Eggplant.place

63d

They were grown men or at least had lived for several decades, which in some societies is considered the same thing.

Terry Pratchett, Hogfather

Edited 63d ago

1y

#OTD in 1850.

Alfred Tennyson is named Poet Laureate of the UK in succession to William Wordsworth, but only after Samuel Rogers has declined the offer because of his age and Tennyson is assured that birthday odes will not be required of him.

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/2987

#books

10 ⁄ 13 More details Alfred Tennyson, portrait by P. Krämer.

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1y

#OTD in 1918.

Wilfred Owen is killed in action aged 25, at the Sambre–Oise Canal, with only five of his poems published. News of his death reaches his parents in Shrewsbury a week later on Armistice Day.

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/517

#books #literature #poetry

9 ⁄ 14 More details Portrait of Wilfred Owen, found in a collection of his poems from 1920.

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1y

Endre Ady was born #OTD in 1877.

Some of his notable poetry collections include "Új versek" (New Poems, 1906), "A Holnap" (Tomorrow, 1908), and "A halottak élén" (At the Head of the Dead, 1918).

Books by Endre Ady at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/39489

#books #literature #poetry

Endre Ady, hungarian writer. Aladár Székely - Scan from the original work.

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55d

I WROTE FOR PULPS!

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54d

“Open Me Carefully.” Emily Dickinson’s Intimate Letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson

"A Look Inside the Poet’s Personal Life and the Making of Her Mythical Reclusiveness"

https://lithub.com/open-me-carefully-emily-dickinsons-intimate-letters-to-susan-huntington-dickinson/

Books by Dickinson at PG:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/996

#books #literature #poetry

Emily Dickinson seated by a table with a tablecloth and two books stacked on top.

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55d

Book Review: The Gryphon King by Sara Omer
A monster-filled secondary-world fantasy that takes its cues and worldbuilding inspirations from points east of the Bosporus Strait
@Princejvstin has our review
http://www.nerds-feather.com/2026/01/book-review-gryphon-king-by-sara-omer.html

#review #fantasy #books #bookreview #bookstodon @bookstodon

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1y

#OTD in 1893.

Arthur Conan Doyle surprises the reading public by revealing in the story "The Adventure of the Final Problem", published in The Strand Magazine, that Sherlock Holmes had apparently died at the Reichenbach Falls on 4 May 1891.

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/834

#books #literature

Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls. Ilustration by Sidney Paget to the Sherlock Holmes story The Final Problem by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which appeared in The Strand Magazine in December, 1893. Original caption was THE DEATH OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.

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27d

📚 Dear Debbie by: Freida McFadden

Debbie Mullen is losing it. For years, she has compiled all of her best advice into her column, Dear Debbie, where the wives of New England come for sympathy and neighborly advice. Through her work, Debbie has heard from countless women who are ignored, belittled, or even abused by their h...

https://bookblabla.com/book/dear-debbie

@bookstodon

#books #reading #libraries #fiction #thrillers #suspensefiction #psychologicalfiction #women

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1y

British Library Exhibit Reveals Lives of Medieval Women

By Madeleine Muzdakis

https://mymodernmet.com/british-library-medieval-women/?utm_campaign=daily-digest&utm_content=link&utm_source=convertkit&utm_term=11212024&utm_medium=email

#books #literature

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57d

What I Read in 2025: https://lydiaschoch.com/what-i-read-in-2025/

@bookstodon

#Books #AmReading

A pair of glasses, possibly reading glasses, lying on a page of an opened book that has a map drawn on it.

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57d

The Inquisitive Biologist looks back at 2025 and picks his five favourite books. Palaeontology, aerobiology, speleology, degrowth, and geomicrobiology top this year's list.

https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2025/12/31/year-list-the-inquisitive-biologists-top-5-reads-of-2025/

#Books #BookOfTheYear #BookReview #Bookstodon #Scicomm #Paleontology #Palaeontology #Aerobiology #HistoryOfScience #ScienceHistory #HistSci #Speleology #Caves #Lechuguilla #Economics #Degrowth #Microbiology #Geology #Geomicrobiology #EdgarAllanPoe #EAPoe #Biography #Literature #Goth #Gothic #Horror #ScienceConvention #ScienceFair @markwitton @princetonupress @princetonnature @Carl_Zimmer @timparrique @TetZoo @bookstodon

A composite picture of five book covers.

