Could someone do a quick summary of Lightbulbs? I tried to read it today and couldn't tell if there were more "yeas" or "nays".

It's hard to gague trends from Lightbulbs, because yhou can't tell who's lurking and thinking and who's talking.

Or who's just throwing things out there to consider without giving a real sense of which way they go.

Combining the recent topics of books and reading stuff on the internet... I have many books by my favorite contemporary poet, Albert Goldbarth, including his National Book Critics Circle Award-winning Saving Lives. The first poem in it, "Library", is delightful and apropos of having many many books. This page has a link to Goldbarth's addendum to the poem, plus links to contributions (it will make sense once you see it) from other poets and the site's readers. I also recommend his book of essays Great Topics of the World, especially the wonderfully-titled, "The History of the Universe Is Important to This Story."

I need all those books right there where I can look at them and feel the weight of their words and knowledge and stories and wisdom.

It's like we're crows and books are shiny things.

Now we need to have a Buffista Literary Contest: who will come home from vacation this year with the most books? The winner gets Monstro the Bookshelf's relative, Big Grandaddy Bookshelf, which will fit, conveniently, into one of them-there wormholes of twisty extra dimensional space. Guaranteed to fit in your living quarters. Comes complete with tachyon ionizer remote control doohickey for instant access to your treasured trove of good stuff. Note: Giles the Librarian action figure sold separately.

I emailed the link to DH, who made the same comments about different learning styles. He's a visual learner while I'm verbal/auditory, and while he reads a fair amount and, like me, was an early and self-taught reader, he doesn't read anywhere near as fast as I do, which makes me suspect it's not quite as relaxing and effortless for him. Anyway, he made the following comment that intrigued me:

With me and books, I don't remember where in the plot something happened, I remember where in the book it is. The ORIGINAL book I read it in.

I'm a very visual learner. I can absorb almost anything really quickly and easily if I see it. Learning anything by listening is a huge challenge. At the Cork Gael Museum, they've got it set up so the cells are like they were in different time periods, and they give you a headset with commentary on what's going on in each one. The only signs are numbers on the cells. I tried going through that, and just got really frustrated. I couldn't remember what the voice on the headset said five seconds after it said it, and even when I could, it didn't get into anything I understood, I just remembered it well enough to repeat it. Like, if I heard, "Patrick Fitzgerald was confined to this cell in 1848 for stealing bread," I'd be able to tell you exactly that, but my brain just couldn't make the connection that 1848 was during the Famine, whereas, if I'd read it, I could have made that connection instantly.

Books are definitely my shiny things. But like others have mentioned, my online time has decimated (and hey, for once I mean that literally) my book reading time. It's something I've been trying to work on a little recently. And the bus ride in the morning and evening has been a big help, too.

THANK you, Joe. That is a wonderful, wonderful poem.

I always think it's very sad when someone comes to my house, beholds the mighty Wall of Books, realizes there's more bookshelves everywhere, and says, as if it's a bad thing, "Do you really read all these books?"

Man, I get that all the time. And then they see the books on every other reasonably level surface, including the bathroom counter, and write me off as a nutjob.

Signed, has not read a work of fiction without pictures for pleasure outside of one or two genre reads that failed to satisfy for since, oh, six months ago.

The last time someone asked me, "So, what are you reading right now?" I was deep in the process of reading all the Batverse TPBs my library system has. And so I said, "Batman." The ensuing attempts at explanation further cemented my reputation as a nutjob.

One of my sisters is not a reader. (She's also the only blonde in the family

Hey, reading makes our (blondes') heads hurrrrrrrt!

Hey, reading makes our (blondes') heads hurrrrrrrt!

Especially when you're reading in bed, holding the book above you, and you lose your grip. Ouch! Explain that bruise convincingly.