You must have seen them on a library bookshelf, or perhaps you have read a few stashed in your bedside table? Romance literature with ever-so-slightly cheesy covers have been around since the early to mid-20th century. Mills and Boon cornered the market for the erotic novels and still produce them today. They were marketed as escapist literature for women in the 1930s, although there are some men who claim them as their guilty pleasure.
The covers usually depict a romantic scene between two people: usually a muscled man embracing a woman in a fit of passion. There has been some controversy over the years with the solely Caucasian characters and storylines centred on male dominance. Despite this, they remain ever-popular and provide an erotic escape into a world often unknown to their readers. Some feminist academics have even gone as far as to say they are feminist texts by introducing women to the concept of orgasms, and sexual liberation.
Val Derbyshire of the University of Sheffield, UK is a big fan. She say that the books are written for women, by women, and have much more value than many give them credit for.
Credit: Val Derbyshire
One of the best things about the romance novels are the covers, however for may people it is also the worst thing. Photographer Kathleen Kamphausen decided she was sick of seeing overly-polished people in those poses. Yearning for some un-retouched, ‘normal’ folk in the same romantic scenes, she recreated them. With help from a handful of models her recreation of the cheesy book covers are just… Well, take a look for yourself…
Well, after the Polish-Lithuanian insurrection of 1863, the Russian Imperial government doubled down on its efforts to make the Lithuanian population Russian, and alienate the populace from its historic roots and Roman Catholic faith.
In 1863 Tsar Alexander II issued rules for State Junior schools stating that only Russian language education would be allowed, then in 1864 another ruling decreed that Lithuanian language primers would only be printed in the Cyrillic alphabet. A year later, Konstantin Kaufman issued a ban on all Lithuanian use of the Latin alphabet and a year later came in an oral ban on the printing or importing of printed matter in Lithuanian.
Alex Arrelia reimagined the men of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit as ‘bad ex-boyfriends who ruined your life’ and the results are hilarious.
The gender-queer writer has an uncanny way of describing the Middle Earth hunks, click on the gallery below and scroll through to see if you recognise any from your own past…
As locals and tourists return to shops that are currently re-opening in England as part of the government’s roadmap, a five-storey pink townhouse on Greek Street, Soho dedicated to this magical exhibition is one of the countless retailers opening their doors to visitors.
Unlike many tours of London which see tourists follow a guide (usually holding an umbrella), Exploratorium’s latest venture is a self-guided tour. It costs just £5 to participate in the tour and you simply purchase a magical map online or in person. Wands can also be added to your package or borrowed from each location on the tour for free. All profits from the magical maps and any t-shirts purchased go to the charity Mermaids.
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Katie Knudson told Bored Panda: “My mother read Harry Potter books to me as I read. Even when I was in high school, the last thing came to light. It was an extraordinary relationship between the two of us. Fixed!
After someone reminded her of a missing scene between Luna and Harry, where Luna tells Harry that she supports him, Katie thought she had to bring it to life.
“I just thought it was a great scene and I really felt the urge to draw it. It was so well received that I realised I wasn’t the only one who forgot it. And I remembered the deleted scenes, so I kept looking for them and drawing them!”
Katie captures some of the most emotional and heart-wrenching scenes that fans of the books adore such as a moment between Neville and his grandmother.
“Anything that is emotional or constructive for any character, like Neville’s parents. It’s sad when I forget the development of such a character.”
“It can take anywhere from 10-10 hours to plan and sketch the scene,” Katie adds. “I can try to get them to correct the text as much as I can.”
If you like what you see below, check out more at Katie’s Tumblr or Twitter pages.
The algorithm was fed lines from poets such as Alice Oswald then given ‘seed words’ in order to generate couplets.
Poetry experts then combed through the couplets to select what worked and what did not until the AI created poetry that could be compared to modern poets. Poetry Society, Poetry Archive, and Scottish Poetry Library worked over a five-month period, working through over 40,000 couplets generated by the artificial intelligent algorithm.
I’m well into my 40s now, and I don’t know about you but when I hear the words ‘TikTok’ I immediately zone out because I just know it’s going to be some ridiculous viral trend, lip synch, or something else I just won’t get and will need explaining to me, leaving me feeling rather old every single time.
So when my friend started sending me a few bookish TikToks or BookToks, I was rather surprised at how much I liked them. Whatever your literary slant, TikTok is as full of book lovers as it is kids doing silly dances and lip synchs, and I enjoyed them so much, I’m here to share my favourites with you.
Don’t worry you don’t need a TikTok account to watch as we’ve embedded all the videos into this blog. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did!
@felixir_When Ginny wants to meet in the Room of Requirement ⚡️ #harrypotter #foryoupage #fyp #pourtoi #viral #potterhead #foryou #hogwarts #tiktok #trend♬ original sound – Ｓｔａｙ ｈｙｄｒａｔｅｄ 緯俺な
You could send this Harry Potter lookalike to my room of requirement if you wanted to. If someone has told me this was on TikTok I’d have signed up years ago!
@blastedpanda_Hidden Library #foryoupage #fyp #fypシ♬ original sound – farles
I am here for this secret library!
@ceilingtilelibrarianPainting ceiling tiles in my school library! #librarian #schoollibrarian #librariansoftiktok #teacher #teachertiktok #teachersoftiktok♬ The Office – The Hyphenate
We love this idea for classrooms!
@extroverted_introvert1not my creation but HAD to share 🤣 ##lordoftherings ##tolkien ##bilboswaggins ##hobbits ##fantasy ##puns♬ original sound – Extroverted_introvert
A literary pun that only works when said aloud.
@ellereadsbookslikeMy copy of The Octunnumi arrived! ⚙️ #theoctunnumi #booktok #bookunboxing #bookish #bookmail #theoctunnumiunboxing♬ Studio Ghibli Medley Pt. 2 – Nicholas Yee & Shawn G
My friend is always buying her son really expensive things because he saw them on TikTok, which I thought was ridiculous until I saw this unboxing! I don’t care what it is, I need it!
So now I’ve found a new pointless book related pursuit… watching other book nerds on TikTok. At least now I can say I’m down with the kids too.
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