#ff- Library Thing

Ok, so I forgot that I was supposed to start this Follow Friday thing. I fell off the #ff wagon. Well. DEAL. Gosh, stop judging me.

Anyway, I suddenly remembered/cursedoutloud and here is installment two of Dead White Guy's #ff, where I recommend super awesome things that may or may not be web related but have been so far because I've only done one. And this week's shameless attempt to get everyone to like the same stuff as me goes to....LIBRARY THING!

Library Thing is a book nerd's frickin' frackin' fantasy. It's a book cataloging site where you can enter every book you own by ISBN, title, author, or search for it on Amazon or in the Library of Congress. Once you enter your books, you can create tags for them and read reviews of the books done by other members. You can even buy your own fancy shmancy barcode scanner and input them that way. But that would make you irreparably nerdy and we might never talk again.

As a side note- I hear some of you asking, why would you need to catalogue your books? Aren't they sitting right in front of you? Well, yes, but they're also sitting under my bed and in boxes in the closet and wherever else so it's nice to have a master list. Also, if you tend to buy a lot of new or valuable old books, a catalogue is great for insurance purposes.

Anyway, the best thing about Library Thing is the community. It alerts you of upcoming book-ish stuff going on in your area, including book signings and classes. And there are sooo many groups you can join, from Victorian literature to those Twi-hards- I'm glad they're in a group so when the apocalypse comes, Jesus knows where to go first.

Next week I'll be talking about Goodreads, which is another rad cataloging site with way cool book clubs, in one of which I will be co-moderating an upcoming discussion on John Milton's Paradise Lost.

And I'm still working on Agemem-whatever. Actually, I'm still working through the introduction. I'm not an expert on Greek plays and I'd like to know what's going on historically speaking, but this intro wants me to know what the playwright used to wipe his butt with, so it's taking awhile.

Review: "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", or, Betty Smith was SMOKIN'

Look at that! She was hot stuff! Look at her cheekbones! And the coif!

Anyway.

Once, when I was in college, I had to write an essay about growing up in the South for my Southern Lit class. It turned out like a check list (though an accurate one) of characteristics of a southern childhood, and that's what this book is. It's about poor children of immigrant children with Brooklyn accents and (Irish) family members that drink too much. The question here is- did Betty Smith invent the stereotype, or was it just an unoriginal, albeit autobiographical, sketch of her own life?

I think she invented it. No one that hot could be unoriginal.

Aside from the question of originality, I have to admit that I approached this book with fright. It's one of those classics that I had no interest in, for some reason. But it turned out to be freakin' AWESOME. Her language is just so beautiful and poignant and simple. It's sorta Steinbeck-y in that respect. And the historian in me was actually interested in the romanticized sociology of it.

Five stars out of your mom.

You're Welcome Again

I love finding unexpected famous people doing Shakespeare, who is, of course, the ultimate Dead White Guy. So here is James Earl Jones doing a very dramatic scene from King Lear, the most disastrous soap opera of a tragedy. Look at him! James Earl Jones is a BABY! He's like twelve years old!

In other news, I am reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for the first time. I'll have a lot to say. Of course.