Parenthetical

From Awful Library Books: Runaway Bride Returns! This librarian is not a bunhead shusher. She’s a hottie in black knee-high boots who gets married in Vegas and ditches her new husband the morning after. Ooh, steamy! But clearly the craziest part is how she advocates against Dewey: “No Dewey decimal system?” It was what labeled [...]

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Ladies and gentlemen, I just listened to two of the most hilarious interviews with children’s authors ever in the world. Please, if you know what’s good for you, watch: Maurice Sendak on the Colbert Report and then listen to: Jack Gantos on Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me.

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This video combines two of my favorite things: children reading library books and “Party in the USA.”

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I’m spending my day watching Lord of the Rings, extended editions (or as far as I get, anyway). There will no doubt be some Chinese food at some point. I’ve never had a traditional Jewish Christmas — I’m looking at this as an opportunity to explore my heritage. The folks behind Jewsmas would like a [...]

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You know what? I apologize. There was not nearly enough Krampus in that last post. The internet is all about Krampus this year (for the obvious reason that he’s awesome), so allow me to further Krampus up your day. Anthony Bourdain made a Krampus video. It’s a pretty good overview of the story, in case [...]

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A friend just alerted me to this ad for Hunger Games nail polish on Bookshelves of Doom. “Capitol Colours,” it’s called: “What will you be wearing at the opening ceremonies?” Really? Isn’t this kind of like selling fake Dalmatian-fur coats to girls who want to be glamorous like Cruella deVille? (The thing that pleases me [...]

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You might have noticed that I haven’t been around much lately. (Or maybe you haven’t noticed. That is also okay.) There are two reasons: 1. In less than a month now, I am taking this test: Middle School Humanities MTEL. If I pass it, I will be well on my way to becoming a certified [...]

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“I can never decide which book I want, and I hate buying a book and then realizing halfway through that I hate it. I can’t just return it and I’ve wasted money. I wish there were a way I could just borrow a book instead.” You can borrow books and return them if you would [...]

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A friend just shared with me the art of Thomas Doyle, which I share with you because every sculpture I click on has me writing a new twisted YA post-apocalyptic/dystopian novel in my head. For instance, this. Or oh god, this. Sometimes they’re zombie novels. Yeesh.

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I just read “Why keeping up with RSS is poisonous to productivity, sanity” (posted by a friend on, yes, Google Reader). You don’t need to bother; it’s yet another “I took an internet break and realized that the internet is eating my life” essay. But she quotes data (which may not be valid; I didn’t [...]

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