BEN SCHOTT

This guy, author of "Schott's Original Miscellany" and its two sequels, is a guy I would like to have dinner with. Click on here to read how he describes himself on his appealing website.

In the New York Times Book Review section of December 3 , 2006 he had a whole page of book miscellanies under the heading The Bibliognost's Handbook.

Here are a couple of excerpts:

Challenged Books of the 21st Century

The American Library Association compiles a list of books most frequently challenged by members of the public. A "challenge" is a formal, written complaint requesting the removal of a book from a library or school because of "content or appropriateness". Below are the books most frequently challenged from 2000-5.

Harry Potter series - J.K.Rowling
Fallen Angels - Walter Dean Myers
The Chocolate War - Robert Cormier
It's Perfectly Normal - Robie Harris
Alice Series - Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Scary Stories series - Alvin Schwartz
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
Captain Underpants Series - Dav Pikey
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
Forever - Judy Blume


(Comment from Bookman Beattie - note they are almost all children's books!)


Biblio

Bibliocast - one who destroys books, notably Bibles
Bibliognost - one with a complete (pedantic) knowledge of a book
Biblioklept - a book thief
Bibliokleptomaniac - an insane book thief
Bibliolatry - (excessive) admiration or love of books or particular book
Bibliomancy - divination by books, notably religious texts
Bibliomane - an indiscriminate hoarder of books
Bibliopegy - (the finer forms of) bookbinding
Bibliophagist - one who (usually metaphorically) eats books
Bibliophobia - a morbid fear of books
Bibliopesy - the construction of books
Bibliopole - one who sells or deals in books
Bibliotaph - one who "buries" books by keeping them locked away
Bibliothecary - a librarian


The Healing Powers of Homer

An old superstition held that if the fourth book of the Iliad was placed under the head of patients suffereing from "quartan ague" they would immediately be cured. (A quartan ague is one that occurs every 72 hours or so - every 4th day in the old reckoning, or 3rd in the modern.It tends to be associated with malarial fevers.)