In Bed With Books

rel4d2:

Sat, 18 May 2013 16:01:24 -0500

dduane: bystander3: everyonessleeping: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D....

Sat, 18 May 2013 13:43:39 -0500

bystander3:

everyonessleeping:

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Official full trailer X

TRAILER. WATCH. NOW.

(…That is all.)

Can’t wait.

We’re all betting that J. August Richards is Luke Cage, right?

fantagraphics: mkupperman: Are comics serious literature? A...

Sat, 18 May 2013 08:01:09 -0500

fantagraphics:

mkupperman:

Are comics serious literature?

A Thrizzle classic by Michael Kupperman.

pinkindiaink: rookiemag: vintagegal: Seventeen-year-old...

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:01:26 -0500

pinkindiaink:

rookiemag:

vintagegal:

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Passarge of Hamburg dresses up as a cat and dances on wine bottles in June 1958. Her performance was based on a dream. She practiced for eight hours a day to do this. (x)

“Her performance was based on a dream…” Go forth, dreamers! - Danielle

Be right back, just questioning every single one of my life choices that didn’t involve dressing up as a cat and doing ballet on wine bottles.

Win the best summer job ever from Penguin Books

Fri, 17 May 2013 10:59:30 -0500

onthestrand:

Show us around your favourite ancient tracks, holloways, and sea paths and you could spend your summer trekking across the country for Penguin Books and The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane. We’re looking for someone who doesn’t mind getting their boots dirty, can string a sentence or two together, and who can get creative about how they share their journey with the world – you should already know your way around social networks and be able to produce short videos on your own.

The winner will become our Wayfarer and will get paid to travel around the UK throughout July and August on our shout (so please only enter if you’ll be available all summer). You’ll visit some of the Old Ways paths, but more importantly, you’ll strike out on your own and make some new discoveries, on or off the beaten path. You will then report back on your adventures through blog posts, photos, videos and tweets.

We’d seriously try to enter ourselves, but we’re not allowed. Enter at ajourneyonfoot.com. (and if you apply before May 27, we’ll give you lots of free books! Email theoldways@uk.penguingroup.com for more info)

That seriously is the best summer job ever.

You are my sweetest downfall. I loved you first. This is one...

Fri, 17 May 2013 08:01:20 -0500

You are my sweetest downfall. I loved you first.

This is one of my forever jams.

(Thanks deimyts.)

tessaviolet: grodus: i like this one haha this is great.

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:01:24 -0500

tessaviolet:

grodus:

i like this one

haha this is great.

I miss seeing my nephew watch this every morning. I don’t...

Thu, 16 May 2013 13:35:14 -0500

I miss seeing my nephew watch this every morning.

I don’t miss not being allowed to sing along.

Photo

Thu, 16 May 2013 08:01:00 -0500

edwardspoonhands: shiibaru: Created for my physics...

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:01:33 -0500

edwardspoonhands:

shiibaru:

Created for my physics department’s t-shirt. Currently trying to figure out how to get this hosted somewhere else to sell (RedBubble looks promising if I can get the colors to work out right), we’ll see…

————

My Little Photon, My Little Photon
Sci-i-i-i-ence!
(My Little Photon)
I used to wonder how E = mc (squared)
(My Little Photon)
Until I learned about energy!!

Frikkin sweet…

"Also, please thank your technical editor for me for her excellent work."

Wed, 15 May 2013 13:32:47 -0500

“Also, please thank your technical editor for me for her excellent work.”

- A client who said good things about me

fuckyeahdeathlyhallows: lightspeedsound: manybodies: lightspee...

Wed, 15 May 2013 08:01:02 -0500

fuckyeahdeathlyhallows:

lightspeedsound:

manybodies:

lightspeedsound:

lunapics:

theshells:

I can’t stop laughing at Harry running away, the boy who lived ladies and gentlemen.

….You realize, of course, that Hermione Granger lit a teacher on fire when she was eleven, and kept a person alive in a jar for a year when she was fourteen, and studies dark and forbidden magics for kicks, and is one of the brightest and strongest witches of her era. If she came at me, even wandless, I would aparate to Neptune to get away from her.

Hermione Granger also:

punched Draco Malfoy in the nose for being an idiot

purposefully performed a confundus charm on whatshsface WHILE HE WAS FLYING just so Ron would win (omfg that is so fucking dangerous)

literally pulled a fucking Bourne Identity on her parents and managed to set them up in fucking Australia (jesus christ she literally made it so that she NEVER EXISTED wtf that’s so fucking 007)

Convinced the Ministry of Magic to give her an incredibly dangerous and volatile device that allowed her to ALTER TIMELINES COMPLETELY (just because she was so smart, literally, that is the reason, her “potential”)

Has enough basic survival skills and badass magic to literally disappear to the middle of nowhere and flourish AND figure out Voldemort’s plot with Harry

Hermione also figures out not only what Voldemort’s plan is, but generally how to beat it, WAY BEFORE VOLDEMORT EVER DOES. Why? because she is just that much smarter and better at magic than everybody else

in conclusion: Voldemort wishes he could be as awesome as Hermione, that’s why he wants to kill her so bad.

