Dear reader, life is too short for crap books.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Weekend Curiosities and Wonders

Bizarre Books: A Compendium of Classic Oddities by Russell Ash and Brian Lake

I read about this book at Weekend Stubble a few weeks ago, and was immediately smitten. So, imagine my delight when Brady brings it home as a prize the other day. He felt bad that I trudged off to my gloomy office while he spent the day doing his dissertation reading at the beach.

Tonight I spent a happy hour on the couch, giggling at titles both ill-conceived and unintentionally hilarious. A few choice ones include:

Eleven Years a Drunkard, or, The Life of Thomas Doner, Having Lost Both Arms Through Intemperance, He Wrote This Book With His Teeth as a Warning to Others by Thomas Doner
Why Not Eat Insects? by Vincent M. Holt
Gunrunning for Fun and Profit by Ragnar Benson

...and everyone's favorite, Scouts in Bondage by Geoffrey Prout

I'm going to start posting various Curiosities and Wonders on Fridays. What exactly constitutes a curiosity or a wonder remains to be seen, but I work in a huge library, and I'm thinking something along the lines of narwhals, ley lines, and interesting poisons for starters.

Stay tuned.

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