Carpe Libra

This post is not about a bathroom arsonist named Bob.
Robert Burns is a poet, who happens to be on the Carp 500 by the way, born in Scotland. He wrote a poem called the Selkirk Grace that is traditionally said before eating meals. According to legend, the verse was written in a Scottish hotel, The [...]

September 27-October 4 is Banned Books Week. You can go here for a nice list of banned books, many of which are on the Carp 500.
In honor of banned books week, pick up a banned book and read it. Why? I don’t know, seems like the thing to do. Celebrate freedom! Every man lives, not [...]

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man has been finished. Many readers of Joyce struggle with his writing. I didn’t for some reason, not sure that’s a good thing. I knew what he was talking about the whole time and had little problem following his train of thought.
The basic gist is a young [...]

Bibliomania is a web site devoted to giving free copies of classic literature. The site also includes study guides and other stuff to help you get the most out of classic literature.
Many Carp books are available here for free, online versions anyway. If you are looking for some free ways to read Carp books, here [...]

Dante’s three books, Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso, are all on the Carp 500. These books describe, in Dante’s unique way, the scope of these worlds. Since the books are written in a weird way for modern readers, many people have struggled to follow what Dante is saying.
To help you out, The University of Texas at Austin has devised a [...]

Many of the books on the Carp 500 are just awful, awful in so many ways. Thus, I feel somewhat responsible for being in a position to recommend them, or encourage people to wallow in the mire of cultural pig pens.
Reading literature, and things written by people who read literature, it is quite obvious that [...]

The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum has been in an argument with the Feds over the 50 cats that roam the premises. The cats are all descended from Hemingway’s cat, Snowball, and they carry the trait of having six toes. I’m guessing the six toes are on one foot for a total of twelve toes [...]

Abebooks.com has a new book section for their on-line store: Wasilla Literature.
This section features books that come from Wasilla, Alaska, hometown of Sarah Palin, the Republican VP pick. Of course, Sarah probably wants to ban all these books, except the killing ones.
(For those of you who now think I am stupid, please see this post [...]

The Times Online has an article entitled, 10 Books Not To Read Before You Die. It lists ten books to avoid and the reasons why.
Half are Carp books by the way. I’ll also give you the spoiler by mentioning that the number one book to avoid is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen! You know [...]

An Oscar Wilde monument has been put up near Trafalgar Square in London. The monument is a bench that features the head and shoulders of Wilde coming up out of the bench. You’re supposed to sit and talk with him apparently. His face also features a cigarette, which has been stolen several times already.
The monument [...]