Can we rehave this series with hermione as the protagonist.

Hermione Granger and “That Time I Used the Power of Research and Deductive Reasoning to Make Sure Harry Didn’t Die”

Hermione Granger and “That time I figured shit out and literally ended up petrified for the cause and it took my friends weeks to figure out that I had the research on me”

Hermione Granger and “That Time I Was a Time Lord”

Hermione Granger and “That Time I Realized I was Hot and Smart and Saved Harry’s Ass with Research. Again. All the Time. Really, He Would Have Died Without Me.”

Hermione Granger and “That time Harry was too emo to actually do shit so I did shit in his name because I am the power behind the throne clearly also PS fought evil deatheaters and won”

Hermione Granger and “That Time I told Harry about the Dangers of Copying off Somebody’s else’s work that wasn’t mine and OH LOOK I WAS RIGHT”

Hermione Granger and “That Time I let Harry Decide Where to Go and What To do and we ended up wandering the forests of dean for like 5 months before saving his ass at Hogwarts”

if hermione isn’t one of your favorite characters you clearly somehow read it wrong or????? I’m not sure how that happens really.

elysemarshall: nprfreshair: Sometimes you just want to read...

Tue, 14 May 2013 16:01:32 -0500

elysemarshall:

nprfreshair:

Sometimes you just want to read something funny. Which is what this piece “I Tried Gwyneth Paltrow’s Diet” by Rebecca Harrington over at New York Magazine is. It’s not another run-of-the-mill making-fun-of-Gwyneth’s-expensive-savior-complex piece because, while Harrington has a sense of humor, she also has a genuine appreciation for the recipes and food and for the fact that Gwyneth is sharing them. Heidi and I both want to hang out with Harrington:

While making the meatballs, however, I can tell something is up. No. 1: They are green (they are made of arugula and turkey). No. 2: I can’t put them in tomato sauce because I have eliminated tomatoes from my diet. Instead, I am serving them with a broccoli soup that tastes mostly like water. What is going on? Yesterday was so amazing! When my guests arrive and I feed them the meatballs, I can tell that they hate them. One of them pulls out a huge bag of chips and starts eating them in front of me. Another one leaves to “actually eat dinner.” I am about to have a panic attack when I suddenly remember when Gwyneth went to a dinner party in America and someone asked her what kind of jeans she was wearing and she thought to herself, “I have to get back to Europe.” America is the worst. I say nothing about anyone’s jeans, even though I was literally just going to ask everyone about their jeans.

Image via Neurotic New Yorker

This piece is so funny, and I say that as someone who is really enjoying Gwyneth’s cookbook.

Rebecca Harrington’s diet articles are the best and this is no exception.

And I kind of want to buy Gwyneth’s cookbook now. But you can pry my dairy and gluten from my cold, dead hands. (I went through a week in college where my doctor thought I might be lactose intolerant. One of the worst weeks of my life. OF MY LIFE.)

"My son will be two in June, and his favorite books include The Paperbag Princess, Eloise, and any..."

Tue, 14 May 2013 08:01:13 -0500

“My son will be two in June, and his favorite books include The Paperbag Princess, Eloise, and any story starring that lovable mouse Maisy. This is no accident; since our son was born, my husband and I have made sure he’s exposed to books about boys and girls. We also always recite the author’s name along with the title so that he understands that books are made by humans, male and female, for humans, male and female. We are feminists raising a boy who will become a man, and (we hope) a feminist and (we pray) a reader. If he reads diversely, he will not only have access to a wider and more complex world, but he’ll also read a shitload of great books. Plus, if he reads a lot of lady writers, he will — if he wants it — get so much more pussy. Let’s face it: nothing’s hotter than a man with an Emily Books subscription.”

- From Edan Lepucki’s review for The Millions, “Sing It, Sister! On Meg Wolitzer’s The Interestings”

[Edan and Patrick are officially the coolest parents ever.]

(via quintessentiallyquirky)

Well, I mean, okay.

(via thefeeling)

4directions: Biblioburro!

Mon, 13 May 2013 16:01:23 -0500

4directions:

Biblioburro!

harpercollinschildrens: It’s Children’s’ Book Week! How will...

Mon, 13 May 2013 15:18:17 -0500

harpercollinschildrens:

It’s Children’s’ Book Week! How will you be celebrating?

dduane: unimodus: himapapaftw: finally, it has appeared on my...

Mon, 13 May 2013 08:01:27 -0500

dduane:

unimodus:

himapapaftw:

finally, it has appeared on my dash

you say “finally” as if you were expecting this

About bloody time.

This has appeared on my dash before. I wasn’t expecting it again.

… okay, I was.

openroadmedia: “My mother did her best to make us feel unique...

Sun, 12 May 2013 16:01:19 -0500

openroadmedia:

“My mother did her best to make us feel unique and worthwhile. Over and over again, in every way she knew how, she told us that we didn’t need to earn her love. We were loved and valued (and therefore were lovable and valuable) exactly as we were.”

—Gloria Steinem, in Revolution from Within. See the latest in our Mother’s Day blog series, celebrating great mothers of great writers.

