The LeMars Public Library is missing their copy of "House of Leaves." That's because I have it. In my possession. If you went to the LeMars Public Library right now and looked for a copy of "House of Leaves," you would be sorely disappointed.

Don't worry though. I checked it out. With a library card and everything. Geeze - you were scared that I stole it, weren't you?

So yeah... I'm reading that book and... it's about a haunted house... and it's supposed to be scary... but it's not scaring me. In fact, no books have ever scared me. Everybody's got a tale to tell about a book that's scared them. But I don't.

And MORE TO THE POINT, I've never read a book that's completely moved me - you know, changed my life. Sure, I've read books that I liked (or possibly even adored), but never one that I feel I can "call my own." I don't have a "favorite book" that was "written just for me."

Which is funny because I could easily list 30 movies with no hesitation that do that for me. Or 50 songs. Or 10 TV shows.

Books gotta' start pulling their weight.


ALSO:

I was watching CNN and a guy from the Gallup Poll service was talking about the peaks and vallies of President Reagan's popularity during his administration.

And he made the point that Reagan never had an overwhelming majority of admirers while he was president. In fact, towards the end of his presidency, Reagan only had 53% of Americans regard him favorably.

However, by the mid-90's (curiously when Reagan's illness became known), nearly 75% of Americans remember Reagan being a good president.

Huh.

Because one person loses their memory, everybody else does, too.