My current theory about the bringing prices down 600% etc is that it's been described to him as "the price will be 1/6 the current price" and he honestly doesn't understand fraction to percent conversions. Or, you know, he's just making stuff up.

I am a "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" fundamentalist in that I think the original "muddle through" line is 1000x better than "highest bough". But I would not expect of all cover for freakin' Kidz Bop to honor the reality that Christmas is constantly laced with melancholy, too.

Last day of #LibFaves25 is THE QUEER THING ABOUT SIN. A real sweet spot for both experts and casual readers. It fundamentally altered my views of the origins of homophobia and would have deeply helped and comforted me as a young, queer religious guy trying to sort out the whole snarl.

Penultimate #LibFaves25 is MY FRIENDS. Backman's smooth as silk writing always makes even the most sentimental moments feel unhackneyed and this one has just enough twists about each character's life that you'd be hard pressed to anticipate just about anything in it.

Not loving having a second weather day already this winter for kiddo. Very grateful for a job with significant flexibility, but bracing for more if this winter continues to be this serious!

Day 8 #LibFaves25 is THE ROAD TO TENDER HEARTS. I love a book of an older protag getting a new chance at life and also reluctant sudden parents (see also The Guncle, Nothing to See Here).

Day 7 of #LibFaves25 WE COULD BE RATS. I love everything Emily Austin writes (can't wait for her upcoming one featuring a librarian!), and this one is just so sharp and clever

Choice for day 6 of #LibFaves25 is GREENTEETH. Read this fairly early this year and still am thinking about this lovely reworking of a monster and the story's delicate thinking through of agency.

My Day 5 of #LibFaves25 is RUTH. Absolute catnip for me--snippets from a life finding all the meaning in the small moments, laugh out loud funny, and treating religion and its believers with the right blend of tenderness and exasperation.

Three student recorded presentations in a row all adding an fi into two-factor authentication. I'm guessing a formation to align with "identification"? But weird that they are all doing it (while reading a text on the slides, even!)

Day 4 of #LibFaves25 is A TOWN WITH HALF THE LIGHTS ON. Epistolary-ish novel that hilariously and tenderly nails the different voices of characters, the weirdness of small towns, and the erosion of snobbery when you find a place you belong.

#LibFaves25 Day 3: MAX IN THE LAND OF LIES. While I perhaps loved the first book more, this second one is a deeply powerful, wrenching holocaust story that connects with readers. When son is a few years older, this duology will certainly be an excellent way to spark conversations.

A bit frazzled today and just tried to eat my grapes with a fork.

Getting chuckle from this example from Adrienne Warner's article on library tours and the need to make educated guesses about what student feedback means: 'For example, the “torturing rooms on the third floor,” was inferred to mean “tutoring rooms on the third floor.”'

Day 2 of #LibFaves25: IF ANYONE BUILDS IT, EVERYONE DIES. At a campus pushing hard for AI-fluency without much detail on what that means yet and a general grumbler about AI, this alarming look at a very plausible future unless we quickly make some big decisions is truly horrifying.

My pick for day 1 for #LibFaves25 is THE USUAL DESIRE TO KILL. It's riotously funny, but then sweetly tender and could easily have been written about my family.

Had some 6th graders visit the library. When I opened it up to questions, two boys were VERY interested in my powers to ban people from the library (what acts merited it, how long I could do it, if I've ever done it, etc, etc). A very curious concern to have!

Once again pulling myself from the edge of being radicalized by that almost painfully, willfully misconstrued review that has somehow become dogma whenever someone mentions liking the author targeted by it. Just bamboozled by poor critical reading skills by professed lovers of reading!

I'm not saying it's designed to annoy me specifically, but somehow my library's acoustics are piping somebody's earphone overflow into my office just loud enough to irk but not loud enough outside it for me to track down who it is.

On one hand, good for cleveland.com to admit the use of AI. on other hand, why is this buried at the bottom of the article and not in the byline? Also what assistance? What model? These things matter!

Oh, cool, EBSCO, your new platform doesn't list volume or issue number in results page or item record. Super nice. Very useful. Not at all annoying.

The context for this is a LDS theological stance that your ancestors are waiting the proxy ordinances you can submit their names for. But honestly, this ad sorta makes it sound like they are ghosts caught in your house. Also "Time is short. We are waiting" could be the tagline of a horror film.

If you want to see how dumb ChatGPT is and what people are saying is cool about it, check out these people awed by "secrets" told to them by models that read mostly like really, really bad self-help nonsense: www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/co...

We all know recipe writers lie about time for carmelizing onions, but why must they also lie about how much a serving of soup is? Every recipe that serves four makes like 5 quarts of soup.

This 1937 Time profile of a lady bank president is amazing. First of all what does "no gusher, she" even mean? It calls her "the prettiest" and comments on the color of her eyes. But the best bit is when you can practically hear her sigh when she says there are 75 other women bank presidents.

For a second I was confused about the upcoming biopic starring Eddie Redmayne and Tina Fey!

Bring back reporting like this!

Sure you all say you're going to flee to Canada as refugees, but is it a family tradition for you? Arza Judd, my 4th great-grandpa hopped across from Vermont in 1793 to "obtain His Majesties Protection".

One slightly disarming thing about reviewing books is when they actually publish, it seems like it should have happened long ago--books I reviewed in January are just now appearing out in the wild.

I had a joke about Penelope, but it didn't really suit her.

In 1936, marketers really thought this is what "an ageless thirty-two" looked like. Just in case you're feeling like you're aging poorly!

Reading a book where the main character is in deep danger all the time, hiding a huge part of her identity and discovery means death. But she's also very hot to trot for get biggest threat. I have a hard time understanding this. Like, how much danger would it take for her to just chill out about it?

Growing up Mormon, I was taught that at the end of time, the US and Israel would face off against all the world in battle. The implication was that the US and Israel were the good guys. But, like, looking at things now: what if this is true but the US and Israel are actually the baddies?

The ways in which students shun splitting their responses into paragraphs makes me wonder how exactly a paragraph has hurt them in the past.

One thing I find annoying in fiction is not knowing when something is intentionally wrong to say something about a character or the author just made a mistake. Like, does this author think that Dylan Thomas was Irish or is he playing up the character not knowing he's Welsh.

Banger of a closing line from Glorious Exploits: "For his master was ever in love with misfortune and believed the world a wounded thing that could only be healed by story".

I'm generally fairly open to differing opinions but am absolutely a fundamentalist about the muddle through line being the only right on in Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

There is a real special kind of anguish of being both a student and a teacher during finals week. Annoyances and technical errors on both ends!