Notable Quotes

Before you criticize your Brother, walk a mile in his moccasins. If he gets angry, he will be a mile away and barefoot.

New Word/Old Idea

Egocasting.

The remote control shifted power to the individual, and the technologies that have embraced this principle in its wake—the Walkman, the Video Cassette Recorder, Digital Video Recorders such as TiVo, and portable music devices like the iPod— have created a world where the individual’s control over the content, style, and timing of what he consumes is nearly absolute. Retailers and purveyors of entertainment increasingly know our buying history and the vagaries of our unique tastes. As consumers, we expect our television, our music, our movies, and our books “on demand.” We have created and embraced technologies that enable us to make a fetish of our preferences...

They encourage not the cultivation of taste, but the numbing repetition of fetish. And they contribute to what might be called “egocasting,” the thoroughly personalized and extremely narrow pursuit of one’s personal taste. In thrall to our own little technologically constructed worlds, we are, ironically, finding it increasingly difficult to appreciate genuine individuality.

My family believed in the "no thank you" helping - you had to at least taste the food. Shouldn't you do the same with ideas? Who knows, you may learn something.

Links Galore

• Just what we techies need: Clean Your Screen For Free (þ: Bitch PhD)
• So this is how they determine bonuses - Performance Review Generator (þ: Jon Luker)
• Having one of those days? Try this. Don't you feel better now? (þ: Deb)
• What a great idea! "widgEditor is an easily installed, easily customisable WYSIWYG editor for simple content. It replaces existing textareas with an improved editing pane using JavaScript, therefore if you don't have JavaScript (or your browser doesn't support HTML editing) it degrades gracefully." (þ: Library Web Chic)
  

Blog Thoughts 2005 (part three)

I've been ponder a post about the nature of blogging and the hubris of many those that do (taking all the credit for the Dan Rather episode, for example). Then Mark Dery comes along with this post and, well, I couldn't possibly say it better.

Updated: Tom Watson says some interesting things on the anniversary of his blog. And, according to Dave Pollard, this blog is one of the "5 million active bloggers" (which gets me a grade of about D-/F). Since I'm doing this more for myself than for my loyal following, that's just fine with me.

Small is better

Bookslut mentioned this article in the Independent. It offers two different takes on the nature of bookselling - one writer works for a Small Shop and the other works for a Large Shop (I'm guessing Waterston's).

I know that some of us do not have the opportunity to choose where we shop for books. My parents, for example, live in an area that until recently had no bookstores (now there's the book department at Wal-Mart and a nice, huge Barnes & Noble) so they shopped on Amazon. I tried, with minimal success, to suggest Powells as a better alternative.

That got me thinking. If you could have the choice, which would you choose? For me, it's a no-brainer: smaller is better. Yes, the "collection" might be (often is, in fact) smaller but I've never been in a small bookstore that hasn't offered to order the book for me. And the people are more receptive to my comments (unlike Barnes & Noble, where I was once told that Bronowski's Ascent of Man was definitely a self-help book and that A.N. Roquelaure's Beauty's Punishment was horror and that they wouldn't move the books to the more appropriate sections of anthropology and erotica).

The Littleton Diner touts the following

RECIPE FOR AN AMERICAN RENAISSANCE:
-- Eat In Diners
-- Ride Trains
-- Put a Porch on Your House
-- Shop on Main Street
-- Live in a Walkable Community

("Recipe For An American Renaissance" by Randy Garbin, publisher of Roadside Magazine, Worcester, Massachusetts)

Amen.

The Platinum MetroCard

Given the hell that was my commute yesterday, and the news that things won't be fixed for a possible five years, is it any wonder that Banterist's latest tickled my sick sense of humor?

Notable Quotes

"Yet, my praise for libraries will be a little more optimistic. I belong to the people who still believe that printed books have a future and that all fears a propos of their disappearance are only the last example of other fears, or of milleniaristic terrors about the end of something, the world included."

Umberto Eco, Vegetal and mineral memory: The future of books

R.I.P.

Johnny Carson has died. No one did it better, and no one ever will.

"Star" redefined

Ben Stein gets it right, finally, in his last Monday Night at Morton's column:

"How can a man or woman who makes an eight-figure wage and lives in insane luxury really be a star in today's world, if by a 'star' we mean someone bright and powerful and attractive as a role model?

Real stars are not riding around in the backs of limousines or in Porsches or getting trained in yoga or Pilates and eating only raw fruit while they have Vietnamese girls do their nails. They can be interesting, nice people, but they are not heroes to me any longer."

