Want to know why there's no Thanksgiving card from grandma in your mailbox today? Because it's Veterans Day. (Or because she's dead, Timmy.) While Bush pretended to be sad about it in Texas today -- "Not on my watch," chump? Bite it. Hard -- we thought of a recent veteran who died over the weekend, Mr. Norman Mailer. (He was a cook during WWII. How awesome is that? Well, we think it is.) Although......

There are two great things about getting to compile this column -- one is the sense of camaraderie and sharing we get when our wonderful SFist colleagues or readers recommend, refer, or concurrently read (Christine, that's you) books from their online reserve list. There are so many books we've read only because we've checked them out, borrowed them, or purchased them from one of our fine local independent bookstores at the behest of a......