A Show & Tell Weekly Link Round-Up

It was a fun week last week here at the old homestead, and I'm going to share visual aids more than talk. We've had a new visitor to Casa Kittling who's shown up twice so far. Check out the latest video...

 

 

I think it's cool that Wile E. Coyote is stopping by. Now... if a bobcat and a javelina show up, too, I'll have the complete set. *wink*

 

I've also found some fantastic bookmarks that (so far) I've managed not to buy. One version lets you personalize them with your own little avatar, and the second has name personalization only, but they're both all about BOOKS. I've included the URL under each photo.

 

My own personalizations. Buy yours here.

 

 

The hardest thing is choosing the titles! Buy yours here.

 Last Saturday was the first time Denis and I used Valley Metro's Paratransit service. It was a cold, miserable, wet, rainy, blustery day, and not one I would've chosen for an excursion, but Denis and I were determined to see Paige Shelton and Jenn McKinlay at The Poisoned Pen. It was held in The Pen's new second floor event space which will be really nice once they have a chance for a little more interior decoration. It was wonderful to see Paige and Jenn, and I loved the ugly Christmas sweaters they were wearing in honor of the contest they held. I thought Jenn's husband's was the best, but he withdrew himself from competition.

L to R: Paige, Jenn, Jenn's husband

After the event, I naturally had to do a little shopping in the bookstore (while I handsold six books to people who had attended the event). I bought two non-fiction books, and I fell in love with these two gift bags. Aren't they great?

 

 

 

I also decorated the house for Christmas, and I plan to share a few photos with you next week.

 

Enjoy the links!

 

 

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• A recently discovered Wind in the Willows illustration will be sold at auction.
• How do visual readers read nonfiction? 
• What happens when publishing houses merge? 
• Researchers have identified neurons that may help paralyzed people walk again. 
• What makes a good mystery series? 
• The 16th-century handwritten Devonshire Manuscript offers a glimpse into the intellectual life of the court of Henry VIII. 
• A Florida woman's beloved Hilderbrand books were destroyed by Hurricane Ian. To her surprise, the books have been replaced. 
• Writing your own obituary can teach you how to live. 
• Enjoy this insane 1980s book of knitted sweaters. 
• I had a blast personalizing this Girl Reading Book ornament. Now all I have to do is buy it!
  

 

►Book Banning & Censorship◄

• Van Meter (Iowa) parents have filed a petition against LGBTQ+ content in classrooms.
• A conservative book ban movement has roiled a school district in Millard County, Utah.
• Civil rights investigations into Frisco and Keller (Texas) schools are sought over book and bathroom policies.
• A county council in South Carolina is discussing controversial books in the children's section of the library.
• Citing "conservative values", a town in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania plans to cut library funding. (Conservative values and what this is are two completely different things.)
• After two failed millage votes, a Michigan library beset by LGBTQ controversy finds itself without funds and will close in 2024. GOOD NEWS! A Michigan family has just donated $100,000 to keep the Patmos Library open-- a library they have absolutely no ties to and have never seen.
• It only takes one parent to remove all the graphic novels from an Oklahoma library.

 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• How Thomas Jefferson's writing established the stories of colonial America.
• The remains of a spider monkey, traded by the Maya elites, has been found in Mexico. More from Smithsonian Magazine.
  
• A riverbed has released a Chinese ship hidden for 160 years. Photos show the stunning cargo. 
• How did this 600-year-old English coin end up in Newfoundland? 
• Rare gold coins have revealed a new Roman emperor. 
• Animal bones and ancient Roman snack foods have been found in the Coliseum. 
• Rutland, England's Roman villa: More finds from beneath a farmer's field. 
• A letter written by the Holy Roman Emperor in secret code has finally been cracked after 500 years.

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• A study reveals that cats are bonded to their humans just as much as dogs and babies.
• This lucky squirrel returns to play with the humans who rescued it.
• You'll laugh like I did when you watch this baby elephant play with a journalist who's trying to report news.
• Seahorses have one of the coolest origin stories of all life on earth.
• An owl is behind a series of "break-ins" in this Canadian town.
• In order to save salmon, the U.S. has approved the largest dam removal in history.
• This photographer has taken some amazing photos of wild hamsters enjoying nature.
• Cows fed hemp act stoned and produce milk containing THC.

 

►The Wanderer◄

• Thirteen St. Louis slang terms you should know.
• Nineteenth-century New York City was filled with books, bibliophilia, and marginalia.
• The mysterious ability to see the ocean from landlocked Arizona can be explained by the Park Service. 
• The countries with the most (and least) vacation time, mapped.
• A dozen places around the country to find that perfect, peculiar gift.

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• The spectacular life of Octavia E. Butler.
• How the tragic death of Violet Sharpe inspired a classic mystery. 
• Taylor Swift playing a dead body on CSI sums up her entire brand. 
• Zelda Fitzgerald: writer, muse, and painter. 
• The unrivaled legacy of Dale Chihuly. 
• The making of Steven Spielberg. 
• Dorcas Reilly, the woman who invented the green bean casserole. 

 

►More Best of 2022 Lists◄

• The sixteen best crime books of 2022 according to The Times of London.
• The New York Times' Ten Best Books of 2022.
• AudioFile Magazine's Best Audiobooks of 2022.

 

►Film & Television◄

• Three Pines puts a darker lens on Louise Penny's series.
• The literary film and TV you need to stream in December. 

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Seven signs you might be stuck in a cozy mystery series.
• The ten dirtiest foods in the produce aisle.
• Thirteen facts about lobotomies.
• The best cars in he history of fictional detectives.
• The Brooklyn Public Library's most borrowed books of all time.
• Knives Out fans should read these sixteen mysteries.
• Fourteen popular time travel books that will whisk you through history.
• Seven thrillers above, below, and around the seven seas.
• 2022 picks for the best tablet for reading.

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.

I know how busy the holiday season is, but don't forget to curl up with a good book!