This has been a good week here at Casa Kittling. There must've been something in the water the Edgar Awards folks drank. I don't normally pay attention to awards because they always seem to choose books that I've either never heard of or I've never read. However, the list of nominated books just came out for the Edgars, and I've read THREE (one each in Best Novel, Best Paperback Original and the Mary Higgins Clark). What's up with that?
I was thrilled to see that Blogger finally got on the ball with threaded comments. I've been wanting them for ages but stayed away from programs like Disqus because-- with my luck-- I probably would've blown up my blog. I went into my settings and made sure everything was as it should be for threaded comments. No go. (I wasn't surprised.) I found a blog post that gave an alternative for those who couldn't get the feature to work. No go. (Still no shock on this face. Just determination.) After doing a bit of searching, I found another small segment of code that I inserted into my HTML, and BINGO! I am one happy camper!
I watch TV and stitch. |
I'm also planning and making lists because next week is very special-- and not merely because it's my birthday on Tuesday. Tuesday is also my tenth wedding anniversary.
I sometimes paid attention to my mother's pearls of wisdom, one of which was "Never settle." Well, Mom, I didn't settle. It took me 47 years of not-really-looking to find Mr. Perfect-for-Me, and then I practically fell over the man-- but I found him and imported him. The last ten years have been the best of my life, thanks to Denis. Vous et nul autre, darlin'!
Wait a second! This was supposed to be a link round-up, wasn't it? Hang on... I got 'em right....here!
Bookish News & Other Interesting Stuff
- A Friday the 13th bookish quiz. (An aside: Friday the 13th is a lucky day for me. On the other hand, Monday the 13th makes me want to hide my head under the covers!)
- Are they trying to save money? Waterstone's drops the apostrophe in its name (but I'm not going to).
- UK scientists find lost Darwin fossils.
- I never tire of reading about the spooky Winchester House.
- Have you watched the crow who enjoys sledding down the roof?
- I have to do this just to bedevil a friend: 33 years after his death, John Wayne is a bigger movie star than George Clooney.
I ♥ Lists
- 15 great works of literature-inspired nail art.
- Essential World War I novels for "Downton Abbey" fans. I've read most of them, agree with their choices for the most part, but they still left out some gems.
- Hell-Raising Heroines: Three Ladies with Spitfire.
- Top 10 books about the internet.
- 10 legendary bad boys of literature.
Social Media & Blogging Tips
- Twitter, the virtual literary salon.
- 31 unexpected perks of blogging you'll never want to give up.
- Two posts that might help you if you use Blogger and are having trouble enabling threaded comments: Number 1, which didn't work for me because I have a *cough* custom *cough* template, and Number 2, which did work for me when I used Method #2. Yes, I did back-up my template first, and the only thing I had to correct was my drop-down label menu on my sidebar. When I fixed that one item, the threaded comments still worked.
Around the Water Cooler in the Book Blogosphere
- Sheila of Book Journey talks about how blogging has changed. Between her eloquence and that of the people leaving comments, her post gave me a lot of food for thought.
- How to say "I Do" to shared bookshelves without ruining your relationship.
eBook Deals of the Week
- I still don't think you can beat the Poisoned Pen Press's 10 Great eBooks for 99¢ apiece. There are some wonderful first-in-series mysteries here, most of which I would recommend highly!
- If you've been paying attention to me lately, you've seen me raving about Julia Spencer-Fleming's Clare Fergusson/ Russ Van Alstyne mystery series. Criminal Elements is having a sweepstakes in which two winners will each win the entire series. If you're a resident of the US, here are the sweepstakes rules. Good luck!
Eye Candy for Book Lovers
- Love books? Love Harley-Davidsons? Here are the perfect bookends for you!
- Turning an ordinary suitcase into a travel bookcase. (Put me down for two, please!)
- How to turn a waste tram into a library.
- This shelf is pretty cool. On the left side of the page under "Marina," click on Z Shelf.
New to My Google Reader
- Crimepieces
- Bookworm with a View
- Cozy in Texas
- Notes of Life
- Housewife Blues and Chihuahua Stories
- The Book Trunk
- Read in a single sitting
- The Australian Bookshelf
Whew! I had quite a few goodies to share this week, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. Don't forget to stop by next weekend when I'll have a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure!
I suppose the Waterstone's dropping of the apostrophe goes right along with the decision of towns in England to drop the apostrophe from their place-name signs. Doesn't make gramatical sense, but when do bean-counters care about that?
ReplyDeleteThose punctuation marks must be expensive!
DeleteCathy - I just love that stitching! I need to commission you for some things! And I'm glad you've added Crimepieces to your reader. It's an excellent review blog.
ReplyDeleteWhat sort of things, Margot? You've piqued my interest!
DeleteCathy - As soon as I saw your work, I was thinking of a card case cover and/or a woman's billfold.
DeleteAck! I'd have to do a bit of searching and pondering to see what I could come up with....
DeleteNo worries at all, Cathy - and no pressure.
DeleteI'm not feeling any, Margot. Especially not this week! :-)
DeleteThanks so much for the link :)
ReplyDeleteI'm quite on board with dropping apostrophes, actually. I think they're a bit of a pest (and that's speaking as a linguist and an editor :) ). They've only been around for a few centuries, and their use has only recently been standardised. Not to mention the fact that they only serve a typographical purpose--there's no need for apostrophes in speech, so why should we keep them in print?
Oops, is that the sound of a can of worms opening?
(Stephanie @ Read in a Single Sitting)
I not only heard the can opening, I could see the twinkle in your eyes. Thanks for stopping by, Stephanie!
Delete