Kind American readers: your most stolen book is, apparently, the Bible; while ours, as noted on this site before, is a street directory. Who should envy who?

• On the slippery greatness of A Christmas Carol. (The negative side of the argument seems to me overdone, but the positive bit is acute.)

• Further seasonality: a Christmas tree made of books.

• When cliches collide. (And yes, I know, before stooping to mock, I should walk a mile through the other fellow's eyes.)