A Back from the Deep Freeze Weekly Link Round-Up

Between the reappearance of posts here and what I've been posting on my Facebook page, many of you have deduced that I've returned from my hiatus. What I didn't mention here was the fact that I didn't post because Denis and I spent an entire month in the UK. It had absolutely nothing to do with my being sick of blogging. It was a splendid month, although the weather did its best to change our minds!

View from our Lancashire cottage

When we first unpacked our bags in the Lancashire cottage that we hired for a week, the hills were green, the trees were showing signs of buds, and ducks and geese were swimming in the Rochdale Canal right out front. But then Russia and Scandinavia decided to share. The wind began to beat and howl against the stone walls of the cottage, ice appeared in the canal, and the snow began to fall. The day this photo was taken, we were supposed to leave for Scotland. We didn't. We were snowed in and couldn't get out. The farmer who owns the cottage took Denis to town in his Land Rover so we could have a bit of food in the house. The drifts were quite deep in places; not all that far away from the cottage, the body of a man was found in the snowdrifts in a pasture. Thousands of people were without electricity, and a week later there were still major roads that hadn't been dug out.

For the entire month, the sun seldom shone, the wind was an almost constant companion, and it was always cold, cold, c-c-c-cold. But guess what? We still had a marvelous time (picture me thumbing my nose at Mother Nature here), and I'll be sharing parts of it with you all over the next several weeks. But now I'd best try to find some links to share!

Bookish News & Other Interesting Stuff

• Here's a six-year-old who guesses what classic novels are all about from looking at their covers.
• This family cleaned their house and found their pet--- that had been missing since 1982. And that's all I'm going to say.
• Why we need to invent new words. (I do it, and I'll bet you do, too!)
• For fellow archaeology buffs, a medieval knight was unearthed in an Edinburgh car park (parking lot).
• Check out what this medieval cat walked across!
• Now this is one strong shortlist for the 2013 Women's Prize for Fiction!
• Matthew McAlister believes Georges Simenon is the best French-language novelist you've never heard of.
• Vacationing in England? Would you like to stay in a castle? Check out Astley Castle in Warwickshire.
• For the first time since 1947, a copy of the first book printed in America will be sold at auction.
• In one of those studies that doesn't surprise anyone who loves to read, it's been determined that home libraries provide a huge educational advantage. (Duh.)
• Someone bought a used copy of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Strength to Love and discovered it was signed by the author. Not bad for a $3.50 purchase.

I   ♥  Lists

• I can never resist a list like this: 100 best first lines from novels.
• 13 studious celebs caught reading.
• 30 gorgeous and delicious literary cakes.
• 7 book dedications that basically say "Screw You."
• 20 obsolete English words that should make a comeback.
• 10 libraries to visit with Google Street View. (This can take a while to load.)
• 25 books every kid should have on their bookshelf. (I had to see how many of them I'd read.)
• 11 biggest book-to-big screen adaptations of the last 25 years.
• The 10 best words the internet has given English.
• The 10 best book endings.
• 10 things you probably didn't know about Willa Cather.
• 20 literary facts to impress your friends with.
• 30 things to tell a book snob.

Digital Reading & More

• I can't say that I was very happy when I learned that Google is doing away with Google Reader.
• Next-generation eBooks were introduced at the recent London Book Fair.
• Amazon's branching out all over, and they may be working on a Kindle TV set-top box next.

Book Candy

•  A library slide.
• The Last Bookshop arrives on YouTube, and you can also take a look at all the bookshops where it was filmed.
• Feast your eyes on the Admont Abbey Library.

That's it for this week. Don't forget to stop by next weekend when I'll post a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure!