A Spanner in the Works Weekly Link Round-Up

 

Christmas was a little too quiet for Denis and me. I was suffering tremendous pain from a pinched nerve in my hip and spent most of the day in bed. As soon as I'm done typing this, I'm heading back there. The pain has eased significantly, but I'm going to continue to rest it and not push my luck.

Denis and I have found the critter situation here at Casa Kittling to be quite interesting. Where we were having weekly visits from JR the raccoon, he's missed two or three times, and the only reason why has to be because Wile E. Coyote has been sniffing around the premises. All the feral cats stayed away for well over a week, and even now they show up much less than in days of old. At least the female kestrel is still performing her toilette in the birdbath out front.

 

John French's The Great American West (Reminds me a bit of Sedona, Arizona.)

I hope you're managing to stay warm and well read during the frigid weather most of the country is experiencing. I hope to be back under full power for the next round-up.

Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• The companies that are killing creativity.
• The varied and artistic uses of decorative tissue paper.
• The murky path to becoming a New York Times best seller.
• How dice helped Susie Dumond tame her TBR.
• From The Guardian: Val McDermid, Ian Rankin, Sophie Hannah, and other crime writers reveal their favorite detectives.
• How animal tales help us understand humans.
• Bookforum is closing, leaving ever fewer publications devoted to books.
• USA Today pauses its bestseller list and lays off the presiding editor.
• Reese Witherspoon and the boom in celebrity book clubs.
• The enduring romance of mistletoe, a parasite named after bird poop. 
• Carol of the Bells: how a Ukrainian protest song became a Christmas staple.
  

 

►Book Banning & Censorship◄

• A fast-growing network of conservative groups is fueling a surge in book bans.
• A new billboard in Texas urges "Ban Censorship, Not Books."
• How your book club can fight against book bans and censorship.
• Publishers Weekly's People of the Year: The Defenders.
• A Michigan GOP official is calling for the forcible closure of a public library that has LGBTQ books even though it's obtained funding to remain open.
• A school board in Florida has delayed the vote on 37,000 library books for two elementary schools that are being built because  protesters complained that they weren't given enough time to review all the books.
• This just gets better and better. A Texas school board that banned The Diary of Anne Frank invited a "rabbi" charged with sexual assault to open its meeting with a prayer.
• The Rotary Club charity is having difficulty donating dictionaries to students due to a new board book policy.
• Some West Virginia lawmakers are interested in banning books. Just don't call it a book ban. (I have news for these galoots. It doesn't matter what you call it, it still stinks.)
• A school board in Windsor, Ontario, Canada resists the "slippery slope" of listing new library titles.
• The Greeley-Evans (Colorado) School District 6 Board of Education meeting was stopped twice and adjourned early due to disruptions by conservative book banners.
• Katy (Texas) school students come together as censorship of LGBTQ+ voices ramps up.

 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• Ancient coins unearthed in a desert cave date from the time of the Maccabean revolt.
• A 2,000-year-old mosaic floor has been unearthed in a villa that once belonged to Roman emperors. More from ARTnews.
  
• This ancient Egyptian "masterpiece" is so realistic, researchers identified the exact bird species it depicts.
• Archaeologists have discovered a medieval shipwreck in near perfect condition at the bottom of Norway's largest lake.
• Over a dozen 6,000-year-old storehouses-- still filled with grain-- have been uncovered in China.
• A "monumental" 5,000-year-old cemetery has been unearthed below stone pillars near a lake in Kenya.
• Gold jewelry uncovered in Egypt could reveal more about life 3,000 years ago.
• A 4,000-year-old "shaman" burial near Stonehenge has a golden secret.

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• The winners of the 2022 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards show the silly side of nature.
• Beavers are moving into the warming Arctic. It could be a threat like "wildfire".
• It wasn't a Burmese python. Check out what these two snake wranglers found in Florida. (I'll stick to bat wrangling, thank you very much.)
• Saving Canada's hardiest hummingbirds requires extreme care. (Anna's hummingbirds are amazing. They also live here in the Sonoran Desert-- all year long.)
• Which animal species has existed the longest?
• Male jaguar rivals pair up for years in unexpected bromances.
• Good news for bears, birds, whales, and people.
• A cruise ship worker shares a little-known fact about birds and cruises.

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Reclaiming a place in animation history for Bessie Mae Kelley.
• Artist Raku Inoue forages fallen flora and arranges it into exquisite portraits of animals and insects.
• Ann Cleeves recovered her laptop containing a half-finished novel after a blizzard in Shetland.
• How audiobook narrator Robin Miles finds her voices.
• What a young, aspiring John Singer Sargent learned from the beauty of Florence.

 

►Best of 2022 Lists◄

• Literary Hub's Best Reviewed Memoirs and Biographies of 2022.
• Literary Hub's 103 Best Book Covers of 2022.
• CrimeReads' Best Critical Non-Fiction/Biography Books of 2022.
• CrimeReads' Best Historical Fiction of 2022.
• BBC Culture's 50 Best Books of the Year.
• Literary Hub's Ultimate Best Books of 2022 List.
• Kirkus Reviews' Best Indie Mysteries and Thrillers of 2022.
• Kirkus Reviews' Best Indie Biographies and Memoirs of 2022.
• Kirkus Reviews' Best Indie Historical Fiction of 2022.
• Literary Hub's Award-Winning Novels of 2022.
• Literary Hub's 10 Biggest Literary Stories of the Year.

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

 

     ● Five character-driven mysteries from European authors.

     ● The best historical fiction coming out this winter.

     ● 11 atmospheric mysteries with Southern settings.

     ● These non-fiction books will take you around the world.

     ● The baby names authors chose for their own children.

     ● 20 of the best audiobooks of all time.

     ● Eight authors like Hilary Mantel.

     ● Ten bingeable (and complete) mystery series you can enjoy right now.

     ● Four atmospheric thrillers with unexpected settings.

     ● The new seniors of crime fiction, on page and screen.

     ● 25 of the best non-fiction books of all time.

     ● The 72 best crime drama and thriller shows on Netflix: 2023 edition.

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.

Wishing All of You the Best of All Possible New Years 

With Plenty of Good Books to Read!