The Amazing Multi-Fonted Post

Lately I've been reading a lot of nonfiction. Which is good because I'm learning a ton of facts about stuff I probably will never use in Real Life. But it's also a bit unfortunate in that I often don't have a lot of "review" to write here.  

Why? I can review whether the book was well-written, as opposed to being rife with grammatical or spelling errors or a despicable lack of Style. But unless it's a book on a nonfiction thing I understand well--writing, for instance, or history or cooking--I don't tend to have an opinion formulated on the actual subject, and without an opinion I can't really critique the author's.  

Take, for instance, one of my current nonfiction conquests, Just My Type: A Book About Fonts by Simon Garfield.*  Now, I don't know much about typography.  This is the first book about fonts I have read (although it has made me want to read more).  However, like most people, I hold many deep convictions about fonts and font choice.  Most people might not realize that they have a preference for things like that, because it's such a subconscious thing. Words are words, right?  Wrong. You may take something more seriously if it's written in Courier than Comic Sans, for instance.  

The Importance of Seeing a Live Performance

Over the weekend a friend of mine treated me to a showing of one of my favorite plays, Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. Though it's one of my favorites, it had been quite some time not only since I'd read the play, but also since I've even seen the movie with Judi Dench, Colin Firth, Rupert Everett and Reese Witherspoon. In a way, although I knew the plot and most of the lines by heart, the play felt fresh and new.

Now I don't want to give away too much of the play's plot, because like so many comedies to spoil the plot would be to spoil some of the surprise and comedic suspense. So when I tell you that Earnest is a comedy centered on secret identities, double lives, twisting social conventions and figures of speech on their ear...I know it's going to sound boring, but believe me that I'm trying to save the best for when you actually see or read this play for yourself.  

(For those readers who already know the plot, c'mon. You know I'm right.)

Bookworms Can Be Easy To Amuse

Yesterday at work I was using my Super Neat Sharpie Library Processing Handwriting* to write out sales tags.  Because some talents are wasted on the mundane.  In doing so, however, I found some piece of furniture named the Quimby, and that made it all worthwhile.


For those not in the know--or who haven't read my previous Beverly Cleary-lovin' blog post--Quimby is the last name of Ramona Quimby, otherwise known as Ramona the Pest, Ramona the Brave, Ramona Forever, Ramona Age 8, etc.