I’m not much of a fan of Anna Quindlen, and what’s worse, I can’t even remember why. I remember reading something of hers in a magazine and thinking that it was offensive and nonsensical to boot. However, in this case, she may be writing about something that interests me, and I’ve seen her book, Imagined London recommended in several places. I also seem to remember that Ms. Quindlen writes well–just not my political kindred spirit maybe?

A review at Reading Matters of The Final Solution by Michael Chabon. This WWII detective novel sounds like fun. I’ve heard of this author, but since Computer Guru Son (age 18) is reading something by Chabon, I thought maybe he was a “YA guy writer.” Maybe not.

Another writer I’ve heard a lot about but never read: Paul Auster’s latest novel, Brooklyn Follies, gets a good review at Collected Miscellany. Again, is Auster a “guy thing”—or would I enjoy his writing, too?

Amanda at Wittingshire quotes Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse as she encourages those who are weary, just plain tired. You’re not alone, she says. (I think I need to read To the Lighthouse. Eldest Daughter was quite impressed by it last summer.)

Nature is an infinite sphere of which the center is everywhere and the circumference nowhere. Blaise Pascal

Over at Buried Teasure blog Carmon and the ladies are discussing women and college. To go or not to go, that is the question. I may add my two cents to the discussion in a post here soon. In the meantime, what do you think? Should young ladies go to college? If so, why? If not, why not?

Blest With Sons has turned off the TV; now they’re playing Scrabble–and other games—for school. Visit and find out how valuable games can be to your homeschooling efforts.

Submit your best post on children’s literature to Melissa Wiley at Here in the Bonnie Glen before 6:00 PM tomorrow evening (February 11th) to be included in the Children’s Literature Carnival on Monday.

In the meantime, you can read all about homeschooling at the Sixth Carnival of Homeschooling.

Carrie at Mommy Brain reviews The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio by Terry Ryan. I thought I had this book on The List; I remember seeing it at Barnes and Noble. Anyway, I’m adding it. I could use a story of courage and perseverance right about now.

Kathryn Judson, bookseller extraordinaire, recommends the out-of-print YA title, To Fight in Silence by Eva-Lis Wuorio. She says it’s set in Denmark during WW II, and it’s about two cousins who join the Danish underground.

Steven Riddle is writing about Erle Stanley Gardner’s The Case of the Sulky Girl. He says it’s the second in the series of Perry Mason novels; the first one, The Case of the Velvet Claws isn’t in print, according to Mr. Riddle. I wrote about Gardner here, but Mr. Riddle does a much more thorough review of this particular mystery and and a better introduction to the series.

SFP at pages turned is trying to entice (encourage?) other readers to revisit Moby Dick as she did. No, thanks, once is enough. After reading an entire chapter on “the whiteness of the whale” I remember to this day that the whale is very, very white. But I’m glad someone’s enjoying it. Melville as quoted at pages turned: “To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme. No great and enduring volume can ever be written on the flea, thought many there be who have tried it. So he chose the Great (Very) White Whale.

Cindy at Dominion Family has an overview of the latest in Christian fiction from a well-known-discounter-of-Christian-books-which-shall-remain-nameless, at least on my blog. The excerpts from someone’s most recent catalog will either make you laugh or cry or both.

George Grant writes about bumping into Francis Schaeffer—in a bookstore of all places. This post was in honor of Mr. Schaeffer’s birthday on January 30th.

LaShawn Barber on Coretta Scott King, who died on Tuesday at the age of 78.

I’m reading A Tale of Two Cities, as I mentioned a few days ago. In it Dickens notes:

A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. A solemn consideration, when I enter a great city by night, that every one of those darkly clustered houses encloses its own secret; that every room in every one of them encloses its own secret; that every beating heart in the hundreds of thousands of breasts there, is, in some of its imagin-ings, a secret to the heart nearest it! Something of the awfulness, even of Death itself, is referable to this.

Julana of Numbering Our Days tells a sad, true story that illustrates Dickens’ observation.

Advice from an editor about spacing between sentences. Unfortunately, I have the habit of leaving two spaces, just as I double click to open programs on my computer even though one click is usually enough.

Mommy Life’s Barbara Curtis on Les Miserables(the book and the musical) by Victor Hugo. Yes. Yes. Yes. Preach it, Barbara!

The Anchoress recommends People I Have Loved, Known or Admired, a book of essays by Leo Rosten.

Kate asks about re-reading books. She’s reading Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit Boks They Love–for the first time, I believe. Do you re-read books? Which ones? Go tell Kate all about it, or leave a note here.

The Royal Society of Literature (British) asked J.K. Rowling, Philip Pullman, and Andrew Motion (who’s he?) to each choose ten books that they thought children should have read before they left school. Kimbofo at Reading Matters has the rather interesting resulting list. I like Beatrix Potter and Maurice Sendak, but . . . . And why did Pullman choose I Samuel, chapter 17 (David and Goliath) out of the whole Bible?

Nature is an infinite sphere of which the center is everywhere and the circumference nowhere. Blaise Pascal

What fun! Bookshelves, and other furniture, made out of books. HT: Headmistress at The Common Room

Albert Mohler: Some Thoughts on the Reading of Books

Mental Multivitamin gives her list of top ten must read books for high school students. In the same post, she defends the inclusion of Catcher in the Rye on the list. I never read it when I was a young adult. Would I appreciate it now? Also do you notice anything interesting about MMV’s revised list in comparison to College Board list she’s revising? Hint: Melissa at MMV says she had great success in teaching these works to students “from college lecture halls and writing centers to a juvenile detention facility for young men.” (Italics mine) I’m not criticizing Melissa’s list, just wondering about the implications.

Seasonal Soundings has a picture of her proposed reading list for 2006. And she ordered personalized bookplates featuring the photo. I have a “from the library of” stamp that I plan to use on all my books–someday. Do you mark your books with your name? Do you use bookplates, handwritten name, or a stamp–or something else? Do you write in your books?

Mrs. Happy Housewife lists all the great books she got at the library’s used book sale for only $25.00. I love library book sales!

Michael Hardt at Family Home School has set up a website for his kids to post a running list of what they’re reading. And he says your kids and mine can use it, too. I think I’ll check it out soon. By the way, I found the link to Mr. Hardt’s post at The Fourth Carnival of Homeschooling hosted by The Common Room this week.

Doesn’t this book, How the Other Half Worships by Camilo Jose Vergara, sound interesting?

Writing and Living updates us on her Year of Dickens with some thoughts on her first book, Pickwick Papers.

Lars Walker reviews River Rising by Athol Dickson (new from Bethany House)–very favorably. Violet at promptings liked this one, too. So I’m thinking I should add it to THE LIST.

Nature is an infinite sphere of which the center is everywhere and the circumference nowhere. Blaise Pascal

Pipsqueak at The Common Room tells me that AA Milne wrotea play called “Miss Elizabeth Bennet, an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice”. And it seems that it was never actually produced. What fun to read! I think I’ll suggest it to the young lady at my church who is teaching drama classes and producing plays and writing the scripts herself. Wouldn’t a classic play by AA Milne be so much easier than writing your own adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby, the play my girls will be doing this spring?

Blest With Sons is writing a series of posts about television and stepping on lots of toes, including mine—and her own. If you want yours smushed a little, too . . .

Susan Wise Bauer has a baby blog, The Story of the (Whole) World. I heard her speak a couple of years ago, and I’ve read both The Well Trained Mind and The Well-Educated Mind plus some essays that I found on her website a long time ago. I’m quite impressed with both her intelligence and her wisdom.