Library of Congress YouTube Channel Now Up and Running

So far, it includes historical footage, book talks and readings, and short films narrated by Library of Congress staff.

Agatha Christie might have been suffering from Alzheimer's Disease when she wrote her last novels.

Kate Devlin reports in the UK Telegraph, "Scientists in Canada who performed an in-depth study of the author's use of language found that it declined markedly by the time she was in her Eighties, when she was still writing. Towards the end of her life her vocabulary had shrunk by between 15 and 30 per cent and she began to repeat greater numbers of phrases in her books, according to the study. Her use of indefinite words, such as something or someone, also increased significantly, another early warning sign of dementia".

John Coetzee’s new book Summertime

A new JM Coetzee work, Summertime (due out September 3rd), is the third book in the Youth/Boyhood trilogy.

"A young English biographer is working on a book about the late writer, John Coetzee. He plans to focus on the years from 1972-1977 when Coetzee, in his thirties, is sharing a run-down cottage in the suburbs of Cape Town with his widowed father. This, the biographer senses, is the period when he was ‘finding his feet as a writer’. Never having met Coetzee, he embarks on a series of interviews with people who were important to him - a married woman with whom he had an affair, his favourite cousin Margot, a Brazilian dancer whose daughter had English lessons with him, former friends and colleagues. From their testimony emerges a portrait of the young Coetzee as an awkward, bookish individual with little talent for opening himself to others. Within the family he is regarded as an outsider, someone who tried to flee the tribe and has now returned, chastened. His insistence on doing manual work, his long hair and beard, rumours that he writes poetry evoke nothing but suspicion in the South Africa of the time".

Blonde ambition - 20 films which make you wish you'd gone to college from UK Times

"Film critic Jo Berry didn't go to university (which may have been wise in the current climate), but here are her choice of 20 films which make her realise that she just may have missed out on a true experience....

1. National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)

"Toga! Toga! Toga!" + John Belushi's Bluto + Kevin Bacon being spanked + 'double secret probation' = the best college comedy ever.

2. The Sure Thing (1985)

John Cusack has the road trip from hell with prissy Daphne Zuniga as he heads from his Ivy League college across the US to California in search of a promised 'sure thing' in this classic romantic comedy. Take notes when he shows her how to shotgun beer - it's an essential skill.

3. Good Will Hunting (1997)

Oscar-winning drama about a janitor at MIT (Matt Damon) who has a gift for mathematics, and psychiatrist Robin Willams and mathematician Stellan Skarsgard who battle over his genius. Being brainy's never been more romantic than when Damon insults a Harvard boffin to win the hand of Minnie Driver, but it's actually the onscreen bromance between Ben Affleck and Damon that's most touching. Watch Matt Damon and Minnie Driver bonding over organic chemistry" more at

The Messiah of Manuscripts

The British Library is marking the 250th anniversary of Handel’s death with the special publication of a full colour facsimile of the composer’s most famous work, 'Messiah'. Composed in the summer of 1741, this original 'Messiah' manuscript is the Library’s crown jewel of the music collection. The draft score consists of 280 pages and provides a fascinating insight into Handel’s methods of composition, revealing his frequent changes of mind and sporadic frustrations in committing ideas to paper. The full-colour reproduction illuminates this creative process, showing every pen stroke and every amendment made in coloured crayon. In his introduction, leading Handel expert Professor Donald Burrows offers a fresh look at the relation between this original score and the subsequent copies used by the composer in the 36 performances that took place under his direction. Burrows discusses how the earliest performances, in Dublin and at Covent Garden, received mixed reviews, but the oratorio soon grew in popularity, resulting in its huge, continuing appeal today.

Shakespeare is owed £4,685!

The UK public lending right figures are now out for 2007/8, which shows that James Patterson's thrillers were lent from 1,000 UK public libraries more than 1.5 million times. Only three other writers topped one million loans: Jacqueline Wilson, Daisy Meadows and Nora Roberts. The average remuneration per loan, however, is 5.98 pence which is not a lot if you don't get borrowed a lot. Shakespeare racked up, however, £4,685.

10 things you (probably) didn’t know about William Shakespeare

To celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday, the editor of the Rough Guide to Shakespeare shares his ten most surprising Shakespearean facts in the UK Guardian.

The BOOKRIDE blog comments on when death has occasioned a book purchase sale

"A person's book collection often says a lot about them-their character, foibles, passions, obsessions, experiences and convictions. There will be many books given to them as gifts, books inherited from parents, school prizes, leaving presents and even books from their childhood with their name in a childish hand. In the pages of the books old letters, ephemera and photos will be found, sometimes snaps of old girl friends and long dead pets-'the ghost dogs in the vanishing gardens.' Sometimes there is a sense that the person did not have enough time to read and study even a small part of their collection. In one call, after I had given a substantial cheque--the grieving wife thanked me and said 'but it won't bring him back'.

Terry Pratchett - streets ahead!

"If you go down to Wincanton in Somerset today you can wander down Peach Pie Street and Treacle Mine Road, named after Sir Terry Pratchett's fantasy series Discworld.Pratchett visited the town to unveil the road names at a new housing estate, and was greeted by hundreds of fans - many dressed in costume.Wincanton was twinned with the city of Ankh-Morpork from the novels in 2002, becoming the first UK town to link with a fictional place.The builder of the Kingwell Rise development, George Wimpey, asked locals to vote for their favourite road name from a shortlist of 14 suggested by Pratchett.

Pratchett said: "I think it's a lovely idea, even though it makes my head spin to think of the books becoming a little closer to reality."And they are nice names, even though I say it myself."Personally, I'd pay good money to live somewhere called Treacle Mine Road." Colin Winder, former mayor of Wincanton, said: "The association with Discworld works extremely well for our town, helping to boost the local economy."I even know of three families who moved to Wincanton because of this quirky connection.

"It is wonderful that the roads at Kingwell Rise have been named in this way and it certainly beats the dedications to local dignitaries and village worthies that we usually see."

Quote of the Week

The newspaper business is an intellectual brothel for which there is no escape. Tolstoy.

Odd Book Title

A compendium of the biographical literature on deceased entomologists. By Pamela Gilbert. British Museum Natural History. 1977. Debbie Campbell of the National Library reports that there are copies in 10 libraries in Australia.

Pun of the Week

If you talk dirty to plants, does it constitute an obscene fern-call?