Link-blog: of pencils, Nabokov and the politics of David Mamet

What’s the best sort of pencil to read with?

Nabokov proposes the smiley-face emoticon, in a 1969 interview.

It is possible to have a multi-format e-reader, but only with some awkward hacking.

What’s fine and not fine in antiquarian booksellers’ descriptions.

David Mamet is on the right now, but where exactly was he before?

There is something to be said for reading aloud.

Even bad prose can have its pleasures.