An Apology And Penance (In Link Form)

I have been remiss with this blog and I apologize. (I never said it would be a good apology. It is, however, a sincere one.) In my defense, I must tell you that I came home last Wednesday and discovered that my Internet was dead (it turned out that my [physical] cable was cut in two different places). My cable company, like all cable companies, wasn't particularly interested in fixing the problem at a time that was convenient for me (because, really, why should they make sure I'm happy with the one and only service I pay them for?), so it wasn't fixed until Saturday and by then I'd forgotten that I hadn't blogged. And that forgetfulness carried over to this week (apparently I need to do something more than once a week if I wish to make it a habit), but I remembered now.

As for my penance, it's from BuzzFeed. I can always find interesting and/or funny lists at BuzzFeed and that's why I love it.

• My old roommate shared the link to 17 problems only book lovers will understand on Facebook a while ago and I've been meaning to share it here.(Yes, I know it's from HarperCollins, but they're not trying to sell anything.) And I couldn't agree more with Donnie Darko that a book is a Do Not Disturb sign.
• Did you know that BuzzFeed now has a section devoted to books? I didn't until Laurie Halse Anderson tweeted a link to it. I apologize for destroying your productivity for the rest of the day :) Of course, it's currently the Friday before Labor Day and no one is ever productive on that day. The rest of my links are some of my personal favorites that are currently on the BuzzFeed Books front page.
• There's the 13 worst things that can happen while you're reading. (Contributed by another publisher, but they're not trying to sell anything either.)
• I love all the Belle GIFs in the list of 12 signs you're really into your book. I think I may need to re-watch Beauty and the Beast.
• How could I not love a list that gives love to one of my favorite YA authors, John Green? Some of the life lessons are better than others, but that's to be expected when the list has 56 items. Would someone please buy me the poster at the end of the post?

Summer Of Jane

First, I must apologize for not posting this last night. I've been having weird sleep issues for a while and last night that led to me taking a nap at 4 PM but not waking up until 1 AM. And I just didn't feel like getting up and writing a blog post at 1 AM.

Last summer was my own personal summer of Jane (Austen). I re-read all six completed novels and capped it off by reading All Roads Lead to Austen by Amy Elizabeth Smith. This summer, however, is everybody's summer of Jane. Austenland, the film adaptation of Shannon Hale's fabulous novel of the same name, opens in limited release tomorrow. I cannot wait to see it, but it appears that it won't make its way to the Tampa area until September 13.

This New York Times article makes the case that this isn't just the summer of Jane but 2013 is the year of Jane and I think it is a pretty strong case. There have been completely random news stories out of the UK about Jane, both Jane's inclusion on British currency (and the resulting controversy and disgusting behavior of people opposed to that decision) and the story of the legal limbo of one of Austen's rings that Kelly Clarkson purchased at auction last year. (By the way, I really don't understand that story. If the ring is such an important cultural artifact that shouldn't leave Britain, then why didn't culture minister Ed Vaizey prevent the auction from ever happening in the first place. It all just seems like posturing on Vaizey's part.) And then, of course, there's the upcoming Austenland movie and a bunch of books mentioned in the Times article. (I'm trying not to read the list too many times because otherwise I'll end up adding titles to my TBR list, which is already very long.) The Times piece also includes a fun interactive quiz. I only got 12 questions right, and I'm quite disappointed about that, but it was fun nonetheless.

More Links

I'm always looking out for things to share on my blog, particularly for weeks when I'm not inspired to write about something specific. This is one of those weeks.

• I nearly edited last week's post to include this skit from Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, but drunk Ron Weasley singing "Happy Birthday" to Harry Potter is still funny this week.
• Nick Offerman's summer reading recap from last night's Jimmy Kimmel Live! is also really funny. Do schools really have summer reading lists, though? I don't remember ever having to read books during summer vacation. I did read books during summer vacation because I've always loved reading, but nothing was ever assigned. Also, was my high school the only one that didn't include Of Mice and Men or Lord of the Flies in the English curriculum? I've still never read either of them.
• Finally, a friend of mine passed along this link to pictures of the abandoned Wal-Mart that is now the largest single-floor public library in America. I would love to visit that library because a) it looks amazing and b) I want to laugh in the face of an abandoned Wal-Mart. (I am not a fan of Wal-Mart.)