Everything is peaceful and bright here at Casa Kittling, so no words. Just one small sentiment and on to the links!
►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄
- J. David Gonzalez's 40 Bookstores in 40 Weeks: Or, How to Get Through a Pandemic.
- The surprisingly radical history of quilting.
- How Bullwinkle taught kids sophisticated political satire. (I loved Bullwinkle!)
- Italians read more during the pandemic.
- This Little Free Library at the South Pole is the first in Antarctica.
- The hacker-as-hero: a modern day crime fiction staple.
- The story behind "First Lady."
- Crime fiction and the power of verisimilitude.
►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄
- Ancient Canaanites added arsenic to copper to create counterfeit currency.
- Discovered: a vast network of Amazon villages laid out like constellations. (We're beginning to learn that there's been a lot more going on in the Amazon rainforest than we thought.)
- The mausoleum of Rome's first emperor has been restored and is ready to open.
- Officials seize 27,400 artifacts looted by a single French treasure hunter.
- Researchers reveal a mummy's surprising contents without unwrapping it.
- To protect its rare artifacts, the U.K. proposes a revised definition of "treasure."
- Snail shells date England's Cerne Abbas Giant to medieval, not prehistoric, era.
- An analysis of Pompeii's garbage suggests the ancient Romans recycled, too.
►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄
- Why Monarch butterflies aren't getting endangered species status.
- Meet the real animals behind mermaids, dragons, and other mythical creatures.
- Kangaroos communicate with humans like dogs in experiments.
- Wasabi, a gentle tortoise clad in a colorful dresses, provides comfort to others as a certified therapy animal.
- These non-lethal methods encouraged by science can keep wolves from killing livestock.
- Earth's harshest ecosystems may birth new species fastest.
- Watch a wandering stray cat bring an Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra performance to a standstill.
- Researchers reveal why Seattle salmon bite the dust after rainstorms.
- Cheetahs are so shy that zoos give them their own emotional "support dogs."
►The Last of the Holiday Cheer◄
- The most iconic crime movies set during Christmas.
- The night Jacqueline Winspear helped her father steal a Christmas tree.
- Twelve spirited facts about How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
- Take a look at these mini IKEA home furnishings made from gingerbread.
►The Wanderer◄
- Cape Town: South Africa's new hub of urban cool... and crime fiction.
- Hawaii reboots Depression-Era Conservation Corps using pandemic assistance funds. Great idea!
- Sad to read this: The abandoned town of Cairo, Illinois. If you're from that neck of the woods, you know that Cairo is pronounced KAY-roe, not KYE-roe... and standing and looking out over the area where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers meet is awe-inspiring.
- A landmark that could be seen for miles is gone: Blasts bring down the Navajo Generating Station towers in northern Arizona. (Of course, they closed something down with no ounce of concern for all the suddenly unemployed in a powerty-stricken area. Seems to me, it could be a wonderful location for a huge solar plant...)
- The Bookworm Cabin in Poland was custom-designed for reading.
►I ♥ Lists & Quizzes◄
- The best historical fiction of 2020.
- The New York Public Library's top checkouts of 2020.
- The best international crime novels of 2020.
- How many of the greatest crime books of all-time have you read?
- The Sydney Morning Herald gives us the books authors loved to read in a year of living precariously.
- Five mysteries set between the world wars.
- The top ten books about comedy, from Eric and Ernie to Lee and Herring.
- Merriam-Webster's Name That Food quiz.
- New terms for the modern book lover.
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!
Wishing you a happy and healthy new year!
ReplyDeleteThe very same to you!
DeleteHappy New Year, Cathy! May 2021 treat you kindly and well! Thanks for your blog during the past year; it helped very much in an unprecedented year. Now... off to that mausoleum! And then, I think, those Amazon villages.
ReplyDeleteThose Amazon villages are something else!
DeleteHappy New Year! With thanks for your blog helping light the way through the past year, and with hope that 2021 is definitely better.
ReplyDeleteWe could all use a ton of Better, couldn't we?
DeleteHappy New Year! 🎉🎊 I have been enjoying all the year end lists, whuch adds or moves things on my TBR!
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean. I'm posting quite a few of those lists in my link round-up next week.
DeleteI like this quote from the "Greatest Crime Books of All Time" article: "So long as we have lists of great books in any genre, and so long as we constantly read titles from those lists, we remain alive and enhance our lives in the process."
ReplyDeleteI love lists, but they can become masters rather than tools. This quote encourages me to keep making lists.
Have a great weekend, Cathy!
I'll never stop making lists, Gretchen. Thankfully, it's been awhile since any list has been my master. (Retirement can be helpful that way.)
DeleteLove this round-up. Happy New Year!! May our lives be surrounded by great books and beautiful things.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!
Delete