books

47d

So I guess it's time for an #introduction. Well, I'm a 30 something #Black #queer woman. I love to read #books. I love the #NYKnicks. I like #bicycles even though, it's not my primary mode of transportation. I like refurbishing and upgrading old electronics, specifically #iPods and #laptops. #TV and music have kept me going more than anything else. I'm branching into #Linux and getting more familiar with #FOSS. I am a #blogger and I have linked my blog in my bio.

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41d

Who Was the Inspiration Behind the ‘Gibson Girl’ Illustrations? The Artist Said She Was Every Woman

Charles Dana Gibson’s archetype became the original American “it girl” in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and helped transform fashion and beauty

by Michelle Mehrtens

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/who-was-the-inspiration-behind-the-gibson-girl-illustrations-the-artist-said-she-was-every-woman-180988014/?utm_source=smithsoniandaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial&lctg=93133550

Charles Dana Gibson at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/26456

#books #literature #illustrations

Engraving after the pen and ink drawing of the Gibson Girl by illustrator w:Sarah Kaplan

It depicts a voluminous, upswept hair styled in the signature "Gibson Girl" pompadour with soft curls; long, elegant neck; delicate, refined features with a confident, somewhat aloof expression.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dana_Gibson#/media/File:Gibson_Girl.png

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12h

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgeson Burnett was an early work of climate fiction

by Davina Quinlivan (from the archives)

https://theconversation.com/the-secret-garden-by-frances-hodgeson-burnett-was-an-early-work-of-climate-fiction-250338

The Secret Garden at PG:
https://dev.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17396

#books #literature

Cover page The Secret Garden

by Frances Hodgson Burnett

A hardcover book with a dark green cloth binding decorated with Art Nouveau-style floral borders in gold and muted colours running down both sides. A central rectangular illustration shows a young girl in a bright red coat and red hat, leaning forward and peering closely at a dense ivy-covered wall or hedge. Bare winter trees are visible in the background, and a small red robin perches on a branch to the upper left. The title THE SECRET GARDEN appears at the top in a decorative panel, and the author's name FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT is printed at the bottom.

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41d

Stumbled across an interesting #reading challenge from the Boston Public Library—to read a book by an author from each of six geographic regions: Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Oceania. It looks easy enough to do independently, and there’s some great stuff on the rec lists for each region. #Books @bookstodon

https://www.bpl.org/winter/

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1y

Join the Texas Observer in conversation with author Jessica Pishko on February 5th for this FREE event at Alienated Majesty Books.

We'll discuss Pishko's provocative and important book about the dangers posed by extremist sheriffs in the United States.

RSVP: https://buff.ly/4gzkA5r

#events #books #bookstodon @bookstodon #Austin #Texas #police #extremism #CriminalJustice #law

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41d

📚 Little Bosses Everywhere by: Bridget Read

Companies like Amway, Mary Kay, and Herbalife advertise the world’s greatest opportunity: the chance to be your own boss via an enigmatic business model called multilevel marketing, or MLM. They offer a world of pink Cadillacs, white-columned mansions, tropical vacations, and most precious of all fin...

https://bookblabla.com/book/little-bosses-everywhere

#books #reading #libraries #businesseconomics #marketing

Companies like Amway, Mary Kay, and Herbalife advertise the world’s greatest opportunity: the chance to be your own boss via an enigmatic business model called multilevel marketing, or MLM. They offer a world of pink Cadillacs, white-columned mansions, tropical vacations, and most precious of all financial freedom. If, that is, you’re willing to shell out for expensive products and recruit everyone you know to buy them, and if they recruit everyone they know, too, thus creating the multiple levels of MLM.

Overwhelming evidence suggests that most people lose money in multilevel marketing, and that many MLM companies are pyramid schemes. Yet the industry’s origins, tied to right-wing ideologues like Ronald Reagan, have escaped public scrutiny. MLM has slithered in the wake of every economic crisis of the last century, from the Depression to the pandemic, ensnaring laid-off workers, stay-at-home moms, and teachers—anyone who has been left behind by rising inequality.

In Little Bosses Everywhere, journalist Bridget Read tells the gripping story of multilevel marketing in full for the first time, winding from sunny postwar California, where a failed salesman started a vitamin business, through the devoutly religious suburbs of Michigan, where the industry built its political influence, to stadium-size conventions where today’s top sellers preach to die-hard recruits. MLM has enriched powerful people, like the DeVos and Van Andel families, Warren Buffett, and Presid

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1y

#OTD in 1815.

