Kittling: Books: Thinking Hollywood Weekly Link Round-Up

I often have some strange ideas while sitting out in the pool reading a succession of good books. I took the precaution of having a note pad and pen in the book bag I take outside with me, but that usually means that the ideas stop for a while. But it didn't this time. I just have to remember to keep adding movie titles to my list!

Sound intriguing? I hope so because you're going to find out what I'm talking about in the near future.

I'm back to knitting more complicated things again, and I've branched out in my choice of evening movies to watch. I'm slowly but surely moving away from romantic comedies. One night I made the mistake of watching "Saving Private Ryan" again, and I have to admit that I kept dropping stitches until I came to my senses and stopped knitting.

Well... I know you didn't come here to talk movies, so let me mosey out to the corral. I've been saving a bunch of links for you. Enjoy!

►Books, Movies & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

Poisoned Pen Press: bucking the trend and going strong.
Naomi Hirahara ponders how to end a mystery series.
The lost art of custom-illustrating your favorite books.
I have two things to say about these penthouse bookcases: (1) Wow! and (2) Where's the ladder?
Book-themed enamel pins are the perfect things for trendy readers.
Oxford Dictionaries halts their search for the most disliked word after "severe misuse."
The author of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter has been sued over an "appropriated" novel.
We need to talk about beating up your books.
Ordeal by Innocence is slated to kick off a multi-year Agatha Christie/ BBC1 deal.
Penguin Random House is bringing free reads to New York City commuters.
Ursula Le Guin has earned a rare honor. Just don't call her a Sci-Fi writer.
Instead of Pokemon Go, Belgians hunt for books.
How contacting the dead became a family game.
One in four Americans didn't read a book last year. (A bit of a "glass half empty" point of view....)
No, the Internet has not killed the printed book. Most people still prefer them.
A janitor has donated most of his secret $8 million fortune to his library and hospital.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

NASA has posted all their research online for free.
You can thank scientists for the national park system.
The truth about the Hemingway Heist.
A 3,000-year-old sword found in Denmark is "still sharp."
Archaeologists have just found a new pyramid that's even older than some in Egypt.
Ten unraveled secrets of the Mayan civilization.
Ancient bones are helping to reconstruct a sixth-century plague.
Join archaeologists as they unearth Denmark's lost castles.
A plague genome has been sequenced from a sixth-century woman's teeth.
Where are the Romanovs' missing Fabergé Easter eggs?
Does Chinese civilization come from ancient Egypt?

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

Check out the winners in the 2016 comedy wildlife photography contest.
Kids are reading to shelter dogs.
A dog has given birth to the first identical twin puppies.
Hummingbird tongues are pumps, not straws.
The furry faces of bookselling.

►The Happy Wanderer◄

This article has more photos of the amazing El Ateneo Grand Splendid bookstore in Buenos Aires than I've ever seen before. I want to go!
German readers get an extra baggage allowance for holiday reading.
The Aral Sea was once the fourth largest lake in the world. Now it's almost gone.