Read the rest and changeyour definition.

Can you help?

The OED Newsletter's December Appeals mentions the following words they're looking to update:

hoodie (n.: a hooded jacket, sweatshirt, or other garment) antedate 1990
pick up (v.: break up or dig up with a pick) postdate 1894
pitchable (a.) interdate 1486–1939
pivotable (a.) antedate 1899
plantswoman (n.) antedate 1968
plausibilize (v.) interdate 1655–1984
poseable (a.) antedate 1965
posedown (n.: the final stage in a bodybuilding competition) antedate 1978
quad bike (n.) antedate 1989
scrunchie (n.) antedate 1989
tikka masala (n.) antedate 1975

They also mention that they've discovered that overachiever dates from 1939 rather than 1953. I wonder who the first overachiever was?

Housekeeping

Usually I try to update the "recently read" list as I finish books. However, thanks to ALA's Midwinter Conference, I now have a plethora of Reader's Advance copies and I'm plowing through them. Most are Children's/YA lit books (eg, The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan and Click Here by Denise Vega) and are very quick reads. They'll appear in my quarterly round-up of what I've read, but the "recent reads" won't get updated for a while.

What did you do?

If you were one of those taking part in the "Not One More Damn Dime" day festivities, this post might make you think. I didn't, but I have given thought to the "Turn Off Your TV Day/Week" idea. Thanks to Beatrice's pointing out this post on Shovelware, I might just reconsider.

Too long have the censorious, humor-impaired wings of the left—the Dworkinite penis-is-a-weapon paleoconservative wing of feminism; the beige, Organization Man policy wonks; the excruciatingly earnest shoot-your-TV neo-Luddites—been the left's public face.

The challenge doesn't lie in acknowledging that he's right in his analysis. The challenge lies in finding effective ways of protest.

Imponderables

Puppy Fights For Life After Surviving Brutal Knife Attack "Chandler was angry that his friends wouldn't let him have a dog because he couldn't care for it..."

Words can't describe how sick that is.(þ: Aravis)

Links Galore

• I know it's early to think about Father's Day gifts, but Banterist is featuring a great idea: The Apple iPad. I may even get one for myself.
• So, you love British accents. The question is, which one? (þ: Language Hat)
• If the Sunday morning screaming heads and other assorted punditry are your thing, if you can't get enough "informed opinion", then you should check out memeorandum: Fresh brewed news plus stewing views. (þ: Weblogg-ed News)
• And, while you're at it, GovTrack.us is the perfect site for tracking legislation, links to blogs about the various bills, stats and voting. What more could a good citizen ask for?
• When was the last time you played Twenty Questions? Now you can vs. a computer at 20Q.net (þ: Neat New)
  

On reading

A while ago, OGIC posted about "demonstrative reading", and yesterday she posted a follow-up. It all ties into the whole question of the Reading Child vs. the Child Reading, doesn't it?

Reading Children (or Teens or Adults) don't usually think about being "demonstrative" in their reading - they're too busy getting on with the actual joy of the words and the book. At least, that's what I was doing. The idea that someone would be watching what I read, or impressed by it, never crossed my mind. It also never crossed my mind that others might be reading differently than I (I knew people read slower, or that some very strange people didn't like to read but different didn't occur to me).

When I take the subway, I see people reading. Until I read these posts, I assumed they were reading because it gave them pleasure. Now I wonder.

It had to happen some time

Joining Oprah, the Today Show, Regis & Kelly is Rory Gillmore! Apparently she has a book club. What's next? "Bree Van De Kamp's Top Ten Reads"? (þ: Zip)

This is too cool

Not only is Firefox the best browser out there, it keeps getting better. Now there's an extension for BugMeNot! (scroll down). I just don't get why 67% of this blog's readers haven't changed from IE.

Imponderables

Hatch to Plead Guilty to Tax Evasion The guy wins $1MM on "Survivor" and thinks the IRS won't notice?

Oh, do I know what he means!

As some of you know, I'm looking for a job outside NYC. When asked why, I fumble for a response - I like falling asleep listening to crickets rather than car horns, the feel of grass beneath my bare feet, the quiet after a hard day's work, etc.. There are usually skeptical glances and I know that I haven't accurately explained myself.

Then along comes this post from Likeks:

I love some bustle. I prefer to commute to the bustle, however, not be embustled 24-7. Myriad options are nice, but I suspect that 84% of these options consist of “ethnic food, readily available,” and the other 12% are made up of museums and concerts most urban dwellers rarely have time to attend... All well and good for the big things, but when you’'re also competing to get across the street, get noticed in line at the deli, get your cart down the narrow grocery store aisle, and all the other ordinary details of life, you get either tired or cranky or both.

