Apologies for the rather scarce blog posts last week and this coming week, but Hayley is on a well-deserved break and I’m Remi-ing it here (and on Twitter). 
First things first: ABC Amsterdam was named as one of the 20 Most Beautiful Bookstores in the World by flavorwire.com! O.o We’re in very grand company – almost worth planning a world wide vacation to visit every one on the list!
- Next, Happy 200th Birthday Mr. Charles Dickens! Biographer Clare Tomalin wrote him a letter. Also, the Guardian in general is celebrating this bicentennial very grandly indeed.
- Lists! We’ll happily continue with flavorwire lists until eternity now, of course: 15 Author Estates. Although I think Neil Gaiman’s home would have been worthy of that list, too. They also feature 10 of the Trippiest Books. The Huffington Post celebrated Ulysses’s 90th publication birthday with a slideshow featuring 6 Surprising Banned Books. If you’re heading to Japan soon, have a look at these books set in Tokyo.
- I’m still smarting from my beloved Patriots’s loss on Sunday, but a very funny #superbookbowl was happening on Twitter at the same time. “@peterdamien: Harper Lee had that brilliant pass in the first quarter, but has remained on the bench for the rest of the game so far.”
- I’m not sure this beats actual bookshelves, but it’s still quite lovely.
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R. I. P. Wislawa Szymborska, Poland’s Nobel Prize-winning poet (and staff favorite), died on February 1st, aged 88. You can read obituaries here and here.
- Quiz! The Guardian has three, on Taxes, on Wolves, and on the British Queen. I scored a first-ever 0/10, a paltry 5/10, and an even worse 3/10, respectively. This is an all-time low, I must say.
- And finally, everyone needs a case of vertigo now and then (via bookshelfporn.com):
Tags: charles dickens, lists, literary art, miserable quiz failures, quiz, r.i.p, superbookbowl, vertigo, we are a beautiful bookstore!