Happy Monday!   Since I got such a great response to my weekend link love post and since I happen to have just the right books on hand to do it again, I decided to spread some more Entrecard link love today, My Way.    First though,  I want to direct your attention to a contest that my buddy Dane Morgan is running.   The prize is a customized hot shot  Word Press theme optimized for SEO and monetization.   Dane is a real WP pro and that rarest of birds– a guy who goes around actually making money online rather than going around talking about making money online.  To enter his contest and get yourself an incredible new theme for your blog,  you just need to vote for Dane in the iBlog Cup competition.   Click here for details.  But hurry!   Voting ends soon and so does Dane’s contest.

I have had a copy of Orson’s Scott Card’s  A War of Gifts,  a  new and very short novel set in the worlds Card created around Ender Wiggin, the protagonist of Ender’s Game among many other novels.   Released around Christmas time it is the story of a child drafted to the Battle School against his and his parent’s religious objections.    As always the appeal for me lies in Card’s skill in explaining his characters’ thinking and motivation and in this instance he makes some very important points about the real meaning of religion which I believe would speak eloquently both to my friends whose deep faith informs and guides every aspect of their lives and those who do not believe.   It is especially recommended to techfun and rockstories.

In honor of top dropper Jean Costa’s really sharp and crisp new card image,  check out What Happens To A Torn Dollar Bill?    Dr. Knowledge aka Charles Reichblum has written a light and fun look at money.  Presented as a series of single page very short articles, Reichblum provides all manner of interesting and strange facts about money in its may facets.     Will Taft is a really great blogger who, like me,  dislikes memes and tries very hard to stick to his chosen niche which in his case happens to be saving the planet.   Will’s blog in my opinion epitomizes Be(ing) The Change You Want To See In The World.   Both the book and the blog provide helpful and understandable advice about things you and I can actually do each day to help restore and sustain an human-friendly environment on this spinning ball we all call home.   Blog and book are Both Highly Recommended.

And finally,  for the Anti-Barbie who is herself one of my favorite contemporary poets,  I recommend Mark Haddon’s  The Talking Horse and The Sad Girl and The Village Under The Sea, a very unusual book of poetry.   Actually, at the library at least books of poetry are pretty rare.  In fact, this is the first time a book of verse has ever caught my attention at the check in desk (excepting Uncle Shelby of course).   And it is unusual apart from the rarity of circulating verse due to the two windows cut into the front cover through which the reader can see each of the three elements of the title and its illustration in turn by spinning the cardboard disk cleverly clamped to the back of the front cover.

Here’s wishing you a great week.  I’ll be back with a more substantive book tomorrow.