Weeding and Link Love

When Ron was in the hospital having surgery,  Staci and I did major cleaning and the huge stacks of books that used to live on my couch now have their own place on the bookshelf.   The downside of this of course is that with the books safely over on the bookshelf I may go for weeks without even Thinking about those books.   So from time to time whether off the shelf or the couch,  I have to send back some of my selections, unread and un-reviewed.

Then yesterday I read something on Entrecard about doing a weekly link love to your top droppers and decided that this worthy endeavor would make a great way to dispose of ten books, all of which impressed me in their way, but which I am just Not going to get around to reviewing.    Here then are my top ten droppers and top ten un-read titles being moved to the Return-To-The-Library shelf today.

My very tip-top, top-of-the-line TOP dropper is the astonishingly talented AertenArt,  a wonderful blog featuring Aerten’s incredible paintings and drawings.   It is in Aerten’s honor that I regretfully send back Kevin Mc Cloud’s  Choosing Colors.   It’s a really amazing book with lots and Lots and LOTS of color palettes, all of which can be matched by several national paint sellers.   A must-have for interior designers and of genuine use to anyone seeking to decorate tastefully.

My second from the tip-top, top-of-the-line Almost Top Dropper is Technically Easy,  a very "how-to"-oriented site that lately has focused largely on tools and help for bloggers.    Though it’s not quite up his alley,  keeping with the DIY theme,  I am sending back Do It Yourself Guide To Biodiesel.   The fact that I   a) don’t own a diesel car and can’t afford to buy one and b) am far too mechanically and chemically ill inclined to ever try making fuel for a car  are the real reasons this excellent book didn’t make the cut.

Charlie Ayers worked for a time (or perhaps still works) as Google’s in-house chef,   charged with making great food to keep the brains at Google‘s Moutain View, California campus operating at top speed.  The book is kind of oddly organized with Lots and LOTS of LISTS of this, that, the other and who knows what all.    Although Ayers is listed prominently on the book cover as the author I was Not Particularly surprised to see TWO co-authors listed for the book on Worldcat.   This one is definitely NOT Recommended to my Show Dropper, On The Bricks,  who is number Three on my top droppers list.

Leading off the Middle of the Pack droppers is number Four,  The Path To Pegasus Letter  which is an excellent investment strategy blog.   No real investing or even business books have caught my eye recently,  so I decided in honor of Pegasus to send back Jim Remley’s  Sell Your Home In Any Market.   It is a brand new book that appears to be chock full of top notch advice ,  but given that we have not yet bought our First home,   the book is not going to make my reading list just yet.

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Coming in at number Five on my Top Droppers list is the excellent e-business resource E-Business Ideas.    This is a very useful blog that sorts through a lot of the bullsh!t and provides solid information and advice about making money on-line.    As mentioned above I have NO business books on hand just now,  so I have to hope that E-Business Ideas might be a Simpson fan or maybe even a Ned Flanders phobe.   This slim volume from Matt Groening would probably be Most appreciated by the junior high crowd, or at least the un-cool half of the class.

Leading off the second half of the pack is my number Six dropper,  the Mikstr over at Sensory Overload,  which has long been The TOP ranked Books Blog on Entrecard.   Given the Mikstr’s range of interests and blogs I have a feeling that he might be able to benefit from Harry Mount’s   Carpe Diem:  Put A Little Latin In Your Life.   The text is amusing and well written and will enable the careful reader to pass for someone who took Latin in college or high school ten or twenty or thirty years ago.  As someone who took Four Years of Latin in highschool more than Twenty years ago,  I  found this one superfluous.

One of my favorite Reference Librarians often returns to me on Sunday afternoons the most amazing books, which she has already checked out and read.    Recently one of these was Fodor’s Green Travel,  a guide to the worlds "BEST" eco-lodges and earth-friendly hotels.   The guide focuses primarily on expensive indulgences provided with the utmost respect both for the planet and and for sustainable communities.   It was interesting to read about some of these truly stunning resorts,   but all of the featured properties are Far beyond my current or foreseeable future budgets.   This one is particularly Recommended to Thailand Of Smiles,  my number Seven dropper.

The farther down this list I get,  the more I have to really Stretch to tie in the books to the blogs.   My number Eight dropper is Cromley,  over at Cromley’s World, a personal blog that provides a wonderful mix of observations about travel and the airline industry,   excellent photographs and on occasion some of the most in-depth and detailed book reviews I have yet encountered on the Internet.   While I’m not sure how much of Sci-Fi fan he is,   I know that Cromley is a fan of William Shatner and hope perhaps that he might enjoy The Best Alternate History Stories Of The 20th Century.

My number Nine dropper is the excellent Photography  By KLM Blog  a wonderful daily dose of all sorts of amazing pictures.   The only picture book I have on hand is Sarah Nettleton’s The Simple Home,  a book that I first picked up when preparing for my blog buddy Cecelia’s  contest on her Cleveland Ohio Real Estate blog.   Honestly though, KML’s photographs are rather more interesting and a LOT more fun than Nettleton’s simply drab interiors.

My final number Ten top dropper is the excellent Junkie Yard Dot Com blog,  a must-visit site for Internet junkies, Digg wizards and just about any bloggers really who need to stay up on the technical stuff.   I can think of No Reason At All to link this blog to James Wilcox’s Hunk City,  a novel I stumbled upon and brought home so long ago that I honestly don’t recall what attracted me to it to begin with.

A final note– I am not much for touting my milestones but can’t resist noting that back on June 1st,  The Thin Red Line reached its One Year anniversary  (Hippo Birdies To Me!) and I have now published over two hundred book review posts.   My sincerest thanks to each and every one of my Visitors, Readers, Commenters and Droppers.   I will endeavor to provide you with another 200 book reviews and another year’s worth of posts in the coming months.