Welcome back to Wednesday Links!
We are officially in November! How does it feel? Overwhelming? Exciting?
My roommate and I are doing a small little Thanksgiving for the two of us and we’ve done some menu planning. I’m doing a roast chicken, stuffing, and maybe a cocktail. She’s handling the potatoes and dessert. Cheers to a stress free turkey day!
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I love Paperback Paradise on Instagram. They take old pulp fiction covers and give them wild new titles and descriptions. I even own some of them as postcards. Well now…I’ve discovered this shirt and I’m using all my willpower to not buy it.
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In Harper’s Bazaar last week was a write-up on a secret, underground abortion network in the 1970s. A great read for lovers of history or if you just want to know more about the history of reproductive rights.
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We’ve discussed mobile, text-based romance games and visual novels previously and now, The Hidden Legacy series will be joining those ranks!
https://twitter.com/chaptersgame/status/1453391358232780807?s=21
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Need a recommendation for a soothing YouTube recommendation? I’ve been watching Baumgartner Restoration videos at night and it’s been so calming!
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Don’t forget to share what cool or interesting things you’ve seen, read, or listened to this week! And if you have anything you think we’d like to post on a future Wednesday Links, send it my way!
Terry Pratchett’s The Amazing Maurice is getting a movie adaptation, animated for the younger fans. The voice cast is stellar – High Laurie, Emilia Clarke, David Tenant, and on and on. No trailer yet but there is a poster and some still images released today for the book’s 20th anniversary. Movie release slated for February 2022.
https://www.narrativia.com/maurice.html
(Yes I realize this is not even slightly romance related but we have Sir Terry fans on here and I had to tell someone, it made my whole day.)
Also there’s a new Good Omens audiobook narrated by the TV series cast. Crawley + Aziraphale make such an adorable couple.
https://www.tor.com/2021/10/01/good-omens-new-audiobook-david-tennant-michael-sheen-rebecca-front/
I saw this post about covers on old romance paperbacks. It certainly brought back memories. I’m sure I’m not the only one who recognized Shanna right away. 🙂
https://bookriot.com/romance-novels-are-the-best/amp/
Also, I don’t remember if it’s been mentioned here before, but there’s a Georgette Heyer podcast (appropriately named The Georgette Heyer podcast, lol) available on a variety of platforms. Each episode covers a different book, so I guess you could skip the ones you haven’t read yet.
@ Susan, that was fun to read!
One of the pandemic discoveries (and delights) on Netflix was The Repair Shop set in England, so I immediately clicked on a Baumgartner Restoration episode (Smoke & Mirrors) and watched the entire thing. Talk about calming!
In re the bookfair bonanza – DC used to have an annual Goodwill book sale. Right before it opened, there would be a block-long (or longer) line to get in and they had to have police in for crowd control (there was a section for rare books that had people practically coming to blows over books). The last day – it lasted a couple of weeks, if I remember correctly – was bag day; they’d provide uniformly sized brown paper grocery bags and whatever you fitted in was a flat price, regardless of the number (excluding the rare books, of course).
And I saw one of her finds was “Scruples” – do you remember that? I once shocked the socks off a friend’s husband by commenting that it posited that finding the right dress was better than sex.
@Todd: The AAUW (American Association of University Women) still holds annual used book sales in various DC area locations (and, I assume, beyond). They may not get quite as crazy as the DC Goodwill event you described, but the one I used to frequent would be jam-packed, with a pretty intense vibe similar to Black Friday sales events. Of course, the events have been suspended for the past 2 years.
@LML: Glad you got a kick out of it, too!
@Susan: God knows how much money I spent back in the day on those old-skool bodice-rippers! With time, I’ve come to appreciate the loveliness of many of the covers (especially the step-backs), but I don’t think you could pay me enough to try to re-read any of them today.
I’m a great fan of Ian McKellen and a total Shakespeare nut, so I was delighted to stumble upon an upload of his acclaimed one-man show, performed when he was at the height of his powers as a stage actor.
Thanks Amanda, for that excellent Harper’s Bazaar article, it really captured the 70’s vibe. I remember those days, it was the era when my generation were going on their European backpacking adventures. Often those trips took on a life of their own, you never knew where you would go or what you would end up doing.
That shirt…