19 book cover clichés

From Buzzfeed: 19 book cover clichés.

Damn, I check a lot of these in.

See also:
Book Smugglers: Cover matters: On clichéd covers in fantasy
The Times Literary Supplement Blog: Cover versions
Pinterest user MaryMac69's board for Funny as shit book covers

Adventuretime in the library

Warmer... warrrrrmer... cold. Coldish?

25 signs you're addicted to books

Some fluff from Buzzfeed: 25 signs you're addicted to books by Summer Anne Burton.

Applicable to me:
#2 - When you’re reading a good book, you forget to eat or sleep.

Well, I remember. I just don't care/put it off.

#3 - Your ups and downs are completely dictated by the book you’re reading.

Usually only for very very sad books bumming me out.

Really, I'm pretty much thinking of The Sparrow by Maria Dora Russell here.


#15 - The stack of books by your bed resembles the beginning of a Jenga game.

Not the nightstand. I use that for more nightstandy things! But I'd be lying if I denied Jenga towers in other places.

#22 - Sure, you work out! You know that even reading itself can be exhausting.

I like the term 'bookache'.


#23 - You often have spats of, uh, “insomnia.”

Not often. But once in a while...

And, just because I thought it was cute:

Book recommendation: Don't make me think, Steve Krug

The instructor of my Library Software class had a few book recommendations for us when we began. At the time, I was also taking a Reader's Advisory class, so most of my reading time was spent on books I'd selected for that. I got the e-book of Steve Krug's Don't make me think and kept it until I could choose what I was reading again.

I F'd my blog a little more. It was always pretty F'd up. 

This is a great book! If you are at all interested in web design or in software, grab this book and give it a read. It's not long - the author stated he wanted to write a book that could be read during one plane ride - and it's pretty funny, or at least I think so. The concept is pretty simple: web navigation should be as easy and intuitive as possible; don't make the user slow down to think. I'm not finished it yet, but I've already made a small change on this site because of this book: I've changed the colours of the links so they're brighter and more obvious. I'm pretty happy with the rearranged sidebar, too, though I shifted that around before reading the book - that was a result of one of the LS classes, too, which touched on the F-layout design.

Snow White and the seven formats: a digital preservation fairy tale

Meanwhile (or I suppose a while ago), at the Library of Congress...

"In a recent meeting, some colleagues and I discussed the age in which individuals should start understanding the basics of digital preservation. I suggested that, with children creating digital files earlier and earlier, it should be taught as early as possible. The question, of course, is how to get youngsters interested in preserving their data. Fortunately, while doing some research I was able to find a digital preservation fairy tale in the digital archives of the Brothers Grimm. Here is the never-before published tale of Snow Byte and the Seven Formats (movie rights pending). I promise it will make a great bedtime story – they’ll fall right to sleep.  (I would like to thank my wonderful classmate Sara Allen for her invaluable contribution and illustrations)."

I laughed. Also I've been wanting to use that 'Post-It Note' picture on the left for ages now. I actually still have a stack of these in a desk drawer.

I like digitization - especially searchable text content - but constantly updating the file formats is maybe not so awesome.

Actually, while we're at it... I really like this table, too. Did anyone else absently thumb slide the metal bits on these disks back and forth like I did?

Ancient Egypt vs. the internet

Well, it's not untrue.

The five stages of disruption denial

Yoinked from a LinkedIn group, The five stages of disruption denial. Originally I clicked on this when all I could see was 'the five stages of disruption' and I thought it was some kind of awesome new SHUSHING TECHNIQUE. As in, when do you step in to shush? How do you shush? However, this Harvard Business Review blog article is actually about adapting to and adopting change. In this case: Twitter. Which reminds me:

"Game of Thrones reminds me of Twitter a lot because there are 140 characters and terrible things are constantly happening"

Lord of the Rings PSAs

It made me laugh. My favourites are the first two and the second-last one. Talk, walk, and throw!

Paging Becky...

It's LIKE content, only not quite.
Graduation is right around the corner. See you soon?

Moon People and Other Horror Stories

Because I'm just that kind of person, when I see something awful that makes me laugh I feel the need to share it. Thus, I give unto you The Worst Book Ever is Moon People from the Publisher's Weekly News Blog. Do check out the other 'worst books ever', too.

There's probably something to be said about Publisher's Weekly picking on a vanity press book, but I'm not going to come up with it. Why? Laziness. Be grateful you're getting an update at all!

Bear Police

I'm probably not supposed to find this Penny Arcade strip funny, but I do. I so, so do.

"You probably remember Berenstain Bears quite well, assuming you endured a larval state and did not simply emerge from your father’s head, fully formed, like Athena. Well, they’re still making them: they’re still making most of those things. They’re still making Goofus and Gallant for Chrissakes, except now Goofus retreats into his hoodie with his iPod while Gallant helps his mom with Powerpoint. But these Bears, man! They’re still bearing it all the way up."

