Coffee and Irony

An Eater’s-Eye View of Literature’s Most Iconic Meals – “Du Maurier’s feast is just one of 50 tableaux collected in Fried’s new book, Fictitious Dishes: An Album of Literature’s Most Memorable Meals. It’s full of photographs, all shot from above and each one of food — literary food, to be exact. From the watery gruel inOliver Twist to a grilled mutton kidney in Ulysses to intricate “salads of harlequin designs” in The Great Gatsby, the book is a tribute to the tastes of authors and their readers.” RT

In Whatever You Are, Be a Good One, Oakland, California-based illustrator Lisa Congdon whimsically hand-letters 100 such beautifully expressed thoughts from creative thinkers, including Leo Tolstoy, David Foster Wallace, Charlotte Brontë, John Keats, Marie Curie, and Abraham Lincoln (who’s quoted in the book’s title). The cheerfully illustrated quotes range from poetic (“If a thing loves it is infinite”–William Blake) to philosophical (“Wisdom begins in wonder”–Socrates) to encouraging (“Leap and the net will appear”–John Burroughs). RT

Lastly, not literary, but did you see all the videos of Frozen characters performing famous songs? RT