Littourati News: Literature Genre Map

Maps don't have to be representations of physical spaces.  Maps can locate places in all sorts of spaces.  Here is a map of genres, which places various novels in space according to their types.

Click here to see Book Country's Genre Map.

Michael Hess

Littourati News: Maps of Neil Gaiman's American Gods

Every so often I run across geographical maps of literature.  I recently read Neil Gaiman's American Gods and thought it might make an interesting Littourati topic, perhaps after I finish Blue Highways in the very near future.  In doing some possible advance work on locating some of the place names, I came across Renata Sancken's geographical mapping of Gaiman's book.  The fact that she has done it already wouldn't deter me from mapping it myself because, if you've read Littourati, my projects aren't just about the mapping of literature, but also the geography of my own thoughts and feelings as I read the literature.  I think that Ms. Sancken has made an impressive effort to map American Gods despite the fact that Gaiman intentionally obscured some of the locations in his book, and thought I'd share it with you.

Click here to see Renata Sancken's Only the Gods are Real: A Tribute to Neil Gaiman's American Gods.

Michael Hess

Littourati News: Help Victims of Hurricane Sandy

As we do our virtual tour through New York, New Jersey and Delaware with William Least Heat-Moon's Blue Highways, I want to urge you to remember the people in those states who are being victimized by Hurricane Sandy even as I write this post.  This "superstorm" is causing, in the words of some, incalcuable damage up and down the Northeastern coast.

If you wish to help those in need, please consider making a donation.  The Red Cross is taking donations.  This is from their website:

"Donations help the Red Cross provide shelter, food, emotional support and other assistance to those affected by disasters like Hurricane Sandy. To donate, people can visit www.redcross.org, call 1-800-RED-CROSS, or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. Contributions may also be sent to someone’s local Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013."

You can also help by donating blood to the Red Cross for relief services.

Thank you for reading Littourati, and for helping those in need!

Michael Hess

Littourati News: Try Reading Littourati on Google Currents

Sporadically, I have looked at ways in which to make Littourati more friendly to phone and tablet users.  Unfortunately, I have not had the time to try to really implement something.

Fortunately, the good folks at Google have helped me and other bloggers out.  Google Currents is a really nice little app for smart phones and tablets.  I was tipped off by one of Littourati's regular readers, and it formats Littourati nicely and in an easy to read format for your portable device.

I'm not really pushing Google Currents nor do I have any type of relationship with them.  I was just impressed on how it worked on my Android smart phone and my IPad tablet, and it is downloadable for both Android and Apple devices. 

If you know of another app for reading Littourati that works well for you, please share it as a comment.

Littourati News: Google Map of Mark Twain

If you read my posts regularly, you know that I am a fan of Mark Twain.  Recently, I was made aware of a Google Map that maps significant events in Mark Twain's life.  The map was created by Terry Ballard for the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, Connecticut.  Mr. Ballard wrote me about it after visiting Littourati.  Have fun exploring Mark Twain's life interactively!

Mark Twain's America Map