Chess books

More splosions.

I play chess

Well, clearly it is you - but probably not just you!

I happen to find chess books interesting in rough proportion to the amount (and quality) of the material that is added to the core notation. I enjoy the extra "waffle", which might include insights into what the player(s) was thinking or historical/biographical/anecdotal background. Rather that being distracting, I find it aids my understanding of the chess moves and ideas being presented, sort of like a lubricant. For me, "reading" pure notation and variations is like scraping paint off a wall or eating Jacob's Cream Crackers without anything on (the crackers. I don't know if there is a North American equivalent to these - maybe extra dry matzos?). This probably has something to do with my still embryonic level of chess competence. 

I also enjoy pure chess biography, like Genna Sosonko's books.