Normally I'm what you would call an observant person. One reason for that comes from some of the things life has lobbed at me. Being stalked on a daily basis or coming home to find your front door wide open and your dog disconsolately wandering the neighborhood (I'd been burgled) means realizing you can't take things for granted...and that getting the lay of the land before you blunder into anything can be important. Another reason is my love of wildlife; I always enjoy spotting critters, and since some of the signs that they're around are easily overlooked, I've trained myself to notice furtive movements in the undergrowth. ("Furtive movements in the undergrowth." That makes me laugh!)
But sometimes my powers desert me, which is what happened to me this week. I do the occasional review for one of my favorite UK publishers, Allison & Busby. I received a duplicate copy of Judith Cutler's Head Count and decided to see if anyone wanted a copy at Paperback Swap. I logged onto the site and turned the book over for the ISBN in order to key the numbers into the search engine.
Then my eyes happened to roam up a bit, and I wound up sitting here with my mouth hanging open. (Click on the photo to see it full size if you're having trouble.) Evidently, I missed that last blurb completely when I received and read the first copy. The only thing I have to say in my defense is that I really do not pay attention to blurbs, and many of you will nod your heads because of my US and UK book cover comparison posts. But still...!
I think I'd better make an appointment with my eye doctor before I head on out to the corral to take care of these links!
►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄
- Why do publishers still issue hardbacks?
- Barnes & Noble is starting a nationwide book club.
- The new Scandi noir? These Korean writers are reinventing the thriller.
- One of the world's most irreplaceable books was used as a cutting board.
- Why do writers keep multiple copies of books around?
- Kensington Books is creating a cozy home for cozy mysteries (and one of their mini-conventions will be held at...The Poisoned Pen).
►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄
- Scientists are studying Girl With a Pearl Earring in hopes of finding how Vermeer painted his masterpiece.
- The top ten new discoveries from Egyptian sites and mummies.
- The oldest message in a bottle has been found after first being thrown into the sea 132 years ago.
- A 500-year-old pistol part could shed light on Colorado's Spanish Colonial past.
- The mystery of a bizarre medieval porpoise burial has baffled experts.
- A Hearst Castle secret was recently revealed by a shaft of sunlight.
►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄
- A 99 million-year-old bird that lived with dinosaurs has been found trapped in ancient amber.
- Monarch butterfly numbers are off for the second consecutive year in Mexico.
- Modern life among the foxes and coyotes.
- Literary pet names using puns unworthy of their namesakes.
►Fascinating Folk◄
- Vita Sackville-West wrote a very, very tiny novel for the Queen's Dollhouse.
- The unlikely pulp fiction illustrations of Edward Hopper.
- The wartime spies who used knitting as an espionage tool.
- The stories of everyday strong women, and why we need them.
- Ralph Teetor, the sightless visionary who invented cruise control.
►The Happy Wanderer◄
- Sixteen underrated U.S. National Parks to add to your bucket list. (If I had a bucket list, I'd add #11.)
- Arizona's windiest road has over 460 curves, and it's not for the faint of heart. (Denis and I have traveled it. It goes through some of the most beautiful country, and at one point, you're at least one hundred miles from civilization in any direction. It's also one of the least traveled highways in the U.S.)
►I ♥ Lists & Quizzes◄
- Do you have a secret British accent? (When I took the quiz, my answer was Yorkshire, and I do have ancestors who lived there.)
- Thirty books for Americans' ten most-visited countries.
- The ten best book titles of all time.
- Here's a look at J.K. Rowling's favorite books.
- Nine untranslatable words for comfort that go beyond Hygge.
- One hundred covers of Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude.
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!
Wow! That is amazing, Cathy! I'm very happy for you! What a lovely discovery. And, speaking of discoveries....I'm off to Hearst Castle...
ReplyDeleteThanks, Margot-- and I hope you enjoyed your visit to the castle!
DeleteWell, that little snippet is well deserved, Cathy! Truly. You do a lot for the mystery world. And you add to my TBR almost daily. Bet it was fun to see! Congrats!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kay!
DeleteOh wow, that is so exciting! What a fun discovery! I had to try the British accent test, it seems I am East Midlands. I had to google it, but I think my nasal-y MN accent has more to do with my result than actual ancestry!! But is was fun!
ReplyDeleteThat was a fun quiz (and I think my accent had a lot more to do with the result than my ancestry--but don't tell anyone)!
DeleteThe fascinating folk links were quite interesting, especially the knitting in code. Fun to spy your name on a book blurb, I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteThe closest I've gotten to knitting in code is making a scarf with lines of X's and O's in it!
DeleteApparently my accent puts me as sounding vaguely in the region of Suffolk.
ReplyDeleteLOL! I take it no one mentioned to you that they might be using a snippet of your review on the back of the book.
They never do. This isn't the first time this has happened, but it's the first time it happened when I was getting ready to give the book away! LOL
Delete