Category Archives: Books
When Life Hands You Lemons…
…and pitchers and sugar and water and …, you have to make lemonade.
It’s sad to see magazines dying. The one I’ll eventually miss most is Playboy, but you know if something so established mainstream as Newsweek is hurting, the ad-supported mags going into even greater depth or expressing more diverse views probably can’t stand [...]
Backs to the Future
I found this a few weeks back (via Digg) and found it completely fascinating.
Tell an old Aymara speaker to “face the past!” and you just might get a blank stare in return – because he or she already does.
New analysis of the language and gesture of South America’s indigenous Aymara people indicates a reverse concept [...]
The Witch of Pungo Has Been Pardoned
One of the earliest books I remember receiving as a gift was The Witch of Pungo—probably from Grandma Knack, but maybe from Uncle Doug—when we still lived in Ithaca (‘74?). It was either over my head at the time or I had not yet developed an interest in regional folklore, so while I’ve somehow still [...]
Read a Banned Book Lately?
Yesterday was the start of Banned Book Week. Check out Kirkus Reviews of the 10 most frequenly challenged books of 2004 or the ALA’s top 100 from 1990-2000 for suggestions. Thank goodness we have nannies out there to protect us from such horrors as Captain Underpants.
The Moral Animal
I had planned when I started this whole blog thing to occasionally "review" books I'd read. Well, I haven't actually gotten around to doing so, but I came close in an exchange with Dad the other day, so I figured I'd save it.
A little background: Once in a while, I'll stop by Gray's Bookstore, the [...]
One Born Every Minute
I hear the 9-11 Commission Report is actually readable, and I may have to track down a hard copy at some point just to see. That said, I'm completely flabbergasted. Why in the world would someone spend $4.95 for a "download only" copy at Braindex.com when the same exact file is available directly from the [...]
Euphonia
Every once in a while, I'll stumble across a metaphor or a turn of phrase early in a book, and I'll know that I will read the rest of that book no matter what, just in the hope that I'll be rewarded again. I've just started Margaret Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale:
We slept in what had [...]
A Useful Hobby?
I've proofed some … memoirs of a Victorian-era author and poet who was so full of himself he might just be related.
