Friday, June 14, 2013

A Hot Weekly Link Round-Up



It's been a hot week here at Casa Kittling, both temperature-wise and otherwise. It may be over 110°F. here, but it doesn't keep us out of the pool, and we have yet to turn on the central air conditioning. As long as the humidity remains low (that infamous "dry" heat), our evaporative cooler (affectionately known to Arizonans as "swamp coolers") works just fine.

Tail end of a very long line to see Craig Johnson!
The highlight of the week was definitely Craig Johnson's appearance at The Poisoned Pen this past Wednesday. (You'll be hearing more about it on Monday.) It was standing room only that night, the numbers of loyal fans being swelled by those who've fallen in love with A&E's television series, Longmire. Johnson's on the verge of really hitting the big-time here in the Phoenix area; the next time I see him, I'm fully expecting the event to be held at the Arizona Biltmore so there will be room for the crowd. I'd purchased my copy of Johnson's latest book the week before, so I didn't have a numbered slip telling me my place in line to get it signed. I stood with six other people at the very back of a humungous line. Those of us in the back did not move one single solitary step for over an hour while the crowd oh-so-gradually thinned out in front of us. I'm in that photo somewhere, but even though I know what I look like, I have a difficult time finding myself!

Hopefully I won't have any trouble finding those links I've been saving up!


Bookish News & Other Interesting Stuff

Digital Reading
  •  Two men in Japan are being held for stealing eBooks, using an illegal smartphone app.
  • In the UK, self-published eBook sales have reached 20% of the genre market. In the US, the figure is 12%.
  • Amazon wants to rule the world: it's now selling eReaders and tablets in China.
  • Looking for something to replace the now-defunct Google Reader? Here's something called The Old Reader.

I  ♥  Lists

Book Candy
  • The last photo in this article is enough to make any bibliophile drool. (If you're on Pinterest, you'll see a lot more Book Candy on my board there. Click on the social media link on my sidebar.)
  • The Japanese art of book stacking.

That's all for this week. Don't forget to stop by next weekend when I'll have a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure. Now... step aside, step aside, please-- I have a rendezvous with a book, a tall cold drink, and a pool!


8 comments:

  1. So many interesting lists to go look at this week! I just got back from poolside reading. :) I hope you have a lovely afternoon!

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    1. So good to hear of someone else enjoying poolside reading, Alyce! As for me, the book I was reading is so good, I resembled a giant prune by the time I got out of the water. LOL

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  2. So many interesting things in this post. Air conditioning is essential for life in Louisiana in my humble opinion, but I once made it through a South Dakota summer without one and it got over 100. Wasn't fun, however. Reading mysteries across US is a really fun link.

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    1. Mysteries across the US is one of my favorites, too. The humidity is so much higher in Louisiana that evaporative coolers would never work there. I was born and raised in central Illinois, which has hot summers and high humidity. Good for the corn, not so good for humans-- and I never had air conditioning while I lived there. Ugh!

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  3. Cathy - Dry heat may be more bearable than humid heat, but that is still HOT weather! Glad you home's being kept reasonably cool. Oh, and I'm so glad you're featuring Le French Book. They have some terrific releases and the folks there are great.

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    1. Thanks so much for the recommendation of Le French Book; I'm about to give them a try!

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  4. So glad you have a pool to read in! That is a refreshing thought. That and lots of iced tea -- and hopefully, a tree or other shaded area in which you can park yourself and read.

    I grew up in Chicago. It would hit 100 degrees easily, and it was humid, no air-conditioning then, no evaporative coolers. But we had big fans. We'd sit in front of the fans and drink iced tea. We couldn't move, couldn't accomplish anything but sit, and I guess, read.

    Can't wait to hear what you were reading that provided such an escape that the hot sun didn't bother you -- until later.

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    1. I don't go out to the pool until about 2 PM, and I sit in the shady end. Some shade from trees, and even more shade from the patio umbrella that Denis adapted for me. I couldn't sit out in the blazing sun, or I'd burn to a crisp. Yee-OUCH!

      This time of year, I read two books at a time. One on my Kindle indoors, and the other a paper- or hardback for the pool. The pool book I just finished was COUNTDOWN CITY, the second in The Last Policeman trilogy by Ben H. Winters. Good stuff!

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