People don't want to keep books that they won't reread

Some smarties crunched some numbers, and put together a list of the most and least desired books on book swap websites. Interesting stuff, reader types!

Books to read before 16 (or now, if you have the time)

I usually have some arguments with lists, but I think this list of 20 books to read before you turn 16 is pretty solid. Granted, I haven't read all of them, but I didn't say, "Really?" to any of them, which is a huge thing in my world.

Chocolate chocolate chocolate

Check it out: 5 best books about chocolate. I want!

Revisting the past, YA style

A new trend in the blogosphere is rereading childhood books and mocking their hilarity. Also enjoying the awesomeness that was Sweet Valley.

Prison bloggers, unite

Lil' Wayne, recently incarcerated rap artist, has begun blogging from jail. Now, I don't particularly care about what he has to say, but Gawker put together a great post comparing Lil' Wayne's prison blogging to great prison writers of old, including St. Paul and the Marquis de Sade.

Prison: can super help your writing. That advice is free to all you aspiring novelists!

Nicholas Sparks-ize your movie

Nicholas Sparks, you are so good at writing really similar books and making people buy them. Give me your secret potion sir!

Oh, wait, someone else already found it, and showed us what 10 movies would be like if they were inspired by Nicholas Sparks novels. So...good...

Plus, thank you, great Rejectionist, for sending along the link, with the subject line "HAHAHAHAHA" and no text in the body of the email. You read my friggin mind.

Celebrity gossip? Count me in

I am a devoted Jezebel reader, and they have yet to let me down. A perfect example of this continued excellence is this gallery of 20 celebrity biographies you must read. Damn you Jezebel, giving me more to read...

Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters

Never had to have a chaperone, no sir, I'm there to keep my eye on her.

Sisters are important, reader types, because, as the song says, they care, share, stick together--all sorts of things. Celebrate sisters with this list of the best books about sisters, which I think is pretty good (except it includes I Capture the Castle, which I haaaaated last time I read it).

And, to leave you with the immortal words of sisterly love: Lord help the mister, who comes between me and my sister, and Lord help the sister who comes between me and my man.

Childhood heroes

The Guardian has a great slideshow of the top ten heroes from children's books, including Pippi Longstocking, Anne of Green Gables, Matilda, and Sara Crewe of A Little Princess. There are also some boys on the list, but, you know. Eh.

The prince has read Dystopia!

As the world is clearly headed for a zombie apocalypse, I think other people's dreams of dystopian futures are quaint and sadly misinformed (except for the ones that involve surviving said zombie apocalypse). But, if you are so inclined, check out these top 16 dystopian novels. Enjoy the creepy creep-ness, friends.

Also, extra hugs to whoever can tell me the inspiration for the post title.

I am right, once again, this time about hell

For avid readers (hi dad!), you will remember that I mentioned the EA game based on Dante's Inferno. The rest of The Divine Comedy was too boring for a video game, but the Inferno--that's where it's at.

While I suggested a follow-up game based on The Decameron, EW put together a good list of other potential book-to-game options, including:

Don Quixote: A lot like the old arcade game Joust, except your enemy is a windmill.

And:

Catch-22: There is no way to beat this game.

I need to start playing more video games.

Reading reality in television

As we all know, reality TV is 100% unscripted, and the editing does not in any way shape people into characters or make mountains out of molehills. I know this because I watch Jersey Shore, the greatest reality show of our time. For those of us who want to emulate the stellar cast of this show, Lit Drift put together a reading list for the cast of Jersey Shore (if they ever deign to crack open a book, that is).

If Jersey Shore isn't quite your style, and you prefer the (kind of eh but I guess okay) drama of the Hills, Lauren Conrad has done an interview with EW about her writing (warning: do not read if you are an aspiring author who does not want to hear that someone made the NYTimes bestseller list after mostly reading SparkNotes and Goodnight Moon her whole life).

And if you'd rather skip the whole reality trope (although I have to tell you, you're missing out), someone finally read Dustin Diamond's book and unearthed the juicy behind the scenes bits from Saved by the Bell. Spoiler: it mostly involves drugs and a lot of sex.

So, does anyone else think they made a major life mistake by not trying harder to be a famewhore? ...Me either.

Librarians and comedians: They have some books for you

If you are looking for a good Thursday afternoon read (admit it, you're not working anymore), a bunch of comedians recommend books, and here's a list of the best books by librarians.

Your weekend could start tonight, and the weekend is for reading! And drinking! Sometimes simultaneously. 

Navigating narrators

I don't know how many of you are audiobook fans (am I alone? I hope not), but I belong to that camp--there's something about being able to listen to someone tell you a story that is completely different from reading a physical book. If you're new to the a-book camp, you might want to check this list of awesome narrators for delicious books. My personal favorites off this list include:

Not Scary Enough: Joe Mantegna reads Steven King’s Thinner
OK, Too Scary: Willem Dafoe reads Steven King’s The Langoliers

Ah, Willem Dafoe, you scare the crap out of me. Especially as a lady.

The books we buy versus the books we love

Omnivoracious has put together a list of the best books of the decade, as well as a rundown of what they consider the best book of each year. Some of these titles may not have been bestsellers, but they were useful or popular or et cetera.

If you're interested in taking a trip down memory lane, I introduce you to my new favorite website, Books of the Century, which lists all of the fiction and non-fiction bestsellers, as well as the critically acclaimed and historically important titles of each year from 1900 to 1999. Take the walk down memory lane, and realize: the stuff we purchase most often is really not very memorable.

That's all she wrote

The American Book Review put together a PDF of the 100 best last lines in novels. Included are:

"Now everybody—" –Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow (1973)

"P.S.
"Sorry I forgot to give you the mayonnaise."–Richard Brautigan, Trout Fishing in America (1967)

“'And then the storm of shit begins'” –Roberto Bolaño, By Night in Chile (2000; trans. Chris Andrews)

and:

He loved Big Brother. –George Orwell, 1984 (1949)

Just...sweet.