This week marked the 75th anniversary of Margret Mitchell’s “Gone with the Wind”. Here are some fun facts about the novel.

Today we mark the birthday of Dashiell Hammett (1894 – 1961), born Samuel Dashiell Hammett. A prolific writer who popularized the hardboiled detective fiction, Mr. Hammett wrote such classics as “The Maltese Falcon” and “The Thin Man”.

May 15, 1890 was the birthday of Callie Porter, later known as Katherine Anne Porter. Ms. Porter was a very prolific writer, which we do not hear much about

This week we celebrated what would have been Roger Hargreaves 76th birthday. Mr. Hargreaves was the creator of the “Mr. Men” series of books

The book Scandalous Women is filled with great stories and great trivia. Instead of doing my usual Fun Facts Friday I decided to do something a bit different.

This week, in 1891, Oscar Wilde (October 16, 1854 – November 30, 1900 published is wildly successful novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray”. The history of the book is as fascinating as the book itself.

It was announced this week that Ron Chernow’s most excellent biography of George Washington, aptly named “Washington: A Life” (book review) won the Pulitzer Prize. I think the prize is well deserved, Mr. Chernow has the ability to bring historical figures to life and his books read like novels. Here are a few interesting facts I learned from “Washington: A Life” and from our family trip to Washington’s estate in Mt. Vernon, Virginia. 1) In the French and Indian War, while fighting in the British Army, Washington got hit with four bullets in his coat and hat and had two horses shot from underneath him. Washington remained unscathed which started his bullet proof reputation. 2) George Washington always regretted not having a college education. 3) Washington’s home, Mt. Vernon may look like it’s build out of stone, but it’s actually wood with sand thrown on the white paint. 4) George Washington loved animals. Over his life he had over 30 dogs and when the Revolutionary War was over, he retired his horse Nelson and forbade anyone from using him for farm work. 5) Martha Washington spent half of the Revolutionary War with her husband and used her time to fixed…

Whether you are rich or poor, edu­cated or not and no mat­ter to which polit­i­cal party you donated to, you are always wel­come at your local library

I was very impressed with The Hunchback of Notre Dame and thought the last 200 pages were certainly work trudging through some of it.

Author Anna Sewell (30 March 1820 – 25 April 1878) was an English novelist best known for her classic novel “Black Beauty”.