Traister started recommending books to anyone who would listen to his enthusiasms quite some time before he had a Home Page. When this Home Page was established, in the now-distant mists of August of 1995, he decided to put some of these touts into writing, doing so every month -- more or less. It seemed like a decent sort of thing for someone who sees himself as Marian the Librarian to do, all the more so since Traister had been doing this kind of thing anyway long before he had been transmogrified into a reasonable facsimile of Marian.

He keeps these Touts as links to his Home Page. Although they are theoretically unrevised first impressions, and casually written, Traister does occasionally revisit them to correct grotesque errors of fact or, more embarrassing still, grammar. Now and then, he adds something new, too.

Before you go too much further, here is an up-front Consumers' Advisory: Traister actively likes garbage. His tastes -- if "taste" is even le mot juste -- are regrettably low.

No longer current Touts are added at the end of every month Traister reads something that strikes him as particularly worth touting, remembering, or commenting on -- which is fairly frequently, alas. A regular Will Rogers kinda guy, Traister, some others have said, never met a book he didn't like.

Touts now include monthly comments for the following years: