The new English signs and menu are prone to other problems, like the typos of normal human error, rush-job spelling mistakes, confusion between similar letters and words, and so forth. At times, it’s literally easier for me to decipher the Chinese. (Which either means that I rock, or that I’ve memorized the collection of dishes…

I saw this over on <a href=”http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/books/27reading.html?ref=books”>The Future of Reading – Literacy Debate – Online, R U Really Reading? – Series – NYTimes.com</a> <blockquote>Setting Expectations Few who believe in the potential of the Web deny the value of books. But they argue that it is unrealistic to expect all children to read “To Kill a…

From “The Triumph of the Readers” (Wall Street Journal, January 16, 2009): Whether you’re in the life of Wilbur the pig, or Greg Heffley, the wimpy kid, or that little blonde prince in the desert, you’ve stepped outside of yourself for awhile, something that is beneficial to every child. Even if you’re stepping into “Valley…

When an author writes a sequel to a beloved classic, it can go really well, or really, really poorly. Seems like The Independence of Miss Mary Bennett, the “sequel” to Pride and Prejudice falls into the second category. Writing a sequel to such a well-loved story would be difficult no matter what, and subject to…