Jane Austen's novel Emma is published anonymously by John Murray in London dated 1816. About 1500 copies sell over the next 5 years. Murray offered Austen £450 for this plus the copyrights of Mansfield Park and Sense and Sensibility, which she refused. Instead, she published two thousand copies of the novel at her own expense, retaining the copyright and paying a 10% commission to Murray.

Emma at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/158

#books #literature

Title page of the first edition of Emma by Jane Austen, published on 23 December 1815, although the title page is dated 1816.

The text reads:
"EMMA: A Novel. In Three Volumes. By the Author of 'Pride and Prejudice,' etc."

The publisher's details are printed at the bottom:
"London: Printed for John Murray, 1816."

The layout is symmetrical, with no decorative embellishments or illustrations, emphasizing the content of the book rather than its exterior. As typical for books of the time, the title page serves both an informational and promotional purpose, linking the novel to the author's previous works, which would have been recognizable to readers.

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45d

So here's the first of the #MysteryAuthors from our #Winter issue.

Nice trees, somewhat obscured by the #BlankPage

But who could it be?

#books #reading #writing #ShortStories #fiction #comics #translation #blog #bookstodon

A desk looks out on lush foliage, with piles of books, a lamp and a computer screen showing an empty page

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43d

Ebook omnibus: https://books2read.com/AshenBladesOpenWounds

The arch-demon, Pride, leads demon-kind in an ancient plan to open a gate between worlds, so vast demon armies might march forth and conquer, but opening a portal requires both energy equivalent to a nuclear explosion and the cooperation of a half-demon, to stabilize it. However, the only half-demon available has made it her life mission to kill all demons.

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #actionadventure #fiction #books

$(Background) A fractal pattern of red and orange that resembles a demonic portal. (Center) Pride needs a half-demon to stabilize the portal between worlds. There’s just one hitch: she hates him. One stubborn half-demon vs. all of demon-kind? It could go either way... (Top Left) The cover of She Hunts Demons, by Owen Tyme, illustrated by Ryan Johnson. Sitting on the roof of a building in New York City is a teenage girl with a Japanese short sword. The image is black and white, aside from a few details in blue. (Bottom Left) The cover of She Goes to War, by Owen Tyme, illustrated by Ryan Johnson. Three people in tiger-stripe camouflage crouch in the jungle, including a teen girl, a soldier and a huge cat-man with black fur. (Bottom Right) The cover of the novel, Demon for President!, by Owen Tyme, illustrated by Ryan Johnson. Two politicians (Democrat and Republican) shake hands, as if for a photo-op, while a city burns behind them and the flag of the United States waves in the smoke. (Top Right) The cover of the book bundle, Ashen Blades: Open Wounds, by Owen Tyme, which includes a Japanese sword, a pistol and a pineapple grenade on a wooden surface.$

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1y

After Failing Math Twice, a Young Benjamin Franklin Turned to This Popular 17th-Century Textbook

A 19th-century scholar claimed that “Cocker’s Arithmetick” had “probably made as much stir and noise in the English world as any [book]—next to the Bible”

By James Fox

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/after-failing-math-twice-a-young-benjamin-franklin-turned-to-this-popular-17th-century-textbook-180985664/

1716 edition of Cocker's Arithmetick is available at @internetarchive
https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_cockers-arithmetick-be_cocker-edward_1716/page/n4/mode/1up?view=theater

#books #history

By age 16, “being on some occasion made ashamed of my ignorance in figures, which I had twice failed in learning when at school,” Benjamin Franklin wrote, “I took Cocker’s book of arithmetic and went through the whole by myself with great ease.” Illustration by Meilan Solly / Images via James Fox

The illustration depicts a young Benjamin Franklin, at the age of 16, engrossed in studying arithmetic. The setting is likely modest, reflecting his humble beginnings. Franklin is seated at a simple desk or table, with an open book—presumably Cocker’s Arithmetic—in front of him. His focused expression conveys determination and curiosity, embodying his well-known self-taught nature and drive for knowledge.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin#/media/File:Feke_-_Benjamin_Franklin.png

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43d

My favourite story from Russian writer Leonid Kostyukov, whose seminar I attended in the 2000s: once, in the 90s, he was asked to read and review a novel, and then the author asked his advice on a title.

