Literary Links: March 9th Edition

The next best thing to reading an actual book.

Suit Says Sherlock Belongs to the Ages: A modern controversy over Sherlock Holmes. An update on the Doyle estate law suit.

Source: www.ala.org

Alarm over secondary school reading habits: Does it really matter what books high school students are reading, as long as they're reading? According to this study, yes, it does!

"Men's Fiction" vs. "Mommy Porn": As the popularity of books like Fifty Shades of Grey grows, a new genre is born. I smell hypocrisy and sexism...

The 11 Most Surprising Banned Books: I can almost understand about the dictionary, but Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Seriously???

The 15 Most Overrated Contemporary American Writers: Do you agree? Why or why not?

Friday @ the Forums: March 8th

We are one week into our Sherlock Holmes reader's choice selection this month. Here's what else is going on around the forums this week.

Book Club Contest for Gadfly: Want to join me for a side read in June/July? - Our Shelftator Angie is gathering CWAtC'ers for a side read in July. Check it out for more info.

Strange Bedfellows - What are the strangest books grouped together on your bookshelves? Or what are the strangest books you read together or right after each other. 

Source: Karena Fagan

The Bad Girls of Literature - To be clear we're not looking for the "badass" girls (e.g. Lisbeth Salandar), but more like the Hatsumomo from Memoirs of a Geisha or Emma Bovary from Madame Bovary. 

Classic Books Mentioned in Other Classic Books - Recently we read The Age of Innocence and both Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life and the author Alphonse Daudet. Do you know of any?

I Managed to (Re-)Read it and I Liked it! - Anil on our forums started this one and it needs some love. Anyone else have a book you hated then tried again and loved?

Next week we look at the Sherlock Holmes discussions that are going on! 

Literary Links: March 8th Edition

The next best thing to reading an actual book.

Insane Literary Lego Projects - Absolutely phenomenal. Now my lego house is looking a bit amateurish though. 

6 Reasons We're in Another 'Book-Burning' Period in History - This was written a couple years ago, but it doesn't make the info any more interesting. 

Waking to Consciousness With the Word: Reading to Children  - Writers get it. 

What Your Brain Sounds Like on Books -  I always say books should have soundtracks and this was a great example of it. 

10 Big Time Literary Drunks - So the question is, would they have written even better if they'd been sober?

Wikimedia Commons

Literary Links: March 7th Edition

The next best thing to reading an actual book.


10 Superbly Bookish Statues - I have the perfect place for a couple of these. My garden would be awesome.

Bookish Jobs that Would Make Readers' Lives Easier - I totally could be a book therapist, but I need a book butler. 

Drag Queen Gets to Read to Kids After All - Martha Graham Cracker. Best Name ever. Also a great ending for this story.

Google images

How Well Do You Know Your Fonts? - What was your score?

Yale Awards $1.35M to Nine Writers - 59 writers from around the world were nominated. What a great honor. And the money isn't bad either. 

Book Association: Sherlock Holmes - Part 1

Our Goodreads group is reading Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle this month. We're doing reader's choice on which of the perceptive detective's novels to read. This week's book association theme is bromances based on the relationship between Holmes and Watson.

Three Musketeers - All for one and one for all, D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis are besties with some serious sword skills.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - An adventure down the Mississippi River with danger, excitement and a fight for freedom makes for a powerful friendship for Huck and Jim.

The Kite Runner - In Afganistan, Amir and Hassan's friendship has its ups and downs, much like the kites they fly.  

A Prayer for Owen Meany -Two of the most unlikely friends forge a bond, but will it be enough to keep them together?

A Separate Peace - Set during the early years of WWII, Gene is befriended by the charismatic Phineas while at a boarding school in New Hampshire.

Literary Links: March 6th Edition

The next best thing to reading an actual book.

This Book Will Change Your Life: Who needs a bartender to listen to your woes when you have a perfectly good bookstore employee ready to listen right down the road?

Source: Google Images

Sharing Our Love of Books, One Way, Or Another: I wish I had a grandmother like his! (Unless sharing a love for Russian stacking dolls is the same thing...)

The Sexual Caterwaul: From Gaius Valerius Catullus to J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI's fight against obscenity in literature.

Fresh Ink: New Books Out Today: Some of these look great! I'm totally going to read The Girls of Atomic City!

