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Congrats to Angeles G, who won As Spring Rain (2nd ed) by Valentina Heart!

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Bookity

• New releases: Fiction Vixen (UF/romance) and AAR (romance)
• Book and publishing news from Dear Author.
• All sorts of bookity linkity from Book Riot.
• And bookity linkity from Smart Bitches.
• “Is the book market contracting?“
• “Extravagant consumption: on buying vs reading“.
• “The perils of re-reading“.
• “Why I quit Goodreads (or, the Bookternet is not safe for women)“.
• Gift ideas for readers.
• 10 bookish hotels.
• 5 quotes about libraries. (via kris’n’good things)
• “Postcards from fictional destinations“. (via The Mary Sue)
• Cats “helping” their people read.
• Lighted book art. (via twoearsandaheart)

Think, Make, Do, Learn

• Why our obsession with cats makes us healthier and happier.
• “Protecting what you love: On the difference between criticism, rage, and vilification“.
• D’oh! Apparently people buy more junk food if they bring their own grocery bags.
• The UN ordered 10,000 IKEA flatpack refugee shelters.
• A day on the London Underground, compressed into two minutes.
• Re-experience Apollo 17 interactively.
• “Why anit-vaxxers just ‘know’ they’re right“.

Cookity

• Savory vegetable pancakes.
• Southwest skillet ragu.
• Asparagus-spinach pesto pasta with blackened shrimp. (via The Kitchn)
• 9 stir fry meals.
• 8 cake/quick bread recipes that include veggies.

Gluten Free

• Lemon meringue pie in jars.
• Entenmann’s style iced carrot cake.
• Japanese cheesecake.
• Mediterranean quinoa salad.

Crafty

• A short film about quilting.
• Knitting linkity from kmkat.

Cool

• Bald eagle staredown.
• The most Canadian photo of all time?
• The periodic table of Disney. (via The Mary Sue)
• Photos of last week’s solar eclipse. The ISS crossing the sun during the eclipse. How the eclipse looked from space.
• The X-Files is returning for six episodes. On how important The X-Files was for internet fandom. (And hey, completely unrelated to The X-Files, I have a vintage fandom photo post, complete with the unique tail and shadow of the Chaos kitty.)
• “Structurally absurd homes“.
• Short animated film about how Star Wars looked from the Empire’s perspective.
• Sci-fi short.
• Footage from Seattle in 1955.
• Linkity from kmkat.

Cool or Wha…?

• Star Wars heads to decorate your walls.
• Life-size plush Yoda and Ewok.
• VW Beetle toiletries case.
• Peeps Zamboni.
• Birthday cake-flavored Frappuccinos.
• An alarm clock that makes coffee.
• Message board Scrabble.

Wha…?

• There’s a book called Pounded by the Gay Biker Rainbow Come to Life. (via zarathuse)
• And also one called Cheesy Puff Came to Life and Pimped My Gay Ass.
• Biscuit tacos.
• Whopper-scented cologne.
• Artifical turf placemats.
• “A wearable cat camera auto-posts to Instagram“. Um, no. My cats spend way too much time hanging out with me in the bathroom, when I get dressed, etc.

LOL

• What could possibly go wrong?
• Insult Cake Wrecks.
• On mysteries. (Hover cursor/long-press for additional text.)
• Classy black cat is classy.
• Don’t accidentally wear the cat!
• Technically.

Teh Cute

• Clumsy baby clouded leopards! Vampire lamb! Squeaky black kitty! Baby serval! Baby lions! Meerkat and babies! Meerkat and babies! Meerkat and babies! Cheetah and babies! Kitten!

Reading Update
Leaving a Trace: On Keeping a Journal: The Art of Transforming a Life into Stories by Alexandra Johnson. Very good book about keeping a journal or diary, with writing exercises (some of which I tried and was pleasantly surprised by) and excerpts of what writers noted for journaling and memoir writing had to say about how the process enhanced their lives. Notes the author, “Successful journals break the deadlock of introspective obsession.” Yes, that. That’s what I aspire to.
A Trail Through Leaves: The Journal as a Path to Place by Hannah Hinchman. Another lovely, lyrical look at journal keeping from Hinchman, who avoids “the deadlock of introspective obsession” (Alexandra Johnson) by observing and drawing her surroundings and keeping her writing style concrete, nearly brusque.
Making & Keeping Creative Journals by Suzanne JE Tourtillott. I enjoyed looking at the drawings and pictures of bookbinding and the artistic journal projects created for the book. I remain unconvinced about using two leather work gloves to bind a journal (or book of any sort).
Boy on Ice: The Life and Death of Derek Boogaard by John Branch. Very good, very absorbing, very sad story about an NHL enforcer and how CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) most likely paid a role in his demise. To me, the really tragic thing was how ineffectual and toothless all the checks and balances that should’ve helped him turned out to be… and how none of that has changed.

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“You better not be talking trash about my tail, Mom!!” -Chaos

Erm. Pay no attention to that short, kinky tail up there then! 😉