books

1y

American novelist, essayist, and short story writer F. Scott Fitzgerald was born #OTD in 1896.

He is most famous for his novels that capture the Jazz Age and Roaring Twenties, a time of economic prosperity, cultural change, and excess following World War I. Although he achieved temporary popular success and fortune in the 1920s, Fitzgerald received critical acclaim only after his death.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Scott_Fitzgerald

Books by F. Scott Fitzgerald at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/420

#books #literature

Fitzgerald in 1929

Nickolas Muray - Variations of this photo, both black-and-white and colorized, were published in a variety of newspapers and magazines throughout the year 1929. This scan is sourced via ElectricLiterature.com.

Portrait of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald used in a year-long print advertising campaign for the Woodbury Soap Company, in which Fitzgerald featured as one of three judges—the two others being actor John Barrymore and newspaperman Cornelius Vanderbilt IV—who were purportedly selecting the winners of monthly beauty contests.

Edited 1y ago

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72d

Who Was the Real Good King Wenceslas Behind the Christmas Carol?

Good King Wenceslas is one of the most popular Christmas carols, but who was the real Bohemian duke behind the heartwarming story?

by Elizabeth Morgan

https://www.thecollector.com/real-good-king-wenceslas-christmas-carol-2/

Christmas Carol at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46

#books #literature

Good King Wenceslas, illustrated in Christmas Carols, New and Old from an 1879 book by Henry Ramsden Bramley, engraving by Brothers Dalziel .

An 1879 illustrated sheet music page for "Good King Wenceslas" from Henry Ramsden Bramley's "Christmas Carols, New and Old," featuring a dramatic engraving by the Dalziel Brothers. The image shows King Wenceslas and his page trudging through snow, above four verses of music notation with lyrics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_King_Wenceslas#/media/File:Good_King_Wenceslas.jpg

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93d

new from journalist #AdamJohnson

"#HowToSellAGenocide is a thorough indictment of US corporate #media’s role in enabling—and, at times, directly inciting—one of the most devastating campaigns of mass killing in modern memory."

(all royalties go to Middle East Children’s Alliance)

https://www.plutobooks.com/product/how-to-sell-a-genocide/

#Gaza #GazaCoverage #Palestine #Israel #PalestineCoverage #USmedia #mediaCriticism #MSM #books @bookstodon

cover of book:

HOW TO SELL A GENOCIDE: The Media's Complicity in the Destruction of Gaza

Adam H. Johnson

image (photo, at top): Biden meeting with Netanyahu on July 25, 2024 (Getty Images)

Edited 93d ago

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93d

Questions on the Beautiful

Few great visual artists are especially good writers, Eugène Delacroix was one of the exceptions.

By Alice Gribbin

https://www.alicegribbin.com/p/delacroix-the-beautiful

Delacroix at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/47658

#books #painting #literature

Eugène Delacroix: Arabs Traveling (1855).

The painting shows Eugène Delacroix’s Arabs Traveling (1855), depicting a small caravan moving through a rugged, mountainous landscape. In the foreground, a rider on a dark horse turns slightly, draped in flowing white garments and a turban. Nearby, another rider on a pale horse is guided by a man walking alongside. A fourth figure, carrying supplies and a long firearm, looks toward the travelers.

The terrain is rocky and uneven, with steep slopes leading into distant valleys. The sky is expansive, filled with soft clouds and warm light.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Delacroix_-_Arabs_Traveling,_1855.jpg

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93d

“The great American novel, and not a word in it- no music, too”

Milt Gross, famed for 1920s comic satire, tackled the wordless novel in 1930. He Done Her Wrong playfully parodied Lynd Ward’s somber style, swapping moody woodcuts for a far sillier, comic storyline.

By John Mark Ockerbloom

https://everybodyslibraries.com/2025/11/23/the-great-american-novel-and-not-a-word-in-it-no-music-too/

#books #publicDomainDayCountdown

Title page from He Done Her Wrong by Milt Gross.

The image shows the title page of Milt Gross’s He Done Her Wrong (1930). It features bold, hand-drawn lettering with an exaggerated, cartoonish style typical of Gross’s humor. The title dominates the page, rendered in large, playful block letters. Beneath it appears the author’s name, also illustrated in a lively, comic manner.

