Only one "interesting" occurrence this past week at Casa Kittling. I went out to empty the trash one morning to discover that some idiot had hit a gatepost on our fence and wrecked the gate. When I went over for a closer inspection, I noticed a bright yellow piece of paper rolled up and stuck in the leaning gate.
I pulled it out, straightened it, and read, "Need a Handyman?"
Maybe I've read too many mysteries and have learned to be suspicious of motives, but I had to wonder if someone was trying to drum up business by creating situations where things would need to be repaired. It was just too much of a coincidence (another biggie in the crime fiction world) to have a damaged gate and profferred solution at the same time. Since the post is set in concrete, this is not going to be a simple repair. Happy, happy, joy, joy.
On a brighter note, look at the t-shirt I stumbled across on the internet!
Now is that perfect for us or what?!? Before anyone asks-- and I know someone will-- I don't know the name of the company that sells this, but I would imagine googling "Death by TBR t-shirt" should do the trick.
Stay healthy, stay cool, and enjoy the links!
►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄
- The Internet Archive was forced to remove 500,000 books after publishers' court win.
- The disturbing story behind Peacock's TikTok Star Murders documentary.
- Why writers are forced to become brands (and why that's bad).
- How Britain's libraries provide much more than books.
- Forget the YA novel that's "The Road" meets "Deliverance": Publishing Twitter is the true dystopia.
- Hollywood's newest money-making scheme is... books.
- Which Emily Henry books are becoming movies Happy Place, Book Lovers, and others.
- New York City libraries will get their budget funding back-- and reopen on Sundays.
►Book Banning & Censorship◄
- The real targets of Project 2025's war on porn.
- Why would a private university be leased public library space? Retaliation.
- The Katy Independent School District (Texas) bans five more books and updates its controversial library policy.
- A professor details Florida's state-directed changes in science textbooks. ("Climate change" is verboten.)
- There's nothing "advanced" about the Harford (Maryland) School Board's AP decision. (African-American studies were dropped.)
- It may not have passed in 2024, but sponsors have put a bill to arrest librarians back on file for the 2025 session in Alabama.
- The Franklin County (Virginia) public school board has approved a library book policy survey.
- Right-wing pundits and out-of-state advocates will help create Oklahoma social studies standards.
- The King William (Virginia) board voted to withdraw from the Pamunkey library system.
- A new rule restricts what's allowed on shelves in South Carolina public libraries.
- How libraries across Idaho are implementing the new materials law.
►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄
- Archaeologists have recovered 900 artifacts from Ming Dynasty shipwrecks in the South China Sea.
- A newly deciphered papyrus describes a "miracle" performed by five-year-old Jesus.
- A scientist is claiming that a long-lost Assyrian military camp devastated by "the angel of the Lord" has finally been found.
- These badges shed new light on the enslaved workers who built Charleston.
- An ancient beach destroyed by the Mount Vesuvius eruption in 79 AD has reopened after restoration.
- The oldest wine ever discovered contains a horrifying secret ingredient.
- The world's oldest deep-sea shipwreck has been discovered a mile beneath the Mediterranean Sea.
- This Rubens masterpiece was significantly altered by another artist.
►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄
- A behavioral shift: Sharks in the Gulf of Mexico have learned how to steal food from fishing nets.
- Tasmania is looking to hire a wombat walker and other odd jobs.
- Frog saunas may be the key to saving amphibians from a deadly fungal infection.
- A super smart corgi has learned sign language so well that she reacts to her humans' conversations.
- How the new Ravenmaster at the Tower of London gets the birds ready for the day.
- Charlotte the "pregnant virgin" stingray has died after a diagnosis of reproductive disease.
- Don't call wombats heroes, but their burrows do provide food, water, and shelter for other animals.
- Ants perform life saving operations-- the only animal other than humans known to do so.
►The Wanderer◄
- The Miami murder mystery that transfixed America.
- The growing evidence that Americans are less divided than you may think.
- The first tango in Paris made a stir worth remembering.
- From powwows to smartphones, see the past and present of Indigenous plains life in narrative art.
- How Colombia's biggest murder investigation was swayed by a dream.
- What happens when an American family moves to a tiny French village?
- What you need to earn to live comfortably in each U.S. state.
- Relics of the USS Arizona.
►Fascinating Folk◄
- The forgotten Black explorers who transformed Americans' understanding of the wilderness.
- This woman is killing it: Vicki Delany and the Constable Molly Smith series.
- The Smithsonian has acquired the earliest known photograph of an American First Lady.
- Remembering Mary Katharine Goddard, the only woman whose name appeared on the Declaration of Independence.
- Arthur Barry, the gentleman thief who charmed Jazz Age New York.
- Excluded from national leadership, Black women were the backbone of the Civil Rights Movement.
- Dolly Parton's Imagination Library program is expanding to every area in Kentucky. (The more I learn about this woman, the more I love her.)
- Mary McLeod Bethune was at the vanguard of more than fifty years of Black progress.
►I ♥ Lists◄
- Seven discontinued canned foods that we'll probably never see again.
- These iconic characters are about to enter the public domain.
- Fifteen dark and darkly comic thrillers.
- NPR recommends these ten non-fiction books.
- A guide to Stephen Booth's Cooper and Fry police procedural series.
- The wild western world of the Silver Rush mysteries by Ann Parker.
- Goods to make your reading nook the coziest ever.
- What the New York Times missed: 71 more of the Best Books of the 21st Century.
That's all for this week! Don't forget to stop by next Friday when I'll be sharing a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure.
No matter how busy you may be, don't forget that quality Me Time curled up with a good book!
Gosh, for a quiet couple in Phoenix, a lot sure does happen at Casa Kittling. I sure would be angry if someone did that to my gatepost and then left a note like that. Sounds like a case for the resident detectives.
ReplyDeleteHave continued reading The Hunter, a long, slow book, not a thriller, but with some excellent writing and dialogue in western Ireland. And humor, too. It's a monthlong commitment for me here. Hope you solve the mystery of the damaged gatepost. Thanks for the links.
It's a matter of gathering funds for repair, since we also have a refrigerator that's beginning to show signs of its advanced age. These things always seem to come in bunches.
DeleteUgh! So sorry that whole gate thing happened, Cathy! And like you, I do suspect something's going on... The whole thing's just maddening. I love that T-shirt, though. I may have to go looking for that one... As soon as I get back from looking at those Ming Dynasty artifacts, that is.
ReplyDeleteThe second I saw that t-shirt, I laughed.
DeleteGreat shirt. And you can be sure that only kindred souls will no what the shirt is joking about. Love that.
ReplyDeleteI do, too!
DeleteMy AC decided to act up this weekend, so I empathize with you over the fence repair. These are the times when reading is definitely a form of escape from reality ...
ReplyDeleteYes, indeed! I hope your AC is working properly now.
DeleteSorry to butt in again. I found that T-shirt! Here's the site I saw: https://mistywoodlit.com/products/death-by-tbr
ReplyDeleteGreat! Thanks, Margot. No need to apologize. "Butt in" as often as you like. :-)
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