In my reading life, I’ve lost count of how many times some book has prompted me to say “Oh come ON” out loud. Whole generations of beagles have been surprised out of sound sleep by such outbursts on my part over the decades, and the outbursts haven’t all come about for the reason you might think. 

Just the other day, the New Yorker’s Adam Gopnik published a short list of six books he thought “literature lovers” should read, and of course I not only read the list but

Is there such a thing as planned serendipity? 

It might sound like an odd idea, but I’m thinking it must apply to the life of a professional book reviewer. Although it’s true that I never quite know what’s going to show up in the next day’s book-mail, I know it can’t be just flat-out ANYTHING.

I recently had a five-day visit from a friend who’s every bit as inveterately bookish as I am, so I couldn’t help but recognize the two foremost signs:

An old bookish friend of mine, compatriot at many a library book sale, used to have a clear organizational hierarchy for the books he acquired.