Texas Pages

I wrote about American Nerd: The Story of My People by Benjamin Nugent on Sunday. It's serious and fun book for those of us who grew up with that label. (Put a reporter's notebook and a baritone in the hands of one of the guys in this photo, and you've got a good idea of my high school experience.)

Since the review ran, I've received a few e-mails debating the nature of "nerd." In the review, I tended to latch onto the traits I most related to. But others have questioned me -- what exactly is a nerd? Is there a difference between a nerd and a geek? And how did the very English Elvis Costello end up in a review about American Nerds, anyway? (Well, Mr. Nugent handled that more deftly than this reviewer did, and it has been corrected thanks to an alert reader.)

Anyhow, here is an excerpt where Mr, Nugent explains what he was attempting. And I'd like to hear from anyone who wants to weigh in on the difference between geeks, nerds and people who read books blogs, if there is any.

(Dallas Morning News file photo)

Brandon Mull, author of the Fablehaven series, will be visiting schools in Plano on Wednesday and Thursday.

Not a student? You can find him 7 p.m. Thursday (May 22nd) at Barnes & Noble, Preston & Park, in Plano.

His publicist tells me: "He will having a small presentation on writing, reading and getting published, a Q&A, and then a book signing. He will also be giving out free posters and bookmarks, so anyone that comes can take something home with them if they don't want to buy a book."

Incidentally, I love this line from his bio:

Former Dallas Morning News religion reporter Christine Wicker's new book is The Fall of the Evangelical Nation. She spoke recently with Staff Writer Jeffrey Weiss about it.

Christine is also the author of the best-seller Lily Dale: The True Story of the Town That Talks to the Dead and had the crowd in stitches when she discussed her work last year at the Mayborn festival.

Ethics question of the day: Say you aspire to provide a refuge for intelligent conversation about books at a large regional news organization.

And say you're reading one of the hundreds of books-related e-mails you get each day (such as from Shelf Awareness) and you notice an item that has nothing to do with books, really, except it mentions some attractive celebs who have just gone shopping at a geunine, real, live book store.

Do you ignore it and go searching for news of great literary import? Or do you post a link
to the story -- which contains phrases such as "the 40-year-old actress wore a purple figure-hugging top but still looked slimline" and "it looks as if after months in rehab last year, he is turning his back on his wild ways"-- just to pander to random Web surfers, whose hits are as valuable as any in keeping this enterprise up and running?

OK, next question.

(AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)