The top row shows three covers: King Tyrant (with a moody Tyrannosaurus rex picture by Mark Witton), Air-Borne (showing a colourful picture of lots of spores, pollen, and other small airborne particles), and Lechuguilla Cave (showing an otherworldly photo of a cave with yellow ecrustations fringing an azure blue/green pool)

The bottom row shows two covers: Slow Down or Die (showing a photo of part of a large merry-go-round with people in seats that hang from chains) and Intraterrestrials (showing a colourful aerial picture of a hot spring with yellow, pink, and green colours caused by microbes)

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1y

#OTD in 1930.

American novelist Sinclair Lewis is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was the first writer from the United States to receive the award.

Sinclair Lewis Nobel Lecture:
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1930/lewis/lecture/

#books #literature #nobelprize

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57d

#Free @ #Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1897925

Hungry and hunting alone, a goblin boy meets a bouncing, blue slime and assumes it will be dinner. Naturally, the slime has other ideas, and the boy gets his hind-end handed to him by what’s supposed to be one of the weakest monsters of the forest.

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #fiction #goblin #books #audiobook #EOYSale25 #ebook #sale #books2read #indiebooks

(Left) The cover of The Most Powerful Words, by Owen Tyme, which consists of a temperate forest path in twilight, with a tree on the right side, which hangs over the path. At the base of the tree is a translucent, blue slime monster, with shiny, black eyes that give it a somewhat cute appearance, while the shadow that's visible at its base almost looks like a big mouth. The air has an almosty golden look, because there's a hint of fog in it. The cover is framed with beveled stone.

(Right) The background is a bookcase with three shelves that are filled with old-looking books. Some have bookmark ribbons that stick off the edge, adding a little color. The books are largely brown, with ribbed spines. The following quote is laid over it:

“There are words so powerful, they can shake the foundations of reality or alter the fate of the world.”

“The most powerful words of all can change a man’s heart and mind about old, incorrect beliefs.”

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

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57d

I'm filling out the promts for the #storygraph Challenges 2026 and I'm open for recommendations

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57d

I'm filling out the promts for the #storygraph Challenges 2026 and I'm open for recommendations

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1y

#OTD in 1878.

Henry Irving's production of Hamlet, with himself in the title rôle playing opposite Ellen Terry as Ophelia, opens at the Lyceum Theatre, London (of which they have taken over the management). The tendency of actor-managers to emphasise the importance of their own central character did not always meet with the critics' approval.

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

Hamlet at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/1524

#books #literature #theatre #drama

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act I, Scene IV by Henry Fuseli. Hamlet, Horatio, Marcellus, and the Ghost, on platform before the Palace of Elsinor.

This image is an engraving based on the work by Henry Fuseli, titled Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act I, Scene IV. It illustrates a dramatic moment from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. The scene shows Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus witnessing the ghost of Hamlet's father on the platform before the palace of Elsinore.

The ghost appears in armor, pointing dramatically, while the characters react in fear and awe. The dark, atmospheric setting emphasizes the tension and supernatural tone of the scene. Fuseli's composition captures the gothic and emotional intensity for which he is renowned.

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This image is a painting by Eugène Delacroix, titled Hamlet and Horatio in the Cemetery (1839). It depicts the famous gravedigger scene from William Shakespeare's Hamlet, specifically Act V, Scene I.

In this pivotal moment, Hamlet reflects on mortality as he holds the skull of Yorick, the court jester he knew in his youth. The scene is set in a graveyard, with a gravedigger presenting the skull to Hamlet, while Horatio observes. The dramatic sky and earthy tones contribute to the somber and introspective mood of the painting, characteristic of Delacroix's Romantic style. This artwork is housed in the Louvre Museum.