“Not a word about Yeltsin,” said Kostyukov (still the Yeltsin era).

— But there’s nothing about Yeltsin in it!
— Exactly, — Kostyukov replied.

The title, oddly enough, was never used — even with another name in Yeltsin's stead.

#bookstodon #books

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43d

📚 Dungeon Crawler Carl by: Matt Dinniman

You know what’s worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what’s worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction of all man-made structures on Earth, and the systematic exploitation of all the survivors for a sadistic intergalactic game ...

https://bookblabla.com/book/dungeon-crawler-carl

#books #reading #libraries #fiction #sciencefiction #fantasy

You know what’s worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what’s worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction of all man-made structures on Earth, and the systematic exploitation of all the survivors for a sadistic intergalactic game show. That’s what.

Join Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, as they try to survive the end of the world—or just get to the next level—in a video game–like, trap-filled fantasy dungeon. A dungeon that’s actually the set of a reality television show with countless viewers across the galaxy. Exploding goblins. Magical potions. Deadly, drug-dealing llamas. This ain’t your ordinary game show.

Welcome, Crawler. Welcome to the Dungeon. Survival is optional. Keeping the viewers entertained is not.

Includes part one of the exclusive bonus story Backstage at the Pineapple Cabaret.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The apocalypse will be televised! Welcome to the first book in the wildly popular and addictive Dungeon Crawler Carl series—now with bonus material exclusive to this print edition.

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42d

finished reading I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
by Ed Yong.

Delves into the many varied & amazing ways humans & animals have evolved to depend upon microbes. Most of this was familiar to me already, though told in the author's excellent clear & awed way. New was the incredible nesting of microbes within high-order animal cells, with each doing distinct jobs, such that none can survive without the others. Yong is always good for a celebration of life & its complexity.

#BookReview #Books #Bookstodon #NonFiction #ScienceWriting

@WildWoila @wildwoila@wyrms.de

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43d

📚 Against the Grain by: Terry O'Reilly

In Terry’s bestselling book, My Best Mistake, he uncovers the surprising power of screwing up. Now, he turns his incredible eye to the mavericks who go “against the grain” in their work to see what makes them tick and to explore what lessons we can learn from them. People wh...

https://bookblabla.com/book/against-the-grain

#books #reading #libraries #businesseconomics #managementselfhelp #personalgrowth #success

In Terry’s bestselling book, My Best Mistake, he uncovers the surprising power of screwing up. Now, he turns his incredible eye to the mavericks who go “against the grain” in their work to see what makes them tick and to explore what lessons we can learn from them. People who chose to ignore conventional wisdom, found or invented a better way, questioned the status quo at great sacrifice and pushed for change against all odds.

Some were drummed out of their careers for it but in the end were proven right (Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis). Some were celebrated but had to fight every inch of the way (Norman Lear). Some re-invented their industry but preferred to stay an outsider (Tom Laughlin—aka Billy Jack).

Some confounded their competitors with ingenious strategies (NHL coach Roger Neilson). One even saved millions of people around the world, but was humiliated, demoted, and dismissed for her entire career (Dr. Katalin Karikó—co-creator of the COVID vaccine). All persistent visionaries, each covered in battle scars.

New from the bestselling author and host of CBC Radio’s Under the Influence

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1y

#OTD in 1910.

Serialisation of Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera (Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) concludes in the Paris newspaper Le Gaulois.

Because of his fascination with both Edgar Allan Poe and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, he wrote a detective mystery entitled The Mystery of the Yellow Room in 1907, and four years later he published Le Fantôme de l'Opéra.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phantom_of_the_Opera_(novel)

The Phantom of the Opera at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/175

#books #literature

Dressed in a red death mask for a costume ball, Erik the Phantom descends the grand staircase of the Opéra Garnier. He “appears with his true face, challenging the masked characters with his unveiled ugliness” (François Raymond and Daniel Compère, Les maîtres du fantastique en littérature, Paris, Bordas, coll. “Les Compacts” (n° 36), 1994, ISBN 2-04-018502-X.) Watercolor by André Castaigne illustrating the first American edition of Gaston Leroux's Fantôme de l'Opéra (1911).

