books

72d

What book(s) are you currently reading or listening to? December 16

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85d

The Barbellion Prize is coming back! This essential literary prize which “celebrates and promotes writing that represents the experience of chronic illness and disability” has been on hiatus but is now relaunching. They need help to raise funds to cover the cost of running the prize and welcome any donations, please spread the word!
“As with disability in general, the literature of disability and chronic illness is too commonly turned away from, leaving non-disabled readers ignorant of the profound difference experienced by many and disallowing a voice to chronically ill and disabled writers. All of the volunteers working to support the prize are motivated by a desire to celebrate difference as represented in literature and to effect positive social change via that representation.”

https://barbellionprize.org/donate/

#bookstodon #reading #books #chronicIllness #Disability #disabled #literature #publishing #InternationalDayOfPersonsWithDisabilities #IDPWD @disability @bookstodon

Edited 85d ago

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72d

Books On My Winter 2025-2026 to-Read List: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-books-on-my-winter-2025-2026-to-read-list/

#TBR #Books #AmReading

A sprig of holly lying on an opened hardcover book that itself is lying on some rough rocks at the beach on a sunny day.

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72d

The Hidden History of Women Game Designers

Nineteenth-century women turned music lessons into interactive entertainment, complete with spinning wheels and ivory counters.

By: Carmel Raz

https://daily.jstor.org/the-hidden-history-of-women-game-designers/

#books #games #womenhistory

Cover page of the book Instructions for Playing the Musical Games: Invented by Anne Young Edinburgh : Printed by C. Stewart, And Co. 1801

The title page of "Instructions for Playing the Musical Games" (1801) by Anne Young, printed in Edinburgh by C. Stewart and Co. This historic publication documents early educational musical games, featuring period typography and layout typical of early 19th-century Scottish printing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Gunn#/media/File:Instructions_for_Playing_the_Musical_Games,_Anne_Young.jpg

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1y

English philosopher and women's rights advocate Harriet Taylor Mill was born #OTD in 1807.

She is considered to have been a key contributor to many of John Stuart Mill’s most famous works, particularly "On Liberty" (1859) & "The Subjection of Women" (1869). Some of her own writings, such as her essay "The Enfranchisement of Women" (1851), argued for women's equality and their right to vote.

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

Books by Harriet Taylor Mill at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/73404

#books #literature

Harriet Mill, by unknown artist, Harriet Taylor Mill (née Harriet Hardy) (8 October 1807 – November 1858) was a philosopher and women's rights advocate. Her extant corpus of writing is very small, and she is largely remembered for her influence, which he said was very great, on her second husband, John Stuart Mill, one of the pre-eminent thinkers of the 19th century, Painting given to the National Portrait Gallery, London in 1982.

In the painting, Harriet Taylor Mill is presented with a refined and composed demeanor, reflecting her intellect and influence as a thinker. Her expression is calm yet thoughtful, with a sense of quiet determination that hints at her significant contributions to women's rights and social reform.

She has a delicate face, with fine features—perhaps high cheekbones, a soft jawline, and bright eyes that convey her sharp intellect. Her lips are often depicted with a slight, gentle smile or in a neutral, contemplative pose.

Her hair is styled in the fashion of the mid-19th century, likely parted in the center and arranged in neat waves or curls around her face, with the rest pulled back in a simple, elegant updo.

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85d

New on my #blog: "Books Reviewed: November 2025."
https://itinerantlibrarian.wordpress.com/2025/12/03/books-reviewed-november-2025/

A small wrap up this month, but still got something in.

#books #reading #AlchemicalThoughts #reviews #BookReview #bookstodon
💙📚

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84d

Story Graph?

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1y

This old image made me think of every single book lover in the Fediverse 📚📖

#bookstodon #books #booklovers

A black and white photo of a book store called "Yesterday's Books" with "Any Book $1.00"

On the first floor, is a big sign "BOOKS will turn you on!"

