Category Archives: Uncategorized

Tolkien Christmas

Before he was the world renowned author of The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the iconic British novelist, poet, philologist and academic wrote letters from Father Christmas to his four children, John, Michael, Christopher and Priscilla. Beginning in … Continue reading

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Book of Christmas

THE BOOK OF CHRISTMAS (New York: Macmillan, 1909) Introduction by Hamilton W. Mabie. Illustrations by George Wharton Edwards.    

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Christmas in America 2025

 

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You can’t survive on books alone

 

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Happiness is the uncle you never knew about

Happiness By Jane Kenyon There’s just no accounting for happiness, or the way it turns up like a prodigal who comes back to the dust at your feet having squandered a fortune far away. And how can you not forgive? You … Continue reading

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Train Etiquette

They take train etiquette very seriously in Japan. Seibu Railway Company operations are concentrated in northwest Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture; the name “Seibu” is an abbreviation of “west Musashi”. The railway recently published a new series of travel etiquette and safety posters that are … Continue reading

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I fell for rage bait how about you

Along with the inevitable “Books of the Year” lists, the always interesting, and sometimes controversial “Word of the Year” lists are popping off. The WotY-stakes so far: The Oxford word of the year is rage bait. Macquarie Dictionary (Australia) chose AI slop. … Continue reading

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Language is a virus

“Language is a virus from outer space.”   —                              William S. Burroughs In a wonderful essay/book review in the New Yorker, Louis Menand wrote, “Quotations are in a … Continue reading

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A Boy’s Life

The video below is fiction but based on the very real experiences of millions of Jewish children during the 20th century.  Shown from the perspective of a teenage boy, Daniel, this animated short offers great insight into the insidious, gradual … Continue reading

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The Hawking index is not what you think

Mathematician Jordan Ellenberg created an imaginative means of quantifying a metric that book publishers and writers had long suspected: most people don’t finish the books they buy. He called it the Hawking Index, named after Stephen Hawking’s “A Brief History … Continue reading

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