statement, and proposals for future projects, I find that the books as placed on my shelves invite new projects and possible discussions between unexpected books that I strive to find words to explain.
