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#1: GET RID OF CAPTCHA!

What is this strange word you speak of, sir? Well, it's sort of like an STD: it's going to scare off a lot of potential suitors–and in the case of blogging, commenters. Specifically, it's that jumbled mess of letters you have to squint at and retype, like you're a monkey in a lab experiment. I LOVE a blog when I go to post and I don't have to screw around with that, especially if I'm in a blogging mood and commenting on a lot of blogs. Seriously, unless you're getting 10,000 hits a post, and are a prime target for spammers, don't flatter yourself and fuhgettaboutit. Blogger's default has it set to "on." So do everyone a favor and turn that puppy off!

#2: MAKE IT EASY TO FOLLOW YOU

This seems like a no-brainer. But I've seen a lot of blogs where I'm jumping around trying to find Google Friend Connect or the RSS feed. If I don't see it right away, I now assume there isn't one, and I don't follow. Simple as that. One less subscriber. Ideal spot for the RSS icon is at the top of the page near the header or top of the sidebar. Since you can't put GFC in the header, stick her at the top of the sidebar as well. Oh–and if you know a tiny bit about coding, edit your singlepost.php file so an RSS thinger shows up at the bottom of each post with something like what I have below: "Like the article? Subscribe to my feed!" Catch em when they're hungry, my grandpa used to say. Actually, he didn't. But it has a ring.

#3: DON'T BE A STRANGER

So somebody comes by your blog, reads a post, and likes it enough to leave a comment. Brilliant. But you're too busy to comment on that comment. Understandable. They come back, read another post, comment again. You're still busy. Hmmm…this is getting a little insulting. So said commenter comes back and gives it a third try. Still no reply, which now is like giving the finger to your reader. Again, if you're getting 200 comments on every post, then no worries. Just like if you have two million followers on Twitter, you can't be expected to reply to everyone. But do you have 200 comments per post??? If no, it's probably a good idea to be a bit more hospitable.

#4: TURN OFF THE DAMN MUSIC

If I get to a blog or website and there's music playing, I'm gone faster than a pizza in Jack Nicholson's refrigerator. Music is way too subjective to push it one someone. And who's to say I'm not nodding to my own tunes as I peruse the web. Definite failure.

#5: PICTURES, PICTURES, AND MORE PICTURES

Blogs are all about content. But if you want to reel people in, you need the visuals. An analogy: imagine listening to The Godfather via a podcast or something. It's hardly the same as watching it on a big screen. That's a far out example, of course, but we live in a visual age, and pictures are, well, visual. As Ben Still was fond of saying in Starsky & Hutch: Do it!

#6: Shakespeare & Co. Antiquarian bookstore in Paris, France

It's quaint and cozy and something that should be in a movie…actually, it is! It had a cameo in the movie Before Sunset you've seen the inside of the Shakespeare & Co. Antiquarian bookstore—this is where Julie Delpy's character reunited with Ethan Hawke's during a book signing. There's a piano you can play, a bed you can lounge in when you read, and likely a cat or two wandering around the crammed bookshelves.

#7: Poplar Kid's Republic, Beijing, China

This one sort of reminds me of a McDonald's play-land but with better art direction. White walls, white ceiling, white stairs, white everything except splashes of rainbows here and there. Oh–and of course a selection of books in a varied number of languages. Whatever gets kids reading, right? I wouldn'tÌý mind hanging out here with a book and a coffee, except I don't think I'd fit in one of those cubbyholes.

#8: Daunt Books, London, England

This is the only bookstore chain on the list, but it deserves a spot. There are only five in London, but the Marylebone branch is the original and the best. It has long oak galleries with polished floors and shelves, graceful skylights, and William Morris prints–that sort of Old Tyme charm you find in British pubs around the world. In fact, I wouldn't mind browsing these shelves with a pint of something cold!

#9: Secret Headquarters, Los Angeles, U.S.A.

Figured there should have been at least one from the U.S. on this list. This bookstore might not be as fancy or historic as some of the others, but it has its own sophisticated ambiance. You can find it in the creative cluster of Silver Lake, east of Hollywood. It might look like it's run by an obsessive compulsive, but its apparently one of the friendliest comic stores around. Canadian science fiction author Cory Doctorow calls it the best in the world.

#10: Keibunsya Bookstore, Kyoto, Japan

I lived in Japan for a few years, so I'm partial to this one. If you've never been to Japan, there's a thing about talking in public places, like one trains. You can be on a packed commuter and not hear a single peep from anybody (except foreigners!). So I wonder what it would be like in a bookstore like this one. Likely the same quiet dignity usually reserved for churches. Anyway, if you want to browse a selection of books not in English, this is your place! Kanpai!

