BibliovoRX: a remedy for your love bugs

Valentine's Day as we know it now is a day for romance, love, extravagant displays of affection, playing "who loves me best" with suitors, picking up lonely single people at bars, "singles awareness," gorging on chocolate, sneezing over roses, and drowning in a sea of over-commericalized pink, red, and white hearts everywhere you look.  Before Hallmark put its unique spin on the day, the Feast of Saint Valentine, or Martyr Valentinus the Presbyter, was intended to be a day honoring the martyrdom of a Christian priest during the reign of Claudius II in ancient Rome who was put to death for marrying Christian couples.  Many historians give Geoffrey Chaucer (a many greats-grandfather, I'm proud to say) credit for inventing the saint, as it was during the 14th century that February 14th became associated with romantic love.

I'm personally not a fan of the modern day interpretation of Valentine's Day.  Some might say I'm simply not romantic enough, but truth be told I just don't see why we as a society accept the idea that one day out of the year we should conform to societal (and debt-creating) standards of romantic gestures, e.g., truffles, Michelin-starred restaurants, and jewelry, when on the other 364 days we're perfectly happy to accept that cooking together, running errands for one another, having running inside jokes, and laughing until our ribs hurt are equally valid and undoubtedly more meaningful ways of showing love and affection.

Whatever your opinion, and whatever your unique situation, I have a book for you, O bookworm.  Timeless romantic poetry, how-to manuals, and guides to drinking away the holiday in style, under the jump.

What I have learned from books recently

It's been mentioned to me before on more than one occasion that my interests in books is, well, eclectic, to say the least.  I will read the latest winner of the Pulitzer or the Man Booker prize with gusto and great enjoyment, but I won't turn my nose up at the dog-eared James Patterson book lying around the hotel lobby when I'm on vacation.  It's a book!  It's a lovely, beautiful, fabulous book, and I want nothing more than to immerse my consciousness in the pages of whatever book is in front of me for an hour or two.

That said, I've come to find out that as wide and diverse and multifarious as my reading list is, my book preferences share a common theme.  I like to learn new things.  Yes, I am one of Those People -- the ones who read to have their horizons broadened and their minds opened.  Whether it's something grounded in reality (such as a new technique for preparing couscous) or entirely fictional (I'm desperately curious as to the other four exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration), the new, the novel, the unique, and the unexpected make reading a pleasure that words don't capture adequately.

Find out what I've learned after the jump!

Something short that makes me giddy

I promise a much longer post this weekend.  It will be brimming with books and wit and good humor and pithy observations on the human condition, I promise.

This evening I can bring you only this: http://cookbooks.andrewsmcmeel.com/

I'm out of my gourd with excitement.  And to think that's only the short review.  A longer review of The Spice Kitchen and other cookbooks will appear on http://sanantoniobookreview.com after the weekend.

Suddenly my overwhelming need for a nap, an extra pair of hands, and two more hours per day seems much less overwhelming.  Who needs a nap?  I'm going to go celebrate with a brat with sauerkraut, a good German beer, and a stroll around an art gallery.

BibliovoRX: in which I cure what ails you

Dr. Bibliovore here, armed to the teeth with a slew of new prescriptions.  Having water woes?  Aching for architecture?  Feverish with a lack of flavor?  I have your cure.  Below, find remedies for these problems and more.  I'm not a real doctor, of course, I just play one on a book blog (it's rather like being a traveling snake-oil salesman), so here's a handy little disclaimer: mixing medications can have unpredictable effects, and Cellulose with a Side of Ink, Inc. can't be held responsible for any spontaneous mutations from casual reader into insatiable bibliophile.