Fans pick 10 books like A Treasury of Great Recipes

By Mary Price, Vincent Price, Victoria Price

Here are 10 books that A Treasury of Great Recipes fans have personally recommended if you like A Treasury of Great Recipes. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Book cover of Nanny Ogg's Cookbook

Cassandra Reeder Author Of The Geeky Chef Cookbook: Real-Life Recipes for Fantasy Foods

From my list on cookbooks written by storytellers.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a food blogger and cookbook author who has been making up recipes for fictional foods from fantasy and science fiction since I was old enough to walk and talk. I love building a bridge between stories, imagination, fandom and food. For over a decade, with a lot of research and some really bad puns, I have been helping other geeks and nerds all over the world make their fictional food fantasies come true.

Cassandra's book list on cookbooks written by storytellers

Cassandra Reeder Why did Cassandra love this book?

Written by the late and great Terry Pratchett himself, this is obviously a must-have for any Discworld fanatic. The actual recipes in this tome range from questionable to delightful, the “narrator,” Nanny Ogg, is the real star of the show. Nanny Ogg’s er… life advice, this book will have you giggling and the recipes will have you intrigued.

By Paul Kidby, Stephen Briggs, Paul Kidby , Terry Pratchett

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Nanny Ogg's Cookbook as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'They say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach which just goes to show they're as confused about anatomy as they gen'rally are about everything else, unless they're talking about instructions on how to stab him, in which case a better way is up and under the ribcage. Anyway, we do not live in a perfect world and it is foresighted and useful for a young woman to become proficient in those arts which will keep a weak-willed man from straying. Learning to cook is also useful.'

Nanny Ogg, one of Discworld's most famous witches, is…


Book cover of Fannie Flagg's Original Whistle Stop Cafe Cookbook

Cassandra Reeder Author Of The Geeky Chef Cookbook: Real-Life Recipes for Fantasy Foods

From my list on cookbooks written by storytellers.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a food blogger and cookbook author who has been making up recipes for fictional foods from fantasy and science fiction since I was old enough to walk and talk. I love building a bridge between stories, imagination, fandom and food. For over a decade, with a lot of research and some really bad puns, I have been helping other geeks and nerds all over the world make their fictional food fantasies come true.

Cassandra's book list on cookbooks written by storytellers

Cassandra Reeder Why did Cassandra love this book?

It was impossible to not salivate while reading Fannie Flagg lovingly describe the delicious southern dishes in her iconic novel, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. This book is the companion cookbook to the novel and it has recipes for deep-fried chicken, bourbon-chocolate pecan pie, pork chops with apples and sweet potatoes and, of course, fried green tomatoes. I realize that I hardly need to say more, but… that’s not even the best part. Fannie’s signature sense of humor shines throughout this beautiful book. (Don’t worry, the pulled pork is made with actual pork!)

By Fannie Flagg,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Fannie Flagg's Original Whistle Stop Cafe Cookbook as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"IT'LL MAKE FOR SOME MIGHTY FINE EATING."
--Fort Worth Star Telegram
After the tremendous success of her novel, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, and the beloved movie that followed, author Fannie Flagg received thousands of requests from all over the world asking for recipes from the little cafe of her Alabama childhood that was the model for the cafe in her novel. Now, she joyfully shares those recipes, in what may well be the first cookbook ever written by a satisfied customer rather than a cook! Inside you'll find wonderful recipes for:
* Skinless Fried Chicken *…


Book cover of The Redwall Cookbook

Cassandra Reeder Author Of The Geeky Chef Cookbook: Real-Life Recipes for Fantasy Foods

From my list on cookbooks written by storytellers.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a food blogger and cookbook author who has been making up recipes for fictional foods from fantasy and science fiction since I was old enough to walk and talk. I love building a bridge between stories, imagination, fandom and food. For over a decade, with a lot of research and some really bad puns, I have been helping other geeks and nerds all over the world make their fictional food fantasies come true.

Cassandra's book list on cookbooks written by storytellers

Cassandra Reeder Why did Cassandra love this book?

This little cookbook is beautifully illustrated and quite simply, magical. Fans of The Redwall series know that it was filled with delightful feasts made and enjoyed by its equally delightful woodland characters. The recipes in this book are based on the novels and arranged by seasons, which I find really immersive and fun. A sip of Strawberry Fizz in the summertime, a gulp of spicy hotroot soup in winter… It really makes you feel like a fieldmouse nestled in your cozy little burrow.

