Last night was Miss Venezuela, with Miss Carabobo a sentimental favorite as always, just for the name. The current Times Literary Supplement cover features Beryl Bainbridge's new novel, set in the Thrale-Burney-Dr. Johnson circle. Just as I'm keeping this log not so much as to be candid about what's really on my mind on any given day but to serve as an allusive referent to what was going on at the time. I find that old lists of books read serve the same purpose, bringing to mind exactly where I was and what was going on at the time I was reading the item in question (e.g., Boswell's Life Johnson, the journals and novels of Fanny Burney (Madame D'Arblay), and Hester Thrale Piozzi's recollections.