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(image via syracuse.com)

As George Saunders put it in his 2013 address to Syracuse, the university commencement address is a tradition in which “some old fart, his best hears behind him, who over the course of his life has made a series of dreadful mistakes, offers heartfelt advice to a group of shining, energetic, beautiful young people.” 

It’s a little strange that a person, based almost entirely on their celebrity status, is somehow qualified to offer life advice to the next generation. But it comes as no surprise that authors often offer the best words of wisdom. Here, we've collected the five most inspiring commencement speeches given by authors.

I must confess that I am a huge fan of the fictional Book Club posts that Jamie Canaves does for the Quirk blog. (Check out the latest for Orange is the New Black!)  

So, in the spirit of Father’s Day and taking a cue from the indomitable Jamie, I assigned some perfectly on-point Quirk book selections for my favorite pop culture dads.

Every Wednesday, we offer advice and strategies to survive all of the most dire and urgent circumstances, as well as some of the more common scenarios we all deal with.

This week we've got an excerpt from The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Parenting. Father's Day is just around the corner, and what's more essential to the "dad experience" than playing catch with your kids? So fire up the grill, break out the mitts, and have a blast not getting smacked by rogue baseballs. 

Image via www.kleintours.net 

This week as we continue to celebrate the relase of Manhattan Mayhem, a new mystery anthology from the Mystery Writers of America, we've got even more authors and their favorite places in New York City. Is danger lurking? Perhaps, or it could just be a suspense author plotting their next thriller in a crowded Manhattan resturant. 

As someone who has just had to move twice in as many months, I can tell you right now that I'm intimately acquainted with the struggle of moving books. Nothing is worse than having to reconfigure your book collection to a new layout or a place that can't accomodate as many bookshelves (quel horreur!). I used to be the kind of person who thought there was no such a thing as too many books, but my back and sanity disagree. Next time you want to move your massive book collection to a new place, here are some tips to keep you sane.