These days we all need to be cognizant of how much money we're spending—on food, clothing, and shelter, sure, but also on really important things such as literary entertainment. In this new feature, we offer a few suggestions for podcasts, smartphone apps, Web tools, newsletters, museum shows, and gallery openings: a medley of literary curiosities that you might enjoy. And if you don't? Quit complaining, they're free.
1. The Raven in the Frog Pond: Edgar Allan Poe and the City of Boston, an exhibit at the Boston Public Library, features archival photographs, artwork, writings, and other ephemera to tell the complex story of Poe's relation to the city of his birth. Through March 31 (www.bpl.org).
2. The Moth Podcast, updated every Monday, features true stories recorded by the nonprofit storytelling organization at its shows in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Detroit over the last ten years. Each weekly podcast features a story—told without notes—and ranges in length from five to seventeen minutes (www.themoth.org/podcast).
3. Local Books, the iPhone application released in January by LibraryThing.com—a social-networking service that allows readers to catalogue up to two hundred books for free—shows users detailed information about local bookstores, libraries, and literary events in their area. Similar to popular dining apps like LocalEats and UrbanSpoon but for book lovers (www.apple.com/itunes).
