An Off the Grid Weekly Link Round-Up

Several of you know that Denis and I usually spend a week down in the Bisbee area at the end of January to relax and to celebrate my birthday/our anniversary. This year, it was a bit different. The place where we normally stay has been leased for a year, so our friends who own it asked their neighbors across the canyon to put us up in the house they have for sale. I called this house The Aerie because of one room.

The main living space has a panoramic view of the canyon, the mountains, and the busy Highway 80 that runs through. I could sit in that room during the day, read, and watch a pair of red-tailed hawks as they searched for a meal. I also watched other raptors swoop up to land on the roof-- the perfect place to survey the territory. In the evening, we could watch gorgeous sunsets, and when it became dark, Denis and I would watch DVDs. I would knit, watch headlights travel up and down the highway and make up little stories about their destinations. Later on, I would watch a full moon rise over the mountains.

Why "off the grid"? The place had no phone (landline or cell service), no internet, no television. None. While we were in the house, we subsisted on old movies, books, and conversation. It was nice. Very nice. Almost idyllic.

But now those links are threatening to break out of the corral. Head 'em up! Moooove 'em out!

►Books, Movies & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• The secret world of membership libraries. 
• New research has uncovered a disturbing trend about female characters in Disney movies.
• Listen to J.R.R. Tolkien read songs and poems from The Lord of the Rings.
• The real reason why Mary Ingalls went blind. 
• Born in the USA and other misunderstood songs. 
• AbeBooks' most expensive sales in 2015. 
• The crossword puzzle is officially a century old. 
• Meet Lilli, the high-end German call girl who became America's iconic Barbie doll. 
• The curious history of the International Flat Earth Society. 
• Amazon sales top $100 billion.
• Netgalley offers thousands of free eBooks. 
• Kindle eBooks will have a warning message if they have spelling mistakes or bad formatting. 
• A house portrayed in Jane Eyre is set to lost its public funding. 
• Dover Publications looks beyond the public domain. 
• An author talks with her editor. 
• A Little House on the Prairie movie is in the works at Paramount. 
• How movie titles get lost in translation.
• A Jane Austen story you probably don't know about has been made into a film.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• Archaeologists find 2,150-year-old tea in an emperor's tomb.  
• Which is faster, T. Rex or the velociraptor? (Don't go by what you learned from Jurassic Park....) 
• Decapitated gladiators are revealing the Roman Empire's genetic influence.
• Where is medieval America now? 
• The forgotten maritime tragedy that was six times deadlier than the Titanic.
• This epic Japanese quilt show showcases some fantastic works of art.
• Crabbers find pots of money in abandoned fishing gear. 
• Millions of people have seen Van Gogh's Starry Night, but it took 125 years for someone to notice something....

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• British people are building highways for hedgehogs through their yards. 
• Red squirrels are returning to Perthshire and Fife after a five-year absence. 
• What does a parrot know about PTSD? 

►The Happy Wanderer◄

• Travelers who stay at this cozy flat in Scotland take turns running the bookshop downstairs. 
• 50 places in Scotland that look like they're straight out of a fairy tale. 
• This cabin could be the world's smallest palace. 
• Speaking of looking like fairy tales, have you seen China's Red Land? 
• The world's most scenic train rides. 
• Which spot on Earth gets the most sunlight? 
• The forgotten giant arrows that guide you across America. 

►Book Candy◄

• 19 ways to make a next-level reading nook.
• 25 home libraries that are a book lover's dream. 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Nellie Bly's record-breaking trip around the world was, to her surprise, a race. 
• Herman Wouk says he's a "happy gent" at age 100.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• 10 things you never knew about The Shawshank Redemption. 
• 18 eerie and awesome abandoned movie sets. 
• 14 signs you were born to be a reader. 
• 7 real products that get their names from dystopian fiction. 
• 10 of the best books set in the American West. 
• Tom Gauld's cartoon on murder methods for modern mystery writers. 
• 11 struggles all mystery lovers understand. 
• Literary character police sketches show you what your favorite heroes would look like on the evening news. 
• 11 reasons every woman should join a book club. 

That's all for this week! Don't forget to stop by next Friday when I'll be sharing a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure.

Have a great weekend, and read something fabulous!