Smart Bitches Trashy Books | All of the romance, none of the bullshit.

Thanks to Elizabeth, we have adorable pictures of what deer in Nara, Japan, like to read. This much cuteness might knock you over, so consider yourself warned.

Says Elizabeth,

Nara was the capitol of Japan before Kyoto, which was the capitol before the current one (it moved around a lot) and the old palace grounds are now a huge park with museums, gift shops, etc. It also has a metric shitload of sacred deer no one is allowed to hurt. Since they’re safe from harm, they have no fear, and will walk right up to you and eat from your hand. Or your bag. Or your children.

If anyone plans to go to Japan, everyone plans on Kyoto, but if you don’t see anything else, see Nara. I mean, really. It has deer!

Not just deer, but dear that read romance! Don’t believe me? Have a look!

I’d say Japanese deer in Nara have good taste.

(Thanks to Elizabeth for the pic!)

Thanks to Verilees for the heads up: FeedBooks has a whole page dedicated to step by step instructions on downloading books in the public domain to the Kindle via RSS. Yay! Free! Yay! Public Domain! Yay, overloading my poor eyes with Things to read! 

This evening, traffic, children, and weather permitting, I’ll be at the Ann Aguirre BBQ-a-Thon Gathering aka “Someone has a hella layover and decided to turn it into a PARTAY.” There’s going to be bbq, a lot of napkins because holy crap is that messy food, and a few rounds of my favorite game, “Wait, are you Maria or Marisa?” with the Romance Novel TV twins. Perhaps there will be pictures.

There is no doubt, however, there will be a stain on my pants from dripping sauce. It’s a given. And if it’s not on my pants, it’ll be on my shirt. I’m a lightning rod for indelible stains. 

Tor publishing, celebrating the whizz-bang woo-dads of its new website (nice job, folks, and congrats on making it through the redesign) is giving away all the novels it offered the last few weeks in one big gift, now through 27 July. Glom hard, glom often folks.

And don’t forget, all the gorgeous art-tastic wall paper is up there, too, including Mr. Super Man-Titty. Hope he’s taller than me and nearby next time it’s raining.

Thanks to Malin for the headsup.

Bitchery reader Natasha is finishing up her MA Thesis (Go Natasha!) and is looking for a present for her thesis advisor (because Natasha, she is a wise, wise grad student):

She’s a total bibliophile (stacks and stacks of books in her office), so I know she’ll like a present of a few books to read while she’s traveling through Europe in August. I was thinking of getting her a few good romance novels, because I know she likes romance, but I doubt she’s explored the romance genre (if that makes sense?).

My advisor’s specialty is alchemy, but she’s also really into 19th-century Europe, witchcraft, and Surrealism. She said once that her favorite book of all time is Perfume: Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind. I’ve never read it, but maybe someone in the Bitchery has and can make a recommendation based on that?

Thank you so much if you can offer any help!

So - romances for a professor who’s into alchemy, 19th century Europe, witchcraft, Surrealism, and books by Suskind. Piece of cake! What comes to mind, oh wise readers?