My Friday Bookish Statues Quote Garden

HAPPY FRIDAY!! Bookish Statues Quote Garden awaits you, please stay a while, smell the flowers, enjoy the oldie-worldly waft of pipe smoke,  hear the fluttering of tiny, gossamer wings, and the cheeky croaking of Kermit the frog. But before you leave don’t forget to say “hello” to my resident angel Mae West, even if she confesses, “I’m No Angel.”

SO LET’S BEGIN OUR TOUR WITH THIS

SUSPICIOUS LOOKING LASS

WHO IS PRONE TO SAYING:

“DON’T PINCH MY BOOK OR MY FLOWERS!!!”

garden-statue-502379__180

I reckon she would approve of the following quote:

A book is like a garden carried in the pocket. ~Chinese Proverb

Let’s celebrate books!

Some wonderful quotes about yes, you guessed it, reading!

Books are a uniquely portable magic. ~Stephen King

A good book has no ending. ~R.D. Cumming

It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it. ~Oscar Wilde

A book must be an ice-axe to break the seas frozen inside our soul. ~Franz Kafka

th7HBU3ENP

I’ve never known any trouble that an hour’s reading didn’t assuage. ~Charles de Secondat, Baron de la Brède et de Montesquieu, Pensées Diverses

To sit alone in the lamplight with a book spread out before you, and hold intimate converse with men of unseen generations — such is a pleasure beyond compare. ~Kenko Yoshida

Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life. ~Mark Twain

To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting. ~Edmund Burke

A house without books is like a room without windows. ~Heinrich Mann

The wise man reads both books and life itself. ~Lin Yutang

th

To read a book for the first time is to make an acquaintance with a new friend; to read it for a second time is to meet an old one. ~Chinese Saying

He who lends a book is an idiot. He who returns the book is more of an idiot. ~Arabic Proverb

To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life. ~W. Somerset Maugham

To sit alone in the lamplight with a book spread out before you, and hold intimate converse with men of unseen generations — such is a pleasure beyond compare. ~Kenko Yoshida

http://www.quotegarden.com/books.html

peter-pan-357155__180

peter-pan-357153__180

Celebrating J.M Barrie’s Peter Pan:

I have a great fondness for Peter Pan. My eldest daughter played him in her primary school play and I still remember that day with fondness and gut-wrenching trepidation! I was more nervous than she was!  My youngest played Robin Hood! Guess if you can deduce which of my children tends to be a bit more of a rascal?

So to celebrate staying young here are a few Peter Pan quotes:

“To die would be an awfully big adventure.”

“All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust.”

“To live will be an awfully big adventure.”

“Second star to the right and straight on ’til morning. ”

frog-18121__180

A little bit of Kermit Wisdom:

It’s not easy being green.

Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection, the lovers and dreamers and me.

Time’s fun when you’re having flies.

Here’s some simple advice: Always be Yourself. Never take yourself too seriously. And beware of advice from experts, pigs and members of Parliament.

(How wise, Kermit.)

I’ve got a dream too, but it’s about singing and dancing and making people happy. That’s the kind of dream that get’s better the more people you share it with.

(What a wonderful philosophy!)

man-486030__180

Contemplative pipe smoking

Not that I recommend smoking! But some famous authors were fond of a pipe or two:

The first to come to mind is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of Sherlock Holmes.

And of course Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional sleuth too.

thTOQRABDP

As well as these famous authors:

J.R.R. Tolkien

Dr. Suess

Mark Twain

William Faulkner

C.S. Lewis

Ernest Hemingway

A.A. Milne

http://www.tobaccopipes.com/blog/10-famous-pipe-smokers-1-authors-and-their-tobacco-pipes/

I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgement in all human affairs.”
-Albert Einstein, 1950

“The fact is, Squire, the moment a man takes to a pipe, he becomes a philosopher. It’s the poor man’s friend; it calms the mind, soothes the temper, and makes a man patient under difficulties. It has made more good men, good husbands, kind masters, indulgent fathers, than any other blessed thing on this universal earth.”
-”Sam Slick, The Clockmaker”

8241

“A pipe is the fountain of contemplation, the source of pleasure, the companion of the wise; and the man who smokes, thinks like a philosopher and acts like a Samaritan.”
-Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

Edward Bulwer-Lytton also coined the well know phrase, “the pen is mightier than the sword,.” as well as the infamous opening line: “it was a dark and stormy night,’ in the 1830 novel Paul Clifford.

Here is the opening line in its entirety:

“It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.”

