now posting regularly

Well, I lost track of time last week (surprise, surprise), so I should have double the amount of NPR stories this week, right? Not exactly, since part of the losing track of time also includes much less radio-listening-time than I would like. Daily life is a bit hectic these days, and there's a very much unresolved (and no easy solution in sight) issue with JAM's schooling on the back burner as well, and all of that is making for a nice little holiday ulcer right about now. So, my two week's worth of NPR highlights are really just a few items.

• I heard this story about the "donor illusion" in charitable giving on American Public Media's Marketplace. I found it interesting, especially in the Kiva controversy that's mentioned. (Lovely hubby? This is one that you'll want to click on.)

• This one from Morning Edition, "Librarian Nancy Pearl's 2009 Under-The-Radar Books", almost slipped by me, because I came in on the tailend of the story, but I knew I'd want to go back to it. How funny that even if I had not gotten to the bookmark in time, my 5M4B editor Jennifer also emailed me about the story! The first book mentioned, Spooner, is one that I tried to like... I got almost 300 pages into it, but finally gave up because I just didn't care about any of the characters. And now I've seen a whole bunch of really positive reviews of it, and I'm beginning to wonder if I should return to it at some point... maybe it was just me? I do know that I need to check out When You Reach Me, a middle grade novel that has been raved about everywhere.

• In the same vein, "Alan Cheuse's Book Picks to Warm a Winter's Night," from All Things Considered, gives some book recommendations just in time for the holidays. There was a time that I was really into horror books (I read a lot of Stephen King), but I'm sure that a book like American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny from Poe to the Pulps would scare the crap out of me now. I've totally wimped out as an adult.

• Finally, "Taiwan forging ahead as IT titan" aired on Marketplace this morning, and as it began talking about netbooks, I just knew that they were referring to Acer, the maker of my very own little netbook on which my fingers lovingly type each and every day. I still adore my mini-laptop as much as I did on the day that lovely hubby brought it home from Costco.

Hoping to tune in a little more this week,