ssmith's blog

A WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF INTERNET CURIOSITIES FROM THE BOOK WORLD

, and
The Oxford comma is dead (says Galleycat).
Oops, the Oxford comma is not dead (retracts Galleycat).
What is an Oxford comma? (Guardian explains)

"what's time to a pig?"

A WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF INTERNET CURIOSITIES FROM THE BOOK WORLD

Writers on writers
Insults, barbs & jabs between writers.

The illustrated Interview
Austrailian kids book illustrator Shaun Tan was interviewed by Der Spiegel and provided answers in a unique form: illustrations.

Books are for the birds.

A WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF INTERNET CURIOSITIES FROM THE BOOK WORLD

Lush Life
Not to be a prude, but I don't really enjoy or condone the myth of the effective drunk author. It is a movie cliché, really. That said, if you want to pretend you're a great writer while getting your drink on, here are the bevvys you're going to need. (And if you want to just write, it's probably best to lay off the booze, at least while you're doing it.)

Iconic Brut
Robarts Library: brutalist eyesore, or egalitarian icon?

A WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF INTERNET CURIOSITIES FROM THE BOOK WORLD

The Filter Bubble
Do you think the Internet is like a giant brain holding humankind's consciousness? Do you think everyone gets the same results for a Google search? Do you think you're part of an online community? Think again. Here is perhaps the most important article you will read about the Internet this year, detailing some very creepy changes afoot in cyberspace, adapted by author Eli Pariser from his book The Filter Bubble.

A design book about design books

A WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF INTERNET CURIOSITIES FROM THE BOOK WORLD

Remember Dale Peck? No?

A WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF INTERNET CURIOSITIES FROM THE BOOK WORLD

What do all of these books have in common?

• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
• The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
• The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
• Dream of the Red Chamber by Cao Xueqin
• And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

They are the five biggest-selling books of all time, says The Telegraph.

Font nerds gather round

A WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF INTERNET CURIOSITIES FROM THE BOOK WORLD

20 Literary Tattoos
If, like these folks, you were to get a literary tattoo, what would it be?

If I only had some drawing talent...
The London Based design agency Fridge Creative is inviting people — yup, anyone — to submit illustrations for an online edition of The Wizard of Oz.

Periodic Table of Storytelling

A WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF INTERNET CURIOSITIES FROM THE BOOK WORLD

Soft-balling Davidar

A WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF INTERNET CURIOSITIES FROM THE BOOK WORLD

Damned Judgmental Booksellers
Oh, how I remember the days of sarcasm and loathing. When I worked in a bookstore, someone once asked me if we sold towels. Towels, really. Another asked if we sold Listerine. What is this, Shoppers Drug Mart? (I think he actually wanted a cheap drunk.) Now, some clever booksellers have converted all that bile into a rather funny meme. Vent, vent, vent away, yee nasty ostrich!

"The lamp just sat there, like an inanimate object."

A WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF INTERNET CURIOSITIES FROM THE BOOK WORLD

Flugge's envelopes
On The Guardian, book publisher Klaus Flugge has contributed a gallery of charming envelopes he's received in the mail over the years, decorated with illustrations by children's authors he has published at Anderson Press.

Macaron anyone?