“A pipe in the mouth makes it clear that there has been no mistake–you are undoubtedly a man.”
-A. A. Milne

So let’s leave the pipe smoking behind for a moment, it really isn’t good for your health, and focus on angels reading in a quiet, secluded spot.

angel-314642__180

Angels and Mae West!

Wait a minute. You said quiet, and secluded. Mae West doesn’t sound like the retiring type to me. Well the answer lies at the end so please keep on reading!

The reason angels can fly is because they take themselves lightly. ~G.K. Chesterton, “Orthodoxy”

The Angels were all singing out of tune,
And hoarse with having little else to do,
Excepting to wind up the sun and moon
Or curb a runaway young star or two.
~Lord Byron

It is not known precisely where angels dwell — whether in the air, the void, or the planets. It has not been God’s pleasure that we should be informed of their abode. ~Voltaire

Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth
Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep.
~John Milton, Paradise Lost

I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free. ~Michelangelo

Here’s the clue Mae West’s quote:

I’m no angel, but I’ve spread my wings a bit. ~Mae West

http://www.quotegarden.com/angels.html

th6KEB9QVZ

th8GRBWQJ0

thMSC477LP

THIS BLOG claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to its respectful owners. The majority of images on this blog are from http://www.pixabay.com or google/bing search. All images are copyright free images. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it to appear on this site, please contact me with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

Oh, Readers . . . where art thou?

Reblogging this via Books Publishing Reading Writing. So Important readers tell us what you like to read.

islandeditions's avatarBooks: Publishing, Reading, Writing

My editor, Rachel Small, is co-conspirator on this post.

Hello, READERS! Yes, you – those people who are not attempting to write their own books but simply enjoy reading the fruits of others’ labours. How are you doing? Have you read any good books lately?

We’re addressing you specifically today because we (my editor and I and many other professionals in the book business) want to get to know you. We’re all so busy talking to other writers and authors about how to write, how to get published, and how to promote books that we sometimes forget the most important person in this entire equation – the READER! (Although Rachel never forgets – she’s always reminding the authors she edits to remember their readers!) If it weren’t for you Readers, this business wouldn’t exist. It’s kind of a “If a tree falls in the forest . . .” conundrum.

View original post 965 more words

My Friday Image: The Mysteries of Lock and Key

fitting-374781__180 A key. Just a simple word yet it holds a multitude of possibilities in its grasp, a twist of the wrist enables us  to discover a multitude of hidden, secret, mysterious, places. passage-301439__180

key-hole-253457__180
The Keyhole St Peter’s Basillica, Rome
st-peters-basilica-96577_640
St Peters Basilica Rome

A key to someone’s heart? Or a chest of hidden secrets, or a forbidden journey? love-421606__180  The Idea of Order at Key West Have you read The Idea of Order at Key West?  A poem by Wallace Stevens. It begins like this:

She sang beyond the genius of the sea.   
The water never formed to mind or voice,   
Like a body wholly body, fluttering
Its empty sleeves; and yet its mimic motion   
Made constant cry, caused constantly a cry,   
That was not ours although we understood,   
Inhuman, of the veritable ocean.

I discovered it quite by chance today while I was searching for inspiring images about the word key. In “The Idea of Order at Key West,” Stevens explores  several interesting themes: art, creativity, imagination and reality.  In the poem the speaker and his friend listen to a woman singing on a beach in Key West. It’s a beautiful poem isn’t it? Here’s the link to read this stunning poem in its entirety, The Idea of Order At Key West by Wallace Stevens: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/172206   bar-542568__180 The Key West Literary Seminar

Then the word key helped me to discover The Key West Literary Seminar, celebrating writers and writing. This literary event is held each January, attracting an international audience to hear such writers as Ian McEwan, Margaret Atwood, Billy Collins, and Joyce Carol Oates. Find out more at: http://www.kwls.org/

The title for the 2015 seminar, “How The Light Gets In,” is inspired by Leonard Cohen’s 1992 song, “Anthem”—“Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”

Where will the Mysteries of Lock and Key take me to next?

