I have a slow cooker recipe for spicy Thai Coconut Soup that's burning a hole on my desk. Trouble is, I just went grocery shopping to my usual place, and it doesn't carry straw mushrooms or baby corn. Bummer! Now I'm going to have to try other sources, so pardon me if I cut my weekly chat down and get right to the links!
Bookish News & Other Interesting Stuff
- As a user, I enjoyed reading Popular Words and Symbols Used in Pinterest Board Names.
- We're a step closer to being able to keep on eReading during takeoffs and landings.
- The experts are finding that digital reading can hinder children's literacy. (Don't hand 'em a tablet loaded with games and other goodies and expect them to read their books....)
- What if Dr. Seuss wrote Jurassic Park?
- Are you really surprised? Facebook has 100 times more spam than other social networks.
- The evolution of censorship.
- Take a look at some houses in the UK that are meant to catch burglars.
- Folks are getting together to celebrate the 75th anniversary of The Grapes of Wrath.
- Melting snow in Norway reveals an Iron Age sweater.
- I loved Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels, and I was sad to hear of his death. Did you know that he was loyal to the New London bookstore that gave him his first break?
- Journalists were evidently bored recently, claiming that bestselling author Ann Cleeves had attacked Scandinavian crime fiction for its sexual violence, which forced Ann to tell us what she really said.
- 12 movies that are just as good as the books they're based on.
Book Blogging Tips
- If you're a book blogger, please take a few minutes to participate in this book blogging survey.
- Sharing is critical to your blog's success.
- Don't forget to back up your blog!
Book Candy
- Styling a bookshelf. (Most of us are lucky if we just have enough shelves to put our books on, let alone even think about style!)
- 10 fantastic secret passage bookshelves.
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!
Cathy - When you make that soup, I do hope you'll let us know how it went. And thanks for those links. I really am interested in the censorship one. Oh, and by the way, I see you're reading Flipping Out. So eager to see what you think of that. I like Karp's writing very much.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy Karp's writing, too-- and this is a very special edition of the book with a special inscription from the author to me. :-)
DeleteGrrr -- censorship: the very word makes me grit my teeth. When I think of my opportunity to read good, thought-provoking books starting at about 13, and that many young people can't read what they want to read -- or people are stopping them, the absurdity rings through.
ReplyDeleteAt 13, I read Upton Sinclair's The Jungle -- and became a vegetarian for awhile. But that book opened up my mind to so much. Then I read Steinbeck, Dreiser, so much more -- and mysteries, too.
And later on I read The Invisible Man, The Color Purple and Beloeved, which are all on the Banned Book lists. Beloved, is not only Toni Morrison writing at top form -- she won the Pulitzer for this book -- but I learned about the horrors of slavery in the deepest way.
What deprivation to not read this book.
I was only told by my parents not to read one book when I was 15 because "my friends were reading it." My parents' reason: it was trash. Being 15, I had to read it. I concluded it was trash, and never read books like that again. Because my parents read good books, and our house was full of them, I returned to quality reading -- without parental prodding. My parents wanted me to learn and think.
A reason I like the V.I. Warshawski series so much is not only because of the feisty, independent, brave, smart protagonist, but because the author, Sara Paretsky, speaks out all over the U.S. against censorship and for freedom of speech, etc.
And my only other comment is on bookshelves: About 5 years ago, when I watched HGTV redecorating shows, I saw so many bookshelf reorganization schemes, that I culled my shelves, took carts of books to the library and redid the living room unit.
I've got books arranged horizontally and vertically with pottery and small sculptures placed between and among the books. It's wonderful to sit at the computer and look at my books and beautiful artwork. I see I have more work to do as the crime fiction section is reproducing at a rabbit-like rate.
If one is a bookaholic, tomes do reproduce at a very rapid rate! :-)
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