Cookbooks as Literary Reading...because I said so!

Do cookbooks count as reading? I pour over the pages again and again and feel this obsessive studying of rustic fruit desserts or Nigella's fabulous hair have enriched my life and taught me something of the world. What the hell! I'm going to play my librarian card and use my biblio-authority to proclaim cookbooks a legitimate and profound reading experience!
I get so much from a cookbook that I don't get from the internet. It's like a privileged tour through the lives of the chefs, their homes, and their style as well as their tastes. I completely identify with Allysa Torey's aesthetic in At Home with Magnolia and feel that the only thing we don't have in common is that I am not a wildly successful baker with a fabulous farm house. And how adorable are The Farm Chicks?! Well, as I understand we are now down to one Farm Chick but the singular doesn't have the same ring to it.
My new discovery is The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook. I'm not sure if anything gets better than this! The book perfectly captures the fantastic vintage looking bakery and food! I just about fell over when I saw all the aprons in the back that hang the way they do in my own kitchen. And the food...hang on...I need to clean up my drool. Well, you get the point. The bonus here is that I discovered a new place I want to visit in Savannah. And please tell me that if I'm ever lucky enough to visit that the retro-fabulous founder, Cheryl Day, will be there! In the meantime, I'll be baking her tarts.