January 28, 2010: J.D. Salinger passed.

• When I was a kid, my mom gave me The Catcher in the Rye. When she found me reading it later, she joked, "I can't believe your parents let you read such filth."
• My youngest brother, when he was a kid, upon exhausting Salinger's published works, stopped reading for a while, wondering why Salinger stopped publishing.
• Upon learning of his death today, my brother called Salinger "the first person to show me that reading could actually be fun."
• Upon learning of his death today, someecards eulogized Salinger differently: "It's time to honor the life of an author who openly despised all of us."
• Without further ado, the full text of "For Esmé — with Love and Squalor" is available on an Arabic literature site called Dibache.com. (The story's in English. Arabic, too, I assume.)

January 6, 2010: Today is Bean Day. To celebrate, why not read "Jack and the Beanstalk"?

December 7, 2009: Just finished reading Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy. She may or may not be my new favorite writer. She writes the kind of stories I wish I could write ...

November 20, 2009: The New Yorker published a new Stephen King story earlier this month. It's called "Premium Harmony." It's ... OK.

October 30, 2009: Apple-picking season is almost over:

• After Apple-picking by Robert Frost
• The Orchard by Alex Brown Church