Looks like I might actually make it to one of Marya’s readings for her latest memoir about bipolar disorder. Sure hope I’m in a good mood.
Thursday, May 29 7:30 at Common Good Bookstore

Is it me or has the New Yorker changed the default spelling of “vendor” to “vender,” and “ensure” to “insure?”
And I believe it’s official: “narrative trajectory” (or “arc”) replaced “limn” and now “conceit” reigns supreme in the literati lexicon of late.
You’re more than welcome.

I’m not sure I’m qualified to call Max Becherer a friend anymore than I call anyone who I’ve met, admired and remembered as a friend, but today the New York Times published a fine and fitting five-year remembrance of the war and the death in Iraq. I was honored to meet Max when John and [...]

He and I have entirely distinct libraries. He reads books that line up nicely on a shelf. His authors are prolific and tidy: the titles adhere to sensible nomenclature and the design of the jacket or paperback seems to say that the authors lined up a deal long before the first foray: I’ll sell my [...]

Marya Hornbacher, the author of the horror story memoir, “Wasted,” will be touring for the release of her third book, “Madness: A Bipolar Life” (Houghton Mifflin). These are the tentative dates, but I’ll be there for the Minneapolis event (depending on the mood, of course.) Watch for updates, but I’ll be sending out notices to [...]

For those of you who say you can’t stand reading or watching the news anymore, serve yourself a little “slice of life” from my small town newspaper. Go on, put your feet up, set a spell.
Small Town News (And Views)

I have a fixation with gruesome crimes. Mob crimes, not so much. Weirdo crimes: bring ‘em on. Crimes with nasty photos? As my mother used to say, “be still my beating heart.”
This blog is a good repository, not quite specialized enough, but good for staying up to date on the worst of us, a [...]

John Crowley is one of the few people who can get me to glance over the side of the cliff and wonder if the jump really is the best part. Even if I never do take the leap, Crowley is still the most intriguing guide to have along for the careful walk along the crumbling [...]

A broken ankle xray

The reason I haven’t left the house in over a week. Crutches really, really suck.
To do:
Read Twist of The Wrist II, by Keith Code (even though he’s a scientologist).

Here’s my question: how long do you stick with a book after you’ve begun to dislike it? I really, really wanted to love this book but after about a quarter of the way through I realized it just wasn’t going to happen for me. I’m still hanging in there. I’ve got about 20 pages left, [...]

The Onion A.V. Club | Feature
Watch it, watch it, watch it, watch it. This is a good interview with Mitchell Hurwitz, the guy behind the short-lived “Everything’s Relative,” which was only alive for about five episodes. I saw every single one and thought I had died and gone to a personal comedy heaven. Just think [...]

The New York Times > Week in Review > Word for Word | Border Crossing: A Guide for the Illegal Migrant: “The booklet, ‘Guide for the Mexican Migrant,’ immediately drew fire inthe United States from some members of Congress and from groups that favor tightening immigration laws. These critics called the 31-page publication a how-to [...]

A “Letter” With An Explanatory Headline

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-kamikaze25sep25,1,7246073.story?coll=la-headlines-world
COLUMN ONE
They’ve Outlived the Stigma
Once pariahs in Japan, ‘kamikaze survivors’ are now honored for their spirit of sacrifice. They resent being lumped in with suicide bombers.
By Bruce Wallace
Times Staff Writer
September 25, 2004
CHIRAN, Japan — These are the dusky days of old age that kamikaze pilots like Shigeyoshi Hamazono were not supposed to see.
Three times during [...]