David Lubar's Blog, page 42

How to develop a reading hobbit

If you're ever in Manchester Center, VT, check out North Shire Books. It's an awesome store with a large and diverse shelf selection and a beautiful setting. I was pleased to find they had four of my titles in stock. They also have a brilliant staff. The night before, I was talking with the editor of Forbes (really), and he told me about some books on langauge he thought I'd enjoy. I mentioned the author, Steven Pinker, to one of the bookstore employees, and he led me to a shelf, pointed to

How novels are different from babies

With novels, as opposed to babies, conception seems to be the least pleasant part.

Drink to me only with thine eye's...?

or Possession is nine tenths of the flaw.

From the web site of a local restaurant:

BYOT=BRING YOUR OWN TEGUILLA (WE HAVE MARGARITA'S)

Which leads me to wonder -- they have Margarita's what? Her purse that she left behind last time? Her head in a box under the counter? Her copy of Strunk and White?

I'm guessing "teguilla" is an authentic Mexican way to spell "tequila," but my rusty Spanish make me wonder whether it can also be translated as "you lizard."

Baker's doesn't

RECIPE OF THE DAY

Bitter Baked Ginger in Cream Sauce

Take one Ginger
Inject repeatedly with heroin
Allow to sit and stew until wrinkled and bitter (approx. 45 years)
Interview.

The other day, my wife and I watched part of a documentary about Cream. She's a big Clapton fan. (Or was, until he started charging $125 a seat for concert tickets.) The thing that stood for me out was how unattractive bitterness is when captured on film. All Ginger Baker talked about was how he didn't get enough credit fo

And the bad sentence of the day award goes to...

From the Baltimore Sun:

"You know it's serious when people are willing to give up their imported Italian balsamic vinegar, creamy French cheeses, vegetarian soybean sausages and curried lamb kebab to protest their greengrocer's musings on health care policy."

That sentence caught my eye and hurt my ear. Can you spot the two glaring redundancies?

Sorry, kids, your lawyer won't let me come

Several months after booking a school visit in NJ, I received a purchase order and a three page "Agreement between the XXX board of education and the independent contractor." I deleted the name of the board because I don't want to get the librarian who booked me in any trouble. Paragraph 8 read:

"Independent Contractor shall be responsible for maintaining Workers Compensation insurance for its employees and shall provide proof of the same to the Board. Additionally, Independent Contractor shal

Google Ain't Misbehavin'

On rare occasions, I've been known to Google my book titles. Here, for your enjoyment, is one of the coolest mis-hits I've ever had. (For those who haven't yet passed the bar exam, let me explain that a zombie is also a cocktail.) (For those who are incredibly impatient, let me warn you that the lyrics come in after a long orchestral introduction.)

The trend is near

I have an idea for a great project for a library student. This hit me when I was posting about a different subject on YALSA-bk, but I'll repeat it here in case anyone is looking for an interesting academic exercise or class project.

All the recent talk about zombies being trendy reminded me that Piers Anthony had a lot of zombie stories in his Xanth series decades ago. It would be fascinating to use some sort of subject index to compile a list of books on various topics that were recently consi

How I worked myself to death

Or toward death, or on death, or something death related. I signed a contract to write a series back in 2005. The first book of that series came out two weeks ago. Basically, I turned it in about two years late. Which, believe it or not, isn't a big deal. As I've said before -- if your book is a week late, everyone is concerned. Once you hit the one-year mark, nobody cares. My publisher won't schedule a book until they know it is going into production. This is very smart of them. Howeve

Chance thoughts

The buzzphrase of the day is, "Everyone deserves a second chance." I've been musing on that as I await the chance to discuss the Michael Vick issue with my daughter. She is uniquely qualified to give me some perspective on the this because she wrote several philosophy papers on punishement, ethics, and identity, and she taught students in Philadelphia who admitted attending, and enjoying, dog fights. She's also far wiser than anyone should be at her age, so I suspect our conversation will be