Book-itecture

Via The Elegant Variation comes a referral to Curious Expeditions’ Librophiliac Love Letter. The page is graphics-intensive and loads slowly. But then, its “Compendium of Beautiful Libraries” rewards your patience one hundredfold.



(Left) One of my favorites: Real Gabinete Portugues De Leitura Rio De Janeiro, Brazil







(Right) The most intriguing: Hereford Cathedral Chained Library, Hereford, England

Some Fun Now

From the Foreword:

As she would say, "We had such fun!"

From the Introduction:

Those early years in France were among the best of my life. [...I...] had such fun that I hardly stopped moving long enough to catch my breath.

I wasn't even to the official first page of Julia Child's My Life in France yesterday before those and two more passages poured pure joy onto the page. "Joy" isn’t my dominant impression of Julia Child; "serious" fits better.

"Serious" describes me, too. So maybe it took all those references to fun to prepare me this morning for Jill and Kevin's wedding video (audio alert).

It'll either annoy you or bring you to tears. Me? Tears. (of joy!)

Making God Laugh

The joke goes: “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.”

Even if you’re The Pope?

Benedict XVI left on Monday for a two-week vacation in a chalet in the Italian Alps. He fell Thursday night and broke his wrist, and had surgery on Friday to repair it and apply a cast that he’ll wear for a month.

The biggest impact?

…giving up writing by hand, which he had planned to spend much of his time doing during his traditional summer vacation.