Books
I started reading Doctor Dolittle's Circus to Sebastian in the car during our morning and evening drives to and from the train station (with Teri driving; I know I've written about this already). As a result, we've been going much faster than before. That's a good thing, because with the previous book we went so slowly that I had to renew it and keep it out almost until it was due again.
But we went so quickly that we now have less than 100 pages to go...and I hadn't put the next book on order at the library.
You see, our own library doesn't have the Dolittle series; only one or two books from it. We order the other books via inter-library loan. It works wonderfully well. I've also found that I can order graphic novels that way, which is absolutely wonderful. Plus any Discworld novels that my library is missing (there are a few).
I needed to order Doctor Dolittle's Zoo, though, and I couldn't get to the library in time.
So just on a whim, I Googled for my library's website. It was totally amazing! It has an interface like the card-catalog computers at the library, but it actually works better. I can log in with my library card number. That lets me see what books I have out, and when each of them is due. I can see my fines ($0.60 for Steven Colbert's I Am America And So Can You!). And I can see what books I have on inter-library order, and what their status is - pending, in transit, or being held at the desk for me.
Best of all, I was able to put the next Dolittle book on order! It's SO nice to have something work out so nicely! Just joined a Dolittle group on Yahoo, by the way.
Oh yes: I'm still reading the Discworld books. Still liking them all very much. Wyrd Sisters, Pyramids...great stuff. I like that Pratchett doesn't get too focused on any one character or part of the world, but kind of skips back and forth between novels.
And I'm still slogging through Al Gore's The Assault On Reason. I think I'll have a lot to say about it when I'm done. As it stands...it's depressing and rather difficult to read. In part that's because it's written in a rather ponderous style, and partly it's because I already KNEW most of the stuff he's talking about, and find it depressing to have it all presented in a great big indigestible lump. Plus so far he really hasn't offered a practical solution; just the hope that people will somehow become sane and responsible, and do something about the insanity of people like Bush.
That just doesn't seem very likely to me. I think that later in the book he'll talk about the internet as a hopeful tool to rectify what's gone wrong with modern society, but it seems a bit iffy to me right now.
A thought: It really should be called The Wilding of Reason. Or, more accurately, The Assault, Rape, Torture-Murder, and Cannibalization of Reason. Although in that case it should say "by George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Karl Rove", which is just too long.
But we went so quickly that we now have less than 100 pages to go...and I hadn't put the next book on order at the library.
You see, our own library doesn't have the Dolittle series; only one or two books from it. We order the other books via inter-library loan. It works wonderfully well. I've also found that I can order graphic novels that way, which is absolutely wonderful. Plus any Discworld novels that my library is missing (there are a few).
I needed to order Doctor Dolittle's Zoo, though, and I couldn't get to the library in time.
So just on a whim, I Googled for my library's website. It was totally amazing! It has an interface like the card-catalog computers at the library, but it actually works better. I can log in with my library card number. That lets me see what books I have out, and when each of them is due. I can see my fines ($0.60 for Steven Colbert's I Am America And So Can You!). And I can see what books I have on inter-library order, and what their status is - pending, in transit, or being held at the desk for me.
Best of all, I was able to put the next Dolittle book on order! It's SO nice to have something work out so nicely! Just joined a Dolittle group on Yahoo, by the way.
Oh yes: I'm still reading the Discworld books. Still liking them all very much. Wyrd Sisters, Pyramids...great stuff. I like that Pratchett doesn't get too focused on any one character or part of the world, but kind of skips back and forth between novels.
And I'm still slogging through Al Gore's The Assault On Reason. I think I'll have a lot to say about it when I'm done. As it stands...it's depressing and rather difficult to read. In part that's because it's written in a rather ponderous style, and partly it's because I already KNEW most of the stuff he's talking about, and find it depressing to have it all presented in a great big indigestible lump. Plus so far he really hasn't offered a practical solution; just the hope that people will somehow become sane and responsible, and do something about the insanity of people like Bush.
That just doesn't seem very likely to me. I think that later in the book he'll talk about the internet as a hopeful tool to rectify what's gone wrong with modern society, but it seems a bit iffy to me right now.
A thought: It really should be called The Wilding of Reason. Or, more accurately, The Assault, Rape, Torture-Murder, and Cannibalization of Reason. Although in that case it should say "by George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Karl Rove", which is just too long.