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You probably SparkNoted these books before, but now's your chance to read them.

News host Bill O’Reilly’s fourth book in his multimillion-selling history series will examine the mysterious death surrounding famed World War II Gen. George Patton. Stephen Rubin, president and publisher of Henry Holt and Company, announced Wednesday that “Killing Patton” will be published on Sept. 23. Martin Dugard will be the co-author. …

The great writer Harlan Ellison turns 80 today. Ellison has won eight Hugo Awards, a shared award for the screenplay of A Boy and his Dog that he counts as "half an Hugo" and two special awards from annual World SF Conventions; four Nebula Awards of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA); five Bram Stoker Awards of the Horror Writers Association (HWA); two Edgar Awards of the Mystery Writers of America; two World Fantasy Award from annual conventions; and two Georges Méliès fantasy film awards. -- Wikipedia Ellison is known primarily to television viewers as the author...

I remember, when you were down. And you needed a helping hand I came to feed you But now that I need you You won't give me a second glance. Now I'm calling all citizens from all over the world This is captain America calling. -------------------------------------------- You've been sleeping in a field but you look real rested You set out to outrage but you can't get arrested You say your image is new, but it looks well tested You're lost without a crowd................. Misfit. -------------------------------------- This is the twentieth century, But too much aggravation It's the age of insanity, What...

Mark Lee Greenblatt, family man and full-time lawyer, never expected to write a book. As a man with no military experience, he especially never expected to write a book on modern-day war heroes. But after attending events throughout the years at the Jewish Institute of National Security Affairs, Greenblatt became intrigued by the stories of young men and women who served their country.

Ever wished you were a hobbit? Well now you can experience how Bilbo and Frodo Baggins live by visiting Balade Des Gnomes, a unique hotel in Belgium. Near the picturesque town of Durbuy in Belgium, the wooden topsy-turvy rooms feature carved wooden beds that look like they are nestled in the hollow of a tree, a dining table perfect for goblin guests and a gothic, ornate bath. The Hobbit, travel, holiday, short breaksFANTASY: La Balade Des Gnomes is the perfect location for Lord Of The Rings fans [CATERS] The Hobbit, hotel, travel, short breaks, holidayCOSY: Wooden beds look like they...

There’s more to J. R. R. Tolkien than wizards and hobbits. The author of “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” was also an Oxford University professor specializing in languages like Old Norse and Old English. “Beowulf” was an early love, and a kind of Rosetta Stone to his creative work. His study of the poem, which he called “this greatest of the surviving works of ancient English poetic art,” informed his thinking about myth and language.

Since the beginning, Fleming took great care in describing every detail of James Bond, and 007 greatly reflected his own image. However many people find that his choice of firearm, the 418 Beretta, was a poor one.

Literary elites love to rep Shakespeare’s vocabulary: across his entire corpus, he uses 28,829 words, suggesting he knew over 100,000 words and arguably had the largest vocabulary, ever. I decided to compare this data point against the most famous artists in hip hop. I used each artist’s first 35,000 lyrics. That way, prolific artists, such as Jay-Z, could be compared to newer artists, such as Drake. http://rappers.mdaniels.com.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/

Robert Heinlein could not win a Hugo Award today. If you are a fan of science fiction, you know how shocking that statement is. If you are not a science fiction fan, I salute you for having better things to do with your time than read stories about space princesses being rescued from bug-eyed monsters by stalwart and clean-limbed fighting men of Virginia; but please let me explain why this is shocking.

I just got done bookending a book with a movie (albeit documentary). I had missed prior threads here at FR here and here (I just got done hunting down whether this had been posted prior). Seeing the posts on the topic, I almost let it go. Then I read the comments. The absolute statements of derision and dismissive/dissension on a plausible explanation for all the (non-LHO/JR) holes in the Warren Commission floored me. I'm posting this as a "Recommendation": If you have any interest at all in the JFK assassination, no matter from what angle, and have an open mind,...