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70d

The Drawing That Got a Renaissance Master Banished From Rome

Is all press still good press?

by Verity Babbs

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/art-bites-zuccaro-drawing-banished-from-rome-2710007

Renaissance art at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subjects/search/?query=renaissance+art

#art #books #culture

Portrait of Federico Zuccaro, by Fede Galizia (1604), oil on canvas, at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.

It shows Zuccaro in three-quarter view against a dark, neutral background, emphasizing his face and upper body.

The sitter has short, thinning gray hair, a high forehead, and a neatly trimmed gray beard and mustache.

His expression is calm and introspective, with slightly downcast eyes.

He wears a dark, austere garment typical of late 16th–early 17th century elite fashion, offset by a crisp white collar.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fede_Galizia_-_Portrait_of_Federico_Zuccari_-_WGA8432.jpg

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85d

Season's Readings 😊

@HeyLaiverd asked to read my stuff offline.

I thought why not make the first part of The Last Philosopher available to everyone.

Use QR or link in alt-text to get e-book, and feel free to share.

@reading @books @fantasy @bookstodon @humor @aiop

#WIPWednesday #AmWriting #IndieAuthor #Free #Ebook
#SpecualtiveFiction #Fantasy #SciFi #Satire #Humour #Comedy
#Books #Novel #Bookstodon #Bookwyrm #BookLovers
#Reading #Readers #ReadersOfMastodon #ReadingCommunity

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/tynp5wgkwr0dkvmf3dzp3/The-Last-Philosopher-Part-One.epub?rlkey=n61zknkz05eakr809gcs19kzd&st=fymuxn6v&dl=0

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84d

Searching for eBook reader solution

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50d

📚 The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by: Kiran Desai

When Sonia and Sunny first glimpse each other on an overnight train, they are immediately captivated yet also embarrassed by the fact that their grandparents had once tried to matchmake them, a clumsy meddling that served only to drive Sonia and Sunny apart.

Sonia, an aspiring novelist who recen...

https://bookblabla.com/book/the-loneliness-of-sonia-and-sunny

#books #reading #libraries #fiction #literary

When Sonia and Sunny first glimpse each other on an overnight train, they are immediately captivated yet also embarrassed by the fact that their grandparents had once tried to matchmake them, a clumsy meddling that served only to drive Sonia and Sunny apart.

Sonia, an aspiring novelist who recently completed her studies in the snowy mountains of Vermont, has returned to her family in India. She fears that she is haunted by a dark spell cast by an artist to whom she had once turned for intimacy and inspiration. Sunny, a struggling journalist resettled in New York City, is attempting to flee his imperious mother and the violence of his warring clan. Uncertain of their future, Sonia and Sunny embark on a search for happiness together as they confront the many alienations of our modern world.

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny is the sweeping tale of two young people navigating the many forces that shape their lives: country, class, race, history, and the complicated bonds that link one generation to the next. A love story, a family saga, and a rich novel of ideas, it is the most ambitious and accomplished work yet by one of our greatest novelists.

A spellbinding story of two young people whose fates intersect and diverge across continents and years an epic of love and family, India and America, tradition and modernity, by the Booker Prize–winning author of The Inheritance of Loss

A transcendent triumph. not so much a novel as a marvel. The New York Times Book Review

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84d

Ogden Nash makes a splash

Ogden Nash found success after The New Yorker hired him in 1930, launching a long career of humorous, playful verse. His earliest published poems enter public domain pretty soon.

By John Mark Ockerbloom

https://everybodyslibraries.com/2025/12/03/ogden-nash-makes-a-splash/

#books #poetry #publicDomainDayCountdown

Photo of panelist Ogden Nash and Dagmar from the television game show Masquerade Party.

This 1950s photo shows poet Ogden Nash with actress/TV personality Dagmar on the game show "Masquerade Party." Nash, wearing glasses and bow tie, sits at a panel desk while the glamorous Dagmar stands beside him.

via ABC Television

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogden_Nash#/media/File:Ogden_Nash_Dagmar_Masquerade_Party_1955.jpg

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1y

"La reconnaissance a la mémoire courte."

