Yes, I'd rather be reading Plato's Republic today. No, I would rather not be going on a field trip to a transportation museum with 40 middle school students. Guess which one I'll be doing.

Tom is still one-eyed, the dog is still scratching, and the rain is still falling. Plato is still dissing the poets, and the boys are still pretending they don't have to get out of bed this morning. The dishwasher is still making that strange sound, as if it would like to crunch up spoons but is refraining--for the moment.

What is the best reading material for a long school bus ride? Not Plato, clearly.

Update: I've chosen Denis Johnson's story collection Jesus' Son. Rationale: It's thin enough to carry around a transportation museum and appropriately pie-eyed for a road trip with crazy people.