Showing posts with label Thoughts on Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thoughts on Books. Show all posts

02 April, 2011

A-Z Blogging Challenge: B Stands For: Books


Those wonderful collections of words.

Some facts about books:

  1. There are approximately 130 million individual books in the world.
  2. Gadsby, by Ernest Vincent Wright, was written without a single "e".
  3. Around 57 books per second are bought in the USA.
  4. The Cent mille milliards de poemes, written by Raymond Queneau, has 10 pages and 14 lines on each page. Each page is cut into strips with a sonnet and can be combined in a grand total of 10^14 (around a trillion) different ways.
  5. Marienbad My Love is the longest novel ever, with 17 million words.
  6. Gone With the Wind was the first book to sell over a million copies.
  7. 8,000 different words were used in Paradise Lost.
  8. Ryoki Inoue had 1075 books published.
  9. The smallest book in the world is Chekhov's Chameleon, at .9x.9 millimeters.
  10. The world's largest book is at the Kuthodaw Pagoda, with 730 leaves and 1460 pages. Each page is 3 1/2 feet wide, 5 feet tall, and 5 inches thick.



Sources:
http://azweird.com/art/interesting_facts_about_books-745.html
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2003/10/facts_about_boo.html
http://ideasofindian.blogspot.com/2008/05/some-interesting-facts-about-books-and.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryoki_Inoue
http://www.uc.edu/profiles/palkovic.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_largest_book

Do you enjoy reading books? Do you have a favorite-book-of-all-time?


-----The Golden Eagle
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06 January, 2011

On This Last Day of Christmas: Twelfth Day, Birds, Fish, Video, The Replacement, And Writing

Technically it is the last day of Christmas, you know.

Not as many people celebrate it anymore, particularly not here in the USA, (*sigh* cheer in this country doesn't last too long) but, according to Wikipedia,  it is still celebrated throughout the world. Some do it n the 5th, yesterday, because (also according to Wikipedia) in medieval times the next day started at sundown, which meant the Night came before the Day. Now the day begins at midnight.

So it all depends on where you start.

*****

I am trying to be friends with Zemanta right now, because it really is a helpful widget.

It's just I was trying to write a post, and it just threw everything out the window. I moved an image around, it combined the text with the image's HTML, and then when I pressed CTRL+Z a few times to get rid of the image and the changes I had made, it all disappeared.

Whoo-hoo.

I suppose I could have been a little less enthusiastic about the CTRL+Z part and just cut out the HTML with the image, but I was trying to get it out fast, because it's later in the afternoon than I'd like and I want to get around to reading blogs!

I suppose I've been taught another lesson about haste makes waste--or, in this case, an obvious lack of anything at all. I won't be doing that again.

*****

Did you hear about the fish and birds that have been dying? Over 3,000 red-wing blackbirds, common grackles, and European starlings died in Arkansas, and 100,000 fish died 125 miles away. There has also been a major fish die-out in the Chesapeake Bay: 2,000,000 or so there.

It's sad. Not because these are signs the world is going to end--and this is perfect fuel for the that wacky Mayan theory--but because those were birds and fish and creatures are dying much too fast already.

*****

Speaking of animals:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/american-eagle/video-full-episode/4349/

(I would have embedded the video, but the code hates me today.)

*****

I finished The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff on Monday, and since I don't want to write a separate post to review it, here a brief idea of what I thought it was like:

Plot: A little slow at the beginning, but it moved quickly enough to keep my interest I read it in a matter of hours. Characters: Loved Mackie Doyle, probably because I'm kind of solitary and an introvert myself. Setting: Creepy and a little disturbing, and I loved the way the human prejudice and general dislike of anything unknown was presented.

Overall: 4 out of 5. J'adore the cover.

*****

I had a good writing day today, and made up for yesterday's losses (I didn't write anything yesterday). I was also inspired by the music I was listening to--Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Usually it's not my favorite music, but it actually fits my book rather well.

Which leads me to ask: Are there any pieces of music that you've felt match your writing well?

*****

Well, there's my random and miscellaneous post for the week.

Hope you have a great Thursday!


-----The Golden Eagle

07 October, 2010

Some News

I would like to call to your attention THIS POST over at Dreaming in Books.

If you comment on that post, part of a blog tour for Swati Avasthi's Split, one dollar goes toward charity. The only thing is that the comments have to be more meaningful than, say, "this books sounds awesome!" and other one-sentence phrases that are so very ubiquitous.

John (who is an awesome guy, BTW) is also hosting a giveaway for two copies of Split, in case you're interest is piqued and you want the book.

*****

Speaking of books, I really shouldn't have waited so long to write another book review.

*sigh* Sorry. I was just busy commenting and writing writerly posts and also being a wee bit lazy, and I wasn't quite sure which book to review--as you can tell from the last post I settled on She Thief by Daniel Finn. Excellent book, everyone. I think I'll review The Thief later this week, Beautiful Creatures, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and Krik? Krak! next week. (Ever heard of any of these? Just wondering . . . Krik? Krak! was actually a National Book Award finalist.)

Anywho. Have a great day, blogger people!

-----The Golden Eagle