SLIGHT SPOILER:

There's a moment halfway through the film focused on a character named Louise. It's one of the most beautiful, heartbreaking moments in any movie I've seen this year, and it lasts all of 4 minutes.

And I didn't realize it was Bridget Everett until the credits. 2/

Which bookstore? I visit Milwaukee a lot and would love to support them the next time I'm in town.

"Mason & Dixon" by Thomas Pynchon
"The Stand" by Stephen King
"JR" by William Gaddis
"2666" by Roberto Bolano
"The Last Samurai" by Helen DeWitt

If you allow nonfiction, I'd add Craig Thompson's "Blankets" and all of Caro's LBJ books.

Reading "Slaughterhouse-Five" in high school showed me that literature could be strange, funny, and surreal without losing any of its depth or wisdom.

"Blindness" by Saramago showed me that you could break the rules of storytelling twenty different ways, and still create a profound work of art.

I saw her name on that list and was enraged. She's my senator and has done a good job holding the line against Trump (other than her support for Duffy, which is unforgivable). Voting "yes" on this bill just seemed out or character for her.

Glad to see that list was wrong.

And if you've never heard her 2017 appearance on "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me," do yourself a favor and listen. She's just so endearing.

On her flirtations with Bob Dylan: "Ohhhhh Gawwwwd."

www.npr.org/programs/wai...

3 points here for this elder millennial. The only things I haven't done are 8, 9, and 11.

And there are quite a few things on this list (5, 7, 16, 18) that I still occasionally do.

I think about the Federal Writers' Project all the time. The government sent out an army of writers and told them to document what they saw and interview as many people as they could. The result? An incredible collection of oral histories.

Honestly, a dream job.

As I was checking out, one of the very sweet volunteers asked if I was a truck driver.

"No. Why?"

"Oh, truckers just love these."

And then, as I was leaving, she added, "If you know any truckers, send them to us."

End/

I've been doing this for years. Right now, I have two heavy-duty storage binders filled with audiobook CDs (to save space on my bookshelf), and will need a third soon.

Will I listen to all of these? Probably not.

But it's comforting to have them, especially since my library won't anymore. 2/

"We're Disney. We're making a movie about three witches who are hanged for killing children, come back centuries later, and try to kill more children. It's a comedy. Bette Midler is one of the witches."

I'll never understand how this movie got made, but I'm so glad it did. Just glorious.