VERY EXPENSIVE STONE. Sorry–as you can probably tell, the post below was unfinished. My computer crashed. I want to do a longer post looking at a bunch of Mangan’s columns, because she’s a vivid writer and a good opponent even where I disagree, but I don’t have time right now. For some children’s-book recommendations from me, you can go here, here, and (with caveat) here. Also, I don’t think I mentioned the Bagthorpe books for some reason; read those too!... Read more

DON’T GET CAUGHT: Lucy Mangan’s list of indispensable children’s fiction is… worth fighting. I love The Borribles more than life, and I think Mangan makes the case for them in her arm’s-length review. The third volume is skippable, but The Borribles and The Borribles Go for Broke are somewhere beyond children’s classics. She’s made me really want to read Rumer Godden’s A Doll’s House, Read more

PUTTING THE “PALE” BACK IN PALEOCONS: Of course within 15 pages Trent’s Last Case gives us a “raving crowd of Jews.” I couldn’t tell you why. (Oh, no, right–I remember! It’s because the early twentieth century heralded a beautiful new era when Jews would reign over their Gentile oppressors! …You know, because that’s what happened!) Oh paleoconservatism. How you won’t be missed. Read more

Between what matters and what seems to matter, how should the world we know judge wisely?–E.C. Bentley, first line, Trent’s Last Case Read more

“Hey, what’s your name anyway?” “Julien.” “Really?” Austin said. “That’s the name of the guy who just dropped me.” Julien smiled, Austin guessed, not at his misfortune but at the explicitness of his remark. Sometimes it’s okay to be American, Austin thought; we have a reputation for being brazen we must live up to.–Edmund White, The Married Man Read more

FIFTY HORROR MOVIES WHICH SHOULD EXIST: The amazing list of a Final Girl. I’m definitely not giving you all the terrific ones. 2. The Eyes Have Eyes7. Wicked Harvest: You Are Food18. Death is My Co-Pilot34. And A Child Shall Kill Them36. Black Thesis37. Black Thesis 2: Ibid more! (unsurprisingly, the comments also offer up some cursed gems) Read more

(In every cycle there is a candidate reporters and liberals fall in love with whom they do not call liberal but call instead fresh or new or independent or a laughter-loving Aphrodite.)–Richard Brookhiser, Right Time, Right Place: Coming of Age with William F. Buckley Jr. and the Conservative Movement. I like Rick a lot personally–too much to feel like I can review this memoir–and I’m enjoying his latest book immensely, as I’ve also loved his books on Washington and Hamilton. Read more

SOME SUNNY DAY: If you live in or near DC, I can tell you one thing you need to do right now: Go and fetch yourself a ticket to the Studio Theater’s production of Tom Stoppard’s Rock’n’Roll. I haven’t been blown away by other Stoppard I’ve seen, but this thing is just fantastic on every level. I’ll be reviewing it, so I’ll say more then, but… it’s about the Velvet Revolution, and ethics vs. Dionysos, and the materialism of dialectical... Read more

FOUR LINKS: “Troops take cues from classic plays: Theater of War spotlights symptoms of depression.” Via Thunderstruck. Jack Balkin: “The Rotation of the Justices: A Thought Experiment.” So fascinating! Do you want to know how Robert Bork became Chief Justice? Why the Court never heard Bush v. Gore? Read on. well, read on why doncha! My friend Brian Hughes has a piece in the Wall Street Journal, “Gays Have Served Honorably in the War on Terror.” …Straight and gay soldiers... Read more

IF IT BLEEDS, IT LEADS: I missed it, but yesterday was the feast of St. Bernardino of Siena, patron of preachers, publishers, and boxers. Read more