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A precious, mouldering pleasure 't is
To meet an antique book,
In just the dress his century wore;
A privilege, I think,
His venerable hand to take,
And warming in our own,
A passage back, or two, to make
To times when he was young.
His quaint opinions to inspect,
His knowledge to unfold
On what concerns our mutual mind,
The literature of old;
What interested scholars most,
What competitions ran
When Plato was a certainty.
And Sophocles a man;
When Sappho was a living girl,
And Beatrice wore
The gown that Dante deified.
Facts, centuries before,
He traverses familiar,
As one should come to town
And tell you all your dreams were true;
He lived where dreams were sown.
His presence is enchantment,
You beg him not to go;
Old volumes shake their vellum heads
And tantalize, just so.
Mind if I check you out?
I bet you have quite a nice book worm!
Are you a librarian? Well I really need to be shushed!
Damn... you have more hard covers than my private stash
Have you heard the one about the librarian with more stacks than she could handle?
No one believes I am a librarian, maybe you should try to check me out.
You have the tightest hair bun in the place.
Let's play search engine: enter your terms and see if you get positive results.
I'd catalog you under "Desirable!"
You're the hottest one I've checked out all week.
So... they say Dewey had a harem, care to help me start mine?
They say you're like a public library, anyone with a card can check you out.
I may not be a cataloger, but I bet I can find a place to fit you in.
So is it true academic librarians only let scholars in?
My mom was a librarian, she taught me every should have access to my stacks
What's you cutter number baby?
Playing doctor is for kids! Let's play librarian.
Do you mind if I use my Dewey Decimal on you?
Hey baby, let's play library, you can be the door and I'll slam you!
Do you know the difference between sex and The LC Subject Headings?
(No?) Do you want to go up to my room?
Are you a librarian? So then you can believe in open access to your stacks?
So when's the last time you were "on the desk"
My fingers are quite strong from typing all day.
When Southern California public librarian Scott Douglas, author of McSweeney's Dispatches from a Public Librarian column and the memoir Quiet, Please, married a library assistant, they somewhat inevitably created library-themed wedding invitations that I can't look at without smiling.
Did they fine guests who arrived late, I wonder...
[via Petit ver épicurien de livre]
Related: Martha Stewart's Typewriter guest book | "Hitched" pendant | Macdonald Berystede - wedding ceremony and reception venue
Towel Day: A Tribute to Douglas Adams
Monday May 14, 2001 06:00am PDTDouglas Adams will be missed by his fans worldwide. So that all his fans everywhere can pay tribute to this genius, I propose that two weeks after his passing (May 25, 2001) be marked as "Towel Day". All Douglas Adams fans are encouraged to carry a towel with them for the day, and preferably quote the popular books and television series constantly..
So long Douglas, and thanks for all the fish!
What's His Problem? Nelson Gruber was an industrious, if insecure, psych graduate student at Metropolitan University who was conducting sleep experiments for his graduate advisor. One patient, Rick Sheridan, exhibited a brainwave pattern Gruber'd never seen. He fed the patterns into a computer and magnified it a millionfold to better study it. However, the computer overloaded and knocked Gruber unconscious. When he awoke he discovered he had the ability to transform written text into material form. He became unhinged and soon decided to get revenge on fellow student Whitney Cooper III for ditching him. He lost grip with reality, thinking he was unstoppable.
Abilities: See, the brain patterns Gruber recorded were actually the other dimensional being known as SleepWalker leaving Rick's brain. When the computer overloaded, shocking Gruber, it allowed him draw energy from the Mindscape (SleepWalker's home dimension) and transform it into physical form. As well, Gruber was apparently a gifted psych student and computer technician.
Bookworm (about the Dynamic Duo): "Our bats have flown the belfry and are still squeaking."
Bookworm: "My brain-drenched mind has done it again!"
Bookworm (about Bruce Wayne): "This fellow is almost as obnoxious as Batman."
| FRENCH MADELINES | |
4 eggs 2 c. sugar 2 c. flour 1 1/2 c. clarified butter (or Promise Spread) 1 tbsp. vanilla Confectioners' sugar Stir eggs and sugar into top of double boiler until creamy and lukewarm. Remove from heat and beat until cool; add flour gradually, mixing well. Fold in butter and vanilla. Use special shell-shaped Madeline molds that have been buttered and floured (or small 1 1/2 inch muffin pans). Fill molds 2/3 full; fill muffin tins less than 1/2 full. Bake in a 425 degree oven for ten minutes or until lightly browned. Dust cooled tea cakes with powdered sugar. Yield: 5 dozen. | |
Tarragon Eggs A La Jane Austen
40g butter
4 eggs
Ground pepper
Pinch of salt
2 teaspoons tarragon (fresh or dried)
Mrs B- was not used to disagreeing with the better informed mind of Lady Cumberland, and now, her every cherished opinion of parsley's worth overthrown, she turned her eye to rarer visitors, including the tarragon. She had always thought tarragon a difficult herb and hard to please. 'It refuses to grow here, it refuses to grow there, but fancies itself so very great, disappearing every winter I know not where. I quite detest the plant.'
Clafoutis Grandmere A La Virginia Woolf
500g cherries, 3 eggs
150g flour, 150g sugar
10g yeast, prepared in warm water if necessary
100g butter, 1 cup of milk
When the flour came it was a delight, a touch left on her cheek as she brushed aside a wisp of hair, as if her beauty bored her and she wanted to be like other people, insignificant, sitting in a widow's house with her pen and paper...
Quick Miso Soup A La Franz Kafka
3 dessertspoons fermented miso
150g silken tofu
4-5 small mushrooms
A few leaves of dried wakame
He placed three spoonfuls of the miso into a saucepan and poured on two pints of hot water, shielding the process from the panel as he did so. He became angry with himself for thinking of the new arrivals as a panel; they had not announced their purpose in calling on him and as yet he did not know what position each of them held.
Mushroom Risotto A La John Steinbeck
Extra virgin olive oil
25g porcini mushrooms
1 onion, 2 cloves garlic
200g risotto rice
500ml vegetable stock
Salt and pepper,
60g parmesan
1 glass white wine
The parmesan cheese was hard and dry. The cook grated what little she had. The cheese grated coarsely, like maize from the thresher; the cheese grated finely, like the first powder snow; the cheese grated in shavings, like the wood thrown up from her husband's plane.
1 tablespoon butter or bacon drippings
2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups stone-ground white cornmeal
1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Place the butter or drippings in a 10-inch cast iron skillet; place it in the oven.
2. Combine the eggs and buttermilk in a small bowl or measuring cup, whisking together well with a fork.
3. In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, salt, baking soda, and cornmeal; stir well to combine.
4. Stir the egg mixture into the dry ingredients, beating just until the dry ingredients are moistened and no more.
5. Pull the skillet from the oven. It should be hot, with the fat sizzling. Swirl the pan to coat. Quickly transfer batter to skillet; return skillet to oven.
6. Bake until browned and pulling away from skillet, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve hot, in wedges.
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