Today’s Fun: Posthumous Literary Stalking!
If you’re a reader and have a little streak of voyeurism in you, you might want to check out LibraryThing. LibraryThing, a website that allows users to share the contents of their libraries online, has a group project called “I See Dead People’s Books” containing the libraries of people of historical and literary significance from Marilyn Monroe to Ernest Hemingway.
My initial thoughts? Samuel Johnson spoke a lot more languages than I do. Marie Antoinette, on the other hand, had a book entitled “Les loisirs d’une jeune personne raisonnable et sensible.” Did she actually read this book? Some of these people appear to have been torturing themselves, but possibly that’s what you have to do for great art. For example, F. Scott Fitzgerald had a copy of Dreiser’s “An American Tragedy.” Dreiser, whee! (I will spare you my thoughts on the subject of “Sister Carrie.”) On the other hand, Dreiser had a copy of Fitzgerald’s “The Beautiful and the Damned,” so I guess that’s only fair.
New libraries are still in the process of being posted, so check back for your favorites!