Library Science Terms That Sound Dirty

From McSweeney's, Library Science Jargon That Sounds Dirty. I am pleased to report I know what most of these terms refer to, though clearly the second year in my program is necessary because I do not know all of them.

Favourites:

1. Technical service
2. Information package
3. Full entry

I do not know what the flip a Warwick framework is and am actually too lazy to Google it.

I am also sad I didn't keep a record of random strange Library of Congress headings we ran across while searching up answers for our classification class. They were classy. Someone always found something good in those, at least in my immediate area, and we would promptly share with others. Or at least the lovely young woman to my immediate right and the dude behind us.

Tales from the Library

Essentially a bookmark - Tales from the Library, a site dedicated to your wacky library stories. Your wacky anonymous library stories, even. There isn't so much there, so please contribute! I know some of you out there must have things to share. Things I need to know.

Milkshake & Fries

Postcards from the Edge (of the Reference Desk)

From Screwy Decimal System: Postcards from the Edge (of The Reference Desk). A series of postcards written by a 10-year-old for a postcard campaign in NYC protesting library budget cuts. They involve heads on platters and vague threats. (Don't worry, the one she finally wrote to send in was threat-free.)

Throwing Books Out

There's a pile of books in my bedroom. They are mostly books my mother has already read: we both like thrillers and mysteries. She reads a lot faster than I do (mostly because I got hooked on computers and the internet at age fourteen and now only take time to read actual books before I go to bed, but I swear I used to go through them really fast), so this pile of books is ever-growing. It is a backlog. There are many. They are legion.

On my bookshelf, meticulously custom-built by a very handy neighbour to be so shallow as to only hold paperbacks, there are books I have read more than once. I cleaned out a big batch the last time I rearranged my bedroom to only contain multiple read books, but now there are clingers. There are books adding up, getting wedged onto the shelves. I'm really not sure I'll read The Magicians again, but it's on the shelf, stacked on top of two volumes of the Harry Potter series (have read multiple times, will probably read again). Next to that, Library of the Dead is sandwiched between On Stranger Tides* (will definitely read again) and the short story collection Fragile Things (should read again, don't recall what's in it). I don't think I'll bother reading Library of the Dead again, but it's there, cluttering up the works. I do not want to get rid of it. I do not want to get rid of any of the books. I do not want to donate them. I want to horde them forever.

Not all books, mind you. I finished one called Sizzle that I disliked so much I've been stalling on adding it to the 'books read' sidebar over to the right there. I could drop that sucker into a recycling bin, no problem. But MOST books... they linger.

I am reminded I must weed by a post by someone named Tom O'Hare in Brutish & Short, found while I rummaged about the interwebs for something to post about.

I realize that I use this weekly space to talk about my personal life too much, and I frankly don’t care. Because today, before I disclose the most wonderful things you missed on the blog this week, I would like to discuss books. And I would particularly like to discuss the newfound joy I feel when I throw books the fuck away.

I can't help it, I enjoy a foul-mouthed discussion. It's funny, read it over, think about the books on your shelf (or piled next to your dresser) and remember:

...Books are just words written on paper. They’re not fundamentally different from blogs or newspapers, except for the fact that both of those media lend themselves quite a bit more easily to the process of a) consumption and b) immediate disregard. In other words, you buy a book and you’re expected to keep it. Even after it’s gotten all of the use it’s ever going to get, you’re expected to keep it. Display it. Put it on your bookshelves and watch the gawkers gawk. Even if 90+% of those books will never be touched again, we feel a compulsion to hold onto them. To forefront them. To amass them, even though nobody will ever read them again.

* On Stranger Tides has nothing to do with the Pirates of the Caribbean movie that recently came out. Or, I suppose, very little to do with said movie. They bought the license essentially because the book and the movie shared two plot points: Blackbeard and the fountain of youth, and I guess they were trying to cover their asses or something. But anyway, read On Stranger Tides, because it is a wonderful book and I quite like Tim Powers.

Gaga the Librarian

I was trying to think of what to say about Lady Gaga's statement that she is like a librarian of glam, but thankfully The Annoyed Librarian did the work for me, making a list of the top 5 reasons Lady Gaga is not a librarian. Here is the first:

1) She can’t possibly be a librarian because she doesn’t have an ALA-accredited MLS. How dare she make such a claim! We all slogged through tedious courses with lots of group work for an entire year to make that claim, and she thinks she can can make it without that? People without MLSs saying they’re librarians are like people who aren’t God saying they’ve written the “bible” on something. It’s just not right.

Buttersafe: How Not to Use a Thesaurus

Oh, Buttersafe. You so crazy.

My First Dictionary

Today's loosely library related link is My First Dictionary, which makes me laugh because I am just that kind of person. It looks a lot like the simple dictionary I had as a kid which had illustrations demonstrating the meaning of words. The format is similar, but the content is not.

As you can see, the font on the images is pretty large, so maybe don't look at the site with someone looking over your shoulder who might be offended by terms like 'dead hookers'.

Superman in Four Panels

Superman in Four Panels by Ty Templeton. My favourite part is the bit about the monkey (not anymore).