Everybody who reads probably remembers the main bookstore they went to as a kid. Mine was some secondhand shop. It was run some a very nice old woman who had a cat or two hanging about the shelves. I must have been six or seven when I started going. All the kid's books were down in the basement, many in moldy boxes. It was awesome! I think that's where I read my first Choose Your Own Adventure. I've been to some pretty spiffy bookstores since those days, but nothing compares to those on this list. Check em out, and let me know if you have any that should make next week's list!

Ìý#1: Selexyz Bookstore in Maastricht, Holland

So what do you do with an empty Dominican church—one that dates back to 1294? The Dutch tried it out as a warehouse, an archive, and most recently, a bicycle storage. Perhaps realizing these weren't the brightest of ideas, they hired famous architects Merkx + Girod to transform it into a heavenly bookstore. Of note, it was named the best bookstore in the world by the Guardian in 2008.Wonder if they stock The Da Vinci Code?

#2: Livraria Lello in Porto, Portugal

This one is not nearly as old—built in 1891—as Selexyz, but it's just as stunning. Some of the details include intricate wood panels and columns, stained glass, and of course the curving red staircase in the middle. What was the name of that famous Led Zepplin song? Robert Plant could have been crooning about this place.

#3: El Ateneo in Buenos Aires, Argentina

There's a converted church on this list, why not a converted theater? This bookstore was once one named The Grand Splendid (seems a bit redundant to me), and it was the first location in the world to show movies with sound. It still retains its splendor with high painted ceilings, original balconies, and ornate carvings. Comfortable chairs are scattered throughout, the stage is a café, and the theater boxes are reading rooms.

#4: Cafebreria El Péndulo in Mexico City, Mexico

This is the most organic bookstore on the list. But to be honest it's apparently just as famous for being a cafe as it is for being a bookstore. If you're going to visit, it would help if you know some Spanish, as the English section is limited.

#5) Some place in India

You can go check this one out, but you might not come back alive. And you have to crawl when you're inside. Seriously.

Everybody who reads probably remembers the main bookstore they went to as a kid. Mine was some secondhand shop. It was run some a very nice old woman who had a cat or two hanging about the shelves. I must have been six or seven when I started going. All the kid's books were down in the basement, many in moldy boxes. It was awesome! I think that's where I read my first Choose Your Own Adventure. I've been to some pretty spiffy bookstores since those days, but nothing compares to those on this list. Check em out, and let me know if you have any that should make next week's list!

Ìý#1: Selexyz Bookstore in Maastricht, Holland

So what do you do with an empty Dominican church—one that dates back to 1294? The Dutch tried it out as a warehouse, an archive, and most recently, a bicycle storage. Perhaps realizing these weren't the brightest of ideas, they hired famous architects Merkx + Girod to transform it into a heavenly bookstore. Of note, it was named the best bookstore in the world by the Guardian in 2008.Wonder if they stock The Da Vinci Code?

#2: Livraria Lello in Porto, Portugal

This one is not nearly as old—built in 1891—as Selexyz, but it's just as stunning. Some of the details include intricate wood panels and columns, stained glass, and of course the curving red staircase in the middle. What was the name of that famous Led Zepplin song? Robert Plant could have been crooning about this place.

#3: El Ateneo in Buenos Aires, Argentina

There's a converted church on this list, why not a converted theater? This bookstore was once one named The Grand Splendid (seems a bit redundant to me), and it was the first location in the world to show movies with sound. It still retains its splendor with high painted ceilings, original balconies, and ornate carvings. Comfortable chairs are scattered throughout, the stage is a café, and the theater boxes are reading rooms.

#4: Cafebreria El Péndulo in Mexico City, Mexico

This is the most organic bookstore on the list. But to be honest it's apparently just as famous for being a cafe as it is for being a bookstore. If you're going to visit, it would help if you know some Spanish, as the English section is limited.

#5) Some place in India

You can go check this one out, but you might not come back alive. And you have to crawl when you're inside. Seriously.

#1: Selexyz Bookstore in Maastricht, Holland

So what do you do with an empty Dominican church—one that dates back to 1294? The Dutch tried it out as a warehouse, an archive, and most recently, a bicycle storage. Perhaps realizing these weren't the brightest of ideas, they hired famous architects Merkx + Girod to transform it into a heavenly bookstore. Of note, it was named the best bookstore in the world by the Guardian in 2008.Wonder if they stock The Da Vinci Code?

#2: Livraria Lello in Porto, Portugal

This one is not nearly as old—built in 1891—as Selexyz, but it's just as stunning. Some of the details include intricate wood panels and columns, stained glass, and of course the curving red staircase in the middle. What was the name of that famous Led Zepplin song? Robert Plant could have been crooning about this place.

Ìý

#3: El Ateneo in Buenos Aires, Argentina

There's a converted church on this list, why not a converted theater? This bookstore was once one named The Grand Splendid (seems a bit redundant to me), and it was the first location in the world to show movies with sound. It still retains its splendor with high painted ceilings, original balconies, and ornate carvings. Comfortable chairs are scattered throughout, the stage is a café, and the theater boxes are reading rooms.

