Named after Neptune’s son and built between Hercules´ pillars, history and mythology are more closely linked in Cadiz than in any other city in Spain.  Its origins date back 3500 years.  Cadiz, the oldest city in the Western world, plays an important role in Greek mythology.  Some legends speak of the fatal encounter between Hercules and King Gerion, situating it in Cadiz (called Gadeira and Erytheia):  Hercules killed the three-bodied winged giant shooting an arrow at the joint of the three bodies.  Cadiz itself is one of the \'Twelve Labours of Hercules\', that is, the separation of Europe from Africa.  The city of Cadiz was founded in 1100 B.C. by Phoenician sailors over the ruins of the one that the people of Tyre had built.  They built a port and a temple, where supposedly Hercules´ashes were kept.  Hercules presence survives to this day in the city’s coat of arms where he stands between the pillars that announced the end of the world.  Cadiz began to grow from the 14th century onwards, reaching its golden age in the 18th century due to its position as the centre of sea routes and commercial trade.  The importance of trade with the Americas was such that Cadiz monopolized all trade within Spain.  Today, this past is still visible in its architecture; Cadiz reminds us of the typical colonial town:  long and narrow streets, sunny squares, and magic gardens.  Later, in the 17th and 18th centuries, Cadiz became a fortified town in order to resist the repeated naval attacks perpetrated by the English.  It was during this period that Cadiz enjoyed its most fruitful economic growth, monopolizing trade with the Americas and forming bridgehead both culturally and politically with the New World.  https://www.spanishincadiz.com/en/cadiz/history-cadiz 

From:  Rachael Cohen  Subject:  Aristology 
I just started reading Poison a la Carte in one of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe trilogies. Murder takes place at a dinner hosted by the fine-dining group, the Ten for Aristology.  Wolfe looked up the word in the dictionary and “declared that ‘aristology’ meant the science of dining, and therefore the Ten were witlings, since dining was not a science but an art.”  (Three at Wolfe’s Door, p. 2)  AWADmail Issue 1119  December 10, 2023   

The Raven is a 1963 American comedy gothic horror film produced and directed by Roger Corman.  The film stars Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, and Boris Karloff as a trio of rival sorcerers.  The supporting cast includes Jack Nicholson as the son of Lorre's character.  It was the fifth in the so-called Corman-Poe cycle of eight films largely featuring adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe stories produced by Roger Corman and released by American International Pictures (AIP).  The film was written by Richard Matheson, based on references to Poe's 1845 poem "The Raven".  AIP released the film as a double feature with Night Tide.  Three decades earlier, Karloff had appeared in another film with the same title, Lew Landers's 1935 horror    film The Raven with Bela Lugosi.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raven_(1963_film)   

Born in 1963, in Los Angeles, and raised in Nashville, Ann Patchett describes herself as being a child who possessed a knack for “stillness” and being alone with her own thoughts, valuable skills for a writer.  She went on to study at Sarah Lawrence College, where literary success came early—she published her first story as an undergraduate in the Paris Review—and later received her MFA from the University of Iowa.  In 2001, not long after the publication of Patchett’s breakout novel, Bel Canto, her literary hero, Eudora Welty, died at the age of ninety-two.  Patchett got into a car and drove 400 miles to attend the funeral of the literary legend she had never met.  She was anticipating a standing-room-only event, she later recounted, and was surprised to find a more modest crowd.  The experience speaks to her belief in the “life-altering” power of fiction and the place writers should have in the culture.  In the years that followed, Patchett has served as an advocate for literature, extolling the pleasures of the short story in her introductory essay to The Best American Short Stories 2006, serving as the honorary chair of World Book Night, and spreading the word about hidden-gem writers such as Edith Pearl.  Alyson Foster  https://www.neh.gov/award/ann-patchett    

Books We Love in 2023 by NPR https://apps.npr.org/best-books/#view=covers&year=2023   

September 21, 2023  You never know what you're going to find while antiquing. What was once bought for a mere $4 at a Savers in Manchester, New Hampshire, just sold for $191,000 at an auction.  Found in a stack of mostly damaged prints and posters was a heavy and dusty painting of two women in front of a religious statue, one with a stern face.  Looking for old frames to repurpose, the thriftier tossed it into their cart, completely unaware of what they discovered.  After hanging in her bedroom for a few years, the oil painting was eventually stored away in a closet.  At one point, she even joked about it being a real painting after not finding any results during a quick internet search, but never really gave it a second thought.  Then, in May, while doing some spring cleaning, the unknown thriftier came across the painting again and decided to post some photos of it on Facebook.  She was quickly referred to the Brandywine Museum of Art in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, as well as a conservator--who drove three hours just to view the painting in person.  As it turns out, the work of art that was bought for just a few dollars roughly six years earlier was actually a legitimate and valuable piece by the American painter and illustrator, Newell Convers Wyeth, also known as N.C. Wyeth.  The long-lost painting, identified as Ramona, is one of four illustrations Wyeth made for the 1939 edition of the Helen Hunt Jackson novel, according to the auctioneer Bonhams Skinner. It depicts the tension between Ramona and her mother Señora Moreno.     https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/nc-wyeth-ramona-illustration-sold/   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2758  December 18, 2023