My friends and I are not thieves and cheats

Those who don't want to read about politics may want to skip this. I'm not trying to be partisan, but each party has already staked out its own position on the matters I'm about to discuss.

Every time I turn on the news or read the newspaper, I am confronted by politicians in several states (including mine) saying that government employees get pensions to which they contribute not a cent—that my friends, colleagues, and I are freeloaders living it up at the expense of taxpayers. ( Less a rant than an appeal for understanding )

My friends and I are not thieves and cheats

Those who don't want to read about politics may want to skip this. I'm not trying to be partisan, but each party has already staked out its own position on the matters I'm about to discuss.

Every time I turn on the news or read the newspaper, I am confronted by politicians in several states (including mine) saying that government employees get pensions to which they contribute not a cent—that my friends, colleagues, and I are freeloaders living it up at the expense of taxpayers. ( Less a rant than an appeal for understanding )

Recent reading

Recently read books

I'm not sure what's most embarrassing: that an English professor reads so few books outside of her job these days, that I've already forgotten the names of characters in two of the three novels I read, or that I already can't easily lay hands on the first of the three novels I'll mention. It's somewhere in the house. We have hundreds of books. Maybe thousands.

I'll try to keep spoilers to a minimum in my reviews, but I make no promises about comments.

( Neuromancer by William Gibson )

( Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke )

( The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien )

Recent reading

Recently read books

I'm not sure what's most embarrassing: that an English professor reads so few books outside of her job these days, that I've already forgotten the names of characters in two of the three novels I read, or that I already can't easily lay hands on the first of the three novels I'll mention. It's somewhere in the house. We have hundreds of books. Maybe thousands.

I'll try to keep spoilers to a minimum in my reviews, but I make no promises about comments.

( Neuromancer by William Gibson )

( Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke )

( The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien )

Watson and Bilbo

If I don't do it now, I will never get around to it, so as (not quite) promised:

( How John Watson is very nearly the same as Bilbo Baggins )

Watson and Bilbo

If I don't do it now, I will never get around to it, so as (not quite) promised:

( How John Watson is very nearly the same as Bilbo Baggins )