Shelf-Esteem: Brianna Plaza

A food writer on judging books by their covers.

Feb 10, 2025

Welcome to Shelf-Esteem; the Substack series in which I interview Substackers I’ve never met about their bookshelves.

My fellow Substacker, Brianna Plaza, writes that one of the reasons she was interested in her current apartment was the built-in bookshleves. When someone tells me this, I know we have a lot in common. I’m not wrong. Her tchotchke and book-filled shelves are a delight to look at and feel eerily similar to my own.

Brianna’s shelves are brimming with cook books, vintage food magazines, and a healthy sprinkle of fiction. Find Brianna on Substack here and enjoy!

Tell me a little about yourself and your bookshelves.

My name is Brianna and I am a writer and marketing person living in Brooklyn, New York. I write a newsletter called on hand that takes readers on explorations of the vast world of food and drink through stories, original recipes, and interviews featuring chefs, cookbook writers, iconic food makers, and boundary-pushing brands.

I live in a 100-year-old apartment and the bookshelves are built-in and are the main focus of the living room; they were one of the main reasons I was interested in this apartment. I’ve always had a few small shelves for books and trinkets, so I was very excited to have so much space to showcase my collection and build it up over time.

There are three columns with five shelves each and the books and trinkets are very loosely organized in some sort of color pattern. As I’ve added more to the shelves, the color pattern has become less strict, but sometimes I do still buy things because they would fit nicely on a particular shelf.

Now tell me about your taste in books, what genres/texts/writing styles are you drawn to?

I am generally all over the place and don’t necessarily stick to a certain type of book, but I do mostly read fiction. I love taking recommendations from people, and periodically wander through bookstores to pick up a few for my queue. This is controversial, but I do judge books by their covers. I tend to get overwhelmed by choice, so a cover that catches my eye helps me focus on finding a new book. A catchy cover is very subjective and there’s no logic behind it, but when I am wandering through a store, I definitely lead with “oh, this looks cool” and then read the back.

As a food person, I do have a decent collection of cookbooks as well. I try to support cookbook writers I’ve interviewed for the newsletter (Justine Doiron, Edy Massih, etc), and I like books that have a wide range of recipes. I also enjoy region or cuisine-based books (e.g. Mexico: The Cookbook; Vietnamese Food Any Day, etc). I am not interested in books about diet, health, “quick” anything. I’m sure there are books in those categories that are good, but they’re just not my vibe.

What are the oldest and the newest books you have laying on your shelves?

I am not a collector of old books, but I do have a large stack of vintage Gourmet magazines from the 1970s to late 1990s. I was walking around one evening and saw two large boxes of old cooking magazines outside someone’s house for the taking. I took them all home, flipped through them, and decided to keep only the pre-2000 issues. It’s very fun to read through them and look at the old advertising and sometimes weird recipes from the ‘70s and ‘80s.

The newest book is new to me, but not actually new. In a recent browse-book-covers-to-look-for-something-new-to-read, I came across Carl Hiaasen’s Bad Monkey. I was drawn in by the monkey in a pirate hat on the cover, and bought it because the plot seemed goofy and weird. I only realized when I got home that the book was published in 2013. Then, a few weeks after I started it, I learned it is now a series on Apple TV+. I’m waiting to finish the book before starting the show.

What book do you always recommend?

I don’t have a book I always recommend but a few things I’ve recommended recently: mystery novels by Lucy Foley and Big Swiss by Jen Beagin. I picked up The Guest List by Lucy Foley at random when I was traveling and I really enjoyed it, so I’ve read a few of her other books. They’re well paced and mysterious with a few good twists. I also picked up Big Swiss because of the cover and it was weird and fun, and very much enjoyed the story. I just learned it’s being turned into a TV show!

What was the last book you couldn’t finish?

Many years ago, a boss gave me The Colossus of New York, a collection of poems from Colson Whitehead. I really enjoyed the poems, so I figured I’d enjoy his fiction writing. I have no idea why I can’t get into any of his books, but I have started and not finished at least three of his novels. I restarted Harlem Shuffle at least four times and still couldn’t get going.

What’s your favourite non-book item on your shelves?

My grandmother was a trinket and tchotchke lady (like many women in their ‘90s), so when she passed away, our family kept a few of our favorites, then donated the rest. I have a few things of hers, but it’s always so interesting that they all came from larger collections of things that were deemed valuable and that people collected them. I have two pieces from her very large Wedgewood Pottery collection that she just kept on a shelf for people to look at but she never used? Having large collections of single things that are mostly for display is not something I fully understand.

I also have two brass numbers (88 for my building number) that I picked up at a vintage store a few years ago. The store had such a random collection of numbers, but had to grab the two 8s since they had them. They’re supposed to be actually hung outside, but since I am in an apartment, they sit on the shelf.

If you had to leave your home with only one thing from your bookshelves tomorrow, what would it be?

For better or worse, I am not very emotionally attached to most of the things in my home. Most of the books are replaceable, the trinkets I’ve collected over the years are cool and meaningful, but ultimately, it’s just stuff. I have digital versions of most of the pictures, and while there are things from my family on the shelves, I don’t have an emotional attachment to them like some people might.

There are a few pictures on the shelf from when I was young, so I’d probably grab those. I do have a few small pieces of family jewelry that I wear almost every day, so if for some reason I am not wearing them when I depart, I’d grab those.

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