Going Through My Bookshelf

Over at NPR, author Lesley Blume has developed a "classic list of must-read children's books." While I applaud all of her choices (The Witches! From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler!), I have to add a few of my own:

• Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery: Okay, I may love Anne because she's a redheaded bookworm, but her feistiness, awkwardness, and imagination will warm your heart. And just try not to cry at something involving Matthew. Just try.
• Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh: Because Harriet isn't exactly a nice little girl. She's curious and a little bitchy, but she's eighty times cooler than anyone else in her class. I bet she grew up to do something really kick-ass.
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle: Her most well-known, and possibly her most endearing. Between Meg, Calvin, and Charles-Wallace, you know the universe is worth saving.
• The Giver by Lois Lowry: Oh geez, I freak out about this book. Best freakin' book ever. It's one of the most thoughtful, moving portrayals of a dystopian society ever written. Period.
• The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton: More than forty years later and Ponyboy's thoughts and struggles are still relevant. Stay gold, Pony.
• The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi: Charlotte Doyle puts the kick in kick-ass. A thrilling tale set on the high seas. What more could you want?

I could keep going, but instead I'll leave it to you. Post your favorite childhood reads in the comments!

All of These Should Be on the Cover of Madeleine L'Engle Books

The Royal Observatory in the UK recently released their shortlist for the first ever Astronomy Photographer of the Year. Which means we all win.

Naturally, a few favorites:

Call Me Gnome, Not G-Nom-Ee.

I don't even know what to say about this: the Australian Gnome Convention.

Okay, so they volunteer and do environmental stuff. And rescue gnomes. And where hats that make them look like David.

My favorite parts of their website:

• "The Gnome Rescue: 1500 gnomes rescued from a fate worse than death."
• "Nazi Gnome reprieved! (ahem, it's a joke - right?) read the story..."

The website's a little overwhelming, but then so are gnomes.

Holiday by the Sea

It's like a beach out of a picture book.

Sharks Have Fins; Pale Teen Stars Have Hair Poof

I hear Jimmy Fallon was the original choice for Edward Cullen.





Hopefully more to come...

(Jimmy Fallon, I never thought I would like you on Late Night. So far you have done a fantastic job changing my mind. Keep it up!)

If Zuckerman Had Loved Wilbur to Begin With

His nose is all crinkly!

I bet this is how Wilbur looked when he was born.

Now Is the Winter of Our Discontent

I would love to see a version of Richard III staring King Evil Ferret.

Currently the Front-Runner For Coolest Bookshelf

Oh my gosh, I want a tree bookshelf! Although it does seem a little unkosher--keeping your paper books in a fake tree.

Still--it just looks so cool!

Hang onto Your Lifevests

I haven't read Moby-Dick yet, but I do love anything with giant sea creatures.

Also, who in their right mind would hunt whales? "Here, take this spear and go out in the row boat and kill the enormous frickin' whale." How did anyone sign up for that?

Your Fate Hurtles Down at You

When I started to see book trailers around the internet, I wasn't sure what to think. I love trailers in general, but do I need one for literature? If they're anything like the new trailer for Jim Shepard's "Your Fate Hurtles Down at You" by Electric Literature, then the answer is yes.

Electric Literature presents Jim Shepard's "Your Fate Hurtles Down at You" (trailer) from Editors Electric Literature on Vimeo.

I went to a Jim Shepard reading once. I'm not a huge fan of fiction readings, since my mind tends to wander and I lose track of the narrative, but Shepard was the best reader ever. His story was engaging, and his Q&A session was the funniest thing I've ever heard in a bookstore. Plus, when he signed books, he was really cool.

Exactly Like the Book

Carol Burnett, please be my friend. Please?







Best lady punch ever!

No Wonder I Love the Oxford Comma

This might be the coziest picture ever.

Also, the whole blog, Fuck Yeah, Britain! is absolutely awesome. I had to stop myself from linking to every single picture.

Perfectly Healthy Apart From the Fact They Were All Dead

It started out normally enough. A family went to visit their newly born niece. A fun and exciting hospital visit. Until...



That's right. Tom Riddle owns the hospital*! And I bet his wife is even scarier! (Who would marry Voldemort but another creature of pure evil?) Run for your lives!

For posting this picture among the nice baby ones, I freakin' love this family.

*Okay, Tom Riddle doesn't own the hospital. He founded/donated/whatever. But I bet he pulled out the Avada Kedavra to get his plaque up there.

(Nerdiest post yet? You decide.)

It's a Four-Part Series

When Harry Potter was big, lots of people tried to cash in on the wizard craze. Now it's all about vampires. But one writer obviously has his finger on the pulse of the teen reader. Forget wizards, forget vampires, forget werewolves and zombies and unicorns. The next hot mythical creature love story is all about dragons.

