Amid the normal reports of books signed this morning in Publishers Lunch was a tantalizing mention of Cookin’ with Coolio. Yes, that’s right, Coolio, of “Fantastic Voyage” and “Gangsta’s Paradise” fame, is coming out with a cookbook. It seemed totally bizarre to me, but little did I know that Coolio has his own Internet cooking show on MyDamnChannel, and it’s pretty hilarious. The recipes are also easy enough that even a terrible cook like me could probably get them right. Good for you, Coolio.

Here at Harper Perennial, we publish many different kinds of books—fiction, non-fiction, memoir, books about sex, books about drugs, and (especially if you count our friends at It Books) books about rock and roll. But one thing we don’t publish—and one thing I sorely need—is cookbooks.

You see, I am not a good cook. I’m not a bad cook exactly; I’m more like a lazy cook. I’m usually cooking dinner after a full day here in the Harper Perennial trenches and often a trip to the gym, and at those times, often an egg sandwich even seems like too much work. But I do want to be a better cook, and I want cooking to be more fun. So tell me: what cookbooks do you recommend for an almost-beginner? I don’t like Indian food, but otherwise there’s probably something in almost any cookbook that I’d try.