Swiss philosopher & politician Benjamin Constant was born #OTD in 1767. Author of numerous essays on political & religious issues, he also wrote psychological novels, such as Le Cahier rouge and Adolphe.

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/5256

More details Roche - Portrait de Benjamin Constant (1767-1830), écrivain et homme politique - P1679 - Musée Carnavalet Hercule de Roche - https://www.parismuseescollections.paris.fr/en/node/153046

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84d

#OTD in 1875, poet and novelist Rainer Maria Rilke is born

Rilke "was an Austrian poet and novelist. Acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, he is widely recognized as a significant writer in the German language. His work is viewed by critics and scholars as possessing undertones of mysticism, exploring themes of subjective experience and disbelief."

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

Rilke at PG:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/846

#books #literature #poetry

Photograph of Rilke

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71d

When you're reading and someone assumes that means you're doing nothing and they can interrupt you.

#books #reading #writing

At Vespers by Halle. A young woman looks up from reading a book. It's probably some religious thing, but I've cropped out the cross and I just like the intensity on her face.

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84d

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

Spies, aliens, trolls, wizards and a disowned prince use a time machine, to improve their place in history, but Levi Jacobs stands in their way, despite having just lost his parents in war. Will he stop them or will the time travelers kill his father at a pivotal moment, on which the fate of the galaxy hangs?

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

(Left) The cover of The Third Wish, by Owen Tyme, illustrated by Ryan Johnson.

A wizard in a black robe that glitters with hints of gold stands on a mountain and looks down at a city of sky scrapers covered in greenery. In his shadow lurks a creature with glowing red eyes.

In the background, the sun is setting and stars are becoming visible.

(Right Background) Four images separated by black lines, with the silhouette of a woman wielding two swords laid over them. She's outlined in black and her interior is yellow clock-based imagery that spirals outward from the center.

The upper left quarter is a queen in a red, furred robe, wearing a gold and diamond crown. She has dark eyebrows and blond hair.

Upper right is a planet seen from orbit.

Lower left is a symbolic wire frame representation of the view inside a wormhole, in green and yellow.

Lower right is dandelions among grass.

The angle of the planet, one of the woman's swords, the yellow highlights of the wormhole and some of the dandelions form a line that draws the eye along a sweeping curve.

(Right Foreground) The following quote:

He admired the flawless beauty of the insane swordswoman’s fluid movements as Ida took desperate step after step, backwards!

He felt waves of mental energy pour off the panic-stricken troll, but the energy bounced right off of Nicole’s mind, as though she’d shut herself inside a solid, red-hot, steel box of rage!

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

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1y

Was once again reminded of Ursula K. Le Guin's daily schedule, and why this woman was an icon on every single level.

#UrsulaKLeguin #Books #Bookstodon #book #Writing #WritingCommunity

Ursula Le Guin‘s daily schedule

5:30 a.m. - wake up and lie there and think.
6:15 a.m. - get up and eat breakfast (lots).
7.15 a.m. - get to work writing, writing, writing.
Noon - lunch.
1:00-3:00 p.m. - reading, music.
3:00-5:00 p.m. correspondence, maybe house cleaning.
5:00-8:00 p.m. make dinner and eat it.
After 8:00 p.m. - I tend to be very stupid and we won't talk about this.

This was Le Guin's daily schedule first appeared in an interview she gave in 1988 (and more recently reappeared in Ursula Le Guin: The Last Interview and Other Conversations).

Edited 1y ago

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71d

Happy Public Domain Day 2026 (Jan. 1) from Duke Law School's Center for the Study of the Public Domain. To read more about the public domain

via Duke University School of Law

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh9f_k7fQPA&t=33s

More information here:
https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2026/

#books #literature #publicDomainDayCountdown

Public domain day 2026 montage.

