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Here’s one snagged from Steph: it’s a list of books most often marked “Unread” on LibraryThing, indicating books people have copies of either so they can say they own them, or in the best intentions of reading ’em someday if only James Patterson would quit churning out must-read thrillers or whatnot. (Like I’m any different!) Anyway, the instructions are to bold the ones you’ve read, underline the ones you read for school, and italicize the ones you’ve started but not finished. I’ll add another two rules: strike the ones you know you’ll never, ever read and don’t even own aDown the rabbit hole….

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I have a couple of new reviews up at Green Man Review. First I look at Jeff Smith’s recent graphic novel treatment of Captain Marvel, SHAZAM! The Monster Society of Evil, which I liked a lot, and Kevin J. Anderson’s recent prose-novel treatment of the last days of Superman’s home planet of Krypton, titled appropriately enough, The Last Days of Krypton. This one I didn’t like as much, although I’m not sure it’s totally Anderson’s fault as he probably did the best he could with the task at hand. Anyway, check out the reviews. Or don’t. Hey, it’s your mouse.Down the rabbit hole….

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I happened upon this library quiz-thing, and given my love of libraries and quiz-things, I just had to do it. Sadly, I had no idea that February was “Library Lovers Month” until three days into March, when I found this. Alas. How do you plan on celebrating Library Lovers month? Well, by doing this quiz, I suppose, since I missed the actual Library Lovers Month. Whoops! How often do you accidentally spell library as ‘libary’ when you’re in a hurry? Never, I think. Let me try: Library library library library library library lobrary librayr librayr library library library. Nope, justDown the rabbit hole….

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So, what have I been reading lately? Let’s look: :: It’s actually been a long time since I bounced off a book, but damned if I didn’t bounce clean off a Stephen King novel. I haven’t read a whole lot of King, but what I have read, I’ve at least liked, and some of it I’ve found utterly brilliant (The Stand is just a magnificent work). So I didn’t expect to find Dreamcatcher a tough nut, but tough indeed I found it. Like many King books, the early going started flying by, and I actually got about a third ofDown the rabbit hole….

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UPDATED 3-6-08: A correction below where I mis-identify an author. SamuraiFrog calls attention to this list of the top fifty childrens’ books, apparently arrived at via a poll of some sort. As usual, I’ll bold the ones I’ve read, and provide occasional comment. (SamuraiFrog has some good points on the list as a whole, particularly the wide definition of childrens’ books they used for this list.) 1 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, C S Lewis (Best? Huh?) 2 The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle (I like Eric Carle, although sometimes his stuff starts to seem the same.) 3Down the rabbit hole….

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SamuraiFrog did this quiz a day or two ago, and though it doesn’t feature tagging, I’m grabbing it anyway, because it’s actually interesting and it’s a quiz. It’s about the Bible. 1. What translation of the Bible do you like best? I’m always a bit amazed at the sheer number of Bible translations that exist, and the many ways in which the translations selected greatly impact people’s personal versions of Christianity. I can’t honestly claim to have a “preferred” translation, since I am only familiar with two – the two I own copies of, as luck would have it. EveryoneDown the rabbit hole….

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I got tagged with the “123 Meme”, which goes thusly: 1. Pick up the nearest book ( of at least 123 pages). 2. Open the book to page 123. 3. Find the fifth sentence. 4. Post the next three sentences. 5. Tag five people. OK, here we go. As it happens, I have a small bookshelf immediately adjacent the computer table, so I consider every book on that shelf to be the “nearest book”. That being the case, I figure I should choose something fairly odd, so here it is: for this meme-thing I’m using The Book of the SubGenius:Down the rabbit hole….

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I have an article in today’s Buffalo News. Quiver, mere mortals. (I’m keeping this post at the top of the page for today, so that you may all bask in my reflected glory.) (OK, I know that my reflected glory isn’t much to bask in, but you know, you can just pretend.) Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….

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A quiz. About books. How can I not? Thanks to Sheila! Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews? That’s a tough one. I tend to read on the basis of whims as opposed to plans, so I have a lot of books that are well-reviewed on my shelves that I haven’t got round to yet, and it’s not a case of “irrationally cringing away” from reading them. Books like The Corrections, The Lies of Locke Lamora, Dr. Strange and Mr. Norrell. Maybe Neil Stephenson’s Quicksilver trilogy counts. I’ve owned them for years now,Down the rabbit hole….

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In reading to The Daughter at night, we’ve recently started to read chapter books a bit at a time, each evening, as opposed to the single-volume storybooks that were the rule until then. This has opened up lots of new vistas for reading, and it’s really rejuvenated a time of night that had for a while felt more like a chore than a treasured portion of our daily routine. I’ve generally tried to choose books that are slightly above her reading level, so as to keep her challenged and exposed to new stuff, and I’ve tried to choose books thatDown the rabbit hole….