Now I can just point people there and not say another word.

LOL! Metrosexuals, bling-bling and embedded journalists banned

This floated through one of my discussion lists today: the 2004 Banished Words List. And, you know? I wouldn't miss one of them.

Links Galore

• If you're looking for a bunch of pompous thoughts about the year in music, PoOPlist is for you. 2001-2003 is covered, 2004 should be up soon. (þ: PoOPster Zip)
  
• One step above and beyond PoOP: Metacritic.com looks at books, games, music, and film. So now you know. (þ: Literary Saloon)
• Despite my colleagues insistance, I'm only "slightly nerdy". Since you're reading this on-line, on a blog, you've got some level of nerdiness... but what is your Nerd Quotient? (þ: The Little Professor)
• 'Tis the season to pay off those holiday credit card binges. Here are Eight Things A Credit Card User Should Know (þ: The Scout Report)
  

Withdrawal

OGIC pointed me to these thougths about a life Filtered.

I have to confess, I'm intrigued. What would life be like if I did the same? Would I read more or less than I currently do? Would what I read change to reflect my lack of knowledge about what's going on "out there"?

How would my professional life be affected? I imagine it would suffer, since one of the job requirements of "school librarian" is that you be aware of what's going on. Newspapers and magazines are critical for that.

I also asked myself how "filtered" this person's life could be if they blogged. Clearly they're not as out of it as they might claim!

It's not a popularity contest...

or is it? Karmon has some interesting thoughts about how we vote.

Blog Thoughts 2005 (part two)

I've been spending a lot of time working with my students and colleagues on plagiarism and copyright and fair use. The younger they are, the more they agree that it's not fair to "steal" something, but the older they are the more they play the slippery slope game.

Recently I had a disagreement with a friend about a post they'd blogged. It was a link, probably a fairly common one, but one I knew I'd shown them a few months ago. This person posted the link with no acknowledgement. Now, I'm not saying that I was the only source for this link. But it did raise the question of ethics in blogging, something that has been written about far better by others.

I try, to the best of my ability, to give credit for links and ideas both on this blog and in e-mails, papers, etc.. Sometimes "everyone" is linking/saying/thinking the same thing and that's when it becomes difficult. One teacher I had said that if a fact can be found in three or more places, you don't need to cite it. (For example, I don't need to cite Janson when I say that Leonardo da Vinci painted the "Mona Lisa" because that fact is in so many other places.)

Blogs are (for the most part) public forums. Which means that saying things about people should be done carefully. Some people seem to forget this, and then get surprised when it comes back to haunt them. Giving one's opinion is one thing, but libel is another. Some blogs tread that line very carefully, others blow right past it without a second glance.

Basically, I think of blogging as a way to share my ideas with whomever cares to drop by. Because I try to live a morally upright life, giving credit to others for their ideas is the easy thing, the right thing to do. Equally important is not writing posts that might come back to haunt me - in my current job and life, or in a future job and different life. And, dear readers, you have my permission to call me on it when I deviate.

Blog Thoughts 2005 (part one)

I’ve been pondering this post for a while. Every time I think I get a handle on it, something new pops up and I rethink (or reconfigure) my thoughts.

First, let’s start with “news” that’s been making the rounds recently: The report that says that

The number of blogs and the use of blog readers rose rapidly last year--but a majority of Americans still do not know what a blog is...[R]eadership of Web blogs--essentially, Web-based diaries--spiked 58 percent last year, with 27 percent of Internet users, or 32 million people, saying that they read blogs. Twelve percent of people who read blogs also chose to post comments on them.... But despite the rise in usage, "blog" still is not a household word. Only 38 percent of Internet users know what a blog is, while the rest are not sure what the term means.

Great. So I’m part of a growing trend. Now what?

Well, the what is “what does blogging mean”? There are so many different types of blogs, ranging from the list of links without commentary to the pure writing of an author manque and everything in between. Some blogs are well written, others could use editorial guidance. Subject matter varies, some covering a wide of interests and topics, while some are very narrowly focused.