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58d

My favorite books published in 2025:

Gliff - Ali Smith
One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This - Omar El Akkad
Audition - Pip Adam
Dusk - Robbie Arnott
Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng - Kylie Lee Baker
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter - Stephen Graham Jones
Sour Cherry - Natalia Theodoridou
The Hymn to Dionysus - Natasha Pulley
Eternal Summer - Franziska Gansler (tr. Imogen Taylor)
The Silver Book - Olivia Laing
We Pretty Pieces of Flesh - Colwill Brown
Woodworking - Emily St. James

#books #bookstodon

Edited 58d ago

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57d

Do you re-read favourite novels? Most of my friends don’t #books #Poll

36% Re-read often
50% Re-read one or two
10% Never
4% Don’t read novels

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57d

My year in review

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57d

My review 2025 Takahe has limited support for this type: See Original Page

read a new record amount of books this year :)

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1y

#OTD in 1877.

Anna Sewell's animal welfare novel Black Beauty is published. It was written from a horse as main character's perspective. Sewell wrote it in the last years of her life, during which she was bedridden and seriously ill.

https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/271

#books #literature

Cover of the novel Black Beauty, first edition 1877, published by London: Jarrold and Sons Unknown author - https://archive.org/details/blackbeautyhisgr00seweiala

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47d

📚 Crossroads by: Kaleb Dahlgren

On April 6, 2018, sixteen people died and thirteen others were injured after a bus taking the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team to a playoff game collided with a transport truck in a rural intersection. The tragedy moved millions of people to leave hockey sticks by their fron...

https://bookblabla.com/book/crossroads

@bookstodon

#books #reading #libraries #biographyautobiography #wintersports #hockeyselfhelp #motivationalinspirational

On April 6, 2018, sixteen people died and thirteen others were injured after a bus taking the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team to a playoff game collided with a transport truck in a rural intersection. The tragedy moved millions of people to leave hockey sticks by their front door to show sympathy and support for the Broncos. People from more than eighty countries pledged millions of dollars to
families whose relatives had been directly involved in the accident.

An inspiring story of hope and resiliency

Crossroads is the story of Kaleb Dahlgren, a young man who survived the bus crash and faced life after the tragedy with resiliency and positivity. In this chronicle of his time with the Broncos and the loving community of Humboldt, Saskatchewan, Dahlgren takes a hard look at his experience of unprecedented loss, but also revels in the overwhelming response and outpouring of love from across Canada and around the world.

But this book also goes much deeper, revealing the adversity Dahlgren faced long before his time in Humboldt and his inspiring journey since the accident. From a childhood spent learning to live with type 1 diabetes to his remarkable recovery from severe brain trauma that astounded medical professionals, Dahlgren documents a life of perseverance, gratitude and hope in the wake of enormous obstacles and life-altering tragedy.

The author will donate a portion of his proceeds from this book to STARS (Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service).

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54d

📚 Unlikely Story by: Ali Rosen

As a relationship therapist, Nora helps patients explore their feelings honestly. But she's hiding an embarrassing relationship secret of her own: she's in love with someone she's never even met.

J edits the advice column Nora's been writing anonymously for the last seven years. He's in London, she's in New York, a...

https://bookblabla.com/book/unlikely-story

@bookstodon

#books #reading #libraries #fiction #romance #contemporaryfiction

As a relationship therapist, Nora helps patients explore their feelings honestly. But she's hiding an embarrassing relationship secret of her own: she's in love with someone she's never even met.

J edits the advice column Nora's been writing anonymously for the last seven years. He's in London, she's in New York, and they communicate solely through shared files. When he confides that his girlfriend's out of the picture, and her boss asks her to come to London, Nora takes both as a sign.But that's not the only thing on her mind. A client's ex-boyfriend just moved into her co-op, directly beneath her. Eli blames Nora for his breakup and seems determined to make her life miserable, gleefully planning a noisy renovation.

Yet despite all his bluster, Nora eventually starts to see the softness behind Eli's brusque, charming exterior...and after a slipup reveals a startling secret, Nora wonders whether someone can be two things at once.

From the author of Recipe for Second Chances comes a swoonworthy romance bursting with wit about a therapist who falls for the wrong man...but perhaps the right one was hiding in the margins all along.

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1y

#OTD in 1891.

Maurice Maeterlinck's play The Blind (written in 1890) is premièred. Les Aveugles is, along with L'Intruse, one of Maurice Maeterlinck's first two plays.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blind_(play)

Les Aveugles is available at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48368

#books #literature #theatre