Friday Link Dump

Trying to get rid of some of my open tabs ...

Don't get me wrong, I want higher safety standards for US toys ... but leave it to congress to enact regulations that will pretty much ban small handcrafted (and safe) toys from the market. Oy.

Did you hear that Oprah's gained weight again? This is the best possible response to that - and to anyone else who's stuck in the lose/gain cycle.

I can't say I'm fluent in any foreign language; nevertheless, translation - esp. of fiction and poetry - is one of my favorite literary activities (and something I have a bit of a knack for, I have been told). It's an underappreciated art form, with many pitfalls - as the case of Elfriede Jelinek demonstrates.

The best book covers of 2008 - because some of us do, indeed, judge a book by its cover.

Enjoy.