Anyone can blog, which some people see as a good thing. On the other hand, as WSJ's OpinionJournal, perhaps not:

They certainly got under the skin of some of the paper's executives. Randell Beck, executive editor of the Argus Leader, called some of the bloggers work "crap" and said they represented an organized effort by conservatives to discredit his paper. In July, he explained to readers that "true believers of one stripe or another, no longer content to merely bore spouses and neighbors with their nutty opinions, can now spew forth on their own blogs, thereby playing a pivotal role in creating the polarized climate that dominates debate on nearly every national issue. If Hitler were alive today, he'd have his own blog."

Still to come: thoughts about the so-called blogosphere and blog ethics. But this is enough to ponder for one day.

Notable Quotes

Of course, you could level the same charge of myopia against a project that seemed pure lunacy until it became a huge hit: "The Passion of the Christ." ... If you're not a believer, Mr. Gibson is not trying to convince you. He doesn't explain his hero's importance any more than Mr. Stone or Mr. Spacey does, but then his hero was a lot better known to begin with.

"The Making of a Megaflop: Curse of the Pet Project", Caryn James

Too early to tell

It sounds like all the people that wrote/e-mailed/called Delegate Cosgrove for his incredibly stupid and insensitive legislative proposal have had an effect. Read A Reply from Delegate Cosgrove and decide if this now a non-issue or if (as Bitch PhD suggests) it's indicative of a more sinister plan.

Me, I'm undecided. For now, that is.

Sadly true

The irresistible, singable, stick-in-your-mindable jingle is dead

But the jingle, as anyone with a television knows, is a vanishing art form. It is too quaint, too corny, too oldschool for our ironic times. Naming your product in a commercial for your product is just tacky, say advertising executives. Modern pitchmen prefer pop songs that create a mood or spark an emotional association or conjure up some sort of vague but potent lifestyle-oriented craving that, if all goes as planned, attaches to a product and translates to a sale.

Unfortunately, I'm not paying enough attention to the product to associate it with a specific pop/rock song. And then there is the curse of the overexposed song, or the song that just doesn't match the product but is so "now" that the ad-guys just have to have it for their commercial.

Equally sad is the fact that I'm not the target audience. Apparently my advanced age has made me brand-loyal (which isn't true, for any and all ad guys out there), so ads that appeal to me are incidental. Of course, that doesn't quite explain all the ads that actually pertain to people my age but never mind, I'm supposed to enjoy whatever music they use as aural background.

I miss the jingles. I'll bet that a product that created something new and memorable would do well - the ads would be talked about, the jingle sung, and everyone would be happy. Pity my vote doesn't count.

A very New York moment

I went out for brunch today and on the way passed the Christmas Tree Mulching Truck. It's a sad time of year in some ways, as formerly decorated trees get dumped on the sidewalk, still slightly tinseled. But there's a New York City tradition that brings a bit of country to the city: a truck to which you can bring your tree and have it mulched. The scent of pine fills the air and, for a brief moment, you're in the Great Outdoors. What a heavenly smell and wonderful way for the tree to end its career.

What Child Were You?

The Inter-Galactic Playground has an interesting post about the "Reading Child" vs. the "Child Reader".

The Child Reader is all children who are being "encouraged" to read. These children read artificially in that they read because they are given books. They may do so willingly (and move themselves into my other category) or they may read only the books they are given and never read a book independently after the age of ten. It is these readers who critics discuss when they see children as something different in the market, a group for whom books will be chosen by adults.

Then there is the Reading Child. You know who this child is. If you are reading this blog you probably were one. You were the child who went from non-reader to reader almost over night (this often happens young but I know of one person for whom it happened at the age of ten). You don't remember the stage where you halted over words, because you were too busy falling over the next one. Francis Spufford writes of this brilliantly in The Child that Books Built and incidentally suggests that checking children understand what they read may destroy the pleasure in the act of reading--that reading is not about content but about form.

While I've posted some of my thoughts on that blog, the more I thought about this, the more I wanted to add things.

For example, what about the rush to technology? Is plopping children in front of the computer and encouraging them to blog or play "educational" games going to hinder the developing Reading Child? What about using tv as a babysitter? What about all the learning disabled? How do we work with them so that they don't' become discouraged, when so many have the potential to be Reading Children? And what do we do with all those "potentials" who are in non-reading households? How do we encourage them to buck the surrounding norm and find joy in the pages of "treeware"?

UPDATE: More on this conversation at Over the Sea.

Thinking about God

Sometimes things just sort of hit you over the head. You know what I'm talking about: suddenly "everyone" is talking about something, or you'll see three of the same thing in the space of an hour. It's a little too much to be coincidence, but it certainly can't have been planned, can it?

