Stunning Photographs of the Most Beautiful Libraries in the World

Topical Teaching

I love libraries and below are some of the world’s very best as photographed by British academic Dr James Campbell:

The grand Mafra Palace Library, in Mafra, Portugal

The Codrington Library was built to house the thousands of books at All Souls College in Oxford

Biblioteca Joanina, in Coimbra, Portugal

George Peabody Library, Baltimore

Admont Abbey in Austria

Click on the link to read The Call to Stop Kids From Reading Books they Actually Enjoy

Click on the link to read The Classic Children’s Books they Tried to Ban

Click on the link to read How Spelling Mistakes can Turn a Compliment into Something Quite Different.

Click on the link to read Why Spelling is Important at Starbucks

Click on the link to read The Ability to Spell is a Prerequisite for Getting a Tattoo (Photos)

Click on the link to read This is What Happens When You Rely on Spell Check

Click on the…

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October 19, 2013 0

Unique Library Buildings

September 25, 2013 0

Update on the Harper Lee Lawsuit

The Misfortune Of Knowing

Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, and literary agent Samuel L. Pinkus have reached an agreement in principle to resolve Ms. Lee’s lawsuit against Mr. Pinkus. At the moment, the terms of the settlement are undisclosed, and it’s common for such terms to remain confidential.

I discussed this lawsuit in a previous post, When Our Literary Heroes Become Victims, in which I said that “the complaint is a difficult set of allegations to untangle.” Ms. Lee alleged that Pinkus, the son-in-law of her former agent Eugene Winick, breached his fiduciary duties (by failing to be truthful, self-dealing, and failing to ‘work’ the copyright to maximize royalties) and manipulated Ms. Lee into assigning away the copyright to her classic novel. It was particularly sad to read about her failing health, which Lee alleges Pinkus exploited for his personal gain.

To Kill a Mockingbird is one of…

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September 9, 2013 0

Book Review: Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School #1)

I haven’t read any of these, but I had to reblog since the genre is listed as YA AND Stempunk! Wow.

alyshamichelle

Author: Gail Carriger

Genre: YA/Steampunk

Summary: It’s one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It’s quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to Finishing School.

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners—and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. So she enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped. At Mademoiselle Geraldine’s, young ladies learn to finish…everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but they also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage—in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends…

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September 9, 2013 0

Capote: A Biography, by Gerald Clarke (2010, e-book 2013)

Books and Movies and Stuff

(nb: I received an advance review copy of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss)

After he published “In Cold Blood,” Truman Capote was the most famous writer in America, if not the world. Its novelesque telling of a true story received widespread critical acclaim, intrigued the countless readers who bought the book, and was turned into a successful Hollywood film.

This was also the apex of Truman Capote’s life. He’d been successful as a writer, and he’d made friends with his “swans,” a group of incredibly wealthy and powerful women. “In Cold Blood” blew everything into the stratosphere. Capote had made it to the top of the mountain. All that was left was the incredible, ugly fall.

Gerald Clarke’s “Capote: A Biography” is widely considered the definitive story of the tiny acerbic writer who captivated readers.

Clarke spent well over a decade researching his biography, interviewing dozens of Capote’s…

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August 23, 2013 0

That Old Book Smell Is The Smell of Death

August 18, 2013 0

Readers’ Corner: The English Major

Chris Barsanti

Many will disagree with Mark Edmundson’s popular essay in The Chronicle of Higher Education: “The Ideal English Major.” Edmundson, a professor of English at the University of Virginia, argues that college students should choose the English major over the pecuniary rewards of degrees in econ or business.

In a weak job market, where the crushing burden of student debt makes attending college an increasingly fraught choice, it’s welcome to see somebody beating the drum for the English degree as path towards becoming an educated person.

There may, however, only be so much one can take of Edmundson’s soaring, hard-to-choke-down conclusion:

To me an English major is someone who has decided, against all kinds of pious, prudent advice and all kinds of fears and resistances, to major, quite simply, in becoming a person. Once you’ve passed that particular course of study—or at least made some significant progress on your way—then…

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August 18, 2013 0

Quote of the Week #18: August 18, 2013

j. p. bohannon

“Build a good name. Keep your name clean. Don’t make compromises, don’t worry about making a bunch of money or being successful — be concerned with doing good work and make the right choices and protect your work. And if you build a good name, eventually, that name will be its own currency.”

Patti Smith (remembering advice she got from William S. Burroughs)

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August 18, 2013 0