The Summer Lingers Weekly Link Round-Up

Nothing much to report here at Casa Kittling. The summer lingers well into September here in the desert, and I'm soaking it up-- sitting out in the pool and reading as many books as I can. I've got all those recap posts to write about The Poisoned Pen Conference, but right now I'm finding the task rather daunting so I'm reading instead. Works for me even though some of you may be getting a bit impatient!

I thought you might like to see that the paddling of ducks out in the pool grew while I was banned from entering the water.

Meet Captain Quack and Ducknerys.

There are now eight ducks sharing the pool with me, and it's interesting to see how they "interact" with each other. I have two small solar fountains in the pool. Batduck and Piper Duck like to hang out by one of them. I figure the bat-suit is roasting so Batduck is merely trying to stay cool in our triple digit temperatures. On the other hand, I think the water constantly falling on Piper's head reminds him of his Scottish home. (Did I even show you Batduck and Piper Duck when they arrived???)

All righty then. I'm sitting here making up stories about rubber duckies. Time to mosey on out to the corral and take care of those links. Head 'em up! Mooooooooove 'em out!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• The Draconian dictionary is back.
• This ought to be interesting: In defense of keeping books spine-in.
• When you're asked to design a cover after others have tried. 
• The crack squad of librarians who track down half-forgotten books. 
• "Like a burial": Alberto Manguel on dismantling his 35,000-book collection. 
• Being a Victorian librarian was oh-so-dangerous.
• What does immersing yourself in a book do to your brain?

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• Driverless car technology could help find unmarked graves. 
• The rare blue the Maya invented. 
• An Egyptian mummy has revealed an incredible embalming "recipe".
• Archaeologists are excavating Sheffield Castle, the one-time prison of Mary, Queen of Scots.
• Archaeologists explore a rural field in Kansas, and a lost city emerges.
• An Egyptian papyrus reveals that this old wives' tale is very old indeed.

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• The UK heatwave this summer triggered rare flamingos to lay eggs for the first time in fifteen years. (They don't like the normal climate either...)
• Cancer is one worry elephants can feel free to forget.
• A French theme park taught crows to pick up trash. (Now... can the crows teach us to pick it up?)
• An alligator that survived World War II bombings is still alive and snapping.
• Watch this tiny ant attempt to steal a precious diamond from inside a shop.
• The sideways grave of Sideways the dog.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• The twenty best legal thrillers of the last twenty years.
• Nine cool and quirky used bookstores to add to your bucket list.
• An Emily Dickinson reading list.
• The 100 best thrillers of all time.
• The ten best books about the world's deserts.
• The weirdest libraries around the world.
• The top ten books about Americans abroad.
• Ten writers and their cats.

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!