And we plan to be terribly enthusiastic. Except when we’re irked, as, sometimes, regrettably, we are. I say “we” because the 2007 Emdashes is not the 2006 Emdashes, or the 2005 Emdashes (which, inexplicably, had a lower-case “e”) either. It is—emphatically!—plural, it has categories, and it contains no unsightly grammar or offensive punctuation, or your money back. (Exceptions include colloquial episodes and the quotation of other news and opinion sources, not all of which offer this guarantee.) Clichés, meanwhile, require judgment on at least one end. If you think a cliché has occurred on Emdashes, please report it to me and, if I think you’re right, I will publish a couplet containing your name and either the cliché in question or a quotation from my favorite novel. Scansion probable; I have a degree. Puns sí! Clichés no!

Meanwhile, here are some of my favorite books of 2006. This week, look forward to the fourth edition of Ask the Librarians, the endlessly illuminating column by New Yorker librarians Jon Michaud and Erin Overbey, plus a festive presentation of virtual gifts for the new year to The New Yorker from some of Emdashes’s star readers. In case you were wondering, my New Year’s resolution is to be the Josh Fruhlinger of New Yorker appreciator-critics. Who needs tired speculations about the Olsen twins when you can inspire YouTube tributes to Mary Worth’s tragically departed Aldo? If some kind of Y2K+7 blunder stripped down the entire internet to just the Comics Curmudgeon, Google, and greatestfilms.org (whose only flaw is that it needs to move past the popups), it would still be a delicious existence. Since the web seems to be in fine fettle for now, though, did you know that newyorker.com has a slide-show gallery of every single cover from 2006? Yes! It does. But what’s the difference between “Next” and “Continue”? Who cares—it’s fantastic!