A Back from the Break Weekly Link Round-Up

The time off I took went by so fast and was so nice that I'm tempted to do it again. But... it won't be any time soon because I have several book reviews scheduled for their release dates.

What did I do? Relax. Read. Go through old family photos and share some of them on Facebook. In fact, since I don't have much to say, I think I'll show you the most liked old family photo that I did share.

This is a photo taken of me when I was five years old. I was showing off one of my favorite dolls. This is Alfleeta Mae, named after a little girl I shared my room with in St. Mary's Hospital when I had to go in for some repair work.

I suppose it's a rather timely photo when you think of the protests and marches that are being held. All those years ago, my mother was all for diversity and taught me to be the same way. What's so scary about including ALL people? What's so scary about a person's skin being a different color than yours? I don't understand it, and I never will-- and I have my mother to thank for that.

I never saw Alfleeta Mae again after our hospital stay. I hope she's had a happy and fulfilling life. It's my fervent wish that people would stop being so afraid and learn to embrace all the beauty that this world has to give. But hopes and wishes only go so far. The time has come to make some profound changes, hasn't it? They are long past due.

Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• What Perry Mason taught Americans about the criminal justice system.
• Libraries are dealing with new demand for books and services during the pandemic.
• The deadly Irish epidemic that helped bring Dracula to life.
• The high seas murder that shocked-- and baffled-- the world.
• Merriam-Webster will revise the definition of racism after a woman's campaign.
• A statue of Dolly Parton may replace a KKK leader monument at the Tennessee state capitol.
• The history behind the Greyhound movie.
• #ScottishPeopleTwitter is a thing, and it's really funny. (Be forewarned: there are some f-bombs scattered throughout.)
• Smithsonian curators are beginning the process of collecting signs, art, and stories from the D.C. protests.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• An entire Medieval village is eerily emerging from an Italian lake.
• Have archaeologists found London's lost theater?
• A fisherman found a suspected Medieval statue in a riverbed in Spain.
• The Maya ruins at Uxmal still have more stories to tell.
• Archaeologists believe they have located the tomb of Cleopatra.
• The wreck of John F. Kennedy's World War II patrol boat have been recovered.
• Archaeologists have discovered the details of a buried Roman city without digging.
• An ancient Roman board game was found in a Norwegian burial mound.

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• Compared with hummingbirds, people are rather colorblind.
• Twenty photographs of harvest mice taken by Dean Mason.
• The International Space Station just became a powerful tool for tracking animal migration.
• A long childhood may be how crows and jays evolved their smarts.
• Ten animals and plants around the world that you can (virtually) adopt.
• Wild stork chicks will be hatching in the UK for the first time in over 600 years.
• Here's some pure joy with a montage of animal hugs and kisses.
• Prickles the sheep returns home after seven years on the lam(b).

►The Happy Wanderer◄

• A small Nevada town inspires a crime novel and a personal reckoning.
• Is Sydney Australia's capital of noir?
• The "new normal" of visiting America's national parks.
• The American castle of a Renaissance hoarder.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Shaun Bythell, the diary of a Scottish bookseller.
• The black women who launched the original anti-racist reading list.
• Susie Steiner: It has been easier to cope with my cancer during lockdown-- and books have been a lifeline.
• Phyllis Latour Doyle: the forgotten spy whose knitting helped pave the way for D-Day.
• Josephine Baker: the famous entertainer who became a World War II Allied spy.
• Five women veterans who deserve to have army bases named after them.
• J.A. Jance: Growing up in a small town, books opened my world.
• Meet Lena Richard, the celebrity chef who broke barriers in the Jim Crow South.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Eight great gargoyles and grotesques to both terrify and amuse.
• Top ten books about Tokyo.
• Top ten books about witch-hunts.
• Fifty brilliant books to transport you this summer.
• Seventeen historical mystery series to fill your summer TBR list.
• Ten remarkable novels about overlooked moments from the past.
• Twenty-five books that showcase Black talent.
• Eight of the most beautiful Russian libraries.

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.

Stay safe! Stay healthy! And don't forget to curl up with a good book!