By Brian Jacques,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Redwall Cookbook as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Ever read a Redwall novel and wonder exactly what Abbot’s Special Abbey Trifle is? Or how to make Shrimp ’N Hotroot Soup, that delicacy of otters everywhere? Or Mole’s Favourite Turnip and Tater Deeper ’N Ever Pie? From the simple refreshment of Summer Strawberry Fizz to Great Hall Gooseberry Fool, they’re all here, along with dozens of other favorites sure to turn young hands into seasoned chefs, illustrated in full color with all the charm and magic that is Redwall. A gift like no other for fans of the series, old or new.


Book cover of Roald Dahl's Cookbook

Cassandra Reeder Author Of The Geeky Chef Cookbook: Real-Life Recipes for Fantasy Foods

From my list on cookbooks written by storytellers.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a food blogger and cookbook author who has been making up recipes for fictional foods from fantasy and science fiction since I was old enough to walk and talk. I love building a bridge between stories, imagination, fandom and food. For over a decade, with a lot of research and some really bad puns, I have been helping other geeks and nerds all over the world make their fictional food fantasies come true.

Cassandra's book list on cookbooks written by storytellers

Cassandra Reeder Why did Cassandra love this book?

Between Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, and James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl’s work was a big part of my childhood and I’m far from alone there. Although the man himself left behind a complicated legacy, this cookbook is full of nothing but love, memories, and highly amusing anecdotes. The highlight recipes for me are the rose-petal sorbet, the almond soup, and, well, the entire chocolate section. Yes, there’s an entire section of the cookbook dedicated to chocolate.

By Roald Dahl,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Roald Dahl's Cookbook as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This book is a mixture of anecdotes covering Roald Dahl's family, his childhood, and his happiness at home with Liccy, his wife, and their numerous children, grandchildren and friends. For this extensive family, there is no more enjoyable way of relaxing than sharing good food and wine. The meals they enjoy together round the old pine farmhouse table at Gipsey House are either fine examples of national dishes of their heritage - Norwegian, French, British, etc - or favourite recipes that have delighted three generations of discerning eaters. Many recipes have acquired a particular significance for the Dahl family over…


Book cover of Witchfinder General

Michael Stewart Author Of Ill Will

From my list on dark historical fiction.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been fascinated by dark fiction since I discovered Edgar Allan Poe at the age of ten. I don’t know why I like to immerse myself in such troubling worlds, perhaps, by experiencing the worst of human nature vicariously, these texts give us the opportunity to really get to grips with who we are as people and what we are capable of. I’ve written eight works of fiction. Wuthering Heights has captivated me, and I've always been fascinated by the two mysterious holes in the narrative: where is Heathcliff from? And where does he go when he is missing for three years? I wrote a book, Ill Will, that attempts to answer these questions.

Michael's book list on dark historical fiction

Michael Stewart Why did Michael love this book?

Matthew Hopkins, the self-appointed Witchfinder General, was one of the most venal and vicious Englishmen to ever live. This is a brutal novel, a veritable catalogue of horror, but a necessary lesson in man’s inhumanity and corruption. There is an authenticity here that will but ice in your marrow. 

By Ronald Bassett,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Witchfinder General as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

1643. England is at war with itself.

While bitter battles rage between King and Parliament, local magistrates have more power, and less accountability, than ever before.

Taking advantage of the tense atmosphere and lax prosecution procedures, Matthew Hopkins, an insignificant lawyer and self-appointed Witchfinder General, travels across East Anglia accusing the aged, the confused and the poor of satanic crimes against their neighbours.

With every innocent death, his purse grows heavier, as he satisfies his lust for power.

But his dealings with one particular young woman make him a powerful enemy in the form of Ralph Margery – a captain…


Book cover of Stealing Home: Los Angeles, the Dodgers, and the Lives Caught in Between

Robert Elias Author Of Major League Rebels: Baseball Battles over Workers' Rights and American Empire

From my list on baseball’s historic influence on America.

Why am I passionate about this?