Ernest Hemingway’s Home
Then my lucky key helped me find out about Nobel prize–winning author Ernest Hemingway’s former home in Key West. It is a National Historic Landmark, Literary Landmark and recorded at the Library of Congress as a Historic American Building It is now open to the public as a museum, populated by as many as 60 descendants of his famous polydacty cats.
Quite fascinating.
th5C01NBN3
A Polydactyl cat
SIX TOED CAT!
thGHNEMMXY
 This fellow looks up to
 MISCHIEF!
thBS7QR3IW
 We’re just
LOUNGING AROUND!
thEM6NQXM5
 I’ve had too much wine.
 I’M IN DANGER OF FALLING OFF THE TABLE!
thSS123G7E
An illustrated Biography of Hemingway’s cats written by Carlene Fredericka Brennan with a Foreward by Hilary Hemingway.
Here’s the link to find out more about the home: http://hemingwayhome.com/
And biography of his life:
Where else could the word key take me?
Piano Keys
Of course, piano keys.
The piano keys are the players rendition of the meanderings of his twisting and turning soul.

piano-315016__180     music-279333__180 Yes, the imagination is meandering way off course now and going wild !

Quotes about keys On the theme of keys here’s a quote from Anthony Liccione: “Don’t try to be the missing key in my life, and I won’t be the unmatched lock, that doesn’t let you in.” Anthony Liccione is a Goodreads author. Here’s a link to his very successful Facebook page on Quotes: https://www.facebook.com/Quotes2Quote?ref=hl

Finally I discovered: Sarah Dessen Lock And Key

th A quote from Lock and Key: “It’s a lot easier to be lost than found. It’s the reason we’re always searching and rarely discovered–so many locks not enough keys.” thSUXRGESN Goodreads synopsis of Lock and Key : Ruby, where is your mother? Ruby knows that the game is up. For the past few months, she’s been on her own in the yellow house, managing somehow, knowing that her mother will probably never return. That’s how she comes to live with Cora, the sister she hasn’t seen in ten years, and Cora’s husband Jamie, whose down-to-earth demeanor makes it hard for Ruby to believe he founded the most popular networking Web site around. A luxurious house, fancy private school, a new wardrobe, the promise of college and a future; it’s a dream come true. So why is Ruby such a reluctant Cinderella, wary and defensive? And why is Nate, the genial boy next door with some secrets of his own, unable to accept the help that Ruby is just learning to give? Best-selling author Sarah Dessen explores the heart of a gutsy, complex girl dealing with unforeseen circumstances and learning to trust again. I reckon this sounds like a book that I must read sometime, sounds interesting ……………….. A key …………. Yes, there is something very mysterious in this tiny word, isn’t there? Trust me it’s true!

Ones to Read in 2015

Ones to read in 2015 via The Writes of Woman.

naomifrisby's avatarThe Writes of Womxn

There are a number of preview lists in the media at the moment. Rather than tell you what’s coming up, I’ve been reading 2015 titles since October so I can recommend books I think you should watch out for in the first half of 2015. Bar the bottom three titles – which are by three of my favourite writers and therefore, highly anticipated by me – I’ve read everything included on here; all of these books are very good and some are superb.

Full reviews will follow on the week of publication. All publication dates are UK and subject to change.

An Untamed State – Roxane Gay

On a visit to her parents in Haiti, Mireille is kidnapped in front of her husband and baby son. When her father holds out on paying the ransom, she’s subjected to brutal attacks. Her family will have to come to terms with the…

View original post 1,856 more words

A Toast To Our Furry Friends at Christmas

 

 

 

thHX6ZS55Q

 

th5X00N0Z8

 

Well let’s get into the Christmas spirit by celebrating man’s best friend

thCGQOBXF9

and our feline friends too.

1af82b366f0ab79f9b45bb8904d7cab5

So many authors  love cats and dogs, and often play tribute to this friendship by creating animal characters or quoting their love of our furry friends.

“To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs.”
—Aldous Huxley (author, Brave New World)

“When the Man waked up he said, ‘What is Wild Dog doing here?’ And the Woman said, ‘His name is not Wild Dog any more, but the First Friend, because he will be our friend for always and always and always.'”
Rudyard Kipling (author, The Jungle Book)

“Once you have had a wonderful dog, a life without one, is a life diminished.”
—Dean Koontz (author, Whispers)

“A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog.”
Jack London (author, The Call of The Wild)

“I’ve seen a look in dogs’ eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts.”
—John Steinbeck (author, The Grapes of Wrath)

 

In fact some authors love dogs so much that they argue that they are heaven bound.

thII69NJ2P

“You think dogs will not be in heaven? I tell you, they will be there long before any of us.”
—Robert Louis Stevenson (author, Treasure Island)

“Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.”
—Mark Twain (author, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer)

“If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons.”
—James Thurber (author, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty)

“Ever consider what our dogs must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul, chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we’re the greatest hunters on earth!”
—Anne Tyler (author, The Accidental Tourist)

And these famous actresses adore dogs too!

