Link Love: October 2015

Review of the Month: I Capture the Castle

I’ve decided to start off my Link Love posts by highlighting a favorite review I’ve found elsewhere. This month it’s an insightful post about I Capture the Castle at the blog majoring in literature. Like all the best reviews, it makes me want to read this favorite classic all over again!

Here are some of my other favorite posts and articles this month:

Language matters

• A spelling maven examines the language of Blackadder for accuracy — or lack thereof — at the Oxford Words blog.
• From NPR comes an enlightening history of the book blurb. (Did you know that Walt Whitman, king of self-promotion, was the first to print one on Leaves of Grass — on the spine, no less?)
• The author of the new book The Wolf Wilder takes a look at wolves in literature, for The Telegraph.

Readers and Recommendations

• At She Reads Novels, a quest for historical fiction set in Africa.
• Books on the Table shares some thoughts of a bookseller on the demand for “happy” books.
• River City Reading has a brilliant idea: creating a Recommendation Starter Pack.
• A wonderful piece about teaching reluctant readers at Nerdy Book Club (thanks to Wendy from Falconer’s Library).

Words and pictures

• A gorgeous seasonal collection of autumnal prose, poetry and images from Beyond Eden Rock.
• I did pretty well with this quiz featuring iconic book covers, from Feed Your Need to Read. How about  you?
• From Hazlitt, a look back at the beautiful puzzle book Masquerade and the insane hunt for hidden meanings it inspired.
• At Book Riot, a collection of bizarre stock photos of books and readers. I’m not sure whether to laugh, or be very afraid.
• Becca of I’m Lost in Books alerted me to this great collection of cover images and other art using negative space, at Creative Bloq.
• And thanks to Lark of the Bookwyrm’s Hoard for sharing this post about bookish art on Tumblr, from Book Riot.

Better blogging

• Nose Graze offers a guest post from Amanda of Nellie and Co. on the eternal question Do you need a niche?
• A thoughtful post on measuring blogging success at Read at Midnight. (I like her bottom line: a successful blog is one with a happy blogger.)
• At The Book Stop, more good questions about what you choose to blog about (or not).
• A disorganised blogger’s guide from Boats Against the Current may make you smile in recognition as it reveals some of the best (?!?) practices of disorganized bloggers. (If you can’t relate to any of these, I don’t want to hear from you).

Literary Pilgrimages

• Mirabile Dictu has some helpful advice for An American in London.
• More highlights from a trip to London with Sophisticated Dorkiness.
• At Monica’s Bookish Life, pictures of a trip through the Hudson Valley make me want to drop everything immediately and go back there.
• From Flavorwire, a Halloween-themed tour through some houses of horror (horror writers, that is).
• Wildmoo Books offers a booklover’s dream trip to the Morgan Library.

Image of the Month

Cartoon of Emile Zola, found here.

Shared in the Sunday Post hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer.