More Morning Thoughts

I am finding it easier to read The Kite Runner as I read further into the book. There is more sadness than most books I have read. I am a little over halfway through the book. A lot of it deals with the impact of contemporary history in Afghanistan on ordinary people.

I tried to read more on the train this morning, but the train was too full. There were several trains backed up on the line. I ended up standing for most of the ride. It is very hard to read a large hardcover book standing. There were people standing reading the paper while they were standing. This is a lot easier, especially if you read the paper a section at a time. I didn't get the paper in the morning because I thought I would read my book.

Hopefully, I will learn to make bookmarks in Microsoft Publisher sometime this week. I am very interested in learning to use Microsoft Publisher so I can make a variety of things like cards, bookmarks, and other ephemera. I found a copy of a boomark in the book, The Kite Runner, it says "In Theatres December 2007". I also was given a small stack of Nikki Grimes poetry bookmarks. When I go to conferences like the New York Comic Con on April 18, 2008, I try to pick up bookmarks as giveaways for programs.

A large portion of the morning was spent reading through ARBA 2008 -- American Reference Books Annual. I was looking for items to suggest for ordering. It lists most of the new reference books which come out every year by category.

Leviathan The History of Whaling In America by Eric Jay Dolan came in today for me to read. I will start on it when I finish The Kite Runner.

I picked the March 15, 2008 copy of Library Journal. There is an article called After Oil on Pp. 28-31 which talks about the end of oil. It is quite interesting. We already are beginning to see some of the impacts locally. It costs more to deliver books and there are more people who are coming in on public transportation to visit the library.

This article cites a famous book by Howard Kunstler called The Long Emergency. There is a link to a 2005 article on the book, http://longemergency.notlong.com . I think this is an honest assessment of our current energy predicament. The Long Emergency is a book I definitely plan to read.

I also found a review for Michael Chabon's new collection of essays, Maps And Legends Essays on Reading And Writing On The Borderlands, McSweeney's c2008. None of our libraries have the book yet. I will be waiting to get this book.