Kittling: Books: Is This Really Friday Weekly Link Round-Up

A person can get used to routines. I know I certainly can. When I was working, my routines centered around my schedule. Now they center around Denis's. He doesn't do it often, but this week he did a favor for a co-worker and traded shifts so she could attend a special function. Instead of his Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday off (which used to be my schedule, come to think of it), he was off Sunday and worked Thursday.

What this means is that I haven't known what day it is all week.

I knew this was going to happen. I dove into my post-it notes and left myself crucial reminders all over my desk and monitors. So at least I didn't drop the ball on the essential tasks around here.

But there were the times when stray thoughts would float through my mind, and I'd find myself muddled. No, I can't set that program to record. It was on last night, not tonight! Argh!

Now I'd better head out to the corral. Or should I? Is it really Friday?

►Books, Movies & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

My Cousin Rachel: Daphne du Maurier's take on the sinister power of sex.
I enjoyed listening to Ann Cleeves and Chris Brookmyre discussing Scottish crime fiction during this podcast.
Famous typos from James Joyce to J.K. Rowling.
How unrecognizable was the English language just 300 years ago?
TSA has been testing something new: having airline passengers take their reading material out of their carry-on luggage before going through security screening.
What lies beneath the brave new world of feminist dystopian sci-fi?
The story of Gaelic speaking soldiers who escaped the Nazis is being turned into a movie.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

The hidden treasures in Italian libraries.
An unexpected Viking toilet discovery leads to controversy.
Al Capone's diamond pocket watch fetches over $84,000 at a "gangster" auction.
Subway digging has uncovered a "Pompeii-like scene" in Rome.
An old four-poster bed was dismantled by construction workers and given to auctioneers who sold it for $2900. Now it's been confirmed to be Henry VII's four-poster, and it now could easily be worth millions.
Archaeologists have unearthed a massive 1,800-year-old mural outside the capital of Cyprus.
New symbols have revealed the development of Egyptian hieroglyphics.

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

Watch what happens when a baby Tasmanian Devil goes out on its first run.
How humans helped ants invade the world.

►Heat Wave!◄

One of the best ways to survive a 120° heat wave is to laugh.

►Fascinating Folk◄

Horse-riding librarians were the Great Depression's bookmobiles.
Agnes Gund sold a painting in order to start a social justice fund. You don't see many of the wealthy doing something like this!
The wicked wit and enigma of Dorothy Parker, fifty years on.
Sherman Alexie on not being "the kind of Indian that's expected."
Michael Bond, the creator of Paddington Bear, has died.
It's time to bring Branwell, the dark Brontë, into the light.

►The Happy Wanderer◄

Travel magazine Afar says this restaurant in Arizona has one of the best views in the United States.
Sure, you can get liquored up in Key West, but take this literary walking tour first.
The story behind this haunted Arizona hotel is seriously creepy.
Take a look at La Librairie Itinérante ("the traveling bookstore") in France.

►I ♥ Lists & Quizzes◄

Which books do Americans take on vacation?
Peek inside thousands of Soviet children's books from Princeton University.
Nine things readers do better than anyone else.
Harry Potter quiz: 20 years, 20 questions.
Literary scarves, fingerless gloves, pillows, and more from Storiarts.
Enter an archive of 6,000 historical children's books, all digitized and free to read online.
Top ten books about lies.