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1y

#OTD in 1818.

Lord Byron, in Venice, sends the final part of Childe Harold to his publisher.

The poem contains elements thought to be autobiographical, as Byron generated some of the storyline from experience gained during his travels through Portugal, the Mediterranean and Aegean Sea between 1809 and 1811.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childe_Harold%27s_Pilgrimage

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/5131

#books #literature #poetry

This is the title page of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, circa 1812.

The name of the work, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, prominently displayed in an elegant and serif typeface, reflecting the literary and romantic style of the period.

Lord Byron, the author, would be credited beneath or near the title. His name might appear in a slightly smaller or secondary font.

The name of the publisher (John Murray), the location (London), and the year of publication (1812) would be included, often at the bottom of the page.

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1y

#OTD in 1851.

A fire at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., destroys 35,000 books, about two–thirds of the collection. Between 1890 and 1897, a new library building (Thomas Jefferson Building), was constructed. Two additional buildings, the John Adams Building (opened in 1939) and the James Madison Memorial Building (opened in 1980), were later added.

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

#books #library

Library of Congress in the Capitol Building in 1853.

Ornamental columns and arches in the neoclassical style, symbolizing strength and permanence.

Wooden shelves, likely reaching high, filled with bound volumes, representing the library’s growing collection at the time.

Sunlight streaming through large windows or skylights, illuminating the space with a warm, diffused glow.

Sturdy, elegant furniture arranged for study and research, reflecting the purpose of the library.

Early gas lamps or chandeliers providing artificial light, as electricity was not yet in use.

A few individuals working, cataloging, or reading, dressed in mid-19th-century attire.

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42d

Do fantasy/sc-fi readers agree with this? I love specualtive fiction, but I also love me some good non-fiction, am I the weird one? 🤔😁

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

#SpeculativeFiction #SciFi #Fantasy #NonFiction
#Book #Books #BookMemes #Memes #Humor #Humour
#ReadingMemes #Memes #ReadAllTheBooks #Reading #Readers #ReadersOfMastodon #ReadingCommunity
#Litterature #Bookshelf #Mastobooks #BooksofMastodon #Bookstodon #Bookworm #Bookwyrm #Bookstodon #FantasyBook

Meme photo of two puppies each holding one end of a stick.
Caption:
Golden puppy: Fantasy readers
German shepard puppy: Sci fi readers:
Stick: Hating non fiction

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42d

In Pursuit of Peace, Ancient Athens Created a Goddess

In the aftermath of the Peloponnesian War, Athenians worshipped Eirene. Her cult reflects the political role of religion in Ancient Greece.

By: Anna Gustafsson

https://daily.jstor.org/in-pursuit-of-peace-ancient-athens-created-a-goddess/?utm_source=mcae&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=jstordaily-01152026

Eirene at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=eirene

#books #literature #history

Eirene (Peace) bearing Plutus (Wealth), Roman copy after a Greek votive statue by Kephisodotos (ca. 370 BC) which stood on the agora in Athens.

Eirene is shown as a mature, dignified woman in flowing Classical Greek drapery. She cradles the infant Plutus in her left arm.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eirene_(goddess)#/media/File:Eirene_Ploutos_Glyptothek_Munich_219_n4.jpg

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42d

Richard the Lionheart: New Study Rethinks His Capture After the Crusade

by Attila Bárány

https://www.medievalists.net/2026/01/richard-the-lionheart-capture/

Original article:
https://real.mtak.hu/188501/1/Veber_MercenariesandCrusaders2024.pdf

Richard I at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subject/2908

#books #literature #history

Depiction of Emperor Henry VI pardoning Richard in Peter of Eboli's Liber ad honorem Augusti, c. 1196.

The illumination shows:

Upper right: Emperor Henry VI seated on a throne in red robes with a crown, holding symbols of authority, with a green tree beside him
Lower right: King Richard kneeling or prostrating himself before the emperor in submission
Left side: Armed figures, likely guards or knights, one prominently holding a sword
Center: Another figure, possibly a mediator or official

Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI grants a pardon to en:Richard I of England (Richard Lionheart). Petrus de Ebulo, Liber ad honorem Augusti sive de rebus Siculis, fol 129, recto

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1y

New Media, Old Anxieties:
Why is “Brain Rot” the Word of the Year?

