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When I read Slaughterhouse Five, I thought it was a book that could never be presented coherently on film. Of course, it had already been filmed, and I thought the film captured the book brilliantly. I've read that Vonnegut was very pleased with it too.

George Burns said at the opening of one of his autobiographies that it was more of a conversation between him and his comedy writers. In another one, he said that whenever he dictated to his ghost writer with his cigar in his mouth, he was exaggerating. At some points in the text he says, "I'm...

Heh. We call it literary padding for our cell.

We have about 2,000 books in our one-room apartment. About half are TBRs.

Ah, but CDA, now that the other artist has done her bed, your installation piece will seem derivative. On the other hand, yours has books.

My guess is the artist thought the same thing, and that's why she added the noose--a quick and handy symbol that took no effort at originality and fooled the Turner Prize committee.

Here is the original arrangement of "My Bed," which shows more of the artist's intent, for better or worse:

The critics call it influential, but don't confuse "influential" with "artistic" or "good." Duchamp was mocking artistic conventions, and he did it so effectively that those conventions changed. He submitted this particular piece to a major exhibition deliberately to have it rejected.

I guess I shouldn't suggest Huckleberry Finn, huh? I think a collection of short pieces would be good for travel, since there might be interruptions and only short snatches of reading time. Maybe an essayist like Sedaris or Sandra Tsing Lo, though there are a zillion others these days.

How about if children watch less tv? How about if they become less saturated with ads by being less saturated with television? *slaps hand over mouth* Did I say such a blasphemous thing out loud?

That specific reason hasn't stopped me. It would take me 40 years to read the books in my to-read bookcase, and I keep buying more. The idea isn't really to read them all, however, but to have a range of books to dip into as my interests change back and forth. Anyway, the reason I've had...

To sleep with me.

The opening and the language.

I go into contortions just figuring a restaurant tip. Synaesthesia isn't linked to math aptitude--not that I've ever heard, anyway. Some synaesthetes can remember numbers easier because of color associations, but that's about it. One of the problems for us is when numbers and letters are...

Number 3 and 7 are considered mystical numbers, I'm told, and though I don't know much about mysticism, I just like the idea that they're mystical. 13 is considered bad luck in some cultures, but good luck in others, so I like it for good luck because...um...I'm an optimist, I guess...

I blinked and missed it.

Hmm, that thing about the ploy is a thought; but it's still nice that your daughter thought to get a present for her.

When you choose which New Years invitation to accept based on the hosts' book collections.

Heh--put your daughter on the case. Inquiring minds want to know. But really, it just isn't possible that the parents could have said a thing like that sincerely. It had to be an expression of resentment over something. If I'm reading right, the others got a total of 80 presents. If the...

Try The Moon Is Down as another short Steinbeck novel. After that, try graduating to Grapes of Wrath. It's worth it. In general, I prefer classics. Give me Mrs. Dalloway over Bridget Jones any day.