An excerpt from the synopsis:

"[T]his is a story about Bonita Ingénue a 15-year-old, misunderstood young woman who gets rescued from her provincial, boring life and whisked away to a fantastical world of exciting, sensual, magic and erotic, thick, penetrating whimsy...Even though Bonnie has her pick of the litter at school, she really has her heart set on Theo, the mysterious boy who lives just outside of town in Dragon Hills. Theo has feelings for Bonnie as well, but he also has a deep, dark secret. A deep, dark dragon secret. He is a dragon."

How could you resist a grabber like that? But if you still need convincing, here's a bit from the actual text:

"You must be Bonita," Theo said, his voice low and warm, and with just a hint of mischief. He sounded the way that drives girls crazy, like an American Idol or an iPod or whatever. His eyes, the color of coals (black), seemed to be staring directly into Bonita's soul. A warming chill sent sweaty shivers up Bonita's spine.

"I am," Bonita said, registering neither shock nor joy at the realization that Theo knew her name.

"I was about to go to lunch," Theo whispered, his pointed dragon teeth looking like a bunch of finely sharpened dongs. "Are you hungry?"

"No." I don't feel like mentioning that my stomach is already full, Bonita thought. Full of butterflies. Fucking each other.

It's Printz material, I tell you! (Click through for the rest of it.) Stephanie Meyer, watch out--you've got some stiff competition.

Are You There Gob?

Will Arnett reads aloud from Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret.

What more do you need, right?





Best thing he's done since the end of Arrested Development.

It's New to You

By now, it shouldn't be too surprising that I love bookstores. I'm a total skinflint about everything else, but I love buying books. (I love libraries, too, but it's so nice to add a book to my personal library!) So used bookstores are great--books at reduced prices? Heck, yeah!

John Rossheim lists a few of his favorite used bookstores. New England folks will recognize Raven Used Books in Cambridge and Myopic Books in Providence. I would also add the Brattle Bookshop, and the basements of Brookline Booksmith and the Harvard Square Bookstore.

As for selling books back, here's a way to get rid of those novels you had to buy for your 20th Century Modern Literature class:

"There's always a need for classics like Faulkner, provided they're in reasonably good shape," says Brendan Sherar, (founder and CEO of Biblio.com, which sells used and new volumes from thousands of independent bookstores).

I guess I can get rid of a few of my multiple To Kill a Mockingbird copies...but what if I need another?

(I'm only hoarder about books, I swear.)

My Nerd Heart Swells

Yes, please!



Make sure to check out ILoveDoodle's other hip designs, too!

Your Next Vacation Spot, Right?

The people of Forks, Washington probably never thought their home would be considered a tourist town. But ever since Stephanie Meyer made it the home of the Cullen family, Twilight fans have flocked to the small Northwestern town. It might bring in money, but it also brings in bad puns, like culinary delicacy "Bellasagne."

Wonder if the filling is angsty teen.

Granted, Forks is the perfect location for the series. It's remote, it's cloudy, it's outdoorsy, and the Washington scenery is pretty gorgeous. Still, it can't be so great for the residents of Forks, who have to deal with Twilight-fan-freakouts. For example:

"Chris Cook, editor of the local paper and author of guide book Twilight Territory, says the school's principal was mobbed at a Seattle airport when a teenage fan spotted his Forks Spartan jacket and started yelling, 'He's from Forks, he's from Forks!'"

At least Harry Potter fans haven't mobbed a high school principal. (That I know of.)

The Fifth Book Was Pretty Angsty

How did I miss this one? Harry Potter meets Dave Eggers. It's like the new Where the Wild Things Are movie, except terrifying.

An excerpt from the novel that (thankfully) JK Rowling never wrote: Harry Potter and a Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius:

"REMOVED FROM CHAPTER 5:
So today the wind is perfect. Our brooms soar above the beach and we dive and swoop. We are the greatest Quidditch players who ever lived, Ron and I, we are beautiful and young. And I do this trick where I fly up to the Golden Snitch from behind and when I’m almost there I jump at it and my broom does a kind of 180 in the air—it’s probably a 360, actually, when you think of it—and I spin and a Bludger whips past my ear but does not dislodge me, no how could it, because no one has ever played Quidditch like this. I am really fucking good. And so now I am upside down and the Snitch is beneath me and I catch it behind my back, over my shoulder, one hand. Can you see this? Goddamn, look at that fucking catch."

Click through for more!

Nevermore

Kind of angsty, but it's Poe and today's forecast calls for rain, so I'm going with it. Plus, the animation is wicked awesome.

The Raven from Michael Dibblee on Vimeo.