Who's Your Book Daddy?

A two-post day.

Jerome Weeks was the long-time book critic for the Dallas Morning News. He now has a blog called Book/Daddy on which he still provides terrific book reviews. You can read his blog here.

The following came from his post for Wednesday:

Lesson in map reading

1. Go to Google.
2. Click on "Maps."
3. Click on "Get directions."
4. Type "New York" in the "start address" box (the one on the left).
5. Type "London" in the "end address" box (the one on the right).
6. Scroll down to step #23.
7. Then check out step #24. After all that effort in #23, you wouldn't want to miss the EO5.

I'm offering you a smile as a talisman against Friday, the 13th .

And, while you're over there at Book/Daddy, check out Weeks' review of Jon Clinch's first novel, Finn here. I was on my way to a class yesterday morning, wearing my trusty Sony S2 walkman, when I heard Weeks giving that review on NPR.

Finn takes Twain's Huck Finn and expands on the novel, telling the story of Huck's father Pap.

One of the most interesting things about Finn is that Clinch postulates Huck was a child of mixed race, the son of a racist and an escaped slave.

There have been academics who have argued for this interpretation of Huck's racial make-up for years based on his speech patterns in Twain's books. However, this is the first fictional exploration of the subject.

Weeks' on-air review also makes the argument that all of our finest arts, including jazz and rock, began as blended, mixed race efforts.

Have a good day.