I seem unable to stop listening to Led Zeppelin’s “The Battle of Evermore.” I think the mandolin has ensorcelled me. Send help.

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The Cambridge Public Library recently changed their lending policies. Instead of a three-week lending period with the possibility of three renewals (12 weeks total), now they’ve got a four-week lending period with the possibility of two renewals (also 12 weeks total). It’s a disaster. I never know when anything is due, I never turn anything in on time, and I never read anything. It turns out that apparently I need more, and more frequent, reminders that my time is nearly up in order to read. Today I’m returning nine library books. I’ve only read two, all of them are late, and I owe almost $10. So much for my spotless library record. Thank goodness codename: Cordelia doesn’t read my blog; otherwise, I’d never hear the end of it.

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You may have heard by now about the proposed merger of Random House and Penguin. I have lots of thoughts and questions about it. The only thing I’m up for blogging today, however, is my disappointment in the name they’re choosing for the new company: Penguin Random House.  Seriously? When, as David and Margo suggested, they could have called it Random Penguin? Or, as Deborah suggested, Penguin House, or even Random Penguin House?  Or, as Aaron suggested, House of the Random Penguin?  (My favorite, even though I’ve had “House of the Rising Sun” in my head ever since he suggested it.  Maybe that’s why I’m listening to so much Led Zeppelin: to clean out my head.  It’s not working.)

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I am home.