LITERATURE BUT NOT AS WE USUALLY SEE IT.

I don't know how I missed this.

A Guardian article in January of this year starred a blog with the glorious title of LOUSY BOOK TITLES:"Just because you CAN design your own book cover doesn't mean you SHOULD" which, as the title suggests, features some pretty awful book covers, one of my 'favourites being .....

Be sure to click on the above link to view more.


Oh my goodness, how amazing is this .......

Turning The Page, a free exhibition (running until the 25th of May 2013 at the British Academy) shows the work of paper sculptor Justin Rowe who delicately carves books, folding them to form landscapes and characters that literally pop up from the page. MORE

Interesting ...... Recent research has shown one in 10 women feels more intensely for a make-believe male such as James Bond than for their own partner. (Hmm, I wonder which make-believe male YOU favour. PW)

From Margaret Atwood to Jeanette Winterson - authors add hand-written notes to first editions to raise money for ENGLISH PEN.

Take for example how JK Rowling annotated this first edition copy of Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone .....

Title page [beneath title] 'changed my life forever.'

Title page 'No shield here - crest. I mean all that came in the later editions. This one's a bit wonky but you get the idea. Perhaps Hufflepuff house would have the respect it deserves from the fans if I'd stayed with my original idea of a bear to represent it?'

p.18 [beneath drawing] 'Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking.'

p.133 [beneath 'Quidditch'] '-was invented in a small hotel in Manchester after a row with my then boyfriend. I had been pondering the things that hold a society together, cause it to congregate and signify its particular character and knew I needed a sport. It infuriates men, in my experience (why is the Snitch so valuable etc.), which is quite satisfying given my state of mind when I invented it.' MORE

Well done to my blogger buddy Lyndsay over at THE LITTLE READER LIBRARY who, along with Daisy (that's her bottom right) and some of her fellow villagers, has created a library/book exchange in their old village telephone box. - Face Book

Tired of/worried about the sexist images gracing many of our sci-fi/fantasy books?

Then you may very well find THIS ARTICLE an interesting read. 

Featuring Jim Hines who, believing many sci-fi book covers objectify women, is 'aiming to zap gender stereotypes'. The article whilst making a very serious point shows the fantasy fiction author (above) straddling the remnants of a defeated alien species (a table), clasping a pistol (a toy gun) as he triumphantly raises a cyborg's head (a toaster) as well as in many other similar poses.

The thing I found most interesting though was THE HAWKEYE INITIATIVE which started in December 2012 swaps male and female characters in an attempt to challenge the portrayal of women in comics. The aim being that if   'Hawkeye' can replace the female character without "looking silly or stupid, then it's acceptable and probably non-sexist.

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