"Next week: Ideefixe solves the shoes on/shoes off question." I wait with bated breath! ;-) I refuse to cover my books ever again. In fact I gave away most so don't have that many to cover anyhow. I use the library more and read junk novels I (mostly) buy at yard sales and non-fiction paperbacks I buy new wherever.

Russ, I think men can write "girl books." Herman Wouk's Marjorie Morningstar is very much a girl book, I think. While I know they are not great literature, a number of Gothic suspense novels have been written by male writers under feminine pseudonyms -- I guess the thinking of the publishers was women prefer to read Gothics by what they think are women writers, which I think in the case of most female readers is bosh. A number of female writers have written quite effectively in the traditionally male bastion of war stories. Olivia Manning's recounting of the Battle of El Alamein in The Levant Trilogy is every bit as good as any male writer's, and Pat Barker's The Regeneration Trilogy is much lauded by both male and female readers. However, whatever the inroads female writers have made, I'm afraid that there's a certain segment of male readers who will pass over their books simply because they are females. An androgynous name, such as Barker's, has probably pulled in some unsuspecting male readers. As for the classics you mentioned, Russ: Tolstoy's and Flaubert's books -- even when their protagonists are women -- are more likely to be read by men than Jane Austen's novels are. Anyanka has already talked above about this disinclination of boys and men. I know present male company is excepted, but it's hard to say it's untrue of male readers in general.

I absolutely agree with the part played by relentless new coverage, cameras and cell phones everywhere. It serves as a double sword to encourage a lot of sympathy but it also reveals real corruption making it seem as if a whole group is corrupt (or that a whole group is victimized for that matter). Sometimes it seems like certain people want their 15 minutes of fame nowadays since everyone is capable of becoming a star in the movie of life. I can't help but believe that many of these homegrown mass shooters are drawn by the idea of fame and the fact that the whole world will notice and hear them. I've seem some videos that look as if people are trying to bait the police into getting worked up and loosing it. Maybe I am seeing it wrong but I don't think so in all cases. Its like a kid will taunt a cop, act completely uncooperative and he's got that cell phone held up in the air, as if attempting to make a U-tube hit to play the poor victim in. We used to respect police when I was a kid and no one would have acted so rude or uncooperative like I see on these videos. I liked what that guy Dr. Piper wrote. I agree with the idea of self absorbed and narcissistic people who get their feelings hurt over any perceived challenge, whoever or whatever makes them feel bad is tagged with a name like 'bigot' or 'hater' with they themselves being the innocent victim. Many people seem to think freedom is equal to complete lack of restraint and that they live in a country where no one should not have any right to hold them to account for anything no matter what. This type of thing is completely out of hand. The laws are becoming more and more oppressive due to groups like M.A.D.D. (not to single them out, it just comes to mind) and 'The War on Drugs' that push the idea that more laws and penalties will solve these problems. Current events are always connected to the events preceding them. Problems like this need to be looked at as a progression of events from a historical perspective to make any sense. You can go back to the 1950's, 60's and 70's to mark the progression of events along with popularizing and accepting certain philosophical ideas. People now seem oblivious or uninterested in how these things connect and focus mainly on the results we have to live with because most people seem oblivious to history. Seems many only live in the present moment concerning any given crisis or personal experience as if history is irrelevant. The tendency is just get outraged or to come up with overly simplistic solutions like fixing 'the gun problem' or adding stiffer laws. Not that we need more guns mind you, I'm no NRA fan.

For those who like to be amused, here's one instance I recalled immediately that you can further laugh about. A colleague and I arrived on a rainy winter day for a work visit of several days to a town about an hour outside of London I'd been to before, to a hotel I'd been to before. It was about noon, we were to check in and then meet the two individuals we'd come to see at a nearby pub for lunch. We agreed to drop our bags in our rooms, freshen up a bit, and meet in 15 minutes back at the front desk. On entering my room, the extreme heat was apparent. It was very hot, certainly 80 deg F or more. The radiator had a thermostatic adjusting valve on it - I turned it and it turned freely, obviously broken. Back to the elevator to descend to speak to the front desk about the problem. While speaking with the clerk, my colleague came up and listened and said "Your room is too hot? Mine is stone cold. I tried adjusting the radiator valve and nothing happened. The heat is off and won't come on". The front desk person apologized and said he would call the repair service immediately. Reassured, we left for lunch and the meetings of the afternoon. Returning to the hotel late afternoon, the plan was to relax a bit, go back to the pub for a beer in an hour and then go out to dinner. On entering my room, I found it was still uncomfortably hot. I went back downstairs to the front desk. The same person was there that I'd spoken to hours earlier. I said the room was still uncomfortable, was the repair person on-site or expected soon? The conversation that follows as I best remember it. Him-"No sir, I'm sorry. They're quite busy because of the weather but they'll be here Thursday afternoon" Me-"I'm staying just two nights and leaving Thursday morning. Can something else be done? Can you give me a different room please?" H-"No, I'm sorry sir, that's not possible. We're fully booked up" M-"Maybe you could give me a room tomorrow that someone has vacated, let a new arrival have the room I have now?" H- "No sir, I can't do that. It wouldn't be fair to give an arriving guest a room that's uncomfortably hot." M-" Isn't that what you've done to me?" H- "Yes sir" M- "Let me ask, with my room too hot, and my colleague's room too cold, hasn't anyone mentioned this before? The problem can't have just happened in these two rooms. How about your room cleaning people, no comments from them?" H- "No sir. I'm sorry" I called my office, asked them to find me another hotel. On returning from dinner, a message was waiting for me, saying that because of some local event, no rooms were available in the area for the next two nights. So I slept with my windows wide open and my colleague was given several extra blankets, having declined my offer to sleep in my room.. He showered the next two mornings in my room. I returned to that town many times but never again to that hotel. I remember the hotel was part of the Trusthouse Forte group, its branded materials were in the room and the hotel public areas. It was a UK hotel operator of some size at the time. I just checked (having certainly remembered the name and location) and the high street located hotel has a bit over 100 rooms and is part of the MGallery hotel business. It's not a mom and pop operation. I recall many other ridiculous incidents like this. Bad luck? No, I don't think so. I long ago reached my conclusion from experiences like this.