Lost book by Pearl Buck discovered

May 22nd, 2013

PearlBuck

From the New York Times:

Forty years after being written, an unpublished novel by Pearl S. Buck, the Nobel laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, will be released this fall, her publisher said on Tuesday.
The manuscript was stumbled upon in a storage unit in Texas and returned to the Buck family in December in exchange for a small fee, said Jane Friedman, the chief executive of Open Road Integrated Media, the publisher.
Buck, the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, is believed to have completed the manuscript for the book, “The Eternal Wonder,” shortly before she died of cancer in 1973, said her son Edgar S. Walsh, who manages her literary estate. … (click photo for more of story)

Awwww

May 22nd, 2013

A Shih Tzu dog carries a five-week old kitten back into a pillow at the Anderson County P.A.W.S. shelter. (SHNS photo by Ken Ruinard / Anderson Independent Mail)

A Shih Tzu dog carries a five-week old kitten back into a pillow at the Anderson County P.A.W.S. shelter. (SHNS photo by Ken Ruinard / Anderson Independent Mail)

From Scripps:

ANDERSON, S.C. – A dog found lost and hurt in South Carolina was discovered to be caring for some precious cargo — a tiny, nursing kitten.

When Anderson Animal Control Officer Michelle Smith climbed down a steep embankment to rescue a yelping dog, she saw a black-and-white Shih Tzu- mix curled in a tangle of bushes and briars.

But when she blinked and looked again, she spotted a tiny kitten nestled next to the dog, suckling milk from her.

“I didn’t know what to think,” she said. “I was shocked and surprised and then of course, awww.”

The dog and kitten received the same reaction when Smith took them to the animal shelter. Volunteers marveled at the way the dog, which is at least 5 years old, looks out for the 5-week-old kitten.

Jessica Cwynar, director of the shelter, says such behavior is natural for mammals.

“It would be like one of us seeing a neglected or abandoned child and taking it under our wing,” she said.

Neither the dog nor the kitten has a known name, so shelter volunteers call them “Girl.”

Though they are far from being related, from a few feet away they match with a mix of black, white and gray fur between them. … (click here for more of the story and more photos)

King says no (for now) to new e-book

May 21st, 2013

joylandkingFrom The Telegraph — Stephen King will delay releasing his newest title as an e-book:

“Stephen King fans hoping to download his new novel will be disappointed, following a decision by the bestselling horror writer to support the print version of the book.
Joyland, published on June 4 in the US and June 7 in UK, will only be available in print format, a radical decision for an author widely thought of as a digital pioneer. In 2000, he made one of his short stories, Riding The Bullet, only available as an ebook, priced at $2.50. The decision by such a high profile author was considered to be a turning point in e-publishing.
Speaking of Joyland, King told the Wall Street Journal: ‘I have no plans for a digital version. Maybe at some point, but in the meantime, let people stir their sticks and go to an actual bookstore rather than a digital one.’ …”

Preschool reads

May 20th, 2013

MadelineFrom Education.com: 50 books your child should read before kindergarten

Stories

May 17th, 2013

man-reading-to-kids-libraryTalkNerdy2meDOTorg

“Stories are where you go to look for the truth of your own life.”

– from “The Last Storyteller” by Frank Delaney

Movies from poetry

May 16th, 2013

OBrotherWhereArtThou

From Flavorwire: 10 Great Movies Based on Poems

Time flies … or does it?

May 15th, 2013

Timeflies

“Do not think that time simply flies away. Do not understand “flying” as the only function of time. If time simply flew away, a separation would exist between you and time. So if you understand time as only passing, then you do not understand the time being. To grasp this truly, every being that exists in the entire world is linked together as moments in time, and at the same time they exist as individual moments of time. Because all moments are the time being, they are your time being.”

—Dögen Zenji, Uji, found in Ruth Ozeki’s “A Tale for the Time Being”

Books ‘every man should read’

May 14th, 2013

2666adFrom GQ: The 21 books from the 21st century every man should read

‘This beautiful world in my head’

May 13th, 2013

JapeneseGardenunderredtree

“That’s what it feels like when I write, like I have this beautiful world in my head, but when I try to remember it in order to write it down, I change it, and I can’t ever get it back.”

