What did world-famous authors read?

The awesome people at Flavorwire & Legacy Libraries have looked at titles on the bookshelves of author's - so here's how you and I get a glimpse into the books read by some Greats.


Well, here's a peek at the books on the bookshelves of Sylvia Plath, Herman Melville (of Moby-Dick fame, to all teens out there), Mark Twain, Fitzgerald and others!

Legacy Libraries is one of the perks of being a LibraryThing member - I personally haven't signed up (YET!) but perhaps if you are a member, you can tell me why its good to join? Goodreads keeps me happy, and I dont want to have yet another time consuming profile/thing-to-monitor.

What happens if you try to ban a book

Take that, censor boards!

Source: unshelved.com via Deepali on Pinterest

Where do you go for reading suggestions and inspiration?

Just as writers are familiar with writer's block, all readers go through dry periods of no reading  - does this sound familiar to you?

When your favorite author's books are all read, when a long fantasy series is completed, when your library just seems to far away to go to, or when you don't have that ONE great book to read, what do you do?
Do you put away reading for a while and turn to something else; focus on work or a hobby for that evening or week, maybe?

I end up randomly browsing news sites, or Amazon, looking for new authors or books. Still, I've recently found NetGalley to be a fount of inspiration! Just that thrill of reading books prior to their release is enough to get me started up again.
Another good source of recommendations and ideas are the lists at GoodReads, usually if you pick a genre, you are bound to get author suggestions. LibraryThing also works for a lot of people. And of course, the tried and true method of asking a friend IRL!
Where do YOU go for that reading itch?

Lendle - Why not?

The latest development on the Kindle i.e. Amazon Kindle now to Lend books (I wrote that back in Oct '10), has of course, resulted in a host of new business models and opportunities.
This site seems an all-round best in class:

Lendle. The easiest, fastest, fairest, and best way to lend and borrow Kindle™ books.

http://lendle.me/
You can log in, and you get two initial borrows. The more books you lend, the more you can borrow. I ran through their book list, and it is pretty great.
My only thought is - why didn't I think of this first?

The Most Beautiful Public Libraries in the US

Dear World: Thank You For Libraries!

Here are a few of my favorites from a recent Flavorwire list of Top 10 "most-beautiful-from-the-outside public" libraries in the US:

The renovation shown above is so different from anything the government can afford in India!

Chicago Public Library - My one-time haunt while I lived in Chicago..Pure pleasure to see it and its gargoyles! Well-beloved gargoyles standing guard over your books, how reassuring.

This Salt Lake city public library seems super inviting - that wall of windows just draws people in, I'd think.
For all 10 libraries that made the cut, go to Flavorwire
What do you like best?

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Next time, I'll look for gorgeous libraries in Europe and across the world. 
Do you have a picture of your local library? Do share it with me @ deepalipratap@gmail.com - I will feature a post on this if we have enough libraries!