Lit: Uniquely Portable Magic

I recently found an article by Patrick Ness, author of The Knife of Never Letting Go, published at The Guardian listing his top 10 "unsuitable" books for teenagers. I was a little appalled when I first saw the title but that title is firmly tongue-in-cheek. Ness makes the point that some so-called adult novels are best read, at least for the first time, as a teenager (The Virgin Suicides), some are really best appreciated by teenagers (A Catcher In The Rye, for example, tends to make adults want to slap Holden Caulfield), and that some will convince young readers that reading adult books can be fun. His list includes Middlemarch, The Stand, and Dracula.

NPR recently highlighted a new book by Johann Sebastian Bach by John Eliot Gardiner,Bach: Music In The Castle of Heaven. For a girl who grew up with classical music, who played Bach during my years of piano lessons, and who turns to Bach for just the right music for a mood, this one is right up my alley! Gardiner spent 12 years writing this book - can you even conceive of spending that long working on something? It seems that only writers and scientists have that kind of devotion to their work.

In non-book related reading, have you discovered Flipboard?  It's a magazine article collection site that you can customize with your own interests. Every time I open it, it's like falling down the rabbit hole. I'm not sure whether or not to thank Mini-him for introducing me to Flipboard or to send him to his room without dinner.

Flavorwire posted a list of "Our Favorite Pop Culture Librarians" including video. From Katharine Hepburn in Desk Set to Parker Posey in Party Girl, from movies to t.v. to a Weird Al spoof, these librarians run that gamut of pop culture sources. If you know how much I love musicals, it won't surprise you to find out that my favorite is Shirley Jones as Marian Paroo (Marion the Librarian) form Meredith Wilson's The Music Man.

 Can you think of any pop culture librarians they've missed?