The Happy Booker: TGIF!

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We've packed up kith and kin and are heading off to Philly to visit with King Tut. Here are a few odds and endnotes before we embark on spring break. Don't despair, there will be postings aplenty around here next week, with iPod programming, guest bloggers and more…

A Few Good Links for Friday:

Everybody loves a contest: Last week's guest blogger, Susan Coll, is holding an ever-so-cool contest on her newly launched blog. She sends us this note asking us to share the give-away particulars:

"This is the week when college admissions results begin to trickle in. So, borrowing somewhat shamelessly from theoldhag.com, let’s play a college admissions game to win free stuff—although in this case all I have to offer are two copies of Acceptance (currently unavailable on-line so some extremely brief black market value here) and/or a box full of all of the old college guides that I plan to burn. Or maybe some of the t-shirts my kids have collected from schools where the campus bookstores ultimately held more appeal than the colleges themselves. If you are someone who never wins any contests, the odds are in your favor on this one since the blog and homepage are new and not yet soiled from too much traffic.

There will be one prize for the most inspiring story (admissions officers see beyond the numbers and award full scholarship to the deserving C student who loves animals, for example). And one prize for the most egregious story. Kathy kicks us off by saying that her guidance counselor wouldn’t tell her the ACT cut off score for scholarship eligibility because he just assumed that she, as a girl, couldn’t possibly qualify. Needless to say, her score was well above the threshold. "

Go. See. Enter early and often.

Politics & Prose sends us a friendly nudge: Passover starts Monday, time to stock up on the Haggadahs. The bookstore has many different Haggadahs available but all are updated versions, meaning the books are gender neutral and include modern references. Store co-owner Carla Cohen has written a short guide about the various texts to help you with your selection. No word yet if they'll be carrying this updated version by Jonathan Safran Foer due out next year. Why the need to write a new Haggadah? According to Foer: "The holiday is unimportant unless people end it thinking, 'I need to bring the story into my life.'"

Ms. Tingle reminds us of this sneaky peek into author's writing spaces, which reminds us of another favorite site, this one by the National Book Foundation, where well-known authors write about the books that changed their lives.

And finally, for those who've been thinking about taking a writing class, now's the time. The Writer’s Center has updated its website with its new Spring courses. Sign up early, before classes fill. Online registration now available.

Happy Spring! xoxo, tHB