104354-o

“Dogs never bite me. Just humans.”
—Marilyn Monroe (actress, Some Like it Hot)

thB537RY1E

“Some of my best leading men have been dogs and horses.”
—Elizabeth Taylor (actress, Cleopatra)

http://dogtime.com/25-famous-quotes-about-dogs.html

Dogs and cats are different, no doubt about it, and here’s why!

Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are gods.”
― Christopher Hitchens, The Portable Atheist: Essential readings for the Nonbeliever

Quotes about dogs on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/dogs

Dogs may be man’s best friend, but cats are a mysterious folk:

midnight-498871__180

“Cats are a mysterious kind of folk. There is more passing in their minds than we are aware of.”  

Sir Walter Scott.

“When I play with my cat, who knows whether she is not amusing herself with me more than I with her?”

Michel de Montaigne, French author

(1533-1592)
“Authors like cats because they are such quiet, lovable, wise creatures, and cats like authors for the same reasons.”

Robertson Davies, Playright.

“I gave my cat a bath the other day … they love it. He sat there, he enjoyed it, it was fun for me. The fur would stick on my tongue, but other than that …”

Steve Martin, Comedian

“A cat has nine lives. For three he plays, for three he strays, and for the last three he stays.”

 

thAMUIG2V3
“A cat is more intelligent than people believe, and can be taught any crime,”
― Mark Twain.
th
Alexander McCall Smith  seems to want to make his cat the main subject of any photo he appears in, and there are similarly cuddly pictures of PG Wodehouse, Barbara Pym, Robert Graves, Ruth Rendell, Margaret Atwood (with “Fluffy”) and on and on and on.
Nobel prize–winning author Ernest Hemingway’s former home in Key West,  is now open to the public as a museum, populated by as many as 60 descendants of his famous polydactyl cats. Here’s the link to find out more: http://hemingwayhome.com/
th5C01NBN3
A polydactyl Cat.
thBS7QR3IW
Hemingway cats
thGHNEMMXY
Hemingway cats
My favourite Goodreads Quotes about cats:

“Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.”
― Robert A. Heinlein

“One day I was counting the cats and I absent-mindedly counted myself.”
― Bobbie Anne Mason, Shiloh and other stories

A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.”
Ernest Hemingway

 

th3NJS41WC

“I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul.”
― Jean Cocteau

“Yearning for love made her feel like a cat that was always twining around ankles, meowing Pet me, pet me, look at me, love me.
― Laini Taylor, Daughter of Smoke & Bone

“That’s the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.”
― Ray Bradbury, Zen in the Art of Writing    

Holding this soft, small living creature in my lap this way, though, and seeing how it slept with complete trust in me, I felt a warm rush in my chest. I put my hand on the cat’s chest and felt his heart beating. The pulse was faint and fast, but his heart, like mine, was ticking off the time allotted to his small body with all the restless earnestness of my own.”
― Haruki Murakami, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle

On a more serious note, please remember that cats and dogs are for life, not just for Christmas:

Meet the people who give up their Christmas Day to look after cats and dogs

Article from The Mirror: “This year the RSPCA has reported an alarming increase in animals being abandoned across England and Wales – and they expect the situation to get worse over the winter months.

With nearly 2,500 cats and dogs in care this Christmas, hundreds of RSPCA volunteers spend Christmas Day with the animals, getting in extra early to make sure the cats and dogs have a special day.

And it’s lucky that they do, because the RSPCA receives 1,140 calls on Christmas Day putting immense strain on the people who choose to spend their Christmas looking after the animals.”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/meet-people-who-give-up-4783124

Links:

http://www.catster.com/lifestyle/6-famous-authors-who-wrote-with-their-cats

http://www.buzzfeed.com/harpercollins/16-famous-writers-and-their-cats-9npd

I just love Mogget and The Despicable Dog in Garth Nix’s Old Kingdom Trilogy. So let’s end with a bit of fun trivia:

http://www.funtrivia.com/en/subtopics/The-Old-Kingdom-Trilogy-by-Garth-Nix-111096.html

Bye!

 

thQC97V22X

 

th9D597LW7

Trinity College Jerwood Library

Reblog from Sig Nordal, Jr. Had to reblog Trinity College, Jerwood Library of course!

Downtown San Diego Library

Reblog from Sig Nordal, Jr. Downtown San Diego Public Library by ianandrewphotography.

Library Inside the Convento de Santo Domingo

Reblogged form Sig Nordal, Jr. Beautiful library inside the Convento de Santo Domingo by Ozzmanchan.

Amazing Library in Óbidos (PT)

Reblogged from Sig Nordal, Jr. Amazing library in Óbidos (PT)