It is only the middle of September and already it seems as though the "back to school season" has long since passed. Given that it started in June, perhaps it's not all that surprising. In any case, there are still many great bags that are suitable for toting around campus or back and forth to the office, if you're out of school but still have a lot to carry. The Lacoste Canvas Messenger Bag is from the designer's new casual line. It is made of durable canvas and comes in both blue and red. The clean lines of the bag, which is very roomy, are actually highlighted by the front zippered pocket and the extended snap tabs on the front flap. Price: $125..

Dorm rooms, even the nicest ones, are not luxury accommodations by any stretch of the imagination. If you fill them with luxury furniture, install some wall panels and have all the latest gadgets, it's a good start. Unfortunately, this isn't really an option for most college students. Forbes has put together a guide to some affordable luxuries that are appropriate for a dorm room. The music-lover (or the heavy sleeper) can try the Portable iPod Travel Alarm Clock ($99) and a gadget-loving student might enjoy a miniature drink vending machine ($150), with a built in refrigeration system. And, to make the communal bathroom experience a little more bearable, try a monogrammed Horchow robe ($190).

Check out the whole list for a few more ideas.

One of John Lennon's schoolbooks was sold for $226,150 in a London auction of rock memorabilia. The auction house, Cooper Owen, had set a reserve price of more than $175,000 for the book, which was a copybook titled "My Anthology" and contained 10 pages of full color drawings done by the 12-year old Lennon to illustrate the lyrics of poems that were part of his literature curriculum, including The Walrus and the Carpenter and Agincourt.

If only I had known that used schoolbooks could go for so much, I wouldn't have spent so much time trying to unload my old textbooks at the end of every semester at university. Needless to say, the illustration quality in a calculus textbook would have to be fairly high to compete with Lennon's sketches, even as a child.