As you've heard, Hillsdale College is offering its newest free online course: Great Books 101! Will you register today and become a Hillsdale student? You'll be able to watch brief 35- to 50-minute lectures by Hillsdale's professors who will empower you with knowledge and insights from some of the greatest, most exhilarating stories in world history. And as with all of Hillsdale's previous free online courses, there's no need to worry about missing a lecture. All 11 course lectures are archived so you can view them at your convenience at anytime and anywhere on your computer or tablet And when...

Yesterday on a panel on “Face the Nation,” we briefly discussed Hillary Clinton’s forthcoming memoir of her four years as secretary of state. It is called “Hard Choices”—they appear to be running low at the book-title store—and will be published June 10. The announcement of the title alone made news, which is a measure of how much interest the book, good or bad, will engender. Books are good and it’s good to write them; the always more or less beleaguered publishing industry needs bestsellers, and Mrs. Clinton has provided them, most spectacularly with her previous memoir, “Living History,” in 2003....

The Conspiracists Burning the Reichstag: An Investigation into the Third Reich’s Enduring Mystery by Benjamin Carter Hett Oxford, 413 pp, £18.09, February, ISBN 978 0 19 932232 9 You are invited to read this free book review from the London Review of Books. Subscribe now to access every article from every fortnightly issue of the London Review of Books, including the entire LRB archive of over 12,500 essays and reviews. Conspiracy theories cluster around violent and unexpected political events. The sudden death of a head of state, the assassination of a government minister, a bomb attack on a building or...

TORONTO, Librarians at the Toronto Public Library were asked to remove copies of Dr. Seuss’ 1963 children's book "Hop on Pop” from the establishment’s collection because it allegedly promotes violence. A document detailing the seven books the library has been asked to remove over the past year was posted online on Monday. The book “encourages children to use violence against their fathers,” according to the complaint. In addition to apologizing to fathers in the Toronto area, the complainant also asked that the library “pay for damages resulting from the book.” The Materials Review Committee pointed out that the book is...

It’s been almost 40 years since Wolverine’s first appearance on the very last page of The Incredible Hulk #180. In comic book time, of course, Wolverine is much older: Over a hundred years old, a century-plus lifespan that has seen the man called Logan become a soldier, a samurai, a superhero, an X-Man, an Avenger, the amnesiac victim of horrific scientific experiments, a renegade, a teacher. This September, that’s going to end.

I am pleased to announce the publication of my new thriller that may be of interest to the broader FR community (some members have already read it). It's called TROPHY TARGET and involves some conservative friendly themes, such as the consequences of not taking the threat of Islamic terrorism seriously. Below is a summary and link to more information. TROPHY TARGETtro·phy ['trō-fē] tar·get [ˈtär-gət] - A uniquely high value individual captured and used by an enemy as leverage for political, military or other strategic purposes Deep in the jungle of French Guiana, a once anonymous soldier of the French Foreign Legion...

Illinois Democrats are backing off an effort to give $100 million in a push to land President Obama’s presidential library and museum -- following accusations of voting “shenanigans” and nasty Chicago-style politics, not to mention the state’s dire financial situation. A Democrat-led House committee approved the money last week at an out-of-town hearing in Chicago with no Republicans in attendance. They instead relied on a procedural move that allowed them to use votes from a previous meeting. “What they did last week was under-handed and sneaky and offers further proof that they no longer can be trusted with taxpayer money,”...

Which stories are included in the official Star Wars canon has been a source of debate for years, but in light of the new upcoming films, Lucasfilm has made a statement regarding what it considers to be the true timeline. In short, all of the Expanded Universe – including video games, comics, and novels – didn't really happen.

It was an angry book. Much of the response was angry too. Some towns banned it, some towns burned it. Every town talked about it. "The Grapes of Wrath" was published 75 years ago this month, a seminal masterpiece of American literature that seems freshly relevant to this era of wealth disparity, rapacious banks and growing poverty. John Steinbeck introduced readers to the Joads, a poor, proud clan of Depression-era Oklahoma farmers who set out for the promised land of California in a rickety truck after their own land dries up and blows away and the bank seizes what little...