Bibliophilic and gryphonic

A book-loving friend sends a link to LibraryThing, a site for books and those who care about them. People enter titles of books they own, like, or hate, and can then find others who share the interest. Just tabbing across the top of the home page brings forums for discussion, a "zeitgeist" of users' current choices, favorite authors, etc., a blog and much else. (Perhaps too much else -- one can get lost in there for extended periods of time!)

LIbraryThing is the creation of a fellow named Tim Spalding, a webmaster who has another site rich in literary lore, Isidore of Seville, named after the famed medieval collector of knowledge and author (c.560-636 AD) of the Etymologies. There's much there about oracles, Cleopatra, Herodotus, Noah's Ark, and Griffins, among other things. More about Isidore here.

As we'll be encountering a griffin, or gryphon, at the top of the mountain, I'll put a few links here: Griffins in art -- a literary history of griffins -- and a description of the fabled lion/birds, from which the above illustration comes.