Josh Abbey Considers “Savage Torpor” and Other Nice Things

https://lithub.com/new-media-old-anxieties-why-is-brain-rot-the-word-of-the-year/

#books #dictionaries

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

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1y

#OTD in 1879.

During construction of an extension to Birmingham Central Library in England, a fire destroys 50,000 books and the original manuscript of the Coventry Mystery Plays (including the "Coventry Carol").

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

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

Coventry Carol at PG (as audio book):
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20603

#books #literature

Cover of Christmas Carol Collection 2006 by Various.

Contents

# 01 - O Holy Night by Adolphe Adam - 00:06:18
Performed by: Karen Savage

# 02 - The Boar’s Head Carol by Traditional - 00:01:17
Performed by: Kara Shallenberg

# 03 - God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen by Traditional - 00:03:30
Performed by: Diyan

# 04 - Good King Wenseslas by J.M. Neale - 00:03:21
Performed by: Alan Drake & Irene Takiris with Friends

# 05 - Here We Come A-Wassailing by Traditional - 00:01:43
Performed by: Claire Goget

# 06 - Joy to the World by G.F. Handel - 00:01:41
Performed by: Kim Butler

# 07 - I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and John Baptiste Calkin - 00:02:02
Performed by: Kristin Hughes

# 08 - Dona Nobis Pacem by Traditional - 00:02:05
Performed by: SKVE

# 09 - The First Noel by Traditional English carol - 00:02:32
Performed by: Claire Goget

# 10 - Coventry Carol by Robert Croo (Lyrics) - 00:02:00
Performed by: Kim Butler

# 11 - It Came Upon the Midnight Clear by Edmund Hamilton Sears and Richard Storrs Willis - 00:03:35
Performed by: Kristin Hughes

# 12 - Away in a Manger by W. J. Kirkpatrick - 00:02:09
Performed by: Karen Savage

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1y

#OTD in 1818.

Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "Ozymandias" appears in Leigh Hunt's weekly The Examiner (London; p. 24) under the pen name "Glirastes". Horace Smith's contribution to the same informal sonnet-writing competition, "On a Stupendous Leg of Granite, Discovered Standing by Itself in the Deserts of Egypt, with the Inscription Inserted Below" is published on February 1 under his initials.

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

#books #literature #poetry

"Ozymandias" by Glirastes in The Examiner, London, Sunday, January 11, 1818, No. 524, page 24.

Percy Bysshe Shelley. - First publication in The Examiner, No. 524, page 24.

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41d

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

Having an abusive assassin for a sister was bad enough, but when Lyra’s older sister, Nicole, becomes obsessed with killing the teenage troll, her life becomes a special kind of nightmare. Will she escape, or become just another victim of the unstoppable woman?

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

(Left) The cover of Troll Song, by Owen Tyme, Illustrated by Ryan Johnson.

There's a woman in mud spattered white, leather armor crossing a pair of short swords against the neck of a terrified, shirtless dwarf.

The woman has white hair and a darker skin tone on the left side of her face. Her left eye is green and her right eye is blue.

The dwarf's hair and beard are blond.

The background is a green forest, with some flowers among the tall grass.

(Right) The background is a snow-covered forest, with a pair of dark silhouettes in it, one small and the other large, like a giant. The smaller silhouette is of a young woman walking away and the interior is filled with musical symbols, in green, white and two shades of blue. The larger silhouette is a woman wielding two swords and the interior is full of blood spatter. The larger one appears to be chasing the smaller one.

The following text is laid over the scene:

“I can’t die until Lyra takes her last breath! She’ll regret betraying her sisters!”

“There’s no price I won’t pay to see that happen, no pain I won’t endure and I’d sacrifice the whole world to seal her fate!”

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

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1y

#OTD in 1868.

John William De Forest, writing for The Nation, calls for a more specifically American literature; the essay's title, "The Great American Novel", is the first known use of the term. In 1880, writer Henry James simplified the term with the initialism "GAN".

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_American_Novel#Notable_candidates

Books by John William De Forest at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/4323

#books #literature

Portrait of John William De Forest.

A middle-aged or older man with a strong, thoughtful expression, likely with neatly combed dark or graying hair and a short, well-groomed mustache.

Wearing formal 19th-century clothing, such as a dark suit, waistcoat, and a white shirt, typical of the era's intellectuals or gentlemen.

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