#4: Cafebreria El Péndulo in Mexico City, Mexico

This is the most organic bookstore on the list. But to be honest it's apparently just as famous for being a cafe as it is for being a bookstore. If you're going to visit, it would help if you know some Spanish, as the English section is limited.

#5) Some place in India

You can go check this one out, but you might not come back alive. And you have to crawl when you're inside. Seriously.

Ìý

Ìý

#1: The Exorcist � William Peter Blatty

One of the bestselling books of all time? Check. An iconic cult classic? Check. The inspiration for one of the scariest movies ever filmed? Check. Oh—and the fact the story is partly based on the true story of a child's demonic possession in 1949 makes it that much creepier. Chances are you've see the aforesaid movie. If you haven't read the book that started it all, you're missing out. And if you do, it would be worth checking out the new, updated edition, which features new and revised material: According to the author: "The 40th Anniversary Edition of The Exorcist will have a touch of new material in it as part of an all-around polish of the dialogue and prose. First time around I never had the time (meaning the funds) to do a second draft, and this, finally, is it. With forty years to think about it, a few little changes were inevitable—plus one new character in a totally new very spooky scene. This is the version I would like to be remembered for."

#2: House of Leaves � Mark Z. Danielewski

Okay, this is one messed up book. Messed up and trippy and extremely difficult to summarize, so I'll let the guy at Amazon Review do it for me: "Had The Blair Witch Project been a book instead of a film, and had it been written by, say, Nabokov at his most playful, revised by Stephen King at his most cerebral, and typeset by the futurist editors of Blast at their most avant-garde, the result might have been something like House of Leaves."

The first thing you'll notice when you open it up is the crazy page layout. There are tons of footnotes, some of which contain their own footnotes, and some of which reference books that don't exist. Certain pages contain only a few words or lines of text. This usually occurs during a fast-paced scene, making you flip through the pages, well, faster. Other pages contain boxes of text here and there, mirroring, say, a confusing or labyrinthine scene. All in all it's pretty weird, but it's that weirdness that gets under your skin and stays with you for some time afterward.


ÌýÌý
#3: The Haunting of Hill House � Shirley Jackson

Any top ten list of anything scary has to have a haunted house in it. Because if you're not safe in your own house, where else is there to go? Stephen King, in his book Danse Macabre, a non-fiction review of the horror genre, lists The Haunting of Hill House as one of the finest horror novels of the late 20th century. Of its opening lines, he says: "I think there are few if any descriptive passages in the English language that are any finer than this." Now that's coming from the bestselling horror author of all time. Still, here are the lines so you can judge for yourself: "No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood for eighty years and might stand for eighty more."



#4: Pet Cemetery â€� StephenÌý King

Speaking of Scary Steve, you also can't have a scary book list without something of his on it. And, yeah, I know everyone has a favorite Stephen King book—he's written over fifty worldwide bestsellers—so really any could have made this list. I chose Pet Cemetery because of the Faustian question: what would you do to bring back your child? This is a ridiculously spooky question, because most people would do anything—even bury their daughter or son in a pet cemetery that had magical powers.



#5: Dracula � Bram Stoker/Frankenstein � Mary Shelly

What can I say about these two? They've both had a major influence across literature and popular culture and spawned a complete genre of horror stories and films. Their origins can be traced to the famous literary gathering on the shores of Lake Geneva. The story is well known, but here it is again: In the summer of 1816, Lord Byron and his doctor, John Polidori, were residing at the Villa Diodati where they were visited by Percy Shelley, Mary Godwin (who would later become Mary Shelley) and Claire Claremont. One evening, after a collective reading of ghost stories, Byron suggested that each member of the party write a story of their own. Two tales that changed the face of Gothic fiction were inspired by this challenge. Mary Shelley began Frankenstein, while Byron wrote a fragment about a nobleman named Augustus Darvell who contrives to return from the dead. Later that year, Byron's doctor, Polidori, used Byron's unfinished work as the basis of a novella that became the prototype for most subsequent vampire tales, including the most famous of all: Dracula.

I've read reviewers say things like "I had to keep on the lights" and "I was afraid to turn the page." Unless you read your books with the score to Halloween, Psycho, or The Exorcist playing in the background, this sounds like a lot of bull**** to me. But I do think books can disturb the reader. Get in your head, get you thinking about them, and, well, play with your mind. So, on that note, here are the top ten disturbing books of the last hundred or so years (credit to HuffPost Books).

#6: Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin

Very scary book. Even more scary if you're pregnant, or thinking about it anytime soon! Gothic, dark, and, yes, disturbing. Imagine something growing inside you that wasn't human. Imagine when it came out it had horns and hooves. And if you're religious, and you've just spawned the son of Satan, I don't think you're getting into Heaven any time soon.