— from Ruth Ozeki’s “A Tale for the Time Being”

After the Tsunami

May 10th, 2013

ATalefortheTimeBeingWaveFront

Here’s a link to the latest “One for the Books” column on After the Tsunami.

Worst mothers

May 10th, 2013

MommieDearestFrom Publishers Weekly: The 10 Worst Mothers in Books

Rare books

May 9th, 2013

rarebooks

From Mental Floss: 8 rare books that cost a fortune

The reader of his own self

May 8th, 2013

Books in Winter Jessie Wilcox Smith

“In reality, every reader is, while he is reading, the reader of his own self. The writer’s work is merely a kind of optical instrument which he offers to the reader to permit him to discern what, without this book, he would perhaps never have perceived in himself. The reader’s recognition in his own self of what the book says is the proof of its truth.”

– Marcel Proust,
“Le temps retrouvé”

Books about cities

May 7th, 2013

NewYorkCityLowerManhattan

From The Guardian: Leo Hollis’s Top 10 Books About Cities

Hidden rooms

May 6th, 2013

GoogleHiddenRooms

From Gizmodo: Did you know there are hidden rooms at the offices of Google?

Can you read this?

May 3rd, 2013

Try this test: Can you read the following?

7H15

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PR0V3

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C4N

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7H1NG5!

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17  WA5 H4RD

BU7

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17,

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7H15.

How’d you do? Isn’t it amazing how powerful the human brain is?

Run for the Roses Saturday

May 2nd, 2013

KentuckyDerbytwo

Kentucky Derby Odds (from Associated Press):
Kentucky Derby Odds
The Associated Press
Field for Saturday’s 139th Kentucky Derby:
PP Horse Trainer Jockey Odds
1. Black Onyx Kelly Breen Joe Bravo 50-1
2. Oxbow D. Wayne Lukas Gary Stevens 30-1
3. Revolutionary Todd Pletcher Calvin Borel 10-1
4. Golden Soul Dallas Stewart Robbie Albarado 50-1
5. Normandy Invasion Chad Brown Javier Castellano 12-1
6. Mylute Tom Amoss Rosie Napravnik 15-1
7. Giant Finish Anthony Dutrow Jose Espinoza 50-1
8. Goldencents Doug O’Neill Kevin Krigger 5-1
9. Overanalyze Todd Pletcher Rafael Bejarano 15-1
10. Palace Malice Todd Pletcher Mike Smith 20-1
11. Lines of Battle Aidan O’Brien Ryan Moore 30-1
12. Itsmyluckyday Eddie Plesa Jr. Elvis Trujillo 15-1
13. Falling Sky John Terranova II Luis Saez 50-1
14. Verrazano Todd Pletcher John Velazquez 4-1
15. Charming Kitten Todd Pletcher Edgar Prado 20-1
16. Orb Shug McGaughey Joel Rosario 7-2
17. Will Take Charge D. Wayne Lukas Jon Court 20-1
18. Frac Daddy Kenny McPeek Victor Lebron 50-1
19. Java’s War Kenny McPeek Julien Leparoux 15-1
20. Vyjack Rudy Rodriguez Garrett Gomez 15-1
x-21. Fear the Kitten Mike Maker Alan Garcia 15-1
x-also eligible
Weights: 126 pounds. Distance: 1 1/4 miles. Purse: $2,199,800 if 20 start. First place: $1,439,800. Second place: $400,000. Third place: $200,000. Fourth place: $100,000. Fifth place: $60,000. Post time: 6:24 p.m. EDT.

Literary small towns

May 1st, 2013

FramingInnocenceFrom Publishers Weekly: The best small towns in books

Always ask the story

April 30th, 2013

WomanLookingAtPaintingMyronWood

“Never ask the poet, always ask the poem. Never ask the painter, always ask the picture. Never ask the storyteller, always ask the story.”

