Book-A-Day #71 (9/26): The Pedant's Revolt by Andrea Barham

Yet another book of odd facts that I've been reading in the bathroom; this one is part of the thriving subgenre "things everyone knows that aren't so." (Which is a perennial -- I think I still have a book called The Dictionary of Misinformation, which my parents bought in about 1978.) This one is a bit short, and has all of the obvious entries, but is factually correct, as far as I can tell, and written in a pleasant style. If you know someone who is in perpetual need of a Snopes-check, this book could be a worthwhile gift.

And here I heave another of my occasional large sighs; before I had small children and lost so many brain cells, I used to read poetry anthologies in the loo. (Well, maybe I shouldn't blame the kids -- as I recall, I gave up in the middle of the turgid, boring New Oxford Book of English Verse and haven't had the strength to try again with another book of poetry, for fear of hitting more lousy 17th century poets or their ilk.)