David Mitchell's latest book, Utopia Avenue, is a moving and sometimes-surreal romp with a late-1960s London pop/rock/folk band.

As the first book in my TIME Magazine 100 best book reading challenge, I read The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow. Actually, I read it in 2014 and found this review in my files. I'm posting it here and moving on to the next book.

Jo Ann Stover's book, If Everyone Did, is a funny kids book, but some of us adults may benefit by its message as well.

One thing that I found frustrating when learning French was having to type a bunch of accents on the keyboard. Using the international keyboard is really not too hard, and after a while you can easily commit the keys to memory. But at first, it was très difficile so I created a cheat sheet. Here it is, along with some advice about using the international keyboard and a refresher on French accents.

It's a likable notion that learning a foreign language might help stave off cognitive decline and dementia in our senior years. But is it true? Studies suggest positive benefits to bilingualism in old age but are generally small and inconclusive. Still, there are intrinsic benefits to learning a second language.