An All's Quiet Weekly Link Round-Up

 

Another quiet week at Casa Kittling. Oh, we've been out and about a bit, and I've moved my blogging spot back out into the front room so I can keep my feet up, type, and watch all the birds out of the window. I've also  been making more lists and feeling smug as I check completed tasks off. But... it's nothing to write home about. I think Denis and I are in some kind of limbo, waiting for that MRI so the doctors can make up their minds about the best course of action for that loose screw.

 

Construction at the Desert Botanical Garden, which was recently voted one of the most beautiful gardens in the US.

 

I'm going to go back to review writing and birdwatching. I hope you and yours are doing well. Enjoy the links!

 

 

 

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Why debutantes volunteered to be horse-riding couriers in rural Kentucky.
• DNA says you're related to a Viking, a medieval German Jew, or a 1700s enslaved African? What a genetic match really means.
• Saffron: the story of the world's most expensive spice.
• "We may lose the ability to think critically at all": the book-summary apps accused of damaging authors' sales.
• I'm sharing this although I would never say that books are trash: Books are trash, too. Remember to throw them away during spring cleaning. More on the subject from The Walrus.
  
• A garden of verses, or one of my favorite things-- about commonplace books.
• The poisonous beauty advice columns of Victorian England.
• There are too many books; or, publishing shouldn't be all about quantity.
• Mark Gatiss (think Sherlock) will head up a bookshop-based period mystery.
  

 

►Book Banning & Censorship◄

• DeSantis has signed a bill limiting Florida school book challenges. (It's an election year, so he's decided to do some backpedaling.) More on his about-face.
  
• This trans author toured red-state libraries. What she found might surprise you.
• A bomb threat was made against a bookstore in Provo, Utah. No device was found.
• Under a new law, Idaho libraries must move materials deemed harmful to children or face lawsuits.
• The Baker County (Oregon) library board has updated its policy for challenging books and other materials.
• There's a revolution happening in children's publishing. You can thank the book bans.
• Saving Lone Star literary life.
• Minnesota and other Democratic-led states lead the pushback on censorship. They're banning the book ban.
• A book banning county commissioner in Virginia censored an honor for a Girl Scout's Banned Book Library projects.
• In Superman's "hometown", a pastor vows to fight Satan's influence at the local library.
• A library board in Nevada rejects book bans pushed by conservative activists.
• The Amarillo (Texas) Independent School District burns the bridge with an organization that provides books to children.
• When a county library in Maryland supported the "freedom to read", commissioners threatened its funding.
• Maryland has passed the Freedom to Read Act.
• A Spartanburg County (South Carolina) school district has removed dozens of books under a strict new content policy.
• Two books were removed from the Santa Clarita (California) school book fair.
• Book challenges and content controversies roil the Fremont County (Wyoming) libraries.
•  Book bans, threats, and cancellations: Asian American authors face growing challenges.

 

 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• A metal detectorist discovered a 300-year-old thimble engraved with a romantic inscription.
• Centuries-old Aztec texts detail the history of their capital, conquests, and their fall to the Spanish.
• Archaeologists unearthed a 1,000-year-old ice skate made of animal bone in the Czech Republic.
• Engravings on a 2,000-year-old knife might be the oldest runes ever found in Denmark.
• Prehistoric chewing gum reveals the diet and oral health of Stone Age teenagers.
• Archaeologists uncovered a medieval castle hidden beneath a French hotel.
• Archaeologists in Pompeii have found an ancient construction site, undisturbed since Vesuvius's eruption.
• Archaeologists have found a remarkable Roman villa full of coins, jewelry, and "curse tablets".

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• A trusting raccoon brings her babies to meet her favorite human every year. (I had a wild rabbit that did the same with me.)
• A clever dog with a little red basket goes grocery shopping for her human at a farmers market.
• The wonderfully diverse array of birds within the woodpecker family.
• A study says that two new species of killer whale should be recognized.
• See the world through the eyes of animals with these stunning new videos.
• The world's first IVF rhino pregnancy could save a nearly extinct subspecies. 
• Can animals evolve fast enough to keep up with climate change? 
• Watch two border collies herd a waddle of ducks under a girl doing a backbend.

 

►The Wanderer◄

• What happened to the rare books brought aboard the Titanic?
• Inside Scotland's ancient Bone Caves.
• Twenty delightful idioms from around the world.
• Oil paintings rescued from the Notre-Dame Cathedral fire have gone on display.
• A new statue honoring Elizabeth II and her beloved corgis is the first permanent memorial to the late queen.
• In a first, the Moulin Rouge windmill blades fell off in the middle of the night.
• Take a closer look at a new sculpture that rethinks who we put on a pedestal.
• You can still die from World War I dangers in France's Red Zones.

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Twenty-five of the most mysterious deaths in history.
• Ching Shih, the Chinese female pirate who commanded 80,000 outlaws. 
• My first thriller: Hank Phillippi Ryan. 
• Karen E. Olson: On writing a modern thriller about the wives of Henry VIII. 
• Ayahs abroad: colonial nannies cross the British Empire. 
• The ancient female alchemist whose name is in your kitchen. 
• Anthony Horowitz on giving himself a role in his latest mystery. 
• The woman with the mysterious illness behind Freud's famous "talking cure". 

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Unlikely duos team up in these eleven mysteries.
• Fifteen books Diana Gabaldon recommends.
• Seven reasons you shouldn't date a reader.
• Five of the best psychological thrillers written by women.
• Ten of the best chaise lounges for reading in style.
• Eight mysteries and thrillers set during the Great Depression.
• Fourteen thought-provoking books you haven't heard of.
• Murder mysteries set at house parties.

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.

No matter how busy you may be, don't forget that quality Me Time curled up with a good book!