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I am a sucker for a snappy book cover, and the cover for Paul Auster’s new novella, Man in the Dark, is about as snappy as I’ve seen in a long time.

But, as you may recall, there’s a well-worn adage about books and covers.

Man in the Dark, a thin volume only eight-and-a-half inches tall and not quite six inches wide, caught my eye with its leafy, mulchy , concretey artwork, beautifully embossed and glossed and splashed with just the right dash of stars-and-stripes color.

It’s hard to capture an impression. But the book made one. The text on the inside flap drew me in even more. This cover had me, book, first line, and sinker.

I should really, really know better by now.

Man in the Dark hardly delivers on anything its cover promises.

That said, the novella is a quiet, elegant exploration of the loneliness that comes from physical and emotional isolation. It’s a beautiful little book (its cover notwithstanding). (more…)

WKRP in Cincinnati exists. A television station claimed the call letters as their own. Now, they want you to watch Matlock.

Uh, that’s a letdown. From Dr. Johnny Fever to a country lawyer only my parents would watch.

To pick me up here’s an interpretation of why the lyrics to the closing song might be:

No one knows what the heck the guy was singing, not even creator Hugh Wilson.

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“Sooner or later, [the arms control] community will. . . have to struggle with how to adapt its conceptual paradigms to the 21st century. When it does. . . the arms controllers will owe the Bush administration much for having opened the debate.”
– Christopher Ford

Odd as it sounds, some believe that the perspective of history will yield redeeming characteristics to George Bush’s presidency. While Iraq, like Vietnam, is a lost cause, perhaps, like Lyndon Johnson’s domestic programs and Richard Nixon opening China to trade, something positive will emerge from the Bush administration. (more…)

People are typing her name into search engines, they’re watching her on television and YouTube, book publishers are praying to make a deal, and they’re selling Sarah Palin action figures.

Her detractors should heed Don Surber:

Might it be wise to just stop with the Palin jokes — to stop trying to mock her out of existence — and instead concentrate on the roads that lie ahead?

Her political future all depends on how far she wants to take it.

“Sarah Palin: A Digital Superstar” [via memeorandum]

[picture via sskennel]

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I want one of these.

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In an article in the October Atlantic, Ross Douthat raises the age-old question, Is Pornography Adultery? He cites sex columnist Dan Savage addressing women:

Tearful discussions about your insecurities or your feminist principles will not stop a man from looking at porn. That’s why the best advice for straight women is. … If you don’t want to be with someone who looks at porn. . . get a woman, get a dog, or get a blind guy. … telling women that the porn “problem” can be resolved through good communication, couples counseling, or a chat with your pastor is neither helpful nor realistic. (more…)

I’m thankful my family and I are safe from the evils of terrorism today.

I’m thankful for the brave men and women defending the United States.

I’m thankful for a job while others endure the stress of economic uncertainty.

I’m thankful I have a job where I get to use my skills (internet technology) and passion (conservative politics).

I’m thankful for all the friends and interesting people I’ve come to know over the years.

I’m thankful for knowing I’ll be well fed.

I’m thankful for the abundance of wisdom I have from all the books I own and have access to.

I’m thankful I don’t have to root for the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving.

Most of all I’m thankful for a benevolent God who has blessed me richly.

Eat, drink, and be merry all.

What are you thankful for?

[picture via amy_b]

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Kathleen Parker wants subsidized newspapers to increase civics education. Mary Katharine Ham suggests a reading list that wouldn’t subsidize intellectually dishonest, liberal newspapers:

I’m all for young Americans getting a better civic education, but why not do that through assigning readings readily available in all public schools? The Constitution, Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, Gettysburg Address, and the Federalist Papers are undoubtedly sitting under a thick layer of dust, while “Dylan has Two Mommies” and the companion study guide to “An Inconvenient Truth” are widely distributed.

Good stuff to be sure. The list is so good I wish more conservatives, and that includes webloggers, would dig into this stuff. Lay off the Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity and find some Edmund Burke. The conservative movement would be better off.

“Kathleen Parker Continues to Endear Herself to the Base by Endorsing a Newspaper Bail-Out” [via memeorandum]

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Does that mean we never have to endure rick rolling again? Please make it be so. That would be something I really, really would be thankful for.

[via BelchSpeak]

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Happy Thanksgiving from all of us here at S&R. Today we invite those of you reading (and really, don’t you have anything better to do?) to tell us what you’re thankful about.

I’ll go first. While I have much to be thankful for - a wonderful wife, the coolest dog alive, etc. - I find myself really appreciating the fact that for the next four years I won’t have to hold my breath every time the president opens his mouth. I won’t have to worry about his inability to speak in complete sentences, about whether or not he’s going to make up some new words, about whether he’s going to say something insanely stupid and embarrass us even further in the eyes of the rest of the world. (more…)