Sunday, July 05, 2009

Links & Reviews

- The AP reports on some of the items known to be missing from the National Archives. Senator Charles Grassley has demanded "an accounting" of all missing items.

- Sarah Vowell weighs in on the controversy over Rhode Island's official name in the NYTimes, making the case that "of Providence Plantations" shouldn't be dropped. I quite agree. Teach people that "plantations" in this case doesn't refer to slaveowners' farms, but just means settlements.

- As Ian noted on Twitter this week, the new ABAA website is now live, and looks great.

- Nick Basbanes posted his summer reading list on his blog this week.

- Via The Bunburyist, an online exhibit from the Westminster Libraries, "Arthur Conan Doyle: The Prolific Writer." There's even a quiz (weirdly, I did better on the advanced one than the simple one).

- Over at Pazzo Blog, a recap of the 30 June book auction in Northampton.

- Britannica Blog profiles E.O. Wilson (one of my perennial favorites).

- Also in the Times op/eds, Nicholas Kristof offers up his list of the best children's books ever. Mine would be a different list, but that's okay. Still worth reading.

- As I noted yesterday, the new Common-place is up.

- From BibliOdyssey, satirical maps of Europe.

- In the Globe today, a survey of some Boston neighborhoods mentioned in literature.

Reviews

- In the WaPo, Marie Arana reviews John Ferling's The Ascent of George Washington.

- Nick Owchar reviews Zafon's The Angel's Game in the LATimes.