went to the library
i kinda forgot how cool libraries are. because today when i walked in with the boys, i found the cooking section and kinda went nuts. i mean, i got a little over-enthusiastic. and came home with 20 or so books. my favorite is nigella lawsons, just because i imagine her brit accent in the writing (not for the actual recipes). i also got a williams sonoma cake book, whose copyright i would love to disregard completely to make photocopies. im not sure why, but i picked up the idiots guide to cooking. maybe i underestimate myself.... oh yeah and i cant forget alton brown's kitchen essentials guide; always entertaining and insightful. that guy must own the planet's worth of kitchen things, btw. or did, at one point. i haven't gotten to many of the other books (except maybe for some picture-drooling reminiscent of 1st grade). i've always loved picture books, and illustrated cook books are the adult's way of re-living good times without feeling guilty.
i recall letting go of picture books very late relative to when i learned to read- about 4th grade i started feeling a little guilty about them. i would sneak in the occasional one in 5th grade, when no one else was looking. oh how i've missed them. would it hurt, to have illustrations amid heavy text in thick novels? i think not. seriously; who would complain?? maybe it's just a cost thing, but it's kind of saddening. it's kind of like the world is telling you, "well, now that your X years old, you shouldnt really have the pleasure of looking at pretty pictures. unless they're boring and require lengthy analyzation, that is. hardy har har har, sucker." i remember sitting in the library once, purposefully away from the children's section, with as many "spot (that dog)" pop-up (ingenious!) books as i could get my hands on. i flipped through those books faster than was necessary, and returned them to the shelves pretty fast too. but i loved that series. dearly. *sigh* still do.
when my brothers liked to have books read to them before they went to sleep, they always insisted on me flipping the book around to give them a look at the pictures. it had to be at 2 angles, too, so both of them could see and study the picture equally. if one got a longer/better look than the other, there was definitely griping. sometimes i'd get impatient and give them really short looks. i regret doing that; they would get so sad. i'd tell them to just imagine it. but just like something from the ice cream man versus your own freezer- it's just not the same.
i recall letting go of picture books very late relative to when i learned to read- about 4th grade i started feeling a little guilty about them. i would sneak in the occasional one in 5th grade, when no one else was looking. oh how i've missed them. would it hurt, to have illustrations amid heavy text in thick novels? i think not. seriously; who would complain?? maybe it's just a cost thing, but it's kind of saddening. it's kind of like the world is telling you, "well, now that your X years old, you shouldnt really have the pleasure of looking at pretty pictures. unless they're boring and require lengthy analyzation, that is. hardy har har har, sucker." i remember sitting in the library once, purposefully away from the children's section, with as many "spot (that dog)" pop-up (ingenious!) books as i could get my hands on. i flipped through those books faster than was necessary, and returned them to the shelves pretty fast too. but i loved that series. dearly. *sigh* still do.
when my brothers liked to have books read to them before they went to sleep, they always insisted on me flipping the book around to give them a look at the pictures. it had to be at 2 angles, too, so both of them could see and study the picture equally. if one got a longer/better look than the other, there was definitely griping. sometimes i'd get impatient and give them really short looks. i regret doing that; they would get so sad. i'd tell them to just imagine it. but just like something from the ice cream man versus your own freezer- it's just not the same.