Monday Brain

It was a disappointing weekend for reading. What I did read was good, don't get me wrong, but I didn't read nearly enough. The weekend was dedicated mostly to the beginning of gardening season with a trip to the annual Friends' School plant sale fundraiser. The weather got rainy on Saturday and Sunday so we didn't get everything planted but we managed over half. And was I ever sore! Anyone who thinks gardening is an easy activity for seniors in their golden years has never truly gardened! I am still not done reading the Montaigne essay. I have about 60 pages left to go. It is interesting. I hope I can do it justice when it comes time to post about it. And I keep meaning to post about Don Quixote since I finished part one. I'll try to get to that this week. But today I have Monday brain and have only some links to offer.

• You may or may not have heard about Arianna Huffington's new blog that just went online today, The Huffington Post. She has many names posting on her site and it might prove to be interesting. She has an "exclusive" up right now about a new book called Secrets of the Kingdom by Gerald Posner. Posner lays out the "secret" Saudi self-destruct plan that would destroy their oil infrastructure and turn the country into a radioactive wasteland should anyone try to invade. I suppose it's possible, but it seems a bit extreme to me. Posner claims to have gotten the information from NSA electronic intercepts. This book has "approach with caution and much skepticism" written all over it.
• For some language fun visit AskOxford. There are word quizzes and games as well as the dictionary you would expect.
• Search Engine Watch has a great article on how to search for books on the internet. Guaranteed to improve your search success.
• The Guardian has a a write up about a new Virginia Woolf book. This one is condolence letters received by the family after her death. Good for Woolf scholarship or shameless money-grubbing commercialization? You be the judge.
• Trying. To. Resist. New book by Umberto Eco. I bought too many books in April. I have the feeling that resistance is futile.