A collage celebrating Public Domain Day 2026, featuring iconic 1930 works entering the public domain: "All Quiet on the Western Front," Marx Brothers' "Animal Crackers," early Mickey Mouse cartoons, "The Little Engine That Could," "As I Lay Dying," Nancy Drew mysteries, "The Cat Who Went to Heaven," "King of Jazz," "The Maltese Falcon," Betty Boop cartoons, "I Got Rhythm," "The Murder at the Vicarage," "Dream a Little Dream of Me," "Ash Wednesday," Blondie comics, and "Morocco" starring Marlene Dietrich.

https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2026/

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71d

A psychoanalyst’s desire for a saner world

In Civilization and its Discontents, Sigmund Freud turned his psychoanalytic attention from the troubles of the individual to those of the world.

By John Mark Ockerbloom

https://everybodyslibraries.com/2025/12/16/a-psychoanalysts-desire-for-a-saner-world/

Freud at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/391

#books #psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud in a portrait photograph by Ferdinand Schmutzer, 1926

The black and white image shows the elderly psychoanalyst in formal attire with his distinctive white beard, intense gaze, and contemplative expression, seated with a watch chain visible across his vest—an iconic representation of the founder of psychoanalysis.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud#/media/Datei:Sigmund_Freud_1926.jpg

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75d

So, putting the book down where you finish reading it until it organically evolves into a pile of books doesn't count as "arranging"? Rude! 😜😂

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

#Book #Books #BookMemes #Memes #Humor #Humour
#Novel #Novels #Bookshelf #Mastobooks #BooksofMastodon #Bookstodon #Bookworm #Bookwyrm #Bookstodon #BookLove #FantasyBooks

A meme with pictures of six diffrent bookshelves.

Caption: How do you arrange your books?

1. HEIGHT
2. PERSONAL SIGNIFICANCE
3. COLOR
4. STACKED
5. ALPHABETICAL
6. CHRONDLOGIAL

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50d

The ratio of words written by Kafka to words written about Kafka is estimated to be about 1:10,000,000. Is anything left to say?

by Jared Marcel Pollen

https://libertiesjournal.com/online-articles/kafkainc/

Kafka at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1735

#books #literature

First page of Kafka's Letter to His Father.

The document shows aged paper with a cream or beige tone, typical of early 20th-century stationery that has yellowed over time. The page appears to be standard letter-size paper with some visible wear, creases, and aging marks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Kafka#/media/File:De_Kafka_Brief_an_den_Vater_001.jpg

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1y

#OTD in 1922.

T. S. Eliot founds The Criterion magazine, with the first appearance of his poem The Waste Land. This will be first fully published in book form by Boni & Liveright in New York in December.

Eliot's goal was to make it a literary review dedicated to the maintenance of standards and the reunification of a European intellectual community.

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

The Waste Land at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/1321

#books #literature #poetry

Title page of the first book edition (December 1922) of The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot.

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50d

Killing Stella. By Marlen Haushofer. 1958. (Translated by Shaun Whiteside)

In 1950s Austria, you are a housewife with kids, when an acquaintance dumps her 19 year old daughter with you for a year; the daughter is innocuous but your household is so fragile, and you are managing your own internal storm of mundane familial relationships, that the friends’ daughter is caught in the invisible crossfire.

4 of 5 library cats 🐈 🐈 🐈 🐈

@bookstodon #reading #books #women #austria

Yellow book cover with two “x”s on it

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1y

"Were all men equal to-night, some would get the start by rising an hour earlier to-morrow."

#OTD in 1848.

Elizabeth Gaskell's first novel, Mary Barton: A Tale of Manchester Life is published anonymously by Chapman & Hall in London in two volumes.

Gaskell was paid £100 for the novel. The publisher Edward Chapman had had the manuscript since the middle of 1847.

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

Mary Barton at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/2153

#books #literature

(no description)

Edited 1y ago

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