Whether you are a well-seasoned traveller with a mangled passport, or someone who rarely leaves your spot on the couch, it's likely you will find inspiration in A Rough guide to the world : Make the most of your time on earth. This hefty book is crammed full of amazing travel experiences grouped according to global areas, starting with Britain & Ireland, and finishing with The Polar Regions (you didn't think they'd forget the North and South Pole, did you?). Seeking a natural miracle? Visit Iguazu Falls in Argentina - more than two hundred cascades thundering over an eighty meter cliff, all surrounded by lush tropical forest. Seeking an event to remember? Try April 30th/Queen's Day in Amsterdam (police are forbidden to interfere with any activity, no matter how outrageous). Seeking a wonder of the ancient world? Try the unparalleled Roman archaeological site of Baalbek in Lebanon. (In the words of Robert Byron, it "dwarfs New York into a home of ants".) Seeking a journey closer to home? Grab your bike and ride the Slickrock in Moab, Utah. Personally, I am inspired to plan a visit to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Lalibela in Ethiopia. I'll share my injera with you if you'll pay for my plane ticket!

Want to fall in love with a character, stay up late reading his exploits, all the while knowing in the back of your mind that the AADL has several books in the series?

Then the one-legged Moscow cop Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov is the guy for you.

Stuart Kaminsky created this character who delights as he solves murders and other crimes all the while successfully mastering the post-Soviet politics of his department. He knows his office is bugged by his superior, and his superior knows he knows; this allows for a very interesting level of communication between the two.

Try Death of A Dissident, Death of a Russian Priest, Hard Currency and The Dog Who Bit a Policeman.

Then after some kvass, blini and caviar work your way through Fall of a Cosmonaut, Murder on the Transiberian Express and the newest: People Who Walk in Darkness.

Pust' sbudutsya vse tvoi/vashi mechty!

Today, August 20 is the birthday of Edgar Guest, a reporter for the Detroit News whose poems were syndicated in over 300 newspapers. The feature was called "Breakfast Table Chat." Guest was born in Birmingham, England in 1881. He spent most of his life in Detroit and was the first and only poet laureate of Michigan.

Heather McHugh was born on this same day in in San Diego, Ca. in 1948. Admitted to Harvard at age 16, McHugh studied with poet Robert Lowell. Known for her wit and precision of language, McHugh has written several books of poetry and has been published in the New Yorker as well as other well known literary journals. She says of her writing: "My whole work is to catch the word by surprise, sneaking up on language, sneaking up on the world as it lurks in words.

In the tradition of old-school capers and sleuths let me present to you a chestnut from 1967- Roman Polanski’s The Fearless Vampire Killers, Or Pardon Me But Your Teeth Are In My Neck. Professor Abronsius and his bumbling Assistant Alfred (played by Roman Polanski himself) are off to a remote Transylvanian village to prove their theory that vampires really exist. Soon Alfred falls for the innkeeper’s daughter Sarah (played by Sharon Tate), who of course ends up being kidnapped by a vampire count. (The film marks the beginning of the real-life Polanski-Tate romance.) Abronsius and Alfred set off to rescue her and prove their theory at the same time. In doing so… they move into the count’s castle, freeze up when trying to kill him, chase vampires on skis, lose the cherished suitcase containing their supply of garlic and crucifixes, and the count’s son falls in love with Alfred. Talk about fun. Do they get to prove their theory? Do they get out of Transylvania with their necks intact? There’s only one way to find out…

Bad pickup lines and corny jokes are two things I never tire of overhearing. So you can imagine how happy I was to eavesdrop on the following at a recent concert. "My name's John, are you into the Brechtian punk cabaret scene?" I was overwhelmed. Would this be the worst pickup line or the world's corniest joke? I waited with baited breath, soon to discover that this earnest young gent was trying unsuccessfully to get a date. Moreover, through his sermon I learned all about The Dresden Dolls, who indeed self-describe their brand of vaudevillian rock as John had. After checking out The Dresden Dolls' latest release, No, Virginia, from the AADL, I wished that things had ended better for our hero, for the band's unique blend of raucous female vocals and driving, Weimar-era piano lines was quite refreshing. My hope is that somewhere he found a soulmate because the music -- like Hesse's Magic Theatre -- is "not for everybody," and perhaps "for madmen only."

A foster child finds out who she is and where she belongs in Nikki Grimes, The Road to Paris. This Coretta Scott King Honor book is a powerful story of love, prayer and family.

Even if you've read a lot about the Civil War you have never read anything like this.

The Slaves’ War by Andrew Ward is a riveting narrative in the actual words of slaves from the beginning of the Civil War to shortly after its’ end. Woven together from interviews (done in the 1920s and 30s with former slaves), memoirs, diaries and letters, it is a poignant portrait of an incredibly diverse group of people—soldiers, cooks, seamstresses, teamsters, runaways, field hands, house servants, blacksmiths and laborers.

In their own words they discuss memories of battles, politics, slavery, hardship, betrayal, Lincoln, Davis, their enslavers, trying to stay alive and finding loved ones.

Most importantly, Ward had access to Ophelia Settle’s interviews with former slaves conducted under the auspices of Fisk University in the 1920s. Her interviews were much more candid than those conducted by the Federal Writers’ Program with the WPA because she was African American and allowed interviewees anonymity.