There's no doubt about it, these are tough times for so many. A person can want to help but still be confused as to the best way to go about it. One of the easiest ways to help is something very simple: suck it up and wear a mask. Don't whine about it. Don't make excuses. Wear a mask. Denis wears hearing aids, and the normal masks you see most people wearing play merry hell with those hearing aids. What did he do? He found a style that keeps him safe and still allows him to hear fuss-free.
Well... I'm ordering books from The Poisoned Pen Bookstore. I work on their Pinterest boards, and it never fails that, when I start pinning the new books they have for sale, I find several that I have to have. I order the books online and have them shipped to me. It helps my favorite bookstore stay open during these very confusing and complicated times-- and it often leads to giveaways.
I found this week's photo on Facebook. I really like watching the reboot of Star Trek with actor Chris Pine starring as Captain James T. Kirk. It did my heart good to see that he's doing his part to keep his favorite bookstore open, too. That's a big bag of books... AND he's wearing a mask. Now that's sexy! (Never thought you'd see me use the word "sexy" here on the blog, did you? I may not talk about it, but I know what it is! *grin*)
I know what so many of you who read this blog are lending helping hands, too, but don't forget to be kind to yourself as well. This is new territory for all of us. We need all our wits-- and our kindness-- about us.
Now on to those links! Head 'em up! Moooove 'em out!
►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄
- The symbolism of a red front door.
- The British Book Awards gave their top prizes to Black authors for the first time in their thirty-year history.
- Author Sulari Gentill believes that crime fiction trains us for crisis.
- Booksellers say the customer is sometimes right.
- Counting down the greatest crime films of all-time: #12, The Sting. (One of my personal all-time favorites.)
- Discovering the women authors behind Hitchcock's movies.
- Google teams up with The Conscious Kid on a book list to promote racial equity in classrooms.
- The commas that cost companies millions.
►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄
- Ancient Australian Aboriginal sites have been discovered underwater. More from Smithsonian Magazine.
- The death mask of Pakal the Great.
- How a long-lost perfume got a second life after 150 years underwater.
- Roman-Era structures have been found near a sphinx-lined Egyptian avenue.
- The remains discovered in a Parisian chapel may belong to guillotined aristocrats.
- Archaeologists have unearthed a trove of artifacts from a 19th-century Australian Chinatown.
- A sensational shipwreck has been found in northern Italy-- one of the largest vessels of the sixteenth century.
- The oldest Viking settlement ever discovered in Iceland totally changes Viking history. More from Smithsonian Magazine.
►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄
- Stop what you're doing and look at all these baby animals just born at the Columbus Zoo.
- Hundreds of elephants have died mysteriously in Botswana leading experts to fear that there could be a dangerous neurotoxin spreading through one of Africa's largest conservation areas.
- Scientists have proposed a new name for nature in the time of COVID-19: the "Anthropause."
- Why fireworks scare some dogs but not others.
- North American rabbits face a deadly virus.
- Horses make window calls during an uplifting visit to an Indiana nursing home.
- Norway lobsters crush ocean plastic into even smaller pieces-- and that's bad.
- An army of hungry ducks keeps this historic South African vineyard pest-free.
►Fascinating Folk◄
- Charlotte Cushman broke barriers on her way to becoming the A-List actress of the 1800s.
- Retired librarian Ola Mae Spinks, dead at the age of 106, helped organize the "Slave Narratives."
- Sharlott Hall's name is writ large in Arizona history.
- Millie Ginnett, South London's lockdown book angel.
- Peter Norman, the white man in that photo.
►The Happy Wanderer◄
- How an Alaskan volcano is linked to the decline of the Roman Republic.
- In Mexico City, COVID-19 is bringing back Aztec-Era "floating gardens."
- NASA names its DC headquarters after the agency's first Black female engineer, Mary W. Jackson.
►I ♥ Lists◄
- Eleven novels of vacations gone horribly awry.
- Eleven essential books to read by Black Canadian authors.
- Lee Child and fellow crime writers on their creations.
- Ten crime novels about returning home.
