A Gobsmacked Weekly Link Round-Up

 

Same old, same old around here at Casa Kittling. Doctor appointments, visiting nurses, keeping the birdbaths and feeders filled so all our feathered friends have plenty of water in this heat...

 

I'm about to finish one knitting project, which means I'd better pick out the pattern and yarn for the next. The other project (I normally have two on the go) will take me some time to complete, since I'm making new hand towels and washcloths for the main bathroom to go along with the new bath towels I purchased. I've still got four big cones of cotton yarn to go through, so it's a good thing I love the colors and the stitches I've chosen. The woman who comes to clean the house loves the colors, too, and she keeps a close eye on this particular project.

 

 

 

Someone asked me recently about the strange men our cameras had caught wandering around the property a while back. Thankfully, neither hide nor hair have been seen of any such creatures since.

 

You've been waiting patiently to find out why I'm gobsmacked (some British expressions are wonderful, aren't they?). Unbeknownst to me, one of my readers takes part in a podcast called Paperback Perspectives, and she recommended Kittling: Books to their followers. How cool is that?!? I've watched the episode, and the types of books they talk about are wide-ranging and include some of my own favorites like Remarkably Bright Creatures and Lessons in Chemistry. (They talk about mysteries and thrillers, too.) If you'd like to take a look, you can check it out on YouTube.

Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Is it bad behavior to want to put a dozen blurbs on your book?
• How oil companies manipulate journalists.
• Millennials reveal the phrases they heard growing up that kids are never going to hear today.
• How TikTok is driving a book-buying renaissance.
• Men's shirts button on the right. Why do women's button on the left?
• Why is Chinese art full of dragons, phoenixes, and tigers?
• Can you read a book in a quarter of an hour?
• Want to write better fiction? Become a translator.
• "It's Out of Africa meets Pretty Woman!" On the problem with comp titles.

 

►Book Banning & Censorship◄

• Florida revises school library book removal training after a public outcry.
• Records reveal that a Fort Bend (Texas) Independent School District board member is the only person pushing for library books to be removed.
• New rules on "age-appropriate" books in South Carolina classrooms are set for automatic approval.
• Books take center stage again at a New Hanover County (North Carolina) school board meeting, this time over selections in a statewide competition.
• Alpena County (Michigan) demands answers over controversial books at the library.
• Virginia Beach (Virginia) libraries scale back partnership with Virginia Beach schools as a result of the new book vetting rules.
• A Wichita (Kansas) pastor checked out LGBTQ books in protest. Librarians say the strategy could backfire.
• Three parents sue Florida over book bans.
• Here's how Utah plans to enforce a statewide book ban retroactively.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• An "exceptionally rare" painting-- dating back 300 years-- was found in plain sight in the UK. (I've always found that to be the best place to hide something...)
• A stone with a 1,600-year-old Irish inscription was found in an English garden.
• Egyptian egg ovens are considered more wondrous than the Pyramids.
• Archaeologists are excavating a medieval timber hall at the historic Skipsea (Yorkshire, England) site.
• A gold earring found in the burned ruins of an Iron Age village may reveal a "moment in time".
• The 6,800-year-old burial of a Neolithic "mayor" has been unearthed in Bavaria.
• A 130,000-year-old decorative bear bone may be the oldest known Neanderthal art.
• Archaeologists have discovered an ancient Roman swimming pool in Albania.

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• Scientists have discovered a "phonetic alphabet" used by sperm whales, moving one step closer to decoding their chatter.
• How scientists are protecting plovers' beachfront lifestyle.
• Hundreds of starving brown pelicans have turned up on California beaches, puzzling wildlife rescuers and scientists.
• Watch a mixed-breed border collie named Nimble fly through the Masters Agility Course at the Westminster Dog Show.
• Orcas have attacked an sunk another boat in Europe-- and experts warn there could be more attacks soon.
• Twenty-two pieces of medieval pet advice.
• The origins of twelve beloved dog breeds.
• How spider silk could inspire microphones of the future and revolutionize sound design.

 

►The Wanderer◄

• Mysteries set in New Mexico.
• Mysteries set in Venice.
• Alaska's rivers are turning bright orange and as acidic as vinegar as toxic metal escapes from melting permafrost.
• I wouldn't mind visiting T.H. White's grave in Athens, Greece. His Once and Future King encouraged me to do a deep dive into Arthurian legends.
• This 100-foot "walking tree" in New Zealand looks like an Ent from The Lord of the Rings-- and is the lone survivor of a lost forest.
• The owner of the world's biggest fossilized poop collection has opened a museum in Williams, Arizona. I'm tempted to visit the Poozeum.
• Over 125 years, millions of people have looked at van Gogh's Starry Night. No one really saw it until recently.
• Ursula K. LeGuin's home will become a writers residency.

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• How the murder of a Black grocery store owner and his colleagues galvanized Ida B. Wells' anti-lynching crusade.
• Bill Walton's book list has been revealed-- the basketball legend's favorite 70 all-time reads.
• Helen Taussig: the doctor who pioneered pediatric cardiology and saved "blue babies".
• Ten explorers who vanished without a trace.
• Susan Elia MacNeal on the conclusion of her series, women's role in war, and Coco Chanel's Nazi collaboration.
• Martha Gellhorn was the only woman to report on the D-Day landings from the ground.
• Dolly Parton's Imagination Library program is expanding to every area in Kentucky.
• Greg Iles on a lifetime of crime writing.

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Thrillers where the heroine saves herself.
• Ten common phrases that came from pop culture.
• Top girl names from the 80s that "did not age well".
• The most popular histories and biographies of the last ten years according to Goodreads.
• Books for fans of The Da Vinci Code.
• Atmospheric mysteries and thrillers.
• Five mysteries and thrillers that will make you laugh.
• The twelve most valuable movie posters.

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!