Fun

There Should be a Word For That

Submitted by schwarz on April 22, 2013 - 5:07pm

Rita Meade wrote over at Book Riot about "a reading experience that I imagine most book-loving people have from time to time" after having tweeted this:

Waited a long time to read book. Read book. Didn't like book. Life now empty.

And Rebecca Schinsky replied:

There should be a word for that.

Rita got suggestions for lost of great invented words — like "discombookulated" for the state of being confused by a book’s plot — and here are more of the collected neologisms and portmanteaux:

Literary Genre Translations

Submitted by schwarz on April 15, 2013 - 2:18pm

made with Pulp-O-Mizer customizable pulp magazine cover generator For a bit of fun, Literary Genre Translations takes the text “I ate a sandwich and looked out the window” and translated into 19th-Century British Romance thusly:

“Being but a governess with no prospects but a fierce wit and a quick temper which is out of mode, I nibbled a soda biscuit and looked off into the glade, awaiting my dear friend—whom I surely could not come to love—Mr. Wadswortherton.”

Find more translations into Sci-Fi, Young Adult, Choose Your Own Adventure, Russian Classic and more...

10 Fictional Libraries We'd Love to Visit

Submitted by schwarz on February 13, 2013 - 3:08pm

I agree with by Ellyssa Kroski at her "10 Fictional Libraries I’d Love to Visit" post — Sunnydale High School Library (from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") is #1 on my list too!

Computer Classes @ Your Library? Program Not Responding

Submitted by schwarz on January 14, 2013 - 1:23pm

Ha — if only this technique worked!

Cartoon from Mr. Lovenstein by J.L. Westover
Hat tip to Andy Woodworth at his Idea Lab tumblr

No Christmas Tree? No Problem.

Submitted by schwarz on December 13, 2012 - 3:07pm

Here's a seasonal use for those book sale remainders, found at the I Work at a Public Library tumblr:

Hat tip to Miss Kathleen at Mental Floss.

A Bookcase Staircase

Submitted by schwarz on September 8, 2012 - 8:54am

If you have an un-carpeted staircase in your library or your home, consider giving it this treatment!

Found at Geek & Sundry's Facebook page.

Keep Track of Stephen King Characters With This Flowchart

Submitted by schwarz on July 13, 2012 - 8:44am

Some of the characters in Stephen King's books appear in more than one story, so to help you track all the places they pop up, graphic designer Gillian James has created a Kingverse flowchart.

(Note: Gillian doesn't include the Dark Tower series yet.)

Source: The Stephen King Universe Flow Chart [Tessie Design Company]
Hat tip: Keep track of the Stephen King universe with this handy flowchart [io9]

Haven't Read This Month’s Bookclub Book?

Submitted by schwarz on March 12, 2012 - 8:24am

The article "Discussion points for members who have not read this month’s book" offers a dozen wry ways to fake it through your next book club meeting.

Here are two of my favorites:

"A book’s setting is crucial to establishing mood. If this book had been set in Darfur instead of in Glen Burnie, would you be more likely to have read the whole thing by now? Why or why not?"
"In your opinion, is this book fiction or nonfiction? Support your view with examples taken from the jacket copy."

Read all 12 of them all at Ann Hodgman's Shouts & Murmurs column in The New Yorker.

A Visual History of Literary References on "The Simpsons"

Submitted by schwarz on February 14, 2012 - 8:26am

"The Simpsons" TV show has been on the air for 23 seasons, and in that timespan has made mention of numerous books and magazines. Most -- if not all -- are due to the bookworm of the family, Lisa Simpson.

Books, Computers, and the Ability to Travel Through Time & Space

Submitted by schwarz on December 14, 2011 - 11:15am

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette political cartoonist Rob Rogers created this cartoon that's been springing up on library bulletin boards across the counrty:

The Ides

Fun