"I Have a Long Beard by the Time I Read Them"

Books.

I am rather fond of book clubs. I do not mean reading groups (though they are excellent, too) but I mean a collection of bibliophiles gathered together to tell what they are reading, what books they want to read, what books they recently bought, which book they think so-and-so really should read because they (so-and-so) liked such-and-such. That is the sort of thing I am fond of and get precious little of.
Here is my single ended talk of such things:
You may have noticed on the sidebar a silly, little book counter. Yes, indeed, I'm finally going to measure exactly how many books and how many pages I read in '10. Why this counter? Because I am fond of statistics. ;) Last year I read (rough guess) something like70-80 books and the year before that I'm thinking I read something like a 100ish. I am rather found of reading, you know. ;)
My current read, in case you haven't picked up this information previously, is Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin which I have been actively planning on reading since sometime in October-November. At first I did not think I would like it, it does have so many commas. ("For convenience's sake, we have said, hitherto, two gentleman. One of the parties, however, when critically examined, did not seem, strictly speaking, to come under the species.") Over these first 80 pages I've gotten used to the style and can focus on the story which I find very good. I currently have no idea where it is going so I guess we can say that either I am incredibly thick or the book isn't easy to predict.
"I don't know what to doio for so many books do fightio to win my gift cardio!"
Yes. It's true. I have this issue with buying a book: what if I don't like it?
I mean, I could get Wicked because I am curious about it but I didn't like Maguire's Lost or Mirror, Mirror.
I could get Pride and Prejudice and Zombies or Jane Bites Back because they both sound amusing but zombies, vampires, and the former's cover art is a little gross and they are Austen knock-offs. I really don't think I would love them but would merely like them/find them entertaining.
I have been wanting to read The Club of Queer Trades for ages now because I love Chesterton but they probably don't have it in stock.
I've also been wanting, almost as badly, to read The Ladies of Grace Adieu because I love Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell....
See my problem? I may have to resort to closing my eyes, being spun around. If anyone has any recommendations I am happy to hear them! :)
Speaking of Jonathan Strange and Mr, Norrell, I have finally lent my copy to Kelsey so she can read it. She has been begging me to let her read it for, like, two whole years. Aren't I great at sharing things? I really am bad about lending.
I was disinclined to loan it to her, at first, because of how dark it is and I have a little sister who is, 'specially at the time, uncomfortably interested in magic, violence, and death and I didn't want to start a rage with this book which would leak out to said little sister who can't read yet, it was not something I desired. Also, I am bad about letting people borrow my things (as previously mentioned), I kind of wanted to keep it to myself and have something that only I've done, and I dislike people to read books on my recommendation.
Really, this was, I think, the only book that only I had read, none of my family had read it. Now that I've broadened my scope there are several more books like that, books that only I have read--there are also books that I did recommend to the fam. which they did read and like. I guess that this desire to be special could be labeled selfishness?
I am not keen on recommending books because: what if they don't like it? What if I recommend the best book I've ever read and the recomendee hates it? That would be horrible, it would be like my dearest friend got emotionally stabbed in the back...sort of. I am also not keen on recommending because I worry about the thematic elements or adult themes that might bother the recommendee. You know, most of my friends and the people I would find myself recommending to are conservative Christians and sheltered homeschoolers. I fear that I will recommend a book, they'll attempt to read it, and get hit in the face with language and false religion and violence (Turner's The Thief) or murder and extreme depression (Dosteovsky's Crime and Punishment and Camus' The Stranger) or adultery (Tolstoy's Anna Karenina) or dark magic (Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell) or strong Catholic views and drug dealing and violence and adultery and abandonment and death (Doman's The Fairy-Tale Novels) or.... The point is, my favorite books are not goodie-two-shoes. They include imperfect people in an imperfect world, doing imperfect things.
I do not find a problem with reading books with thematic elements or adult themes because: aye, folks, this is an imperfect world with imperfect people doing imperfect things. Reading material like that with a mature heart and mind can be more helpful then harmful. I don't read and go, "Oh cool! Man, I just really want to run away from home and go murder a few people than live in the alleys on my own. Deal a few drugs, cuss a whole lot, steal some stuff--you know, man, I really want to learn some magic. Call up a few spirits.That would be the good life." :P I'm probably some unscholared young person with an abundance of immaturity in this area, likely, every mature adult reading this is writing my name down in their prayer book.
I don't know, I just don't feel like the reading of the books up there are going to turn my into a horribly evil person--hello! I'm a bad enough sinner without them! I can't get a whole lot worse! Like I said, I think reading these books can be more helpful than not. Of course, it's not all helpful, there are those books that are merely good books that include, for me, no great moral awakenings. :)
Anyways. We shall see how Kelsey likes its eight hundred pages of literary awesomeness. :D

One type of book that I do not like to read are cookbooks. I do like to leaf through them though. I imagine how, someday, I might be a good cook. :P I like to look at the pictures and read the interesting sounding recipes and get a feel for what goes good together. I don't often copy down recipes, normally I just try to get a good idea of the recipe and then if I try to make that same thing I have the idea behind the recipe and whatever ingredients I have available. I stick it together and hope what comes out is good. My favorite herb is rosemary. ;) This week I actually copied down several recipes that I want to try. Does anyone know how to use a pressure cooker? Going to have to ask Mom about that.

Congratulate me, dear readers, I just typed this entire post (which is named from an Arnold Lobel poem) on my iTouch. :D