Thoreau's dirty secret? He took his laundry home to Mother. And he's not the only cleanliness fanatic to appear in Dirt: The Quirks, Habits, and Passions of Keeping House, an anthology edited by Mindy Lewis, who had an adversarial relationship with her vacuum. "For me," confesses Katy Brennan, "the California Closets Web site is online porn." Ann Hood, by contrast, has a fondness for dust bunnies. A tip from Alice Walker to her daughter, Rebecca: In hard times your house "must suggest a sparkling future. Room must be made for your ship to come in."