For me, God featured in my on-line life today. First, there was an article about The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience (þ: Arts and Letters Daily) and then one of my listservs (which is, admittedly, prone to discussions of religion and God) mentioned this column in the Chicago Tribune, where Eric Zorn explores what relationship God had to the recent tsunami (scroll up and down for several different ideas/takes/positions).

The juxtaposition of these two articles, on the same day, got me thinking more about my relationship to God, and morality. I've been pondering a post about blogging and ethics - perhaps this is the impetus I need to put fingers to keyboard and get it done.

Watch this space.

Imponderables

Maude links to these posts about a new bill regarding miscarriages.

Representative John Cosgrove has recently introduced a bill to the Virginia legislature that will make it a misdemeanor crime for any woman who's experienced a miscarriage - at any stage of gestation - to fail to report that miscarriage to local law enforcement personnel within twelve hours.

UNBELIEVEABLE.

Most people that have miscarriages are upset - dare I say devastated - by the loss. And now they have to tell the police about it? Hello???? Most women don't announce pregnancies until after the first trimester because miscarriages are so common. And now, under this law, if they fail to report one it's a crime?

We should all be outraged that someone would even think up such a thing. This has nothing to do with being pro- or anti- choice. It has nothing to do with "blue" or "red". It's sheer idiocy.

Links Galore

• Ever wondered where your blog falls on a links ranking? PubSub LinkRanks can tell you (for the record, on Jan 7 2005 this blog was ranked #1997326, up from #2032829 on Jan 6 2005). (þ: Library Web Chic)
• If you're starting to plan your spring/summer vacations (or dreaming of ways to spend your year-end bonus), you might consider the Worlds Top 100 Wonders. Being lazy, I've only seen 19. (þ: CoCo)
• Do you have a cat? Then Cats and Books is for you! (þ: Alice)
• Those of you still using IE should add Vcatch Antivirus 6.3.1.2 to your computers. (þ: Scout Report)

Not imponderable, just sick

Sadly, this doesn't surprise me:

Fraudulent Charities Use Tsunami Pleas To Prey on Donors

Tsunami Disaster Relief - Avoiding A Scam

TSUNAMI DISASTER RELIEF FRAUD ALERT

And my lack of surprise is the problem, isn't it? That I expect there to be this sort of scamming when there is a disaster should be seen as cynical; instead, it's considered "prudent" and normal.

One less screaming head!

CNN Will Cancel 'Crossfire' and Cut Ties to Commentator (login required). You can also read more about it here.

Let's hope that this will start a trend.

What kind of aid should we be giving

SwissToni has some interesting thoughts about recent comments made by Chancellor Gordon Brown.

I agree that debt relief would be a huge help to these countries if it actually gets to the people. And that's always been the problem, hasn't it? All that corruption. And bias. India, for example, is hindering aid efforts in some areas.

There's got to be a solution. It just seems to be beyond my ken.

TV tidbits

Well, "Who's my Daddy?" tanked in the ratings (despite the adoptee being a softcore star!). So there's hope for us after all...

Or so I thought until last night, when Amber Frey got the star/VIP treatment by Matt Lauer. You know, when this whole thing broke, I thought that this was a nothing case. I mean, yes, a woman and her unborn child were murdered, which is sad. But the interest in the case seemed to be outsized and I really didn't understand why. To be honest, I still don't. For some reason we are supposed to care about this woman and her accidental role in a sordid murder story. Equally confusing is why we're supposed to care about the sordid murder story.

On a brighter note, the new season of Monk starts Friday and MI-5 is returning to A&E this Saturday.

My phrase for the day

I'm suffering from "PTRW (Post Traumatic Return to Work) syndrome". Sounds about right. Two weeks off is both too long and not long enough.

Thoughts about 2004

I've looked over my list of books read in 2004. This summary is a variant of Jessamyn's. The thing is, I don't catalog them monthly, I do it quarterly. So by the time I get around to the actual cataloging, I don't remember when I read it. Still, it's an interesting look at my reading this century. One thing that struck me was that I thought I was reading more than I am. This requires work!

number of books cataloged in 2004: 124
number of books cataloged in 2003: 69
number of books cataloged in 2002: 123
number of books cataloged in 2001: 76
number of books cataloged in 2000: 99

For 2004:
average read per month: 10.33
adult fiction as percentage of total: 14
children's/YA fiction as percentage of total: 35
mystery as percentage of total: 23
non-fiction as percentage of total: 13

Luckily, very few fall into the "dislike" column - most are in the "good" to "very good" range. A few - maybe 5 - (no names, but you can e-mail and ask) are ones I'd like to request my time back for having read. That's pretty good odds, isn't it?

