absolutely scary and racist

Quick blog here. Someone on a listserv mentioned http://www.natvanbooks.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/st_main.html?p_catid=14, which is a website that sells books that helps with "instilling White values". If you click on each book, it provides the rationale for inclusion on the list. I wish I were making this up!

Driver's Ed

...and no, I don't mean the book of that title by Caroline Cooney. I've been spending the last few days poring over the California DMV books, to prepare for the written tests I took this morning. I failed both tests (the regular driving one and the motorcycle test) the first time around, to my utter shock. I mean, it had been years since I had failed a test. But then I passed, and now I have a permit! I can learn to ride my pretty new Piaggio scooter.
So far as other reading goes - I was dismayed when I finished the last Dame Frevisse book over the weekend. I'm comforting myself with Elsie Oxenham's Abbey Girls books.

Mackler, Merrill Ashley, and a bronze medal!

I re-read The Earth, My Butt and Other Round Things by Carolyn Mackler last night. The first time I read it, I raced through - I thought it was an interesting plot. This time, I was slower, and - wow, Mackler has a tin ear! The main character talks to her dad about how they should "communicate" more (for the record, the only other time I remember a teenaged character using "communicate" instead of talk was in L'Engle's A Ring of Endless Light, a great book but hardly in touch with the modern teen). It was like a lite version of Paula Danziger - not quite as preachy, but close. I'm not as surprised now that I didn't care for Mackler's other books (which I've blogged about elsewhere).
I haven't been reading much this month - between fascinating (to me) work stresses, watching all 27 episodes of The O.C.'s first season, and, well, having a life, I've been busy. On Tuesday night, I went to San Francisco to listen to a talk by Merrill Ashley, a recently retired NYCB dancer. It's interesting, because I've heard her speak twice now, and some of her stories are remarkably similar to those in her autobiography, Dancing for Balanchine (one of my absolute favorite books, by the by). It makes me wonder, in a general way, if autobiography is an aid to memory. You'd think it would be, but isn't it possible that it's making that particular version of the memory solidified? I mean, if I think back over the years, I remember events differently now than I did five years ago. Of course some of that is because of memory loss - some things are less distinct - but in other cases, I have a better understanding of surrounding events. Should that color my memories? That's a interesting question, but the important thing is: if they were codified (so to speak) in a book, I think I'd be less likely to think about my memories in different ways. I'm not accusing Merrill Ashley of letting her autobiography make her memory rigid - I'm just sharing (even if ineptly) something I thought about while I listened to her talk.
Must dash home to see Evan Lysacek win a bronze medal at Worlds! It's on ESPN now.

icing on an absurd cake

Because I'm a librarian, I had to write about Michael Gorman's article (http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA502009). I mean, I had to. It's in the Librarian Contract, along with the sub-clauses about natural fibers and earth tones. So here I go: at minimum, that was a dreadfully irresponsible article for an information professional to write -irresponsible because if it's meant as humor, as he claims, then it's very poorly written. But I doubt that he was joking, so - ugh. What he said about Google is acceptable, but what on earth was he thinking when he talked about bloggers?
With a sigh of relief last night (all my book club books read, and my review books not due yet), I turned back to Margaret Frazer.

Could it be true?

I just saw on http://www.illyria.com/vnbooks/ellenemersonwhite.html that Ellen Emerson White is supposed to have not one, but two new books out this fall. One would be a sequel to All Emergencies, Ring Super, and one would be another book about Meg Powers (the website says the title will be The Queen Lives On, but who knows?). Please, let there be advance copies, and let me get my mitts on one!
I've done one of this week's book clubs (for Shakespeare Stealer), and I am still trying to force myself through The Bell Jar. The cross-dressing in Shakespeare Stealer caused some interesting (if possibly inappropriate) discussion among the elementary school set.
I'm on the reference desk tonight, and a kid just asked me for the book-length version of "Cask of Amontillado". His friend has it, he explained to me.