gogo

I was thinking about that, too. Anyone who isn't going to vote for Obama because of the Ayers connection has more than likely already made that decision. I think if McCain opens the door to Obama bringing up the Keating connection, that's more likely to affect the decisions that moderate voters are making about McCain's judgement in regard to current economic issues.

Happy day, Alison!

Stay safe down there! There's a fire here, on Angel Island, which at least can't spread, but it's still a shocker. I don't remember ever seeing a fire out there before.

Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains Fabulous documentary about the Andes plane crash. The story is mostly known because the survivors did resort to cannibalism, but like the Donner party, the overall resilience of the people involved is what is truly amazing.

I put in my request at the library about a month ago, and I'm now #5 on the waiting list (for 70 copies).

The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot D

OK, the poll is closed! (Although, since I don't really know how to close the poll form, I'm just posted the results as of now in this post.) Underworld (or maybe just Pafko At the Wall) [ 3 ] [7.50%] The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao [ 13 ] [32.50%] To Kill a Mockingbird [ 5 ] [12.50%] American Wife [ 2 ] [5.00%] Your Brain on Music [ 4 ] [10.00%] A World Lit Only By Fire [ 0 ] [0.00%] A Supposedly Fun Thing I

Christopher Buckley writes political satire (probably best known for Thank You for Smoking). While I don't agree with him on a lot of the issues, I definitely enjoy his work.

"Pallin' around" = Twister

Yes, I read that last night. It was absolutely raw, and I saw not only quite a bit of myself in there, but reflections of several friends as well.

"Rock stars".

Oh, yes. Very sad.

Paulo Coelho? Anyone read any of his books? A friend has recommended him to me, but after reading some of the reviews on Amazon... I'm a little leery.

I can't stop browsing! Where's Dan? How's this for a subtitle? Poughkeepsie: Halfway Up the Hudson.

They're usually written by someone local to the neighborhood, which is cool, because it's a lot of their own perspectives on the neighborhood. Not that they're not attempting to be comprehensive, but a lot of these books are more pictorial histories than anything else. So especially for these more newly-developed areas, the pictures tend to be whatever they can dig up, from whoever's willing to offer their own personal scrapbooks. I'm interested in the Campus series too, I didn't realize that they did those until I clicked on the website, but I think I'm going to order the one from my coll

http://arcadiapublishing.com/ I love these books. I've been told that the one for my current neighborhood, the Inner Sunset in San Francisco, is one of the top-selling titles in the series, but I'm guessing a lot of smug little neighborhoods like my own probably make the same claim. Last night, my mom showed me a new one she'd just picked up, for the Westlake district, which is the neighborhood I grew up in. It's known as the Levittown of the Bay Area, a developer named Henry Doelger built the district on the sand dunes just south of San Francisco (but, he resisted the urge to call it

If it's still this close tomorrow, I may just declare this one a tie, and we'll do Oscar Wao first, followed by the DFW. All other suggestions would just go into a whole new poll after the first of the year.

Almost finished with The Ghost Map. Cool history, study of urbanization, epidemiology, etc. All my favorite stuff! Next up: I have not previously read any of his books (I've read several essays and stories in magazines), and I'm wondering if knowing that the author will eventually succumb to his demons will affect my reading of his work. I also read the new David Sedaris last week. Kind of meh on that one. I'm going to see him in person in a couple of weeks, I'm hoping to enjoy them more live than I did on the page.

This is close, you guys! I like this better than that other election, the one where I'll be really upset if my candidate doesn't win. In the VC Book Club election, they're all winners.

I applaud your willingness to dig through the archives to resurrect this thread.

Interesting blog post on that same site: What is Obama's Ceiling? The premise is that the polls can only tighten from here, as Obama may have already persuaded all the "persuadables" that are available to him. Includes a "funny" (in a sad, weird way) anecdote from an Obama precinct-walker about blatantly racist, but still undecided, voters.

Bump. Two days left to vote.

The scene where Alec Baldwin role-plays family therapy with Tracey Morgan is one of the most hilarious things I've ever seen on TV.

And, hoping for some big train-wreck moment.

I've been listening to the EP, I really like it. Congrats on the article!