Out Like a Lamb?

It’s the wind, Gentle Reader…the ever-present, dust-laden, annoying, wear-you-down-to-a-nub wind. That said, yesterday was brilliant. We nearly hit 85 degrees and the wind was down to a manageable “steady 10 ~ 15 mph, with gusts of 20 mph.”

Not so today. Ah, Spring!

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The lady doth think too much, methinks:

We’ve all been there. Or some of us have. Anyone who cares about books has at some point confronted the Pushkin problem: when a missed — or misguided — literary reference makes it chillingly clear that a romance is going nowhere fast. At least since Dante’s Paolo and Francesca fell in love over tales of Lancelot, literary taste has been a good shorthand for gauging compatibility. These days, thanks to social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, listing your favorite books and authors is a crucial, if risky, part of self-branding. When it comes to online dating, even casual references can turn into deal breakers. Sussing out a date’s taste in books is “actually a pretty good way — as a sort of first pass — of getting a sense of someone,” said Anna Fels, a Manhattan psychiatrist and the author of “Necessary Dreams: Ambition in Women’s Changing Lives.” “It’s a bit of a Rorschach test.” To Fels (who happens to be married to the literary publisher and writer James Atlas), reading habits can be a rough indicator of other qualities. “It tells something about ... their level of intellectual curiosity, what their style is,” Fels said. “It speaks to class, educational level.”

Pity the would-be Romeo who earnestly confesses middlebrow tastes: sometimes, it’s the Howard Roark problem as much as the Pushkin one. “I did have to break up with one guy because he was very keen on Ayn Rand,” said Laura Miller, a book critic for Salon. “He was sweet and incredibly decent despite all the grandiosely heartless ‘philosophy’ he espoused, but it wasn’t even the ideology that did it. I just thought Rand was a hilariously bad writer, and past a certain point I couldn’t hide my amusement.” (Members of theatlasphere.com, a dating and fan site for devotees of “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead,” might disagree.)

But things are different on the Upper West Side, no? I’m probably revealing much more about my pedestrian reading habits than I should… but I’ve never had a woman complain about my reading tastes. That factoid may or may not say something/anything about me and the women I’ve dated or been in relationships with. Then again, I don’t hang out in the salons of NYC, so all bets are off. But wait! Is there a bit of sense in this screed?

Let’s face it — this may be a gender issue. Brainy women are probably more sensitive to literary deal breakers than are brainy men. (Rare is the guy who’d throw a pretty girl out of bed for revealing her imperfect taste in books.) After all, women read more, especially when it comes to fiction. “It’s really great if you find a guy that reads, period,” said Beverly West, an author of “Bibliotherapy: The Girl’s Guide to Books for Every Phase of Our Lives.” Jessa Crispin, a blogger at the literary site Bookslut.com, agrees. “Most of my friends and men in my life are nonreaders,” she said, but “now that you mention it, if I went over to a man’s house and there were those books about life’s lessons learned from dogs, I would probably keep my clothes on.”

Umm… nope.

Still, to some reading men, literary taste does matter. “I’ve broken up with girls saying, ‘She doesn’t read, we had nothing to talk about,’” said Christian Lorentzen, an editor at Harper’s. Lorentzen recalls giving one girlfriend Nabokov’s “Ada” — since it’s “funny and long and very heterosexual, even though I guess incest is at its core.” The relationship didn’t last, but now, he added, “I think it’s on her Friendster profile as her favorite book.”

Even though I’ve excerpted the article heavily, it’s still a good read. Even if the only thing you take away is “Thank God I’ve never met any of these women.” (or men)

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Speaking of books… the blogger who writes “Stuff White People Like” has reportedly signed a book deal for $300K. See what happens when you get a million and half hits in only three months of blogging? What’s that? Envy? Me? G’wan…

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Something good… for a change… from Inside the Beltway: A slide-show of WaPo readers’ cherry blossom pics (Slide #13 is just too cool, btw). Coz it’s that time of year, Gentle Reader.

Speaking of cherry blossoms… here’s a couple of pics of the cherry tree outside my door in full bloom, taken on March 18^th of last year. The tree has yet to bloom this year even though it’s pretty well leafed-out. Well, I count four blossoms on the tree, just by looking out the window. But that’s nothing, compared to previous years. Makes me wonder, it does.

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Mr. Hockey is 80 years old today. And still going to Red Wings games, and still signing autographs for the legions of his fans. Wow. Here are 32 facts about the man who spent 32 seasons in the NHL. Much more at MLive, including this:

As for the specifics of Howe's birthday party:

March 30, Associated Press: The Detroit Red Wings celebrated Gordie Howe's 80th birthday with a ceremony before Sunday's game against the Nashville Predators.

Howe, who actually turns 80 on Monday, was presented with a framed No. 17 jersey -- his number his rookie year before he got No. 9 his second season. He also was presented with a leather jacket; part of his bonus when he signed was a leather Red Wings jacket.

Christopher Ilitch, the son of team owner Mike Ilitch, announced via a taped message that the team was also giving Howe a 48-inch high-definition television.

"I've been treated like an angel and I don't know where they got it," said Howe after the ceremony.

The party continued after Howe participated in a ceremonial puck drop:

March 30, DetroitRedWings.com: Minutes after the presentation, National Anthem singer Karen Newman, along with the fans, serenaded Howe with a rendition of "Happy Birthday."

A special birthday cake -- in the shape of a white No. 9 -- was presented, the likes of which have not been seen at Joe Louis Arena.

"The cake measures seven-feet long, three-feet wide," said chef Mike Berend. "It is actually composed of 27 individual sheet cakes put together. It was made with a case of eggs (about 10 dozen), 100 pounds of flour and 50 pounds of sugar. This is the largest cake I've had to make in 14 years of working here."

The cake was shared with Howe as well as 1,200 fans in the Olympia Club and on the suite level.

Happy Birthday, Gordie!

(photo: Getty Images, via The Hockey News)