The most famous first line of a novel was penned by Victorian Baron Edward Bulwer-Lytton.  “It was a dark and stormy night” led off his 1830 novel Paul Clifford.  See other incipits (famous first lines) at http://dearauthor.com/features/letters-of-opinion/famous-incipit-lines-i-learned-that-word-from-wikipedia/   The Muser says:  My favorite incipit is “When Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.” (Kafka-- “The Metamorphosis”).  It is included in the comments at the previous link.  Also in the comments, find what I think is arguably the best-known incipit:  "It was the best of times.  It was the worst of times."  (Dickens--"The Tale of Two Cities").

The Charles Dickens Museum in London at 48 Doughty Street, the restored home of the novelist,  holds the world’s most important collection of material relating to the great novelist and social campaigner.  A Georgian terraced house in Bloomsbury, the museum exhibits rare books, paintings, photographs and memorabilia.  ‘My house in town’, as Dickens referred to 48 Doughty Street, was an important place in the writer’s life:  within these walls his eldest two daughters were born, his sister-in-law Mary died aged 17 and some of his best-loved novels were written, including Oliver Twist.  

Find more information at http://www.dickensmuseum.com/

The creator of The Scarlet Pimpernel was the Hungarian-born novelist Baroness Emmuska Orczy.  Emma Magdalena Rosalia Maria Josefa Barbara Orczy was born on 23 September 1865 at the family estate "Tarna-Örs" in Hungary, the second daughter of Baron Felix Orczy, a composer and conductor, and his wife Emma.  Baron Orczy was a friend of the great composers Wagner, Liszt and Gounod, who were regular visitors to the family's estate.  Find other works by Orczy and link to the e-book at http://www.scarletpimpernel.com/the_scarlet_pimpernel_book.html

Quotes from Eudora Welty, American author, photographer, journalist (1909–2001)

“I am a writer who came from a sheltered life.  A sheltered life can be a daring life as well.  For all serious daring starts from within.”  “Art, though, is never the voice of a country; it is an even more precious thing, the voice of the individual, doing its best to speak, not comfort of any sort, but truth.  And the art that speaks it most unmistakably, most directly, most variously, most fully, is fiction; in particular, the novel.”  “Henry James said there isn't any difference between "the English novel" and "the American novel" since there are only two kinds of novels at all, the good and the bad.”   https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/14866-on-writing  See also http://eudorawelty.org/biography/

interesting words from Fatal Last Words, Bob Skinner mystery series, book 19, by Quintin Jardine   journo (journalist)  barney (argument)  oppo  (a counterpart in another organization)  gnashers  (teeth)

A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg

saturnine  (SAT-uhr-nyn)  adjective  1.  Sluggish.  2.  Gloomy.  3.  Cold.  From Latin Saturninus (of Saturn).  From the ancient belief in astrology that those born under the planet Saturn’s supposed influence had its characteristics.  Since Saturn was the farthest known planet at the time, it was believed to be the slowest and coldest.  The planet received its name after the Roman god of agriculture.  Earliest documented use:  1433.

mercurial  (muhr-KYOOR-ee-uhl)  adjective  1.  Fickle; volatile; changeable.  2.  Animated; quick-witted; shrewd.  3.  Relating to the metal, planet, or god Mercury.  After Mercury, Roman god of commerce, thievery, eloquence, communication, etc.  The planet is named after the god and in ancient astrology those born under the supposed influence of Mercury were ascribed his qualities.  Earliest documented use:  1300.

jovial (JOH-vee-uhl)  adjective  Cheerful; good-humored.  From Latin jovialis (of Jupiter), from Jov- (Jupiter).  The word Jupiter is from Latin Jovis pater (father Jove).  The planet Jupiter is named after the Roman god Jupiter and those born under the influence of this planet were supposed to be good-humored.  Ultimately from the Indo-European root dyeu- (to shine) that is also the source of diva, divine, Jupiter, Jove, July, Zeus, and Sanskrit deva (god).  Earliest documented use:  1590.

