The $3.65 Weekly Link Round-Up

I'm pretty much done with spring cleaning, thank heavens. I think I almost killed my vacuum cleaner, and my wash machine is giving me the hairy eyeball each time I open the laundry room door. Now it's time to set my sights on other mountains to climb so my decimated dust bunny herds will have time to consider their next move. I might just go on a spending orgy, seeing as how I got my $3.65 check in the mail from that eBook price fixing settlement. Yeah, that's what I'll do-- spend all that money....

Err... let me round up some links for y'all first!

Bookish News & Other Interesting Tidbits

• After reading 100 years of bestsellers, Matthew Kahn has some very interesting observations to make.
• How's about an interactive map of Middle Earth?
• I loved Open Road Media's infographic about the Edgar Awards.
• Amazon will be adapting Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch books into a web series.  *Happy Dance*
• Americans' interest in tablets appears to be waning.
• Why eReaders are not innovative anymore.
• The Microsoft Office app for iPad is already a hit.
• Have you heard about Vermont's youngest librarians? (They're aged 11 and 6.)
• Warner Brothers and J.K. Rowling have reached a wide-ranging deal.
• Have any of you wanted drop-down menus for your Blogger blog?
• The search for the missing Malaysian Airlines plane has raised all sorts of questions about the sea of floating junk.
• Out of the mouths of babes: a 14-year-old has shown the federal government how to save $136 million per year.
• April is Longmire Month in Wyoming.
• A man restoring a 1959 Chevy finds a 50-year-old love letter-- and delivers it.
• The allure of an old-fashioned pen pal. (I used to have at least a dozen pen pals from all over the world when I was a teenager.)

For Indiana Jones Fans

• A couple have purchased an abandoned French chateau, and they've started a blog to share their renovation journey.
• A sixth-century monastery with elaborate mosaics has been unearthed in Israel.
• Experts claim they've found the Holy Grail in a Spanish basilica. (I think  they need to keep looking.)
• A 3,300-year-old tomb with a pyramid entrance has been discovered in Egypt.
• London skeletons are revealing secrets of the Black Death.
• A Utah boy has found American Indian remains in his backyard.
• 11 ancient burial boxes have been recovered in Israel.
• Watch the United States grow territory by territory and state by state in the blink of an eye. (Scroll further down to see it step-by-step.)
• A stolen Renoir has been returned to a Baltimore museum 60 years after its theft.
• The value of an Austrian art find may equal that of the treasure trove found in Munich two years ago.
• How about a tour of Glendale, California's refreshed and beautiful 1904 Brand Library?

I  ♥  Lists

• The 20 best crime shows of all time.
• The top ten ways reading improves everything.
• 15 dating problems only book lovers understand.
• One of the best lists I've seen in a long time to start arguments: American Scholar's Ten Best Sentences.

Okay... that's enough links-- I've got that big check to spend! Don't forget to stop by next week when I'll have a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure. Have a great weekend!