A few weeks back I said that I would be talking about Canada Reads 2009 in my Sunday Salon posts. And I fully intend to, except this week I am taking a break for a few reasons: A) I am not finished reading the book I had planned to talk about because B) the sinus infection from Hell has descended upon my cranium and C) I feel like my head is a balloon that some sadistic clown is trying to twist into an absurd Cthulhian creature.
As I was updating a spreadsheet my hubs uses to keep track of his Star Wars books, I was getting really annoyed by the excessively long titles. But then I got to wondering what was the world’s longest title for a book and my Google searching led me to find this book by Nigel Tomm which contains 670 words. And even with all those words I still have no idea what it’s about :/
Here is a pic of the book cover, and below is the entire title.
Surely everyone must have seen those giant coffee table books filled with photos. Some people actually do keep them lying around on their living room tables and shelves, I’ve seen a lot of homes sporting books featuring landscapes, favorite animals, those god-awful Geddes babies, motorcycles/cars and numerous other things. Well, I have to admit that I have a few of these myself – although my particular photo delight is kind of strange – I love pictorials featuring barns, abandoned buildings and outhouses! Yup I love photos of unusual outdoor toilets. What thrills me to no end is that some of the most beautiful shithouse photos are taken by a local photographer named Sherman Hines. (He does take many other types of photos too) There is even a Museum named after the man. In Liverpool, Nova Scotia you can visit the Sherman Hines Museum of Photography where you can see lots of exhibits about the history of photography and also many different collections.
My skills with a camera are pretty pathetic and I know I’ll never have a book of my own photos – unless it’s a people with their heads half missing themed book – but regardless of that fact I still like to take pics of any interesting structures we happen upon. Here are two that I took in September that I really quite like.
Onto more strangeness, I thought I would share some of the weird things I’ve learned about authors. I’m a complete freak for trivia and useless facts, my head is filled with this stuff.
William S. Burroughs author of Naked Lunch, shot and killed his wife during a party. Not intending to harm her, he was merely trying to shoot a glass that was sitting on top of her head, as part of a drunken party game.
Famous writer Graham Greene faced a possible prison sentence after being sued by Shirley Temple in 1937. Apparently she wasn’t too happy about a film review he did, in which he wrote: "Her admirers - middle-aged men and clergymen - respond to her dubious coquetry, to the sight of her well-shaped and desirable little body, packed with enormous vitality, only because the safety curtain of story and dialogue drops between their intelligence and their desire." Not that I’m a prude or anything, but I have to agree. I wouldn’t doubt that there are still lots of dirty old men collecting her movies. Seriously I have issues with parents who deck their kids up like prosti-tots and parade them around beauty shows. (Hope I don’t get any calls from lawyers … meh)
Strange Last Words
- "LSD, 100 micrograms I.M." Aldous Huxley 1894 – 1963
- “I’ve had 18 straight whiskies - I think that's a record.” Dylan Thomas 1914 – 1953
- "Lord help my poor soul." Edgar Allan Poe 1809 – 1849
- “Kill me, or else you are a murderer!” Franz Kafka 1883 – 1924
- "And now what?" This one is from Kafka’s Metamorphosis but it’s my favorite.
I’d definitely recommend checking out John Greens site for more info on Famous Last Words. After reading his book Looking For Alaska I became kind of addicted to the subject of last words. And everyone has probably seen this video, but it’s awesome – so if you’ve been hiding under a rock here is John Greens 50 Famous Last Words in 4 Minutes.
UPDATE: Amy from My Friend Amy answered this bit of author trivia correctly.
Tennessee Williams choked to death on the cover of an eyedropper bottle. He normally held the cover between his teeth while tilting his head back to insert drops into his eyes. Authorities suspect the use of drugs and/or alcohol may have caused his gag reflex to be defective.
© 2008-2010 Joanne Mosher of The Book Zombie. All rights reserved.
20 comments:
Can't wait to see what the answer is to the question of a choking author!
I became obsessed with last words too after Looking for Alaska...Huxley's cracks me up.
And look at that!!! A balloon Cthulu! How cool is that??
Ha! So much great randomness in one post. I'm positively in heaven! I haven't read a thing by John Green, and I have indeed been living under a rock, so I'll be watching that vid shortly.
I hope you feel better soon, Joanne! The sinus infection sounds bad, but I have to say I love the Cthulhian balloon :D
Eek, I didn't know that about Burroughs. His poor wife :( And I'm with you (and Greene) on temple...I have no doubt that happens.
I have no idea about that last question, but I sure am curious now :P
*Temple (I need to learn to proofread)
I think my cat really does put horrible things in my mouth when I sleep.
I love trivia, but I don't know the answer to your question. Hmm...can't wait to see the answer, though. I don't have any quirks about books (aside from collecting Harry Potter books in other languages, I guess), but I do enjoy my fair share of randomness. :)
Fantastic post! Randomness rules.
Joanne, this was an entertaining post. I'm not sure that it relates specifically to books or authors, but in general, the weirdest facts and information seem to stay in my memory FOREVER.
Um, Tennessee Williams? He choked on a cap to something as I recall.
Great post...full of such fascinating things!
The Huxley last-words seem very characteristic of him. :) Gotta love that man....
Ha ha... Yeah, I am totally with you on the Sherman Hines thing. I have his autograph! (It was a gift, not really something I went looking for, but still cool!) I haven't made it to the museum yet. Everytime I have been in Liverpool, it has been closed. Maybe this summer.
And, that picture, is that the Fort in Windsor?
As to John Green, I just finished Looking for Alaska yesterday! It was a good book!
670 words? that's enough to keep me from reading the book!! If you can imagine, when hubby and I lived in small town Texas before moving to Dallas, one of our neighbors had an outhouse in their front yard. They didn't use it, but it was rather funny--and very stereotypical of a small rural town.
Ha, I love the balloon Cthulhu! Evidently, I've been under a rock, since I was oblivious to the existence of the John Green video. However, I've already watched it twice.
And we had an outhouse when I was a kid. Unfortunately, I have no photographic evidence.
Love the outhouses books - who knew there were such books? I certainly didn't. Fun post!
I was thoroughly entertained by this post! Get random anytime!
I love the outhouse books...my mom likes to lovingly describe the one she had growing up.
Tennessee Williams...I thought he choked on a nasal spray cap. Oh well. Same sad outcome...
yes, great post and I thought for sure that I would be one of those people you could accuse of living under a rock. But I had seen the last words video! I must be cool.
a balloon Cthulhian creature, very cool!
I hope your sinus infection is better.
fun post :o)
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/
That was fun! I must have been hiding under a rock because until now I never saw that 50 last words video! Thanks!
Kristina
LOLOL! Love that top right photo. I've had those kind of days. ;)
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