#7: The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson

Can the Brits spin a horror tale? Yup. James Herbeert and Clive Barker are a couple modern-day examples. If you haven't heard of The House on the Borderland–it was published in 1909–here's a teaser: In 1877, two gentlemen, Messrs Tonnison and Berreggnog, head into Ireland to spend a week fishing in the village of Kraighten. While there, they discover in the ruins of a very curious house a diary of the man who had once owned it. Its torn pages seem to hint at an evil beyond anything that existed on this side of the curtains of impossibility. The first half of the novel is a freaky siege tale of a man defending his home from waves of malevolent pig-people. The second half reads like a prose translation of every Pink Floyd album playing simultaneously and backwards. This was one ofÌý H.P. Lovecraft's favorite works. What more can be said?

#8: Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews

Innocent blond kids locked in their grandparents' attic. That's bad. The fact they're starved, abused, and betrayed by their mother is even worse. When they are finally driven insane, that's just–you guessed it–disturbing! Even without the weird sexual scenes, V.C. spins one haunting tale.

#9: The Nightwalker by Thomas Tessier

This ain't just another werewolf story. And it's much, much better than the fare being pumped out now by Stephanie Meyer and the like. Again, if you're not familiar with the story: A young American Vietnam vet adrift in London seems possessed by an uncontrollable urge to inflict mutilation and death and may, in fact, be a werewolf. No hirsute Michael J. Fox playing basketball, and only clocks in at about one hundred pages, but definitely worth a read.

#10: The Shining by Stephen King

Dads shouldn't hit their kids. Then again, hotels shouldn't drive their guests insane. Jack Nicholson did a great job of losing it in Kubrick's film adaptation, but if you haven't read the book, you should. Animal hedges that come to life, haunted rooms, and conversations with the ghost of a waiter? Good stuff. Even better, the sequel is coming out soon!

Next five on the list will be posted later this week!

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Historian Nicholas Rogers, exploring the origins of Halloween, notes that while "some folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead called Parentalia, it is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain, whose original spelling was Samuin (pronounced sow-an or sow-in)". The name of the festival historically kept by the Gaels and celts in the British Isles which is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "summer's end".

Everybody kicks themselves for doing stupid things, but imagine being the agent or editor who rejected these massive bestsellers! (Credit to Flavorwire.com for the topic).

#1: Harry Potter

Dirt poor mom writing in coffee shop morphs into Queen of England. In fact, I think J.K is even wealthier than the royal family. Not surprising when you realize she could buy the Queen Elizabeth (the ocean liner, not the person in the funny hats). Pretty great success story. Sales of 400 million books. Billions from the film franchise. Still, she was rejected eight times. Interesting side note: the daughter of the chairman of Bloomsbury read the first chapter and told her father to buy it. Concerning the picture below, I want to know what he's fending off with that chopstick. A piece of sushi?

#2: Lolita

This one, by Vladimir Nabokov, is one of the best-selling novels of all time, with over 50 million copies sold since it was published in 1955.

Here's a rejection letter to the author: "It is overwhelmingly nauseating, even to an enlightened Freudian. To the public, it will be revolting. It will not sell, and will do immeasurable harm to a growing reputation� I recommend that it be buried under a stone for a thousand years."

The guy who sent this letter is probably dead now, so if you're shopping a ms. around, you don't have to worry about getting a letter from the Simon Cowell of the literary world. What a prick.

#3: Valley of the Dolls

Jacqueline Susann had this manuscript rejected over ten times because of the taboo themes of sex, drugs, and rock n roll.

Another a**hole editor's "professional" opinion: "[You are] a painfully dull, inept, clumsy, undisciplined, rambling and thoroughly amateurish writer whose every sentence, paragraph and scene cries for the hand of a pro."

#4: Chicken Soup for the Soul

The best-selling non-fiction series of all time had to make this list. The count? Over 150 million sold. That's about half as many books as Stephen King as sold, the world's best-selling fiction writer (if any one knows any rejections Mr. King got, please let me know!).

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The writers of the series weren't rejected ten times like others on this list, nor fifty, but over one hundred! Good on them for their perseverance.Ìý Words from the author: "The first time we went to New York, we visited with about a dozen publishers in a two day period with our agent, and nobody wanted it. They all said it was a stupid title, that nobody bought collections of short stories, that there was no edge â€� no sex, no violence. Why would anyone read it?"

#5: Twilight

Love it or hate it, it's been a huge hit. Over one hundred million copies sold in five years. She was turned down by fourteen agents before it was picked up–and then eight publishers bid on it.

If you haven't heard/seen it yet, check out the video below in which Stephen King compares his body of work to hers. He demolishes her.