The To Sleep Perchance to Read Weekly Link Round-Up

You know, it is impossible for me to tell you the last time I woke up feeling rested and refreshed. Sometimes I think that part of my sleeping life is gone. Done. Dusted. Too many aches and pains wake me up throughout the night. Too many interests keep me from going to bed when I should. The first person who said growing old isn't for wimps knew exactly what he was talking about.

Do I let this get me down? What's the point? The only thing about this whole sleep thing that gets me growling is the fact that, when I do settle down to get some serious reading done, I tend to fall asleep. I wouldn't be surprised if steam leaks out of my ears from time to time when I wake up from one of these impromptu naps. And it doesn't matter what position in which I try to read. All this means is that the number of books I've read has fallen off noticeably. It makes me wonder what's going to happen when I start reading in the pool. Will I stay awake? Are books going to be taking a dip? We shall see.

In the mean time, I'm sharing one of my favorite photos from a recent trip to the Desert Botanical Garden. The colors of cactus blossoms can be fabulous, but in many ways, my favorite parts are the insides where all the pollen is. The interiors of the blooms in the photo above remind me of fireworks, and looking at the photo makes me smile. Click on the photo to see it full size, and see if it doesn't make you smile, too! Much better than grumping over sleep, eh?

Now it's time to mosey out to the corral because I have a lot of links I've been saving for you. Head 'em up! Mooooooove 'em out!

 

►Books, Movies & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• A Fahrenheit 451 film is in the works at HBO. 
• Iran is set to open the world's largest bookstore. 
• Benedict Cumberbatch will be the voice of The Grinch in an animated remake of the Dr. Seuss classic.
• I blame it on the mini-series based on Stephen King's It-- the history and psychology of clowns being scary. 
• The Alienist author Caleb Carr is returning to his series after twenty years!
• Women represent 75% of the most active digital readers. 
• Downton Abbey's creator will be releasing ten serialized eBooks.
• Neil Gaiman is adapting his first novel Good Omens (co-written by Terry Pratchett), for television.
• Dame Judi Dench has been appointed honorary president of the Brontë Society. 
• How science fiction redefines who we are and what we're becoming. 
• In declining to make the Bible Tennessee's official state book, Governor Bill Haslam showed a lot of common sense. 
• The executive producers are considering making the final two seasons of Game of Thrones shorter. 
• Books by the earliest women writers in English are on display together for the first time. (Thanks to Kathleen for the link!) 
• The perks of getting lost at the London Book Fair. 
• Andy Weir, author of The Martian, shares details about his next novel. 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• Newly discovered mass graves could be filled with an ancient Greek tyrant's followers. 
• Engineers in Mexico have unearthed a Spanish priest's ancient tombstone. 
• Leonardo da Vinci's living descendants have been found. 
• Stolen in 1955, a famous inverted Jenny stamp has resurfaced. 
• One of the most important shipwreck treasures ever discovered. 
• How the ancient world dealt with cancer.  
• Yikes! The Black Death's utter destruction of 14th-century Europe in one scary GIF.
• The unparalleled (and accidental) discovery of a Roman villa beneath a garden in Wiltshire England has archaeologists agog.
• Italian authorities have recovered three 15th-century paintings seized from an Italian-Luxembourg noble family during World War II.
• A twelve-year-old Israeli girl discovered an ancient Egyptian amulet.

  ►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• Hedgehog lovers rejoice! Japan has opened the world's first hedgehog café. 
• Fuzzy pigs, squash swords, and other amazing heirloom breeds spotlight the vanishing diversity of our food.
• If you need a dose of cute, how about these newborn goats wearing tiny sweaters?
• Lulu the pig helped Baby the blind cow get around for years. What happened after Lulu's death was something no one expected. 

►The Happy Wanderer◄

• Bardsey Island off the coast of Wales is home to just four residents and 20,000 graves. 
• A private collection in upstate New York is the secret kingdom of lost toys. 
• The library Mark Twain built. 
• Traveling through Yorkshire, one of the things I loved was all the old dry stack stone walls. Hand this former bricklayer any sort of rock, and he can create masterpieces. Yes, Johnny Clasper is an artist! 
• This tiny village is the Grand Canyon's best kept secret. 
• "Pain Inflicted, Suffering Endured, Injustice Done." The Paisley Witches Memorial. 
• Dating back almost 400 years, Chetham's Library-- the oldest public collection library in the UK-- was once the study hall of Karl Marx. 
• The outlaw hideout known as Hole-in-the-Wall. 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Ten stories about Susan Travers, thought by many to be the most badass woman in World War II. 
• The little Lanikai and her skipper Lieutenant Kemp Tolley sailed an incredible 3,000 miles to escape the Japanese during World War II. 
• The many lives of Maria Rasputin, daughter of the "Mad Monk." 
• You will never believe how Chicago heiress Frances Glessner Lee trained homicide detectives.
• Five facts about Eudora Welty, the Jane Austen of Mississippi. 
• Fifteen women wartime heroes you should know. 

►I ♥ Lists & Quizzes◄

• 40 reasons to learn a dead language. 
• 10 terrible literary couples that would never last in real life. 
• Trippy blacklight posters from the psychedelic heyday.
• Just 3% of Americans tested named all the U.S. capitals. Can you score 50/50?
• The vanishing words describing nature and landscape that we need to save. 
• There are some fabulous photographs taken by Landsat 8 in the Earth as Art exhibit. 

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!