The book fairies just keep dumping things on my desk this week. Some of it bad, but most of it good. As the backlist buyer, I don’t get all the interesting new books. I usually end up with maps of Albuquerque. So I don’t know what’s changed, but I am getting all this good stuff.

The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devestating Plague of All Time by John Kelly (reviewed by Kakutani today and the WaPo last week).
The Rabbi’s Cat by Joann Sfar, which I know nothing about, but looks interesting. He’s a French artist apparently.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro—ooooh! is all I have to say.
Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times ed. by Kevin Smokler. This is a collection of original essays on literature. Includes work by Tom Bissell, Meghan Daum, ELizabeth Spiers. Looks very interesting.
Bangkok Tattoo by John Burdett. Now I haven’t read Burdett’s first book Bangkok 8, so I might have to read it first since Tattoo involves the same character from the first book.
Nice Big American Baby by Judy Budnitz. This is getting great reviews from good sources.
The Poet’s Guide to Life: The Wisdom of Rilke ed. and trans. by Ulrich Baer. Random House sent this to me and at first I thought it would be more of a gift book. But having flipped through it, there’s some meaty stuff in there.
Small Island by Andrea Levy. This was a Booker Nominees and Orange Prize winner for 2004.
The Position by Meg Wolitzer. I’ve been hearing good things about Wolitzer for a while. Probably should check her out.

There’s more, but this is the really good stuff. Where do I start? I’ve finished The Archivist and need to start something else.

Oh, Perseus sent me a galley of Whores: An Oral History of Perry Farrell and Jane’s Addiction by Brendan Mullen if anyone wants it.

Terry Teachout started this whole meme “Ten Things I’ve Done that You Probably Haven’t”. Well, here are my ten:

… met Madeline Albright in a bar.
… learned to drag race a 1968 Plymouth Barracuda.
… met Sgt. Slaughter while working at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.
… had beers with David Mitchell.
… met several members of Radiohead.
… let a preacher and his wife try to “heal” me, which involved one of them speaking in tongues.
… jumped out of an airplane (okay, it was a tandem jump, but still).
… starred in a movie called “Sunwolf”, the story of of a guy who doesn’t heed the ‘Do no go out in the sun’ label on his prescription pills.
… wandered off when I was 4 on a Long Island beach in search of Big Bird. A cop brought me back 3 hours later to delight of my parents.
… had to help pry this strangers hands off my friends neck as he choked him (admitedly, my friend was a jerk and had made a comment to this guy, but still).

I just spent the last half hour looking at this. The New York Public Library has put thousands of prints, maps, etc. online in a digital gallery. It’s very cool.

I just think this is cool. Archaeologists found 3 coffins and a well-preserved mummy behind a secret door that’s been covered by a statue in Egypt. “‘The chest of the mummy is covered with beads. Most of the mummies of this period — about 500 B.C. — the beads are completely gone, but this mummy has them all,’ he said, standing over one of the mummies that was swathed in turquoise blue beads and bound in strips of black linen.” Check out the photos as well. There are some great pictures of the excavation and the mummy. I imagine the link will expire soon.

I was on vacation when the New England Patriot’s won this year’s Super Bowl again. Surprisingly, many places in Belize showed it (yes, I actually saw this sign). I think that about sums up my feelings on the game.