Bill Moyers plans to end his PBS show and retire from television at the end of next April, according to Nov. 20 story in the New York Times.  That night, with no fanfare, there he was at the helm of his Journal, drawing out lessons for Pres. Obama from newly-released tapes of telephone conversations between Pres. Lyndon Baines Johnson and his advisors about the way forward in Vietnam in the early days of his administration.

When I say the words "teens" and "mean girls" I know that many of you shudder a little. We all know some. Some of us have been their target. Some of us have been mean girls ourselves. Some of have been on both sides. We see them reflected in movies, tv show and fiction. But are they really as bad and as prevalent as we make them out to be? Have they become an easy and empty archtype?

Harry & Sally. Rhett & Scarlett. Lancelot & Guinevere. Lucy & Ricky. Johnny & Baby. Name famous romantic couples and since 2007, Marlboro Man and The Pioneer Woman deserve a spot in the Top Ten.

We all have pet peeves, those things that drive us crazy for no good reason. Most of the time it's just a minor annoyance but when it comes to books they can drive us to distraction or possibly even to the point of throwing a book against the well. (Which I am sure is someone's pet peeve - book abuse!)

If you want a less stressful, less expensive, less wasteful holiday celebration -- without acting like an eco-grinch -- take a look at the new holiday book of the season: I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas: Gifts, Decorations and Recipes That Use Less and Mean More by Anna Getty.

The beginning of a new year is a wonderful. It's bright, shiny and full of possibilities. So we dutifully fill it up with hopes and goals. There's just under seven weeks left in 2009 which makes it a good time to check in with your reading goals.

Last week I wrote about looking for silver linings and finding gratitude even when we are feeling less than thankful. But is positive thinking always the right approach? Author Barbara Ehrenreich says no.

So you read a really good book. The next thing to do is go force into the hands of everyone you know and say, "You will read this book and love it. Because I said so." Yes? No. Not really.

I first became aware of the buzz about Sapphire's debut novel Push in 1995 or 1996. The novel gained attention for its distressing storyline but possibly more because the novelist received a $500,000 advance, a sum unheard of in those days for a first novel. Well, unheard of except that another writer that year had received even more, Jacquelyn Mitchard.

I think we all have memories of books that we read when we were in our tweens. They were passed around from girl to girl, each one devouring it before passing it on to the next one in line. When I was about 11 or 12 years old the literary crack of choice was Christopher Pike. I'm not sure why but it feels like my generation of readers have all gone nostalgic at the same time. Maybe it's the Twilight mania that is making us remember our own crackliture. It seems everywhere I turn these days I'm seeing remembrances and rereadings of Christopher Pike.

I like to think I'm an adventurous reader. Or at least a semi-adventurous one. But one thing that can stop me in my tracks is a big book. I mean a long book, the ones known in the book blogging world as "chunksters." For the last few years there's been a "Chunkster Challenge" where bloggers committ to reading some of these big books. I find it comforting, even though I don't join (I suck at challenges), because it means that I'm not the only one that buys or borrows these books with the intent of reading them and then let them gather dust.

Last week was a big e-book discussion week. Barnes and Noble released it's new dedicated e-book reader, the Nook. There was a dust up about Kindle usage. And then there was the shocking revelation that *gasp* readers have rights too.