Sunday, November 8, 2009

The Monstrosity Gazette: A weekly smattering of all things literary...

Alligator eating a book cartoonBookish Quote of the Day:

"Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some to be chewed and digested."
-Francis Bacon



Today in Literary History...

On this day in 1602 the refurbished Bodleian Library at Oxford University was officially opened to the public. Sir Thomas Bodley, a wealthy retired diplomat, made it his cause to restore what had been in ruin for a half-century, spending four years and his own and his friends' money to repair buildings and fill bookshelves. Sir Francis Bacon praised Bodley for "having built an ark to save learning from the deluge," though not all books -- including Shakespeare's -- were welcome aboard.


 For more literary history, visit Today in Literature.



Literary Pic of the Day:

Fly By Night print 

                        © 2008 by Katie Flindall and by Owl Square Press



 New Book on my Radar:


children's book by A.S. Byatt book cover
The Children's Book
by A.S. Byatt
Pub: Knopf, 2009
675 pages
Fiction

Summary in a Sentence:

This novel spans from the Victorian era through World War I and finds famous children's book author Olive Wellwood taking in a runaway who reminds her of the characters in her books.
  
Check out these reviews from some fellow bloggers:
Things mean a lot, The Indextrious Reader, Boston Bibliophile



Interesting Links to Peruse: 

7 comments:

Nina said...

The Children's Book sounds nice!
Thanks for the history lesson. :)

Nina

Kirthi said...

I love the bookish quote! :)

Suzanne Yester said...

Love the Today in Literary History! Thanks for sharing that and the site! I have The Children's Book in my TBR pile! I actually was so eager to read it I ordered it from The Book Depository but have yet to make time for it! :( Just goes to show you our book piles are bigger than our free time!

Ana S. said...

The Children's Book seems to be a love it or hate it kind of book - I have my fingers crossed that you'll fall on the love it camp :D Love this feature, btw.

Veens said...

Welll I actually did not know about the The Children's Book :)
Sounds good!


i love that PIC :)

L said...

I just started this one. It's a project that's for sure.

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

I'm looking forward to this Byatt book as well. sounds good

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