Typically, we follow sports only on the playing field. I share that interest but I’ve become fascinated by sports off the field, and how they influence and reflect American society. After my fanatical baseball-playing childhood, I pursued an academic career, teaching and writing books and essays on politics and history, and wondering why it wasn’t more rewarding. Then I rediscovered sports, and returned again to my childhood passion of baseball. I began teaching a popular baseball course as a mirror on American culture. And I began writing about baseball and society, recently completing my sixth baseball book. The books recommended here will help readers to see baseball with new eyes. 

Robert's book list on baseball’s historic influence on America

Robert Elias Why did Robert love this book?

Off the playing field, baseball has both influenced and helped shape American society.

I loved this book because it told the neglected story of how a sports team can profoundly affect its surrounding community. Here is the insider tale of the move by the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in the 1950s, the politics that helped shape that move, and the consequences for these two cities.

In Brooklyn, a fanatical fan base was betrayed and in Los Angeles a Mexican-American community was rudely displaced for the new ballpark. It’s a compelling story of winners and losers.

By Eric Nusbaum,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Stealing Home as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A story about baseball, family, the American Dream, and the fight to turn Los Angeles into a big league city.

Dodger Stadium is an American icon. But the story of how it came to be goes far beyond baseball. The hills that cradle the stadium were once home to three vibrant Mexican American communities. In the early 1950s, those communities were condemned to make way for a utopian public housing project. Then, in a remarkable turn, public housing in the city was defeated amidst a Red Scare conspiracy.

Instead of getting their homes back, the remaining residents saw the city…


Book cover of Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise

Ma Thanegi Author Of Nor Iron Bars a Cage

From my list on a combination of personalities, travel, and food.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a painter and a writer from Myanmar. The former profession is what I chose when I was 15 and began at 21, featured in a group exhibition of modern art and the only woman among several men. Since then I have exhibited in several group shows and have had seven solos. In the early 2000s by chance - and financial need - I became the Contributing Editor for the Myanmar Times weekly and a travel magazine until they closed down. Since then I have written around 20 books on food, culture, and travels and it kept me so busy that my art was put on hoId, but I hope to resume one day soon.

Ma's book list on a combination of personalities, travel, and food

Ma Thanegi Why did Ma love this book?

Among the many genres of literature that I enjoy from Harry Potter to The Brothers Karamazov, I like best those that are about food and people with vibrant personalities. This book hits the jackpot: its all about haute cuisine of mouth-watering fusion of tastes with elegant plating and, the best of it, the glamorous and sexy or quirky or snooty individuals enjoying an excellent. .... or not....meal. The author already has one bombshell of a personality and the many identities she assumed to remain incognito in her job as a food critic for the New York Times all came alive. I wish I could have been right at their table.

By Ruth Reichl,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Garlic and Sapphires as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Author of Save Me the Plums Ruth Reichl’s iconic, bestselling memoir of her time as an undercover restaurant critic for The New York Times

"Expansive and funny." —Entertainment Weekly

Ruth Reichl, world-renowned food critic and former editor in chief of Gourmet magazine, knows a thing or two about food. She also knows that as the most important food critic in the country, you need to be anonymous when reviewing some of the most high-profile establishments in the biggest restaurant town in the world—a charge she took very seriously, taking on the guise of a series of eccentric personalities. In Garlic…


Book cover of The Essence of Style: How the French Invented High Fashion, Fine Food, Chic Cafes, Style, Sophistication, and Glamour

Richard Scholar Author Of Émigrés: French Words That Turned English

From my list on just how much English owes French.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have long been struck, as a learner of French at school and later a university professor of French, by how much English borrows from French language and culture. Imagine English without naïveté and caprice. You might say it would lose its raison d’être My first book was the history of a single French phrase, the je-ne-sais-quoi, which names a ‘certain something’ in people or things that we struggle to explain. Working on that phrase alerted me to the role that French words, and foreign words more generally, play in English. The books on this list helped me to explore this topic—and more besides—as I was writing Émigrés.

Richard's book list on just how much English owes French

Richard Scholar Why did Richard love this book?

This is cultural history with a difference and of a difference. It teaches you a lot about the reputation for fashionable culture that France enjoyed for centuries all over the world and continues to enjoy to this day. How much of all that is already packed into the book’s subtitle! The rest of the book is just as accessible and lively and unwilling ever to take itself too seriously. 

