Unleash your inner 12-year-old (with a degree in English Literature)

In the last two days Cheryl Klein's blog has turned into a positive festival of comic genius. Check out her entry on bizarre foreign children's books, for instance.

The previous day's entry features the well-travelled joke of replacing parts of classic Star Wars dialogue with the word "pants" ("I used to bull's-eye womp-rats in my pants back home"), but just wait until you see Melissa W.'s Jane Austen pants in the comments...

"I assure you, I feel it exceedingly," said Lady Catherine. "I believe nobody feels the loss of pants so much as I do."

Stop me before I buy again!

Being of a somewhat miserly disposition, I normally don't buy books I haven't read -- I take them out from the library first, and then if I really like them, I buy a copy later in paperback.

However, I have just placed an online order for ten books, most of them in hardcover, and only two of which I've read before. And I had to force myself off the site before I bought any more, because I know that if I spent long enough browsing there, I could end up with a whole new library...

BookCloseouts.com.

At 60-80% off retail price, and with no duty to pay, I am so there. *rubs hands* Now I just have to find the time to read them...

You know you're anal-retentive when...

...you're writing a scene set in a country your book never names, taking place at a time you never specify, and you find yourself looking up newspaper headlines, phases of the moon, and days of the week to be sure you've got them right.