1. Jenn Hubbard has a post on books as objects and why they endure to a certain degree simply because they are something we can hold and possess. She mentions a lot of her own books that she keeps due to memories attached to them, inscriptions, etc. This one resonated a lot with me as I feel exactly the same way (and have kept a copy of Little Women simply because of my Aunt Irene's inscription from Christmas, 1978!).

2. In all the love I sent Norah McClintock's way the other day, there was some mention of her book DOOLEY TAKES THE FALL in the comments. While going through some Canadian mags I got last month I found a review for the sequel, HOMICIDE RELATED. Somehow I missed this one but will be looking it up immediately. I've also been looking over Red Deer Press' entire catalog and there are a lot of great sounding YA titles there (especially mysteries) so I'll need to follow-up with them for future columns.

3. I was initially not too excited about the notion of James Franco as Allen Ginsberg but the more I read about HOWL the more hopeful I'm becoming. Vanity Fair says "the film is a kind of dramatized essay on the Ginsberg poem of the same name, as stimulating and at times as exhilarating to watch as it is dull-sounding to describe." I'm going to come down on the side of "stimulating" and check it out.

4. Slate just found out that Jack London was a socialist. They are duly shocked, shocked, I tell you! (They also refer to CALL OF THE WILD as a "cute dog story" which proves columnist Johann Hari never read it.)

5. Also, Haiti has told France they would like their money back. The historian in me is mightily intrigued by this as the Haitians are correct - they are the only country that ever won a war and still had to pay the losers. The French were complete jerks to the Haitians (embarrassed by losing, I'm sure) and their abuse clearly contributed mightily to Haiti's long history of poverty. They won't get the money that is owed them, but at least they are screaming loud and long over the 150 YEARS they had to pay for kicking France's ass. (Take that Napoleon!)

6. Books that sounded very appealing from the current issue of Booklist: THE GIRL IN THE SONG by Michael Heatley - a look at the true stories behind fifty rock classics like "Mrs Potter's Lullaby", "The Girl From Ipanema", "Peggy Sue" and more; BOMBER COUNTY: The Poetry of a Lost Pilot's War by Daniel Swift - a look at his grandfather's death while returning from a bombing run over Germany during WWII (his burial site was unknown so Swift goes looking for him) along with the work of many poets on war like TS Eliot, Siegfried Sassoon, etc.; PAINTED LADIES, the final Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker which sounds perfect (and received a starred review) and SHADES OF MILK AND HONEY by Mary Robinette Kowal, described as Pride & Prejudice with a dash of magic which certainly seems to be teen-worthy.

7. Ekaterina Sedia's THE HOUSE OF DISCARDED DREAMS sounds....well it sounds impossible to describe. A bit from Booklist: "On one level this is a reflection of ancient fairy tales and legends; on the other, it's a perfectly straightforward tale of finding oneself in a bizarre world." Library Journal liked it as well: "VERDICT Humor and metaphysics blend in an elegantly written story of a woman's quest for her true home..." It's on the holiday list, that's for sure.

8. Finally, as Neil Gaiman tweeted earlier today, NSFW. But completely wonderful anyway. You want to see this, promise: #bradburysong I concur, completely.

9. Working on two reviews for Bookslut (maybe both in the Sept issue - maybe only one, we'll see) and reading three books for Booklist for reviews due on the 31st. And writing. And organizing. And getting my hair cut tomorrow. Exciting, yeah?