Morning items

I'm open to film adaptations of books so I am cautiously optimistic about another shot at a Dave Robicheaux. Maybe this time they can get somebody who can play Cajun, while also balancing between menace and teetering on the edge of collapse. Bruce Willis is a possibility, if he put on some pounds.

If you are a fan of Scream, you may well want to read Demon Theory. The book is presented as an academic study by a hip postmodern lit theorist of a horror trilogy. So you get three scary stories and a surfeit of pop culture references. It looks like it could be fun, as the author's Amazon blog shows he is ravenous consumer of horror movies.

The Booker long list is out. My take on the Booker is that the final winner isn't all that interesting. As often as not, I don't like the winner that much. The long and and particularly the short lists, on the other hand, will usually yield a few treasures. The Millions link I posted has the covers of all the long list winners. Take a look.

Are you a lefty that worries that your reading habits are not adequately preparing to further the Progressive Plan? Well, you need to lighten up, it's just reading. But if you must tie your pleasure activities to the needs of the Cause (Lost?) then by all means have a look at China Mieville's list of 50 science fiction and fantasy books ever socialist should read. The first book on the list, Use of Weapons, is in fact, the bomb. Not to leave the right leaning readers out, here is (libertarian-leaning ) Tyler Cowen theorizing as to why libertarians like science fiction.

And by all means take a look at "What 200 calories look like," which is photos of piles of items ordered by number of grams that provide 200 calories. Its topped with celery at 1425 grams and ends with 23 grams of canola oil. There are a few surprises.