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Kick off your shoes, chow down on some mushrooms, and whip out the sparklers: it’s time to celebrate Hobbit Day and Tolkien Week. Though there are some discrepancies between the Shire and Gregorian calendars, Hobbit Day – the birthday of both Bilbo and Frodo Baggins – has been celebrated on September 22nd since 1978 and is the kickoff to Tolkien Week.

Many schools, bookstores, and libraries observe the date as a way to focus on Tolkien’s work and pique the interest of new fans, but here at Quirk, we love a good party.

If you love it, show it. And I’m not just talking about people, although if you haven’t called your mom today and told her you love her, go ahead and do so.

I love books, I have since I was a kid. So much so that even when people are discussing a book I have no interest in reading, I still love to see their passion for reading. Thanks to the Internet we can now easily share our passions, show our love and get inspired by others love proclamations.

Here are people creatively showing their love for books along with items you can purchase to show yours.

PRIDE & PREJUDICE & ZOMBIES by Seth Grahame-Smith and Jane Austen ($3.99)

AMAZON / BARNES & NOBLE / IBOOKSTORE / INDIEBOUND / KOBO

The New York Times bestselling mashup that launched a literary genre, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies features the original text of Jane Austen’s beloved novel with all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie action. 

As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton-and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy.

What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers-and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead.

For years, I had a ritual everyday after coming home from school. Exhausted from the seemingly interminable day, I laid in my bed and watched TV. The WB was a particular favorite of mine because it was one of two stations that had good reception. They had a pretty stellar lineup of after-school programming with Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, and Batman: The Animated Series being among my favorites. But out of all those shows, one stood out, a show on the only other station that had reception.

I can sing the theme to Wishbone, no problem (I can, but I won’t, for everyone’s sake). I loved that show more than any of them and I can probably trace my supreme love of dogs over any other animal directly to that bookish Jack Russell Terrier. I knew I was learning, but I didn’t care, because there was an adorable dog in a Sherlock Holmes costume. That is absolute TV gold.

Wishbone has been an integral part of my education, too. On occasion, I’ve remembered a detail from an episode of Wishbone more easily than one from a book that I had just read…because a dog wearing a costume is way more memorable than words on a page. Here are some of my favorite episodes of Wishbone that actually helped me pass English class (even honors classes!).

Need some book-related bling for your jewelry box? Here’s a collection of some of the most creative and unique pieces on Etsy that celebrate literature: necklaces, bracelets, cufflinks, and rings that celebrate (or are made from) books.

 One of the first limericks known to man. Note the obscenity in line two.

Sunday, May 12, is National Limerick Day, an event traditionally celebrated by dressing like Edward Lear and rhyming things with Nantucket. But for all the hallowed tradition surrounding this beloved poetic form, most of us know precious little about the limerick and how it became such a popular from of rhymery. So this weekend, while you’re out mailing limerick cards and singing limerick carols and visiting the nuclear power plant in Limerick, PA, take a moment to ponder the storied history of this simple but profound method of expressing life’s truths.