Happy Birthday to me and my shared famous birthdays with Robert Penn Warren and Anthony Trollop – Two Monster writers!. I first read Robert Penn Warren in a community college class and fell in love with his drama, charm, and lively Southern characters. Anthony Trollop is simply a wordsmith. He used to wake up and write for two hours each morning before working at the post office. Maybe that’s the ritual that I need to develop to be able to punch out more dark fiction. He’s not for everyone (me included) but we share a birthday so he’s cool with me 🙌.
Cover for Barchester Towers
Cover for All the Kings Men
Happy Birthday to all you lovely Taurus people born on this day!
Happy National Bookmobile Day by Mind on Fire Books
Celebrate National Bookmobile Day! Every day, bookmobiles help transform the communities they serve, providing everything from access to books, magazines and videos to job search assistance and much more.
For book lovers, bookmobiles are oddly romantic. They seem like dream-machines, very real automobiles rolling through our lives in an almost impossible fashion.
A Brief History of the Bookmobile
The bookmobile or mobile library is a vehicle designed for use as a library. They have been known by many names throughout history including traveling library, library wagon, book wagon, book truck, library-on-wheels, and book auto service. Bookmobiles expand the reach of traditional libraries by transporting books to potential readers, providing library services to people in otherwise-underserved locations (such as remote areas) and/or circumstances (such as residents of retirement homes). Bookmobile services and materials (such as Internet access, large print books, and audiobooks), may be customized for the locations and populations served. Bookmobiles have been based on various means of conveyance, including bicycles, carts, motor vehicles, trains, watercraft, and wagons, as well as camels, donkeys, elephants, horses, and mules.
The first American bookmobile was actually a wagon. Mary Titcomb, a Maryland librarian, recognized that having books was only one part of the library’s job: the other part was making the books accessible. The Washington County Library Wagon took books around the county, making scheduled stops in addition to impromptu dispersals.
Happy National Bookmobile Day by Mind on Fire Books
The idea of bringing books to patrons caught on in the U.S.,  spurred by a widely distributed population and the desire for civic improvement. The Everett County Public Library has what is believed to be the oldest operating bookmobile, manufactured in 1924, and since fully restored.
As libraries have become the community’s digital gathering place, bookmobiles have also been transformed into movable internet hubs. El Paso County’s bookmobile was one of the early examples of this shift, with onboard workstations and satellite internet service.
Today our nation celebrates National Bookmobile Day. For more than 100 years, bookmobiles have delivered information, technology and resources for life-long learning to Americans of all walks of life. Each year, it is celebrated on the Wednesday of National Library Week. Which is your favorite?
Happy Birthday, Sci-Fi Lover, Jimi Hendrix. Born #OTD in 1943, Jimi always lived in a bit of a #fantasy world – as a kid, he carried around a broomstick he’d pretend to play for over a year, till he saved up enough for a guitar. Growing up in Seattle, Jimi had a hectic family life and often hopped between the homes of family, friends, and neighbors. He found escape in the make-believe – idolizing Flash Gordon of the eponymous ’30s #sciencefiction serial, and insisting on being called “Buster” after its dashing main #actor.
After seeing a UFO hovering over his backyard one night, Jimi began writing his own stories, filling notebook after notebook with spaceships, aliens and epic galactic battles – visions that would later inform his spacy songs. Though he eventually outgrew the “Buster” nickname, his love for sci-fi never waned. After working as a paratrooper in the Army and a back-up guitarist for Little Richard, Jimi moved in with fellow sci-fi fan Chas Chandler, bassist of the Animals, who would lend him books from an extensive collection.