- Ten gripping legal thrillers for fans of Last Trial author Scott Turow.
- Ten of the best books set in Ireland.
- The top ten books about remaking the future.
- Seven adventurous novels that will whisk you away on an epic journey without leaving your couch.
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 spend some time curled up with a good book!
Hundred of elephants dead. What. Thats actually horrible. Just when you think 2020 couldnt get any worse.
ReplyDeletehttps://aab-edu.net/
I agree wholeheartedly.
DeleteI couldn't agree more, Cathy, about doing our bit to help. Wear the mask. Keep physical distance from others. Stay home when it's possible. And, yes, support local businesses, bookshops (especially indie stores), and the Postal Service. Our letter carrier has done so many helpful things for us through the years (making sure we got mail intended for us, even when the address was wrong, for instance). I hate it that there's an effort to gut the USPS. We all need to stick together and get through this. In the meantime, I have some Aboriginal sites to visit.
ReplyDeleteTake plenty of water with you!
DeleteI'll add my agreement with all you said above. We can all do a bit and if we all do that, it will add up. Take care!
ReplyDeleteYou, too!
DeleteThanks for the links. I'm rushing with a deadline right now, but will read every one of them.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad to see recognition of Black authors in Britain and the U.S. I was alarmed to read that only 1% of editors in the U.S. are African American. Andn I'm so glad to see that 9 out of 10 nonfiction books listed at the NY Times bestseller pages are about combating racism.
I see a lot to read here. Will be back tomorrow.
Book sales are doing well, and the two main reasons for that are books for children who've been at home and people wanting to know more about racism. Knowledge is power.
DeleteI'm glad to see the legal thrillers, but they leave out some good books, such as Steve Cavanagh's "Thirteen," and "The Plea." Those and some others feature ex-con defense lawyer, Eddie Flynn, are combine a legal criminal case, courtroom repartee, a murder investigation, a bit of violence and a lot of humor. Don't miss out on these books.
ReplyDeleteAlso, on Ireland, I would add Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad books. Also, "The Glorious Heresies," by Lisa McInerney is excellent and she won prizes for it. I highly recommend it.
Just a family note since you like "The Sting." My great-uncle, George Newcomb, was someone who operated outside the law. He was a bootlegger during Prohibition and a bookie. He would drive to Canada in a hearse with his spouse and my father (his nephew, acting as his son) to go to a "funeral." Then he would come back with the car loaded with liquor over the Canadian border. I don't think he got caught.
But also, he was in the real "Sting," upon which the film was based. He was the guy writing down the horse racing scores on the chalk board.
He was also happily married for decades and when his beloved spouse, Fanny, died, he kept his house exactly as she had left it with her belongings everywhere. I found out then that he had had a mistress across town for years. That's when as a teenager I realized that someone could care about two people at once. What a revelation!
Uncle George had white curly hair and twinkly blue eyes and a sense of humor.
The one thing about lists is that they never have all of your favorites. In fact, you're lucky if they have any of your favorites at all. And...I'm already an Eddie Flynn fan, and I went to see Steve Cavanagh at The Poisoned Pen.
DeleteThanks so much for telling me about Uncle George!
Yes. Knowledge is power. The recent protests that involved up to 26 million people in thousands of U.S. cities and towns have raised consciousness about racism. I hear from friend who are African American that they worry about this every day. I hope people are reading the books. And, yes, there are anti-racism books for children.
ReplyDeleteThere are now children's books for almost every topic under the sun-- quite a difference from when I was a child.
DeleteOh, and great you and Denis are supporting the USPS. I'm listening right now to a retired p.o. employee who, along with others are trying to save the postal service.
ReplyDeleteI've had mail carriers in the family as well as friends who were, too.
DeleteAnd now I want a red door. Both of my heritages painted doors red for significant reasons.
ReplyDeleteThat was one of my favorite links, even though I have two blue doors.
DeleteI can't paint my door. Landlord had walls in hallway and lobby painted beige with dark brown doors. Boring. Maybe I'll put a red sheet of paper on my door.
ReplyDeleteI had a friend who covered her door with red wrapping paper once.
Delete