Meet-a-Tator Tuesday: Laura

Who are we? Easily the coolest people around. For the next five weeks we'll do Meet-a-Tator Tuesday where we'll share each Tator's story.

This week we introduce you to Laura, who was the most recent to join the team. As Gametator, Laura is our go-to gal for fun and games literary style. She adds a little more fun to our reading! 

Laura

Title: Gametator

Fave books/authors/genre: My favorite authors are Margaret Atwood and the real V.C. Andrews.  There are many books that have had an impact on my life, including The Misanthrope and The Great Gatsby.

Tell us about yourself: I am a mother, wife, and personal banker.  I have my degree in Political Science and British Literature, and am very happy to connect with members of this fantastic group!

Hypothetical Question:
What 3 things do you think will become obsolete over the next 20 years?

• Newspapers
• CDs
• Travel Agencies

“Books are delightful society.  If you go into a room and find it full of books - even without taking them from the shelves they seem to speak to you, to bid you welcome.” ~William Ewart Gladstone

Twitter: Follow me @lauraoffmahn

Literary Links: March 5th Edition

The next best thing to reading a book.

Public Domain

7 Book Dedications that Basically Said "Screw You" - Along the same lines as be nice to me or I'll kill you off in my next novel. 


Gearing up for World Read Aloud Day - An event we can all get involved in. 

11 Books That Make Great Dates - Hmm who to cuddle up with on a Saturday night? Hamlet or Breakfast at Tiffany's?

Overcoming the Odds: Student learned English by playing video games - Close to my heart as I live in Santa Cruz, but what an amazing story. 

How to Dump a Reading Slump - I'm trying the third step in this as we speak, reading A Modern Witch before jumping back into the classics on my list.

Now announcing....

...we have a Google+ account as well as a Pinterest! The Pinterest is a work in progress, but you have to start following us so we can invite you to the community boards! Also join our community on Google+. We have some ideas in the future for maybe a Hangout or two! 

Let us know here if you have an idea for a board on Pinterest that we should add! 

Literary Links Edition: March 4th

The Next Best Thing to Reading an Actual Book

Wrestlemania Reading Challenge  A digital reading program.

James Patterson  See as he promotes reading as well.

Rabbi was confidante to Robert Frost  This sheds some light on the poet's influences.

Why You Should Read Shirley Jackson  And not just "The Lottery."

Erasing Death New book suggests restoring life after death is possible.

Ep #7 Life of Pi

Ep #7 Life of Pi 

This episode finds our fearless Booktators, Karena and Jeane, welcoming a third host to the podcast, our Techtator, Jared, who promises to add some nonfiction viewpoints and male perspective to the show. We'll see if he can deliver. Gametator Laura has a new game on the forums and we clear up how book selections are made after some forum shenanigans. We delved into Life of Pi by Yann Martel, but not before Karena finally tackles the elusive New Adult category and Jared shares the pros of bibliophiles using Bento. We wrap up the podcast by announcing May's book selection and set up June's choices. 

Where's my bookmark and other books we mention:

• Dodger by Terry Pratchett
• A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• A Modern Witch by Deborah Geary
• These Days Are Ours by Michelle Haimoff
• The Cranes Dance by Meg Howrey
• Max and the Cats by Moacyr Scliar
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
• Le Petit Chose by Alphonse Daudet

Books we didn't mention, but wanted to (examples for the New Adult category)

• The Book of Jonas by Stephen Dau (immigration story)
• The Girl Who Fell to Earth by Sophia Al-Maria (memoir) 
• Brain on Fire by Susannah Calahan (nonfiction) 
• Horns by Joe Hill (horror)
• The Magician King by Lev Grossman (Fantasy)

Websites we mention: 

• http://blogs.slj.com/adult4teen/2013/01/03/new-adult/
• http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/lifeofpi/

Literary Links: March 3rd Edition

The Next Best Thing to Reading an Actual Book



Five Destinations for Romance in Literature  You must be in love...you're positively glowing. 

How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia  A Book Review.

Rudyard Kipling   Fifty Poems Unearthed.

The Cat in the Hat Author Has a Birthday   And how did you celebrate? 

Book Cakes  For the Hungry, Hungry Reader! Have your cake and read it too.