Friday, December 27, 2013

Attack of the Book Links

That's me. Now, I'm wondering if there is a word for a lover of book links.  While Bibliophile sounds so admirable and respectable, I always suspect that the word for the book link lover would probably be safely ensconced in the DSM IV, or whatever number presently appears on the Diagnostic  and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Now, if you stop by and peruse my links and even, perhaps, click on them yourself, does that make you an enabler, or somehow complicit in my condition? Or does it just show solidarity for a fellow book link addict?  Of course, I am kidding about my relatively harmless mania, born of my constant desire to read and learn and know.  There aren't very many Fausts who are actually related to me, but I'm the only one who even vaguely resembles the famed literary character.  Well, without the pesky selling one's soul to the devil.  Instead, I just fritter away my time, with my eyes focused firmly on some screen or other. Unless it turns out that Mephistophiles is actually now the internet, in which case, I've gone and turned myself into the most obvious literary cliche that I could. That would totally suck.   All right, I believe I have babbled or burbled enough of my nonsense.  Now, it's on to the links.


  • Getting into the Ho-Ho-Holiday spirit, the good folks at one of my favorite internet destinations, Flavorwire has this post of 10 of the Best Holiday Books You Probably Haven't Read.  I should probably confess that I haven't read a single one of them.  I would probably go for the Sir Gawain first.  Since the first time I read The Once and Future King, I've been in love with all things Arthurian.  
  • Over at Buzzfeed, that most amusing of time sucks, one of their staffers has compiled this list of 16 Profound Literary Quotes About Getting Older.  None of us can avoid it, if we're lucky, and to hear the thoughts of famous writers on the subject, whether serious, glib or personal, is an excellent way to kill a couple of minutes and feed your brain.
  • Back over to Flavorwire we have The 15 Best Book Covers of 2013.  I believe that book covers are important.  Of course, I find myself really annoyed by the repetition you see so often now.  Even when I associate a book I've read with the cover my copy had, I am not fooled into thinking that similar covers represent the same or a similar reading experience.  I purchase a lot of books, now I even purchase a lot of e-books.  I will not buy one with really crappy cover art, even if I never see it when I read it.  It just gives the impression that no one cared enough to even try to make the book look appealing.  I've grown to associate that with the glut of self-published books that read like a thrown together first draft, and have no business pretending to, actually, be real books.
  • In that same vein, here's a Flavorwire article entitled, Completion is Perfection:  75 Vintage Dust Jackets of Classic Books.  I've got to say, in this case, I'm not really sure what all the fuss is about. There are scarcely a handful here that I find that interesting or impressive.  Some of these are beautiful and artistic, but most just leave me with a feeling of "meh".
  • A While back, Popsugar posted an article of books to read before the movies came out.  According to the article title, they were all do out in the spring of 2013.  I do not recall quite a few of these being out yet.  Of course, The Book Thief is too brilliant to be captured on film and I'm really not sure I could watch the movie. The article, in its woefully slow loading slideshow, has its merits.  According to the book cover for If I Stay, the Gayle Forman book, USA Today believed it would be great for fans of Stephenie Meyer.  That just strikes me as incredibly weird.  On the plus side, Joss Whedon filmed Shakespeare and Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is going to be Igor in a retelling of Frankenstein.  
  • I never know what to tell people when they ask me what I want for birthdays and holidays. This year is no different, but I have been poring over all of the bookish gifts out there.  Here's a list from Buzzfeed of 37 Ways to Proudly Wear Your Love of Books.  Many of these are just too hideous for words, while some are cute, but a little too twee.  The Alice in Wonderland pantyhose are just tragic, if you ask me.  I love the totes, but I keep noticing that people make totes with literary statements, but none of them look like they could carry a book without falling apart.  That is just unacceptable.  If you make a truly great book tote, inside and out, the book nerds of the world will beat a path to your door. Barnes and Noble makes great ones with summer and winter holiday themes every year and they are my favorites.
  • By the time I post these, if you were going to get any of these for the holidays, you would have already received them.  But, here are what Buzzfeed calls, 20 Thoughtful Gifts for the Bookworm in Your Life.  Some of these actually have potential. I think I would like one of the literary infinity scarves you see around the interwebz. I can never decide which I'd really like to have... and they are always just ivory, and that seems very boring to me.  A good book, even in scarf form, deserves a little spice, or at least color, as the case may be.
  • How about 17 Of Your Favorite Books as Shirts?  Yeah, these are amazing!  
  • Over at Huff Post Books I perused this article, These Are the Biggest Heartbreakers in Literature.  Primarily, this just proves to me that saying that no two people ever read the same book.  Some of these I can see, some I can't imagine where the author came up with the idea and others I vehemently find objectionable.  
  • Back in October, The Millions posted an article called 5 Series You Probably Missed as a Kid (But Should Read as an Adult).   I didn't discover  Howl's Moving Castle  until the movie came out.  I love the movie, love the book, even though I really do consider them to be different, but both wholly enjoyable entities and was thrilled to discover a sequel to the book.   I haven't read any of the others, but this reminder has me looking them all up in my local library's online catalog.
  • A Buzzfeed staffer provides us with this post entitled, 25 Proper Ways to Read a Book. I'm not sure how helpful they are in showing what's proper in reading posture, but it does show very interesting famous people enjoying books.  I'm even willing to forgive Nathan Fillion for the book desecration... because NATHAN FILLION!!!!!
  • And, I'm going to finish up this post with a bit of symmetry unheard of in my life.  This post on The Devil's 10 Best Appearances in Literature,  which, of course, contains the one, and only, Mr. Mephistophiles from Faust.
That's it for now. I'll be back with an unending list of book links talking about the BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR!!!!  I'm just glad that so many of them appear across the board on everyone's lists. It makes it a lot easier to pick which to read next when you see so many recurring titles.

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