Decorative lines and flourishes frame the composition.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Milt_Gross_(1930)_He_Done_Her_Wrong_(title_page).jpg

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50d

"Before Nicolás Maduro and Hugo Chávez, there was #CiprianoCastro. Before Donald Trump, there was Theodore Roosevelt. And before petroleum, there was asphalt pitch. The following excerpt from #AmericaAmérica: A New History of the New World is a timely reminder that behind today’s headlines announcing any given crisis in #LatinAmerica often stands a long history of imperial outrages."

https://www.thenation.com/article/world/venezuela-tar-wars/
#Venezuela #USimperialism #LatinAmericanHistory #plusÇaChange #books @bookstodon

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91d

Ebook and paperback: https://books2read.com/LegacyOfNewts

The undead witch that rules the space pirates, known as the Dead Queen, has finally been defeated. That only makes it worse for the witches that pulled it off. She’s livid and coming for them, at least once she gets her star ship back under control…

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #sciencefantasy #scifi #actionadventure #fiction #books

(Left) The cover of Legacy of Newts, by Owen Tyme.

In the background dawn, as seen from space, above a blue world.

In the foreground is a line drawing of a red spotted newt, in white. The lines of the newt are outlined in black, to help it stand out. The interior of the line drawing has been filled with the image of a spiral galaxy in red, orange and yellow, with a blue color that shades to white at the center, which lines up with the newt's head. The galaxy almost looks like fire.

(Right) The background is a blue and orange nebula, with the following text over it:

“You gotta be real strong, real bright, real quick, or real lucky to survive drawing *attention*. Which are you?”

“I’m quick, Amelia is bright, Marta is strong and all three of us have been lucky, after a fashion: if we didn’t have bad luck, then I suppose we wouldn’t have any luck at all.”

(Bottom) https://books2read.com/LegacyOfNewts

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93d

📚 The Persians by: Sanam Mahloudji

The women of the Valiat family are in crisis. Elizabeth, the regal matriarch, remained in Tehran despite the revolution and only has Niaz, her Islamic law–breaking granddaughter for company. In America, Elizabeth’s daughters, the flamboyantly high-flying Shirin and frustrated h...

https://bookblabla.com/book/the-persians

#books #reading #libraries #fiction #literaryfiction #familylife #generalfiction #culturalheritage

(no description)

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73d

An Amazon AI chatbot that sums up the book you are reading while you are reading it. While trampling over the writer’s rights.

“Ask This Book."

“Your expert reading assistant, instantly answering questions about plot details, character relationships, and thematic elements without disrupting your reading flow.”

Enshittification is too polite a word for all this.

#Books #Bookstodon
#Enshittification #AI

https://writerbeware.blog/2025/12/12/kindles-new-gen-ai-powered-ask-this-book-feature-raises-rights-concerns/

Passage abbreviated to fit. "Story So Far lets you catch up on the book you’re reading—but only up to where you’ve read without any spoilers. For our endlessly curious readers, Ask this Book will let you highlight any passage of text while reading a book and get spoiler-free answers to questions about things like a character’s motive or the significance of a scene. The lead article in today’s Publishers Lunch (PL) is all about Ask This Book, which went live in the Kindle iOS app earlier this week (it’ll be rolled out on all devices and Android OS in 2026). Amazon describes it as “your expert reading assistant, instantly answering questions about plot details, character relationships, and thematic elements without disrupting your reading flow.” You can highlight a phrase or sentence, type a question into a search box, and AI will generate an answer “right on the page.” That might sound inoffensive enough. But as PL points out, Ask This Book is, in effect, “an in-book chatbot. You ask any question about the book, and a generative AI process provides you answers.” Which would seem…hmmm…to raise some rights concerns. Questioned about this, Amazon was not prepared to elaborate, but did note that Ask This Book is not optional for rightsholders: Asked whether rightsholders could elect to withdraw from the program, Iraheta wrote, “To ensure a consistent reading experience, the feature is always on, and there is no option for authors or publishers to opt titles out.”

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122d

New on my YouTube Channel: "Mid-October 2025 Hutchins Library Book Haul"
https://youtu.be/el0wyHcceM0?si=ufClQM80oY4qop6i

Ten books we recently acquired here at my library that I am adding to my personal TBR list and hope to read down the road.