— from The Last Storyteller by Frank Delaney

Inspired tats

April 29th, 2013

thelittleprincetattooFrom Publishers Weekly: The Five Books That Inspired The Most Tattoos

(The Little Prince artwork shown from Bookriot.com)

Moms’ Own Stories

April 26th, 2013

InstantMomBloomHamptonUntilISayGoodbyeForMyDaughters

Here’s a link to the latest “One for the Books” column on Moms’ Own Stories.

She’s a reader, all right

April 25th, 2013

Found on Facebook:

Hermionereads

What book made you love books?

April 24th, 2013

PolkaDotTotsbookFrom Publishers Weekly: What was the first book that made you love books?

World Book Night!

April 23rd, 2013

worldbooknightlogo

Besides being Shakespeare’s birthday (and Miguel de Cervantes’s birthday as well), this is also World Book Night! I shall be hitting the streets, giving out copies of Margaret Atwood’s THE HANDMAID’S TALE. Please drive carefully, and don’t hit any book givers.

The most hated celebrity is …

April 22nd, 2013

gwynethGwyneth Paltrow.

What?

Yep. Apparently, people hate her for being “arrogant,” “pretentious,” and “condescending.”

Imagine that — according to HuffPost, in a poll, she beat out the Kardashians, John Mayer, and Lindsay Lohan as most hated.

I’ve always liked her. Hunh. Go figure.

Indies Choice Awards

April 19th, 2013

From Publishers Lunch:
The American Booksellers Association has announced a popular set of Indies Choice Award winners for 2013:
Fiction: The Round House: A Novel, by Louise Erdrich (Harper)
Nonfiction: Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, by Cheryl Strayed (Knopf)
Debut: The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey (Little, Brown)
Young Adult: The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green (Dutton Children’s). John Green also won their “Indie Champion Award”
Middle Grade: Wonder, by R.J. Palacio (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
Picture Book: Extra Yarn, by Mac Barnett, Jon Klassen (Illus.) (Balzer + Bray)
In each category they named five honor books as well–including recent Pulitzer-winner The Orphan Master’s Son, plus five books first previewed in last year’s Publishers Lunch Buzz Books 2012 (The Dog Stars; The Orchardist; The Yellow Birds; Every Day; and The Last Dragonslayer).

Earth II?

April 19th, 2013

Keplerplanets

From CNN: Three new planets have been determined to be able to sustain life.

All’s well that ends well

April 18th, 2013

thegreatgatsbyFrom Publishers Weekly: What are the 10 best book endings?

(When I was younger, it was “Gone with the Wind” that was said to have had the best ending.)

More challenged books

April 17th, 2013

From Yahoo News: ‘Fifty Shades’ makes list of challenged books

“Fifty Shades of Grey” and its sequels have made the new list of challenged books that are most likely to be removed from school and library shelves.

I don’t know about libraries, but the “Fifty Shades” books have NO business being in a school. But that’s just MY opinion.

More challenges: Dav Pilkey’s “Captain Underpants” (Are you kidding me?)

Sherman Alexie’s “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”

Jay Asher’s “Thirteen Reasons Why”

Toni Morrison’s “Beloved”

2013 Pulitzer Prizes

April 16th, 2013

orphan-masters-sonFrom PBS:

The 2013 Pulitzer Prize winners were announced Monday at a ceremony at Columbia University.

Winners in the letters, drama and music categories:

Poetry: “Stag’s Leap” by Sharon Olds, a book about grieving and healing at the end of a marriage.

Fiction: “The Orphan Master’s Son” by Adam Johnson, a novel about a young man’s life in North Korea, one of the world’s most isolated and potentially dangerous countries.

Drama: “Disgraced” by Ayad Akhtar.

History: “Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America’s Vietnam” by Fredrik Logevall.

Biography: “The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo” by Tom Reiss.

General Nonfiction: “Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America” by Gilbert King.

Music: “Partita for 8 Voices” by Caroline Shaw.