Stepping up, which software to use?

[Seeking~Zen]

I'm currently dabbling with PSE7 and Corel's Paintshop pro 9. When looking for books at Chapters, I'n only finding books on CS3 to 5 or lightroom etc...

Can someone explain the differences between the CS series and lightroom, I have very little knowledge of either. I shoot mainly landscapes, objects and interiors...not too many people but want to move into that eventually. I like some of the artistic features in PSP9 such as the pencil conversions for doing something with "dud" photos I like. (compositioanlly speaking)

I guess I'm asking which current editing software might be worth considering as an amateur.

[corvus2606]

Lightroom is specifically aimed at photographers, and as such puts the features most likely to be used at the easiest access. I use LR3 for cataloging and basic post processing, If I need to do more in depth pp then i go into PS. but that is not too frequent.