A whirlwind roadtrip to North Carolina this last weekend with friends (photos here) took me to a used bookstore in Chapel Hill that was a delight, with tall stacks of old books piled high to the ceiling. There were even cats walking around, and lying next to the cash register.
I have been looking, of course, for novels related to the courses I am taking, and others from the eighteenth- and nineteenth centuries. In that regard, I found thousands of different volumes that qualified. But, as I may have written before, I have become fond of a few different series of books put out by Oxford World’s Classics, Norton Critical Editions and Penguin Classics. This shop had many of those. I found, alas, many of them full of highlighting and notes in margins, which I simply cannot abide. I certainly have no qualms about owning something used, but it’s distracting to see what previous readers felt was important, and which I may not feel is significant. But I did find pristine copies of Thackeray’s Vanity Fair and Brontë’s Jane Eyre for $3.99 apiece. I was distressed that the expired parking meter ended my visit before I could browse the poetry and children’s section. I would have loved to pick up some Milton and Donne, and a copy of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
So, now inspired by this great old store, I hope to visit more like it.
Filed under: Literature and Books, Travel on September 2nd, 2008 | 1 Comment »
The Snowman is dead. For anybody who likes Telecaster pickin’, I present one of the best car songs of all time:
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Filed under: Popular Music on September 2nd, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Here’s what I think about the controversy involving Governor Palin’s seventeen-year-old pregnant daughter: it’s much ado about nothing. Teenage girls get pregnant all the time. It’s been happening since the beginning of time, and it can happen to anybody. Having a pregnant daughter doesn’t make Sarah Palin a bad mother by any stretch of the imagination. Nor does it make her less qualified to hold whatever office she currently holds or seeks to hold. In spite of parents’ best intentions, they cannot supervise children every minute of every day.
My only issue concerns the Republicans’ focus on abstinence-only education. It’s pretty obvious that kids like doin’ it. Nothing on earth is going to change that. But children who have all the facts, and have access to contraception are much less likely to find themselves in the position in which young Miss Palin finds herself. Access to facts about sexuality will not make kids sluttier. Rather, it will lower the number of abortions, and reduce unwanted marriages. I don’t know what Governor Palin’s position is on abstinence-only education, but if she favors it, I would then have to question her intelligence. Adherence to irrational dogma in the face of manifest evidence contradicting that dogma is the definition of irresponsibility.
Filed under: Current Events, Health, Politics on September 2nd, 2008 | No Comments »
This op-ed in the New York Times points out the myriad ways in which Americans do better economically under Democratic administrations than under Republican administrations.
Filed under: Cost of Living, Politics on September 2nd, 2008 | No Comments »