#books #reading #ItinerantLibrarian #library #BookHaul #LibraryBookHaul #vlog #video #TBR

💙📚

@bookstodon
@bookstodon@a.gup.pe
@librarians

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76d

In Praise of E. H. Shepard’s Illustrations

What makes Pooh Pooh? The answer lies not only in author A.A. Milne’s prose, but also in the quiet genius of E. H. Shepard’s original illustrations. With Shepard’s work now in the public domain, it’s the perfect opportunity to revisit how these deceptively simple drawings became cultural touchstones.

by Sterling Dudley

https://blog.archive.org/2025/12/10/e-h-shepards-illustrations/

At PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67098

#books #literature

Here's a picture of Christopher Robin, Rabbit, Rabbit's firends and relations, Piglet, some mice and even a hedgehog, all pulling together on Pooh, still stuck.

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/67098/pg67098-images.html

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1y

British artist, writer, poet, playwright, novelist, painter, designer of lamps, and bohemian Mina Loy died #OTD in 1966.

Loy's poetry is known for its non-traditional structure, free verse, and exploration of the female experience, such as Lunar Baedecker (1923). In 1914, while living in an expatriate community in Florence, Italy, Loy wrote her Feminist Manifesto. Loy was also a visual artist, working in painting, sculpture, and design.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mina_Loy#

#books #literature #poetry

Photograph of Mina Loy

Anonymous - Becoming Modern: The Life of Mina Loy (Introduction), carolynburke.com

Loy is typically depicted with a thoughtful, almost enigmatic expression, emphasizing her intellectual and artistic depth. Her gaze often appears direct and intense, conveying her confidence and unconventional spirit.

Loy’s attire tends to reflect her modernist aesthetics—simple yet avant-garde, blending elegance with a rejection of traditional norms.

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92d

‘He was just trying to earn a few kopecks’: how newly translated stories reveal Chekhov’s silly side

With daft jokes and experimental wordplay, the first comprehensive translations of his lesser-known stories show Anton Chekhov in a new light

By Viv Groskop

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/nov/23/he-was-just-trying-to-earn-a-few-kopecks-how-newly-translated-stories-reveal-chekhovs-silly-side

Chekhov at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/708

#books #literature

Anton Chekhov in 1893.

Chekhov stands outdoors in front of a wooden structure with ornate balusters. He is dressed in a long, light-colored overcoat and a dark hat, with a full beard and a calm, direct expression. Surrounding him are bare branches and foliage, giving the scene a slightly austere atmosphere.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Chekhov#/media/File:Chekhov_ht.jpg

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26d

It's a hard knock life when you don't have a bookshelf with a rolling ladder 😜😂

@reading @joinin @bookstodon @books @humor @humor@lemmy.world @aiop

#Book #Books #BookMemes #Meme #Memes #Humor #Humour #Funny
#ReadingMemes #ReadAllTheBooks #Reading #Readers #ReadersOfMastodon #ReadingCommunity
#Litterature #Novel #Novels #Bookshelf #Mastobooks #BooksofMastodon #Bookstodon #Bookworm #Bookwyrm #Bookstodon #BookLove

A historic painting of a woman with her head a cushioned stool looking frenzied and depressed.

Caption:
"Are you okay?"
Me: No. I don't have a bookshelf a with a rolling ladder.

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92d

The copyright and the public good

Ross’s 1930 The Right and the Good introduced an ethics of balancing intuitive “prima facie” duties rather than strict rules or outcomes. In 38 days, it enters the U.S. public domain for free reuse.

By John Mark Ockerbloom

https://everybodyslibraries.com/2025/11/24/the-copyright-and-the-public-good/

#books #publicDomainDayCountdown

The Right and the Good (book cover)

The cover is simple and scholarly in appearance, using a plain, solid background with minimal ornamentation. The title The Right and the Good appears in clear, straightforward lettering near the top, with W. D. Ross listed as the author beneath it. The design emphasizes a formal academic style—unembellished, text-focused, and likely printed in a traditional serif font. There are no illustrations or decorative elements, giving the cover a restrained and classic.

