I saw this article today and found out Seattle is the most literate city in the U.S. Unfortunately I’ve never been to Seattle but it’s on my list of cities to visit.

What’s most sad about this survey is that Dallas, where I live, ranks 48 out of 69. How embarrassing. I’m trying to do my part in keeping literature alive in Dallas. I belong to book groups, spend inordinate amount of time in bookstores and persuade (or downright pester) friends to join in my book groups. I’m not giving up.

At least I saw this other story about a couple and the book group they belong to in Midland, Texas, which gives me some hope about literature in Texas. I’ll take what I can get.

Is your city on the list? Where does it rank or where do you think it should rank?

Everywhere you turn the lists of the best novels of 2005 are cropping up. There’s the Guardian’s best books list chosen by authors. The American Library Association has two book lists, one for best young adult and one for children’s.

My long-standing favorite is the New York Time’s notable books of 2005 list. Let’s see, I’ve read a total of 1 from that list.

I love to look at these lists and I like to make my own, but there is one thing, we still have a month left in the year! What if I read the best book of the year during my Christmas holidays?

I know these lists are there to give people gift ideas but if you want to know what my favorite reads of the year were, you’ll just have to stay tuned. I promise to let you know – it’ll just be closer to the end of the year.

It was a good weekend made complete by a stop at the 75% Off Bookstore. We hadn’t been there in a while so it was nice to visit. My husband found some art and design books while I found the following:

Gallows View and A Dedicated Man by Peter Robinson
Last Lullaby by Denise Hamilton
After the Quake: Stories by Haruki Murakami
Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes: Selected Poems by Billy Collins

I’ve already had a quick read through of some of the poems in the Billy Collins book. Here’s an excerpt from Books

From the heart of this dark, evacuated campus
I can hear the library humming in the night,
a choir of authors murmuring inside their books
along the unlit, alphabetical shelves,
Giovani Pontano next to Pope, Dumas next to his son,
each one stitched into his own private coat,
together forming a low, gigantic chord of language.

Isn’t that beautiful? I can’t wait to read more of the poems.