Is that your branch, Mr. Potter, or are you just glad to see me?

So Isabel Allende has written a Zorro novel. Apparently it's marvelous.

I stopped in an independent bookstore on Mother's Day, and they had signed copies. I couldn't resist getting one. I haven't started reading it yet, but I love Allende.

My local library has it in Spanish only. I wonder if I should make that attempt?

I'd only get three weeks to read it.

What is the difference between the Higher criticism and the lower criticism when it comes to books? And why on earth is Higher criticism so all hoity-toity as to deserve a capital H?

(yep, slogging my way around the Library of Congress cataloging schemes, learning the weird ways information is cataloged and wondering which office of the Library gets to determine which books should be classified as Immoral Literature (it's a Special Class of Books).)

Oh, the blissful happy. epic zombie poetry

Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story of that greatest of men,
He who traveled far and wide, across ocean, mountain, continent and sea,
Who struggled valiantly against the will of the gods,
And who saved his country from a zombie scourge.

You heard me, Muse, a zombie scourge.

Sing of that man, that Jonathan Brewer, he who became renowned,
For his skill against the scourge, against the plague;
Brown-eyed Jonathan Brewer, the blacksmith, the son, the brother,
And probably the uncle, too; he never really talked to his siblings,
And for all he knew they had a couple kids, and come to think of it,
He may also be a grand-uncle, who knows.

O Muse, set the stage, so I can stop appealing to you for aid and get on with the story.
O Muse, to use the vocative tense, which is really archaic and a pain in the ass to decline,
And you Latin scholars out there will agree with me;
Yes, you, the one in the back, nodding your head in agreement,
You're the one I'm talking to. Goddamn vocative tense.

I was able to put a hold on the translation - so I don't have to attempt to read the Spanish.

(of Allende's Zorro , I mean.)

Goddamn vocative tense.

Hee.

Except it's the vocative case, dammit.

Higher criticism and the lower criticism when it comes to books

Strange are the ways of LOC classification. The only thing I can think of is, "lower" means book reviews and "higher" means "100-page thesis on how this book relates to the price of tea in China."

Because, there is criticism like, "This sucks," and then there is criticism like, "This is an example of how patriarchy is not a monolithic institution."

I'm loving this zombie poem, but my god it's LONG.

Damned funny, though. I went poking about the site, and found only information about this family's cool dogs. Who are they and how do I send them squeeing feedback?