Hey Ho! A colleague recently left a post-it note on my monitor with the message 'Hey Ho!' across the top. I laughed myself stupid because I knew she meant it as a greeting. Anyone else might have taken it the wrong way :-)
So - blogs/sites of book interest. Ordinarily I bash on and on about the hilarity of Smart Bitches Trashy Books because, let's face it, they are FUNNY in capitals! This post, though, I mention them in passing. A post on their blog called 'DocTurtle Reads Romance' had me in stitches...which led to my heading on over to the blog 'Judge A Book By Its Cover' (belonging to his wife Maughta who is a librarian in a public library) where they, yes, judge books by their covers. I got a huge giggle out of DocTurtle's situation. He wrote a post (Titter-worthy Titling Automaton) referring to formulaic romance novel titles and how if you've seen one you've seen them all. He also created his own Random Romance Novel Title Generator (which I've had a play with and my title was 'The Assyrian Heir's Tasty Marquesa' - sounds a bit cannibalistic heh). Sarah et al, from Smart Bitches Trashy Books, issued a challenge to DocTurtle - to read Sex, Straight Up by Kathleen O'Reilly, and then a Georgette Heyer novel. Doc accepted their challenge and has since been live blogging his commentary on O'Reilly's book - and I swear, he's a riot! I snickered, giggled and chortled my way through his comments. Show me another man that would voluntarily read a Blaze novel and not be embarrassed? I hear Kathleen O'Reilly's a good sport. (Image from Amazon).
As a result of Maughta's blog I've been reading my way through all of the site (GREAT stuff) which led me to Rex Parker's own 'Pop Sensation' (he also writes every Sunday for 'Judge A Book By It's Cover'. Rex Parker has a vintage paperback collection (god do those bring back some memories of poking around in bookstores as a child) and every couple of days he pulls a book off the shelf and writes about the cover. He says 'That's it.' but really that's heaps! He takes a book and discusses the best things about the covers (front and back) and phrases that catch his interest for whatever reason - but it's the way in which it's done. It's hilarious! And the novels! The novels are fantastic - and a sign of the times. Give it a try and if you don't laugh then check your pulse 'cause it means you're probably dead and don't know it. If I could sniff disdainfully I would. (Image from Pop Sensation's blog header).
OH NO! Pop Sensation and Judge A Book By Its Cover have led me to even more links! Woe is me - crap, there goes my assignment. Try these: The Effing Librarian - god, I love the comment '...but I try very hard to avoid witnessing stupid. I turn away when I see it coming. But this was stupid out of nowhere'; I Hate Asheville - 'Yesterday our patrons were treated to a lovely bit of welcome. One of the trolls who congregate outside decided to hurl right in our entry way. Welcome to our library! Don't mind the puke'; A Librarian's Guide To Etiquette - A good librarian will celebrate freedom of information and the diversity of ideas by celebrating Banned Books Week at the library. The best way to do this is to round up all the really nasty books in your library and lock them all up in a glass display case'; Book Scans which is a visual catalogue of all vintage American paperbacks; The Society for Librarians* Who Say Motherfucker is a place for library staff to talk about what royally brasses them off, a lot strikes a familiar chord, some is sad and some outright funny, you definitely have to check out this video of an hilarious take on an old Tears for Fears music video that was set in a library.
Certainly there are more sites I could have listed and I'm wondering if I should add this to the list of regular stuff I (said I would) blog about. You know, I just might. I've been a bit haphazard lately (read bone-ass lazy) about posting more often so am going to aim for one a week. Heh, we'll see. If there are people still reading this (and I'm beginning to have my doubts but I don't care so ha! the joke's on you - maybe) then feel free to send me any funny book-related blogs you've come across. Please. And thank you!
