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So here's another example of the evils of chain bookstores, not that the list of evils wasn't long enough already. The store was profitable, but they still closed it because similar stores in the chain weren't profitable in other places. Cookie-cutter store with cookie-cutter stock, I assume...

Hmm. Well, there's some question as to whether Black Sheep should be on this kind of list, since it was a tongue-in-cheek tribute to bad horror movies. The production values were better than in the movies it was spoofing. The gore is done very broadly, however, so I don't recommend it for...

Well, I've been having my own bad film festival in the past couple weeks, thanks to this list. I've watched almost every movie mentioned, on sources ranging from Hulu to sketchy Chinese sites (but I have a Mac, so I fear nothing). Here are the movies I watched: Baal the Storm God. Yor...

It looks like the market listings at Word Hustler are free. They aren't very good, but they're free. Writers Market claims they have a seven-day trial period with a money-back guarantee.

Which is why I have two posters from the movie. The other one has him in a leather tunic. [What?! No lustful smilies?] But I still regret watching the film. Deeply.

My humble vote goes to Zardoz.

My local paper is the Washington Post. I check the headlines on the first pages of all the sections, to see if any articles are particularly urgent, then I check certain pages that are relevant to my work, such as the page for Federal employees. When I'm done riffling back and forth this way...

Eva: I want to say one word to you. Just one word. Aqua: Yes, ma'am. Eva: Are you listening? Aqua: Yes, I am. Eva: Adjectives.

Heh--Brokeback might not be the ideal movie for easing back into movie-watching (as excellent as it was). But I also wonder how you react to non-fiction books as well. It's possible to get very involved in them too--historical events, life stories, political issues. How can you read a book...

They can give away the top ten books for free, and there will still be countless other books that can't be discounted so easily. This price battle is like a veneer on a much bigger market, where there is still room for more than the two pat newsmakers.

Run, don't walk, to your favorite local, independent bookstore and buy--yes, actually pay for--the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents from Writers Digest Books. They vet the agents and do a reputable job of filtering out scams and so forth. You really need to do this. Nothing personal, but based...

I’m almost as obsessed with Dracula as Mina is in this novel. On the day it was released at my local independent bookstore, I bought it and read it in the store, while my housemate made full use of their free wifi and observed that I read with an “appalled” expression. I didn’t know I read...

Poetry, for one thing. It’s pretty much meant to be reread. Other than that, I tend to reread canonical classics where the writing itself is compelling and pulls me in for another read every time I dare to pick up the book. Rearranging or dusting my books can be risky. I reread so much...

Clean look, easy browsing, fast loading. A reminder that flipping from page to page like paper is still the format that people go for, and the one that online services should still try to imitate. Google Labs is one of those places it's always useful to check in on, to get a glimpse of the...

Competition for shelf space in bookstores. A thicker spine is more visible.

At their worst, they're glorified photocopies. I don't know what they're like at their best. But really, there's always a used copy out there somewhere. Put a watch for it on Abebooks, Amazon, and Ebay.

I also change the kind of reading I do with the season, though not consciously, I think. This is when I start pulling out the big, heavy books with dark covers. Heavier and darker subjects too, usually, and colder settings. I don't have an urge to escape winter with tropical stories until...

Ah yes, the partly-read shelf. It guilts me constantly.

I was very little when I read this story for the first time, and I didn't quite get it. I thought it was just another inexplicable horror story, or "monster story" as I called them, and that the heart really was beating. So my earliest impression of Poe was that his stories were rather cheap...

That's when I usually catch up on my accumulated pile of magazines, clippings, and professional reading. When Library Science articles seem more attractive than the novel I'm reading, it's definitely time for a break.