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From:  Anne Geyer  Subject:  saturnine   I was reminded of a recent novel by Kim Stanley Robinson, 2312.  The two main characters are a man with a slow, brooding nature and a woman with a highly volatile and emotional temperament.  This being a science fiction story, one of them was born and raised on a moon of Saturn, while the other came from a city on Mercury.

From:  Richard S. Russell  Subject:  saturnine   Gustav Holst’s orchestral suite The Planets refers to the nine planets:  Mars, the Bringer of War; Venus, the Bringer of Peace; Mercury, the Winged Messenger; Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity; Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age; Uranus, the Magician; and Neptune, the Mystic.

Limerick from Greg Holmes

His mercurial moods when imbibing wine
Run the gamut from jovial to saturnine.
He’s earthy; he’s quiet.
He’s a martial arts riot.
It’s a planetary personality conga line!

Marshmallow (Althaea officinalis)  Note:  Not to be confused with mallow leaf or mallow flower.  Not to be confused with confectionery marshmallows.  Although confectionery marshmallows were once made from the Althaea officinalis plant, they now primarily contain sugar.  Find constituents and effects at http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/life-science/nutrition-research/learning-center/plant-profiler/althaea-officinalis.html  Marshmallow is most commonly used to ease sore throats and dry coughs.  Find information at http://www.herbwisdom.com/herb-marshmallow.html

The 35th annual Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were awarded April 18, 2015  at USC's Bovard Auditorium.  The winners in 10 categories included one of Southern California’s signature artists, Jaime Hernandez; Elizabeth Kolbert’s story of the Anthropocene age; and Claudia Rankine’s poetry collection “Citizen,” an achingly contemporary meditation on race.  Two previously announced awards were also presented at the ceremony.  Actor LeVar Burton received the Innovator’s Award for Reading Rainbow, which he hosted on television, turned into an app and is producing as a tool for at-risk kids.  Author T.C. Boyle was awarded the 2014 Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement for writers of the West.  Carolyn Kellogg  Find complete list of winners at http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-book-prizes-20150418-story.html

YouTube’s 10-year anniversary:  Ohio man who shot company’s first video at San Diego Zoo said he didn’t even know what it was for.  The website's domain name was officially registered on April 14, 2005 by its founders Jawed Karim, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen.  Yakov Lapitsky, Karim’s buddy, recounts the day he unknowingly made Internet history and said he had yet to learn about his friend’s new idea for the company.  ‘Me at the Zoo’ started the business down the path to rapidly dominating the online video market.  They didn’t have much to say about the elephants that day at the San Diego Zoo, in 2005, but the images that Yakov Lapitsky and his friends recorded were worth thousands and thousands of words.  Turned out, they were making the first-ever YouTube video and their efforts amounted to one of the most consequential moments in Internet history.  Lapitsky, now a chemical and environmental engineering professor at the University of Toledo, doesn’t recall much about that day, but when a friend handed him a digital camera and he pressed “record,” he was unwittingly participating in an experiment that would change the world.  His friend was Jawed Karim and their video, titled “Me at the Zoo, ”became the first ever uploaded to YouTube, on April 23, 2005.  It has since been viewed more than 17 million times.  Karim and two colleagues then working at PayPal, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, had registered domain namewww.YouTube.com on Feb. 14, 2005.  Lapitsky, then a doctoral student at the University of Delaware, doesn’t recall when he first learned about his friend’s venture.  At the time, he had no idea that the site, as everybody now knows, would revolutionize the way videos could be shown online.  In many ways, YouTube revolutionized the entire entertainment industry.  Joel Landau  http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/youtube-hits-10-year-anniversary-article-1.2108649

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1286  April 20, 2015  On this date in 1902, Pierre and Marie Curie refined radium chloride.  On this date in 1916, the Chicago Cubs played their first game at Weeghman Park (currently Wrigley Field), defeating the Cincinnati Reds 7–6 in 11 innings.