Blogs 101, part 2

In my last post I made a case for venturing into the world of blogs. Here, for your reading pleasure, are some of my favorites. No official list of anything, just a personal group.

First of all, two basics Slate and Huffington Post. Slate is a daily magazine and HuffPo–and, yes, that is Arianna Huffington in one more incarnation–is a collection of blogs that changes day to day depending on who’s saying what of interest.

A new favorite of mine for news is Talking Points Memo. I’m embarrassed to admit I didn’t know about it until Maureen Dowd’s recent did-she-or-didn’t-she plagiarize moment. Dowd’s May 17 New York Times column included a 42-word paragraph that, except for two words, was exactly the same as a paragraph posted on May 14 on TPM. Hmmm. Anyhow, TPM has way too many updates during the day for me to keep track of, but I take a quick look and always find something to make me glad I did.

Here in Boston I like Media Nation by Dan Kennedy, who is good at covering what goes on here in the media, especially the ongoing cliff-hanger that is The Boston Globe. And Running a Hospital is a fascinating blog in which Paul Levy, the CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center talks about everything from choreography to the prevention of central line infections and includes much more of non-medical interest than you would expect.

And there are blogs about books. The Picnic Basket, written by my friend Deborah Sloan, focuses on children’s literature. The Boston Bibliophile is a lively conversation about books, favorite and non and Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast usually discusses children’s lit, but often looks at other books as well, including poetry (including Container Gardening!). And I Was Born Doing Reference Work in Sin is a wide-ranging blog in which Dustin Brookshire, a poet who lives in Atlanta, focuses on poetry and politics. This is the blog for which I wrote that “Why do I write” essay.

All good reading. And you might even be tempted to leave a comment from time to time–who knows?