http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2007/12/31/DI2007123100799.html
Michael Dirda
Washington Post Book World Columnist
Wednesday, January 2, 2008; 2:00 PM
Prize-winning critic Michael Dirda took your questions and comments concerning literature, books and the joys of reading.
Michael Dirda: Welcome to Dirda on Books, on this the second day of 2008. This morning was gray and cold and drear here in Washington, but the afternoon has brightened considerably, though it remains just as chilly. I've spent the last two days in loading my laptop and new IPod with music--somehow I seem to have filled over 7 gigs of memory with music, and have less than one left. I think it's time to stop. Of course, not all of it is music: I've loaded Candide in French, beginning Italian lessons, A Midsummer's NIght's Dream, two CDs of English writers speaking (all of whom were born in the 19th century), and other things. I've got eight or nine operas, scores of pop songs from the 60s, seemingly all of the American Songbook, some jazz standards, show tunes, and lots of other things that I hope will divert me when I am feeling either sad or joyful. In between I've been reading about Nabokov--in prep for something I'm writing--and working on a talk for the Baker STreet Irregulars dinner and much else. It's been a busy, perhaps not well focused, holiday week.
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