The Internet is an overwhelming source of wonderful reads—so much so that in the past year, you may have overlooked these articles and posts by bloggers, journalists, scholars, writers, and poets. In the relative peace between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, click a link or two; perhaps you’ll find something terrific you’d hate to have missed.
What did the Norse call Constantinople? The Ruminate expounded.
Jonathan Jarrett explored what it meant to call yourself a “Goth” in tenth-century Spain.
Lingwë wondered what Samwise Gamgee meant by “neekerbreekers” and looked at a Hogwarts professor’s curious name.
Cynthia Haven asked if visual clichés affect how we write and noted the “bland endeavor” of National Poetry Month.
Michael Livingston showed you what it’s like to edit a medieval text. (He continued his lesson in part two.)
The enigmatic Withywindle imagined Ernie Pyle remembering Clark Kent.
As a Linguist painted a portrait of a polyglot and remembered expat life in Istanbul.
Classical Bookworm discovered a forgotten Hungarian polyglot. Sixteen languages?
“But above all, One Who Walked Alone is brave.” The Silver Key reviewed Novalyne Price’s memoir about Robert E. Howard.
“Inside,” said Hats & Rabbits, “we are all great pipe organs waiting for the right wind to bring us alive. But it seems to me that, often, the delicate pipes go unused until they rust and fall into disrepair.” Chris later weighed the darkness without, rode a roller coaster arabesque, and overheard what kids say about their parents.
ZMKC recalled childhood loneliness.
Ruff Notes showed us what Washington National Cathedral almost looked like.
Dr. Beachcombing dug up the Zambian space program.
Anna Tambour charted a parrot confidence course.
Flavia asked why there isn’t more Protestantism on American television. She also contemplated grief, mourning, and the elusiveness of “closure.”
What do a Pakistani-American fourth-grader and Isaac Bashevis Singer have in common? Anecdotal Evidence explained.
“The literature of the Holocaust is so vast that newcomers to the subject are disheartened from beginning,” said D.G. Myers, who offered an annotated list.
Thinking about the lack of novels about work, Bibliographing revisited “Office Space.”
Jake Seliger pondered imaginative career paths and writing in terms of computer programming.
At Interpolations, a philosopher-in-training met an owl.
Dame Nora blogged “quince week” with some quince history, thoughts on quince marmalade, and a recipe.
Overthinking It explored the political economy of My Little Pony.
Kij Johnson penned a creepy fantasy tale about girldom: “Ponies.”
Debate time! James Gurney (whom I like) versus Frank Gehry (whom I don’t).
Prof Mondo read Gardner’s On Moral Fiction in light of young-adult lit.
Frank Wilson penned an earthquake poem.
First Known When Lost hailed the “Dance of the Macabre Mice.”
University Diaries led us through “Sublunary,” a poem by A.E. Stallings.
Michael Lista heard his heartbreak echoed in a villanelle.
Dylan composed a Christian triolet and wondered, “how would Smiths lyrics sound from the pen of Gerard Manley Hopkins?
If you haven’t yet read the first part of Adam Golaski’s funky new translation of “Sir Gawain,” what are you waiting for?
Paul Laurence Dunbar would have liked this recitation of “Sympathy.”
Edwin Arlington Robinson would have liked this recitation of “Miniver Cheevy.”
Quid Plura? 