The RSS Affair and Daily Lit - Thang No.9

Daily Lit was a joy to use - easy to search for books. I decided to receive RSS installments of Jane Eyre, Bronte's classic novel that I have never read. I liked being able to choose how often my RSS was delivered and bopped around in Daily Lit's book forum, where nothing recent was being discussed. My plan is to read Jane Eyre on RSS and then read the Eyre Affair again. Only 261 RSS Bronte feeds to go!

Then I wondered - is fan fiction alive for the classics? We all know about Harry Potter fan love and Sherlock Holmes homages, but is there a Eyre world beyond Jasper Fforde? Back to the Technorati searches. My survey found luscious fan fiction for Jane Austen (no Bronte so far). But there is [drum roll] a new graphic novel version of Jane Eyre. Will it help struggling readers learn the classics or is it a "dumbing down" of a masterpiece? Genteel bloggers want to know.

It's positively reviewed on the Other Stories blog - and here's a sneak peek.
Jane Eyre The Graphic Novel

RSS Simplicity - Thang No 8.

So I started out thinking I was really simple Selwyn (RSS), mostly because I have once again allowed my RSS feed to reach 1000+ in Google Reader. I'm much better at adding feeds than actually checking them. As a hedonist, I consider it my duty to indulge all kinds of things - techno toys (Lifehacker or Boing Boing), my 23ers (you guys), and Reader's Advisory (Give 'em What they Want). I'm also testing Evanced feeds at the moment - that's what I'm on top of most of all at the moment, along with the reader's advisory feeds.

I do like RSS coming to me instead of bopping around 20 websites or so. The only downside is sometimes it's akin to the Sunday NYTs - too much to examine in one sitting. Just need to develop my skimming skills a little more and a little more often.


Photo credit from Flickr Commons - NYT by Mezzoblue