A Reading and Watching Beauty Fly By Weekly Link Round-Up

 

With my niece back in the UK, life has settled back into Quiet Mode. I've spent most of this week "puttering." To me, puttering means doing a lot of little chores I've been putting off. I can go past things for days, even weeks, and tell myself, "I have to get to that sometime." Finally, sometime arrives, and I get myself in gear. One little chore leads to another and another and another until I feel proud of myself for how much I've accomplished. Silly me!

The only other thing I've done is dive into my ARC of Michael Connelly's latest Harry Bosch novel, The Hollow. I love how his writing quietly draws me right in, and I don't want to stop turning the pages. If I'm reading in my recliner, I pause to reach for my cold drink (usually water or juice) and look out the window. The hummingbirds still love the hanging solar fountain I got for them, but what I've been enjoying even more is watching all the dragonflies zigzag over the pool's surface. I'm convinced that someone looking at a dragonfly's wings came up with the idea of making stained-glass windows. Here's a photo (taken a long time ago!) of me with a very friendly Mexican Amberwing dragonfly who spent most of an afternoon with me at the pool. 

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone. Virtual hugs to you all. Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Why do we say "turn over a new leaf"?
• Why King Arthur still shapes pop culture.
• A PEN report shows that book bans hit an unprecedented high in the 2025-26 school year.
• Singapore pays people to pick up a book in a battle against doomscrolling.
• Penguin Random House's Jon Donovan on the new rules of book discovery: "It finds you."
• The guests for Barack Obama's book podcast have been announced.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• These soldiers were buried in an unmarked grave during the Revolutionary War. Now historians finally know their names.
• New research shows that these ancient Egyptian servants may have been brutally sacrificed and buried alongside their pharaohs. (Good heavens! The pharaohs do their own fetching and carrying in the afterlife?!?)
• What are medieval English coins doing in Rome? They could be rare evidence of a "Little England" enclave that received special papal privileges.
• A ship carrying stacks of ancient dishware sank off the coast of Turkey 2,100 years ago. Its ceramic cargo is still remarkably intact.
• The first female pharaoh? Researchers say an old photo of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics highlights the status of one of Egypt's earliest queens.
• When Jane Austen took a turn about the ballroom in Bath, ancient Roman artifacts were hiding beneath her feet. Now, archaeologists have finally found them.

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• See the winning images from the 2026 Dog Photography Awards.
• See animal shenanigans captured in photos and videos shortlisted for the 2026 Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards.
• See 20 photos of marine life, from seahorses to manta rays to orcas to turtles.
• Australia's second-smallest rock-wallaby reappears in a region where it had not been seen for 50 years.
• For decades, scientists thought an "American cheetah" once roamed North America. Turns out the extinct cat wasn't a cheetah.
• The bad dogs of crime fiction and film.

►The Wanderer◄

• The most affordable places to live the Mediterranean dream, ranked.
• Can you name the 5 coldest countries on Earth?
• The haunting history of the Apache Death Cave near Winslow, Arizona.
• Montana built a $107 million museum. Its smallest room says a lot about the thought that went into designing the space.
• On the secrets old buildings can keep.
• Building a library in wartime Paris.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• How Army librarian Ray Trautman brought the joy of reading to the front lines.
• How feminist activist Robin Morgan helped preserve the legacy of Sylvia Plath.
• The women written out of mining history.
• How the artist Veronese's dogs landed him in hot water with the Inquisition.
• Henry VIII relied on courtier John Gage to enforce his orders during the English Reformation. Behind the scenes, the Tudor politician defied his king by secretly saving a Catholic text.
• Rachel Carson's critics called her a witch.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Sherry Thomas' favorite mysteries set on the southwest coast of England.
• Mystery fiction's greatest lawyers.
• 8 cozy mysteries with real estate twists.
• The must-read historical mysteries of fall.
• 15 lesser-known books by famous authors.
• The most anticipated mysteries, thrillers, and crime novels of Fall 2026.

That's all for this week! No matter how busy you may be, don't forget that quality Me Time curled up with a good book!