Then there's Stephanie. She writes about her pile of books to be read (what I fondly refer to as "Mt. Bookpile"). My problem isn't a pile or two, it's a 6' bookcase! However, there's a lot to be said for narrowing it down to a few piles. Which is, in fact, one of my goals for 2005. Of course, that will mean less purchasing of books and I'm not sure I can do that. On the other hand, I could just read more rather than spending time watching tv.

I'll keep you posted.

Notes from Mt. Bookpile

Mildly eclectic... only a few clunkers.

Title	Author	Publisher	ISBN
A Kiss of Shadows	Hamilton, Laurell K.	Ballantine Books	0345423399	Details
Allies of the Night	Shan, Darren	Little Brown and Company	0316155705	Details
Always the Bridesmaid	Webb, Sarah	Avon Trade	0060571667	Details
The Amulet of Samarkand	Stroud, Jonathan	Miramax Books	078681859X	Details
Book of Enchantments	Wrede, Patricia	Jane Yolen Books	0152012559	Details
Calling on Dragons	Wrede, Patricia	Magic Carpet Books	0152046925	Details
Dealing with Dragons	Wrede, Patricia	Magic Carpet Books	015204566X	Details
Dragon Rider	Funke, Cornelia	Chicken House	0439456959	Details
Dragon's Kin	McCaffrey, Anne; McCaffrey, Todd;	Del Rey	0345461983	Details
The Eight	Neville, Katherine	Ballantine Books	0345419081	Details
Good Morning, Midnight	Hill, Reginald	HarperCollins Publishers	0060528079	Details
The Grim Grotto	Snicket, Lemony	HarperCollins Publishers	0064410145	Details
How to Read Literature Like a Professor	Foster, Thomas C.	Perennial	006000942X	Details
The Inklings Handbook	Duriez, Colin; Porter, David	Chalice Press	082721622X	Details
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell	Clarke, Susanna	Bloomsbury Publishing PLC	1582344167	Details
Killers of the Dawn	Shan, Darren	Jane Yolen Books	0007137818	Details
Killing Bono	McCormick, Neil	MTV Books	0743482484	Details
Leaping Beauty	Maguire, Gregory	HarperCollins Publishers	0060564172	Details
Lord of the Shadows	Shan, Darren	Jane Yolen Books	000715920X	Details
Malice Downstream	Thomas, Graham	Ballantine Books	0739430505	Details
Mirror Mirror	Maguire, Gregory	Jane Yolen Books	006039384X	Details
Mountain Solo	Ingold, Jeanette	Harcourt Inc.	0152026703	Details
Parts Unknown	Brennan, Kevin	William Morrow & Company	0060012765	Details
The Prophecy of the Stones	Bujor, Flavia; Coverdale, Linda	Miramax Books	0786818352	Details
Searching for Dragons	Wrede, Patricia ; Marino, Krista	Magic Carpet Books	0152045651	Details
Snow White and the Seven Samurai	Holt, Tom	Orbit	1857239881	Details
Sons of Destiny	Shan, Darren	Jane Yolen Books	0007159218	Details
The Stone Diaries	Shields, Carol	Viking Books	0670853097	Details
Talking to Dragons	Wrede, Patricia	Magic Carpet Books	0152046917	Details
The Templars' Secret Island	Haagensen, Erling; Lincoln, Henry	Orion Publishing	1841881902	Details
The Lake of Souls	Shan, Darren	Jane Yolen Books	0007159196	Details
The Stupidest Angel	Moore, Christopher	William Morrow & Company	0060590254	Details
The Unending Mystery	McCullough, David W	Pantheon Books	0375423060	Details
The Truth Behind a Series of Unfortunate Events	Gresh, Lois H.	Griffin	031232703X	Details
Winter's Tale	Helprin, Mark	Thomson Learning	0156001942	Details
The Year of Secret Assignments	Moriarty, Jaclyn	Arthur A. Levine Books	0439498813	Details

1/3/2005 8:20:17 PM

Notable Quotes

History buffs have a mania for applying "Age of" labels to epochs gone by: the Age of Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, the Age of Aquarius. When historians look back on the current age, what label will they choose? Some psychologists are already suggesting that the Age of Anxiety would be an appropriate moniker. (They're also suggesting Century of Stress, proving, if nothing else, that the joys of alliteration are not lost on the psychology profession).

Word Spy, Paul McFedries