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Fascinating List: Here Are The Most-Borrowed Library Books Of 2025

The Women was among the most checked-out books in U.S. public libraries this year, making top 10 lists in library systems as far-flung as those in Clawson, Mich., Lawrence, Kan., Flathead County, Mont., and the entire state public library system of Hawaii. It was also the year's most-borrowed ebook on the public library app, Libby. - NPR

We’ve Hit The Multicity Tour Time Of Podcasting

Listening to a podcast is usually a solo experience. “Going to a theater to see these podcast performers live can feel like the exact opposite: Strangers with the same niche interest crowding into one place in not just rapt, but maybe even a bit rabid, attention." - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

Mass Market Paperback Books Are Disappearing

“You could be anybody of any kind of background. And for basically the equivalent of a dollar or two, you could be educated. You didn't have to be in a structure. You didn't have to be an elitist.” And now? That era is over. - NPR

We May Finish A Book, But That Book Is Never Quite Finished With Us

“My books are teachers but also companions who know more than I do, and who in the long run wish me well. I would no sooner get rid of them than I would an old friend.” - NPR

Muppet Christmas Carol Is A Classic, Sure, But It’s Also Got Some Real Narrative Weirdness

That’s because … drumroll, please, Animal … "Gonzo’s initial work on The Muppet Show was as a highly abstract performance artist who created acts the audience did not understand. Gonzo’s not really an actor in the traditional sense, unlike the rest of his friends.” - Reactor

The Infamous Australian Prison’s Huge Record Collection

“The most remarkable records bear the hallmarks of the prison itself: a Bob Dylan album that was censored to remove the song ‘Desolation Row,’ and a Johnny Cash record that’s been defaced to read ‘I hate it here.’” - The New York Times (Seattle Times)

Kyiv’s Rebuilders Try To Retain Architectural Heritage In The Midst Of War

“A group of activists have been attempting to preserve the city’s crumbling mansions, built in a playful style known as Ukrainian modernism.” - The Guardian (UK)

The Right To Repair Movement Had A Pretty Good Year

"For many advocates, the right to repair is an environmental issue. People are less inclined to throw gear into landfills if they can fix it.” But throwing one thing away means buying a new one, so companies are resistant. - Wired

Vienna Stages A Gender-Bending Jazz-Age Operatic Work Banned By Franco

Benamor, by Pablo Luna, “featured cross-dressing characters and risqué humor that was largely tolerated during the Roaring Twenties in Madrid and premiered just months before a military coup that brought an end to the constitutional monarchy.” - The New York Times

Jamie Lee Curtis Is Glad She Was Never A Child Star

“A producer wanted her to audition for The Exorcist. However, her mother, Janet Leigh, shut down the opportunity, protecting her then 12-year-old daughter from early fame and any potential trauma that came with starring in one of the scariest movies ever made.” - Variety

Robert Lindsey, Who Wrote The Falcon And The Snowman, Not To Mention Reagan’s And Brando’s ‘Autobiographies,’ Dead At 90

“Combining keen curiosity, dogged investigative skills and a gift for storytelling, he covered Hollywood, … presidential politics (capturing Richard M. Nixon’s first, albeit brief, public remarks after resigning as president) and contentious subjects like the Church of Scientology.” - The New York Times

Wuthering Heights Can Never Be Successfully Filmed

Spoiler alert: “We are still calling it a love story – a great one! The greatest! It’s being released the day before Valentine’s Day! – when what actually happens is that Cathy rejects Heathcliff because she’s a snob, and he turns into a psychopath.” - The Guardian (UK)

The Northern Hemisphere Is Cold, Dark, And Almost Out Of Holidays

The solution? Poetry. - The Atlantic

Arab Americans And Muslim Americans Don’t Have A Big Public Voice

But some TV shows are trying to fill the gap. - Seattle Times (AP)

Responding To The NYT’s Weird Article Praising Certain Regional Theatres

Nataki Garrett Myers, former artistic director of Oregon Shakes: “Neutrality is an illusion. What the article actually offers is a case study in how comfort becomes policy — aesthetic, institutional, and ideological. That comfort has a look. It has a voice. And it has a conspicuous absence.” - Be A Ladder Leader

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