When Flannery invited me to write a guest post for the excellent If You Like This You Might Like That feature, I immediately cast my mind about for a theme I could hitch my star to. But after rejecting any number of possibilities, I decided the randomer the better. So today you get a list of recs that not only reflect the eclecticness of my reading taste but give you a surprisingly accurate glimpse into my daily life and musings.

It has been pointed out to me on more than one occasion that I have a questionable fondness for cousin love. Ahem. How weirded out are you now? It's not like I go seeking it out. But I have to admit my Beloved Bookshelf includes more than one volume in which cousins . . . get friendly. My issues aside, today I'm pushing Touch Not the Cat by one of my oldest favorite authors Mary Stewart. It's not just the cousin love you're getting here (hey, it was 1970s rural England--go with the egg, my friend). Oh, no. You're getting all kinds of bang for your buck, including but not limited to telepathic romance, crumbling English manors, and an abundance of literary references.

I love Sherlock Holmes. I love him in pretty much any incarnation, although I'll go ahead and go on record as being awfully partial to the Benedict Cumberbatch rendition. If you find yourself similarly Sherlocked, I highly recommend Laurie R. King's Mary Russell series. King switches things up by setting the series after the illustrious detective has retired to the Sussex downs. In fact, her young protagonist literally falls over Mr. Holmes and finds herself apprenticing with him before long. Start with The Beekeeper's Apprentice and read on through till dawn. King is particularly good with titles. A Monstrous Regiment of Women and A Letter of Mary are personal faves.

Is the election season getting to you, too? Whenever I find myself weary of the mudslinging and start questioning the sanity of any and all involved, I pop in a few episodes of The West Wing to feel better about the whole crazy rigmarole. I may or may not be on a two-episodes-a-night regimen at the moment. But if you love The West Wing like I do, then you will love the President's Daughter series by Ellen Emerson White. The original trilogy was written in the '80s and then updated a bit for the present day just in time for the publication of the fourth volume Long May She Reign in 2007. Smart, witty, and deeply affecting, protag Meg Powers is the daughter of the first female President of the United States. I adore her and I adore White's challenging, thoughtful prose.

It's officially autumn now and I always start craving cinnamon rolls round about this time. And when I crave cinnamon rolls, I immediately crave pulling out one of my three copies (I know) of Sunshine by Robin McKinley and cozying up. One of my few seasonal reads, I return to it every fall. Combining mouth-watering baked goods, a seriously introverted heroine, the most repellent vampires you ever will find, and Beauty and the Beast, it's just one of the biggest Angie books there is. Are you a cinnamon rolls/non-sparkly vampire fan? Perhaps it could be your book, too . . .

Speaking of fairy tales, don't you just hate Rumpelstiltskin? That dude creeped me the hell out as a kid. And I was forever outraged on behalf of the poor girl whose father sold her off repeatedly to a king who cared about nothing more than gold and was willing to kill her as soon as look at her. Then she gets saddled with his majesty's baby and the crazy dwarf that just won't leave her alone. Honestly. What is there to love about this tale? But then Elizabeth C. Bunce went and rewrote the maddening thing because it bothered her, too. And wouldn't you know, A Curse Dark as Gold is bloody brilliant.

One of my favorite movies (top ten for sure) is Casablanca. It's perfect as far as I'm concerned, and no matter how many times I watch it, I always tear up at the part where they stand up in Rick's Cafe and sing "La Marseillaise" in defiance. Imagine my delight when I ran across a tribute to that cinematic moment in a little-read book called My Heartbeat. At one point, the main character refers to her family watching Casablanca growing up and how her father always made them stand up and sing along at that point in the film. Somehow it remained a binding cord when everything else inside their family seemed to be falling apart.

So. Inappropriate cousin feelings, mad dwarfs, political commentary, baked goods, and French anthems. I better stop there before I reveal any other embarrassing literary quirks. Thanks so much for having me, 'venturers! I do hope you find something that suits.