By Joan DeJean,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Essence of Style as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

What makes fashionistas willing to pay a small fortune for a particular designer accessory? Why does a special occasion only become really special when a champagne cork pops? Why are diamonds the status symbol gemstone, instantly signifying wealth, power, and even emotional commitment? Writing with great elan, one of the foremost authorities on seventeenth-century French culture provides the answer to these and other fascinating questions in her account of how, at one glittering moment in history, the French under Louis XIV set the standards of sophistication, style, and glamour that still rule our lives today. Joan DeJean takes us back…


Book cover of French Provincial Cooking

Clifford A. Wright Author Of A Mediterranean Feast: The Story of the Birth of the Celebrated Cuisines of the Mediterranean from the Merchants of Venice to the Barbary Corsairs, with More than 500 Recipes

From my list on provincial French cooking for home cooks.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an independent research scholar, food writer, and cook who won the James Beard Cookbook of the Year award and the Beard Award for the Best Writing on Food in 2000 for A Mediterranean Feast. I have written 19 books, 17 of which are cookbooks, and two on politics and history. I wrote all the food entries for Columbia University's Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and the entry for tiramisu and other sweets in the Oxford Companion to Sweets. I have written articles on politics, military affairs, foreign policy, history, and botany.

Clifford's book list on provincial French cooking for home cooks

Clifford A. Wright Why did Clifford love this book?

David was one of the most famous food writers in post-World War II Europe and she introduced English readers to the cuisine that exists beyond the celebrated kitchens of the top chefs of Paris. Although the recipes are written in a more abbreviated style than one sees today, her personable stories enliven the dishes she includes so you the reader will excitedly jump right to the kitchen and get cooking.

By Elizabeth David,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked French Provincial Cooking as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

First published in 1962, Elizabeth David's culinary odyssey through provincial France forever changed the way we think about food. With elegant simplicity, David explores the authentic flavors and textures of time-honored cuisines from such provinces as Alsace, Provence, Brittany, and the Savoie. Full of cooking ideas and recipes, French Provincial Cooking is a scholarly yet straightforward celebration of the traditions of French regional cooking.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and…


Book cover of Communion: A Culinary Journey Through Vietnam

Ma Thanegi Author Of Nor Iron Bars a Cage

From my list on a combination of personalities, travel, and food.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a painter and a writer from Myanmar. The former profession is what I chose when I was 15 and began at 21, featured in a group exhibition of modern art and the only woman among several men. Since then I have exhibited in several group shows and have had seven solos. In the early 2000s by chance - and financial need - I became the Contributing Editor for the Myanmar Times weekly and a travel magazine until they closed down. Since then I have written around 20 books on food, culture, and travels and it kept me so busy that my art was put on hoId, but I hope to resume one day soon.

Ma's book list on a combination of personalities, travel, and food

Ma Thanegi Why did Ma love this book?

Having lived in Vietnam in the 1990s for four years, the author longed to return and did so ten years later with her photographer sister Julie. Together with her old friend Huong, they travelled to seven cities to record regional dishes. They enjoyed eating haute cuisine and home-cooked meals, and at small eateries that are each famous for a specialty so, at times, they were racing through thick traffic on motorbike taxis to two places for the day's lunch.

Kim gives a clear sense of the vibrant environment and the people's lives, their strength, and friendliness. One could almost taste the fresh and light cuisine through the innovative words of Kim and Julie's wonderful photos.

By Kim Fay, Julie Fay Ashborn (photographer),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Communion as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Living in Vietnam for four years in the 1990s, Seattle native Kim Fay fell in love with the romantic landscapes, the rich culture, and the uninhibited warmth of the people. A decade later, she grew hungry for more. Inspired by the dream of learning to make a Vietnamese meal for her friends and family in America, Kim returned to Vietnam and embarked on an unforgettable five-week culinary journey from Hanoi to Saigon.

Joined by her sister and best Vietnamese girlfriend, Kim set off to taste as much as possible while exploring rituals and traditions, street cafés and haute cuisine, famine…


Book cover of Nanny Ogg's Cookbook
Book cover of Fannie Flagg's Original Whistle Stop Cafe Cookbook
Book cover of The Redwall Cookbook

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,593

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in the English Civil War, witchcraft, and baseball?

Witchcraft 345 books
Baseball 178 books