The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper for 99 cents

Sun, 12 May 2013 10:29:00 -0500

The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper for 99 cents:

This is one of the children’s fantasy novels. It’s brilliant whether you’re a child or not. At this price, I can read it on the go and save it to read to the niece and nephew when they’re a touch older. (SALE IS TODAY ONLY.)

I have GHOST HAWK, Susan Cooper’s novel coming out August, 27 2013 from Margaret K. McElderry Books (Simon & Schuster), in a big box by my bed. The wonderful guy at the TLA booth told me it was her best fantasy novel and understood that that was a big claim to make. I can’t wait to read it. Can you imagine, if it better than THE DARK IS RISING?

A Letter To My Mother, With No Swearing (Just As She Prefers It)

Sun, 12 May 2013 10:04:36 -0500

maggie-stiefvater:

I suppose this post could be for mothers of creative, strange children everywhere, but mostly, it’s for my mom. My original plan was to write this note for her on a piece of stationery, but then I looked around my office. Somehow it didn’t seem very meaningful to give her something jotted in Sharpie on a Scorpio Races postcard or the corner of a Shiver bookmark or on the back of a Raven Boys bookplate or in the blank part of an index card that already has fourteen plot points scribbled on it.

Then I thought, no, my blog is my finest stationery. A thank you note on Mother’s Day is nice. A thank you note on Mother’s Day that is searchable in Google results is even better.

So here it is.

Hi, Mom, I decided to write you a note for Mother’s Day. I’m sure this seems out of character, as I normally eschew all holidays that don’t involve cake or trees. But this year I looked at the jug of fancy conditioner I had bought you for your Mother’s Day present, and I thought: one day, this conditioner will be all gone. And then you will not remember my affection for you. This fancy conditioner won’t last for a year. It’ll last for a month. Then you’ll have eleven months of wondering if your middle daughter truly appreciates you.

Conditioner is transient. And once it has passed from this world, it’s just … gone.

So I tried to think of something more permanent. I considered artwork and furniture and knicks and knacks. However, I know that our idea of interior design differs. You have nice prints and wreathes on the walls. I have rusty metal scissors and twisted license plates hanging on mine.

And what is more permanent than the written word? Nothing.*

*with the possible exception of Gangnam Style

Here we go. I know I haven’t been the easiest daughter to have. I remember well that I was a small, cranky, sullen, black-hearted, violent child. I pinched my siblings and punched my classmates. I didn’t really eat food. Mostly I ate the same four or five items for weeks on end and then, just as you had stocked the house with these a backlog of these items, I would remove them vocally from my diet. I’m still sorry about that letter the school sent home in third grade. Hey, at least I knew you weren’t starving me, right?

I was not very huggable. I liked things my way. I was a bad child and a worse teen. I had a very particular plan for my life and when I became interested in something, I would obsessively pursue it to the absence of all other things. I cut off all my hair because I knew you didn’t want me to. I swore because you frowned when I did. I street raced so often and got so many speeding tickets that I came within a hair of losing my license. And at no point was I sorry. Also I wore black all the time.

I was just terrible.

But despite my terribleness, I wanted to tell you that I think you did an amazing job. Especially now that I have my own children**. I guess I took it for granted how you always had an art project or a book for me to read or a piano lesson all ready. Until I had Thing 1 and Thing 2, I didn’t realize how much time and consideration it took to prepare something like that every single afternoon. You took all of us to the library nearly every week and let us browse in the stacks for hours. As a kid, I didn’t even think about how you might have other ways you wanted to spend your Saturday. And even though you were allergic to dogs and cats, we had about a billion of them growing up. I remember thinking you were being unfair by drawing the line at rodents. No doubt you said this with the traditional tissue you kept in your pocket — for when the dander of six or seven dogs or cats finally got to you. How crushed we were! HOW ABOUT A LIZARD, MOM? A KOMODO DRAGON?

**At first, I typed “my own kids” there and then I thought … no, now that I have goats, that is too unspecific.

I grew up surrounded by all sorts of different art stuffs and books and scratch paper and musical instruments and I just thought that’s how everybody lived. Man, it takes a billionty hours a week for me to pull off even a quarter of what you did with me and four other siblings. I still don’t really know how you did it. But I didn’t want you to think I didn’t notice. Maybe I didn’t at the time, but I do now. Better late than never, right?

Here’s the most important thing: you never told me I couldn’t be a writer or an artist or a composer. You always made sure I had the tools to learn how to be the best writer and artist and musician I could be. We had our bumps along the way, but really, you were there at every step making sure that I could pursue that dream. Whether it was taking me to the library or setting me up with clay or hurriedly packing my stuff into a car so I could switch to a college with a Music Composition degree two weeks before the semester began … and then helping me switch colleges again when I left town after my morning classes six weeks later. At the time, I thought, of course.

Now … well, I would have killed me. Or at the very least sent me to a distant boarding school with padded walls.

Thanks for making me who I am, Mom.

Love, Maggie

P.S. I will bring your conditioner out next time I’m at the house. It’s just great stuff.