An Arizona Sunset Weekly Link Round-Up

Another quiet week at Casa Kittling with only one humdinger of a thunderstorm that woke me from a sound sleep at 4 AM to liven things up. I've been reading and knitting up a storm, and adjusting my schedule now that I'm not spending afternoons in the pool. I think I'm quietly charging up my battery for the next three eye procedures because I know there's upcoming downtime when I won't be able to do so many things that I enjoy. But don't worry-- my priority is still having two properly functioning eyes, so I'm not complaining about the route I have to take.

Arizona Sunset, October 7, 2018  ©Denis Barlow

The one thing that I wanted to share with you this week (besides the links) is the photo Denis sent me Sunday evening. My timing was definitely off that day. While I was at home taking a shower, my husband was at work at Sky Harbor International Airport and able to take a photo of this breathtaking sunset. It is my not-so-humble opinion that Arizona has to be one of the best places in the world for jaw-dropping sunrises and sunsets. I wish you all could see the photo full size because your mind would really be blown. (Am I the only one who talks about minds being blown anymore?)

Time for me to mosey on out to the corral and see what the sunset looks like tonight. Head 'em up! Moooooooove 'em out!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• In the 1950s, Walt Kelly’s comic strip about a cute opossum named Pogo was syndicated by over 450 newspapers. It was also frequently censored. (And I had no idea when I read this strip every day as a child.)
• It's no mystery why fans and authors gathered for Bouchercon in St. Petersburg, Florida. 
• The Wonky Donkey: a viral video of a grandmother makes this picture book a bestseller.
• The voters who disappeared from the rolls.
• Stories bad and good: Understanding Appalachia through reading.
• The novelist who wrote about How to Murder Your Husband has been charged with murdering her husband. 
• Why does the US change so many book titles?
• A bookseller's lament: the books we're drowning in. 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• More than 700 Lincoln collectibles were set to go on auction.
• The ruins of an ancient Roman tomb have been found hidden in the basement of a trendy clothing store in Athens, Greece. 
• The ruins of an ancient temple to the Aztec wind god have been discovered in the middle of a metro station.
• Preserved for 500 years: the mummies of Llullaillaco show what Incan child sacrifices entailed. 
• Lesser-known facts about the Vikings.
• The dead beneath London's streets.

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• 87 elephants were found dead near a sanctuary in Botswana. 
• Toxic chemicals banned twenty years ago are finally disappearing from Arctic wildlife.
• 92 military dogs are coming home from Afghanistan after a job well done.
• Biologist Johnnie H. French works at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Forensics Laboratory, the world's only full-service forensics lab for wildlife crimes.
• In the last decade, four birds went extinct and four more are likely gone.
• A new species of translucent, gelatinous fish has been discovered in the deep sea. 
• How this popular garden plant may spread parasites that harm Monarch butterflies.
• India's giant, technicolor squirrels.

►The Happy Wanderer◄

• The adventures of America's most well-traveled bookstore.
• "So shocked": a customer won a bookshop in a raffle in Wales.
• How to tour the most bookish island in the world. 
• East meets Down East at a Maine-themed restaurant in Japan.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• From the Orient Express to The Railway Children: the top ten trains in novels.
• Bestselling author William Kent Krueger recommends ten compelling mystery series.
• Ten long-running series to binge read (if you haven't already).
• The best books about history's forgotten women.
• The most anticipated crime books of 2018: part 3.
• Improve your reading retention with these seven tips and tricks.
• Twenty-three literary movies and TV shows you should be watching this fall.
• Ten successful writers who dropped out (or were kicked out) of school.

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!