W. D. Ross - https://archive.org/details/rightgood0000ross/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Right_and_the_Good#/media/File:The_Right_and_the_Good_(book_cover).jpg

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91d

What book(s) are you currently reading or listening to? November 25

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91d

Nothing Better Than a Whole Lot of Books: In Praise of Bibliomania

Ed Simon Considers the Many Different Ways an Obsession Can Manifest

https://lithub.com/nothing-better-than-a-whole-lot-of-books-in-praise-of-bibliomania/

Bibliomania at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subject/1095

#books #literature

Engraving titled The Bibliomaniac from Navis Stultifera (The Ship of Fools) by Sebastian Brandt, 1497.

The bibliomaniac stands inside a cramped room, framed by Gothic arches and narrow windows.

It depicts a frantic, book-obsessed figure amid an exaggerated scene of literary excess. At the center, a man wearing a fool’s cap clutches several large books, his expression strained with desperation or greed. More books spill across the floor and fill the surrounding shelves.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliomania#/media/File:Brief_History_of_Wood-engraving_Ship_of_Fools_Bibliomaniac.png

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91d

📚 You Like It Darker by: Stephen King

“You like it darker? Fine, so do I,” writes Stephen King in the afterword to this magnificent new collection of twelve stories that delve into the darker part of life—both metaphorical and literal. King has, for half a century, been a master of the form, and these stories, abou...

https://bookblabla.com/book/you-like-it-darker

#books #reading #libraries #fiction #horror #generalfiction #thrillers #suspensefiction

“You like it darker? Fine, so do I,” writes Stephen King in the afterword to this magnificent new collection of twelve stories that delve into the darker part of life—both metaphorical and literal. King has, for half a century, been a master of the form, and these stories, about fate, mortality, luck, and the folds in reality where anything can happen, are as rich and riveting as his novels, both weighty in theme and a huge pleasure to read. King writes to feel “the exhilaration of leaving ordinary day-to-day life behind,” and in You Like It Darker, readers will feel that exhilaration too, again and again.

“Two Talented Bastids” explores the long-hidden secret of how the eponymous gentlemen got their skills. In “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream,” a brief and unprecedented psychic flash upends dozens of lives, Danny’s most catastrophically. In “Rattlesnakes,” a sequel to Cujo, a grieving widower travels to Florida for respite and instead receives an unexpected inheritance—with major strings attached. In “The Dreamers,” a taciturn Vietnam vet answers a job ad and learns that there are some corners of the universe best left unexplored. “The Answer Man” asks if prescience is good luck or bad and reminds us that a life marked by unbearable tragedy can still be meaningful.

“King’s skills as a storyteller remain undimmed” (The Minnesota Star Tribune) and his ability to surprise, amaze, and bring us both terror and solace is unsurpassed. “T

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88d

From Dylan Thomas’ shopping list to a note from Sylvia Plath’s doctor: newly uncovered case files reveal the hidden lives of famous writers

Exclusive: Hardship grant applications to the Royal Literary Fund, including unseen letters by Doris Lessing and a note from James Joyce saying that he ‘gets nothing in the way of royalties’, show authors at their most vulnerable

By Ella Creamer

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/nov/28/from-dylan-thomas-shopping-list-to-a-note-from-sylvia-plaths-doctor-newly-uncovered-case-files-reveal-the-hidden-lives-of-famous-writers

#books #literature

Nora Summer's iconic portrait of Dylan Thomas. Taken in Blashford in 1937, it was soon to gain an international circulation.

Dylanis is wearing a distinctive thick, cable-knit cardigan with a textured pattern, and what appears to be a scarf around his neck.

He was photographed from the side, looking downward with his eyes cast down, holding a cigarette to his lips. His hair is characteristically curly and somewhat disheveled.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylan_Thomas#/media/File:Dylan_Thomas_icon_Blashford_1937.jpg

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72d

How Robert Frost summoned a classic from life’s timeless moments

Perhaps the most famous work by the US poet Robert Frost, ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ (1923) exemplifies his style with its vivid scenery and accessibility.

https://aeon.co/videos/how-robert-frost-summoned-a-classic-from-lifes-timeless-moments?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=a5fbf00b6b-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_12_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-4ef8a26106-72664972

Frost at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1091

#books #literature #poetry

Robert Frost, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing forward.

From the Library of Congress collection, the image captures the young Frost during the period when he wrote some of his most celebrated poems.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stopping_by_Woods_on_a_Snowy_Evening#/media/File:Robert_Frost,_1910s.jpg

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1y

In October 1819.

