The Potting Plants Weekly Link Round-Up

While we've been waiting for our new solar panels and other electrical bits and bobs to be inspected by the City of Phoenix and the power company, I've taken a turn for the more domestic by going to Home Depot and buying plants to put into my pots that I like to have around the pool. I haven't had any all year due to scheduling logistics, and I've been in the mood for some blooms for a long time. Fortunately I live in a climate where there's always something blooming. (Keep that in mind if you're loaded with allergies and thinking of moving here.)

I don't go to The Poisoned Pen just for author events!

So I've been potting Mexican petunias and heather, lantana, trailing rosemary, Texas sage, a succulent called "crown of thorns," pink trumpet vine, and some sort of grass that I can't remember the name of. Whenever I look at it, I want to get a hairbrush and tidy it up a bit!

This week Denis and I went to The Poisoned Pen to see Spencer Quinn, author of the Chet and Bernie mystery series. What a fun night! And as you can see in the photo above, I wasn't just there for Mr. Quinn. It's impossible for me not to browse and buy while I'm at my favorite bookstore!

Bookish News & Other Interesting Stuff

• How to use Google to check your reputation online.
• Small independent bookstores are springing up in Russia's major cities.
• Overdrive's digital bookmobile is on hand for the National Book Festival.
• Goodreads modifies their user terms to prevent author bullying.
• Digital seems to be the new salvation for European newspapers.
• A bit about the recent Bouchercon in Albany, New York.
• The ring belonging to Jane Austen that Kelly Clarkson bought at auction must stay in the UK.
• Minnesotans cancel an author's scheduled book events after parents complain.
• What ever happened to book editors?

I   ♥  Lists

• 20 brilliant authors whose work was initially rejected.
• The top ten literary works about ancestors.
• America's most surprising banned books.
• What is your state the worst at?  The state in which I was born: robbery. The state in which I now live: alcoholism. 
• 8 punctuation marks that are no longer used. (Makes me feel like using them just to be contrary.)
• 20 great American cities for writers (that aren't New York).
• Famous men reading famous poetry. (Benedict Cumberbatch alert!)
• The 11 most evil characters in books.

Book Candy

• The Concave bookcase.
• 50 postcards showing 50 book covers.

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. Have fun!