Quote of the Week

“Life is a moderately good play with a badly written third act.”

--- Truman Capote

Quote of the Week

"When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me."

--- Erma Bombeck

Mankell's Wallander is coming to PBS

Kurt Wallander, the detective created by Swedish writer Henning Mankell, is coming to PBS in a series, simply titled "Wallander". The first episode is set to air on May 10th as part of PBS's Masterpiece Mystery. Slated to play Wallander is Kenneth Branagh.

Banned Book Week Founder dies

Judith Krug, the librarian who was responsible for founding Banned Book Week, died this past Saturday in Evanston, IL. at the age of 69.

Throughout the years, Krug has been a proponent of First Amendment rights for The American Library Association. She even fought to have books that she herself found offensive to be stocked on library shelves, such as The Blue Book from the ultraconservative John Birch Society.

In a 1972 interview with the New York Times, Krug said that "My personal proclivities have nothing to do with how I react as a librarian. Library service in this country should be based on the concept of intellectual freedom, of providing all pertinent information so a reader can make decisions for himself."

Quote of the Week

"I always read the last page of a book first so that of I die before I finish I'll know how it turned out."

--- Nora Ephron

Quote of the Week

"God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny."

--- Garrison Keillor

"Omit Needless Words"

When Cornell English Professor William Strunk, Jr. self published a small guide for his English classes, he probably never imagined that E.B. White, one of his former students, would help make the little book one of the foremost authorities on writing. Yet, 50 years later, Strunk and White's Elements of Style has sold well over 10 million copies and is on almost every bookshelf or desk of anyone who has ever written an article, essay, academic paper and/or book.

And according to one article, this valuable little gem would have been lost if someone hadn't broken into the library at Cornell University, stolen one of the two original copies of Strunks original book and sent it to White (who had lost his own copy long ago).

I know my well used copy of Elements of Style still holds its prominent place among my reference books.