Monday Musings

I visited Camille over at BookMoot (and she knows what the word "moot" really means, unlike most people who mistakenly believe that it means that something is self-evident or already decided; a moot question or topic is actually one that IS OPEN to discussion) and found one thing after another to enjoy, especially if you love children's literature. This post has a video about the making of a Coraline doll by puppeteer Mary Robinette Kowal; she has been commissioned to make 3 Coraline dolls and one is to go to someone who preorders the special edition of Coraline.

:P -- I know, Coraline didn't appeal to me--BUT I know many of you loved it, so watch the video, you will enjoy the music as well as the process.

Then visit Kowal's site where she chronicles the "building of Coraline"-- also courtesy of Camille and also fascinating!


**I've discovered a new possibility for the R.I.P. Challenge: The Monster Hunter's Handbook: The Ultimate Guide to Saving Mankind from Vampires, Zombies, Hellhounds, and Other Mythical Beasts by Ibrahim Amin. Oh, yeah! This looks to be right up Carl's alley!

Now, must prepare for my visit to the dentist. Two more crowns to be replaced. Damn it!

An Assortment of Goodies

Have you ever wanted a literary umbrella?


Well Luminary Graphics can provide you with one of several different
versions! Or great bookmarks, or bookbags, mugs, playing cards, or journals.

I love the Magritte bookmark!











Here is a review of new YA fantasy novel that sounds interesting. It is the final volume in the series, but the review gives background on all of them. Also, here at January Magazine there is a link to the Guardian article Defining the Decades and in the post Margaret Atwood and the Defining Books of Our Era, you can scroll down to see the complete list.

Variety Pack

Thanks to Jill at My Individual Take, I'm adding a new librarian blog to my list of reads, The Annoyed Librarian. Librarians seem to be good at satire. I try to visit Miss Information on a regular basis.

I'm almost finished with Break, Blow, Burn, so I'm feeling pretty good about where I am on the stack of 8 that I resolved to work on exclusively (more or less) last week. I have not ordered any more books, nor have I checked out any more library books. The month is almost over, and I've finished Candide, The Physics of the Buffyverse, Weight in the last week. Admittedly, two were very short (Candide is at the top of the stack) and the other I'd read about half of before putting it aside for a while.

I've also begun Palace Walk, and I'm enjoying it so far. Will I stick to finishing the "current project stack" even after February is over and before getting anything new?

Well, I don't know because the books that I've recently received are not in that stack, and they look so tempting.

Since this is a variety pack, here is a link to THINGS TO DO AT HOME WHEN YOU ARE BORED. :) This guy's imagination makes me grin.

And a link to J. K. Rowling's official site.

"So Long, Hemingway?"

I just visted Dark Orpheus, and her post reminded me of the article I read by Camille Paglia on Salon. Looked it up and here is the link. The interview covers some of her political observations, not literary criticism. Her new book, Break, Blow, Burn sounds fascinating, so I ordered it.

3:00 PM Jeez! I thought I published this before I left the house to meet the Tai Chi in the Park group. And here it still sits...a draft.

However, I've discovered another interesting article about Library Purging, which only relates something I recently realized to be true. Several times lately, I've looked for books that my library had previously had on the shelves (some classic, some just books that I wanted to read again - which is why I had to order The Lady in White in the fall). Not all of the books purged are old, they are simply the ones that have not been checked out in a certain period of time and that probably depends on the library's space considerations. I do understand that in order keep purchasing and shelving new books, libraries must make room for them and that sometimes the decisions of which books to cull are difficult ones. But so much trash is written and published and purchased by libraries (I ought to know as I read a great many books that have no lasting value beyond the entertainment of the moment) and these should be the first to go.

I'm glad I'm not a librarian - I wouldn't want to make those decisions, and I wouldn't want to have to take all the rejects home with me, which would be my tendecy.