I'm a good cook. I'm what once was called a 'plain cook' but I have some gourmet skills as well. I'm a bit of a geek (female) and have an analytical mind. I started in the kitchen as a baby with my Mother and Grandmothers. I now have babies of my own (5 to be exact, 6,4,3,2,new). Overall they aren't too picky and I want to get them more involved. I'm VERY busy. Cooks, books, tv, etc that focus on food that I like: Alton Brown, Cooks Illustrated, J Kenji, Paula Deen (sometimes), the old Betty Crocker cookbook (mid 70's or so) for the good basic information it gives, Cooking for Engineers, Serious Eats, Pioneer Woman, Smitten Kitchen, Chow, Peter Reinhart, Rose Levy Beranbaum... I LOVE to bake and I'm darn good at it, pastry, bread, cake.

I'm looking for y'all's suggestions on a good cookbook library. What do you consider your essential cookbooks? I'm thinking top 10-20 at most. I have a few in mind I'd like to add to my collection but I want to see if others think (without my influencing them by listing) they're worthwhile.

Thanks for your suggestions.