In Britain, Richard Carlile is convicted of blasphemy and sent to prison for publishing Common Sense, The Rights of Man and the Age of Reason by Thomas Paine (which criticised the Church of England).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Carlile

Books by Richard Carlile at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/39431

Books by Thomas Paine at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/91

#books #literature

A George Cruikshank cartoon attacking Paine; The caption reads: "The Age of Reason; or, the World turned Topsy-turvy exemplified in Tom Paine's Works!"

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91d

📚 Earthlings by: Sayaka Murata

As a child, Natsuki doesn't fit in with her family. Her parents favor her sister, and her best friend is a plush toy hedgehog named Piyyut, who talks to her. He tells her that he has come from the planet Popinpobopia on a special quest to help her save the Earth. One summer, on vacation with her family and her cousin...

https://bookblabla.com/book/earthlings

#books #reading #libraries #fiction #literaryfiction #magicalrealism

As a child, Natsuki doesn't fit in with her family. Her parents favor her sister, and her best friend is a plush toy hedgehog named Piyyut, who talks to her. He tells her that he has come from the planet Popinpobopia on a special quest to help her save the Earth. One summer, on vacation with her family and her cousin Yuu in her grandparents' ramshackle wooden house in the mountains of Nagano, Natsuki decides that she must be an alien, which would explain why she can't seem to fit in like everyone else. Later, as a grown woman, living a quiet life with her asexual husband, Natsuki is still pursued by dark shadows from her childhood, and decides to flee the "baby factory" of society for good, searching for answers about the vast and frightening mysteries of the universe--answers only Natsuki has the power to uncover.

Dreamlike, sometimes shocking, and always strange and wonderful, Earthlings asks what it means to be happy in a stifling world, and cements Sayaka Murata's status as a master chronicler of the outsider experience and our own uncanny universe.

From the beloved author of cult sensation Convenience Store Woman, which has now sold more than one million copies worldwide and has been translated into thirty-three languages, comes a spellbinding and otherworldly novel about a woman who believes she is an alien

Sayaka Murata's Convenience Store Woman was one of the most unusual and refreshing bestsellers of recent years, depicting the life of a thirty-six-year-old

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72d

Book #Review: Wrath by Shäron Moalem and Daniel Kraus
Imagine Pinky and the Brain, minus the comedy, plus lots and lots of gore

@carturo222.bsky.social has our review at the NOAF blog for your Monday
http://www.nerds-feather.com/2025/12/book-review-wrath-by-sharon-moalem-and.html

#books #bookstodon @bookstodon

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94d

🏳️‍🌈 📖 Queer Romance Club December vote 📖 🏳️‍🌈

Theme is winter/holiday vibes.

Christmas for Commitmentphobes by Rhoda Baxter - f/f contemporary set in a cosy Yokshire village. (part of a series but stand-alone)

The Holly Groweth Green by Amy Rae Durreson - m/m historical set in a cosy Yorkshire-- no wait! A cosy Hampshire cottage :)

The Merriest Misters by Timothy Janovsky - contemporary m/m (with fantasy elements)

Within My Reach by Amy Blythe - f/f contemporary re-telling of Persuasion, because the end-of-year holiday season is not necessarily in winter...

More about the club here - TL; DR: open to all, read and comment.
https://mastodon.au/@wendypalmer/113144943004145104

#QueerRomanceClub @queerromanceclub
#books @bookstodon #reading #bookClub #LGBTQBooks

0% Christmas for Commitmentphobes
0% The Holly Groweth Green
0% The Merriest Misters
0% Within My Reach

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89d

52 Years Later, Agatha Christie’s Forgotten Final Book Remains Untouched

By Florencia Aberastury

https://www.cbr.com/agatha-christie-postern-of-fate-deserves-adaptation/

Agatha Christie at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/451

#books #literature

Illustration by Arthur Ferrier of Tommy and Tuppence from the December 1923 issue of The Grand Magazine and the first-known image of the characters.

The drawing shows a stylish young couple in early-1920s fashion. Tommy stands on the left, dressed in a neat suit with a bow tie, his posture upright and confident. Tuppence stands beside him, slightly angled toward him, wearing a fashionable cloche hat and a long, elegant coat. Her expression is lively and self-assured.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_and_Tuppence#/media/File:T&T1923.jpg

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