An hour's reading

I have never known any distress that an hour's reading did not relieve.

— Montesquieu

Carved Book Landscapes by Guy Laramee

So I carve landscapes out of books and I paint Romantic landscapes. Mountains of disused knowledge return to what they really are: mountains. They erode a bit more and they become hills. Then they flatten and become fields where apparently nothing is happening. Piles of obsolete encyclopedias return to that which does not need to say anything, that which simply IS. Fogs and clouds erase everything we know, everything we think we are.

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2012.01.13 Update: It's Nice That »

2012.01.07 Update: I missed the science fiction aspect of the works the first time, so here it is. »

Philip Lopate's world of books

"In a throwback to my childhood play with toy soldiers, I now control the movements of nations by dictatorially dispersing their literatures. Having rearranged the globe, hitched Spain to Greece and returned India to England, I am ready to tackle subtler diasporas. My books are distributed not only by nationality but by subject matter and genre, including categories such as movies, poetry, architecture, social science. Delicate decisions must be made."

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Li Xiaodong Atelier: Liyuan Library

"Positioned within the small village of Huairou, a two-hour drive away from the urban center of Beijing, China, the 'Liyuan Library' by Chinese practice Li Xiaodong Atelier is encompassed within a mountainous and forested landscape. A five-minute stroll from the village's center, the fully glazed interior contains quiet and contemplative reading spaces and a series of platforms which integrate shelving for books. After analyzing the region's characteristics, an exterior screen clad with ordinary sticks was chosen to conceal the glass faĉade, receding into the surrounding nature without competing with it."

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Update: from Azure Magazine »

Interview with the Book Surgeon

"It works as a landscape but also as an organism, consisting of several singular components making a larger form. I began by bending all of the covers of the books on themselves and gluing them in this way. Then I experimented with the thin, pie like sliver shapes the covers made and realized I could get a radius from setting them onto each other. After connecting them all and sanding down the pages to create a large solid form I had a great block to begin carving. The development of the piece took weeks before I even began to carve. I had no idea where it was going to end up when I began."

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A guide to navigating NPR's top 100 science fiction and fantasy books

November 2011

BOOKS ACQUIRED

1. The Essential Whitman, Walt Whitman, ed. Galway Kinnell. 2011.11.13
2. The Essential Byron, Lord Byron, ed. Paul Muldoon. 2011.11.13
3. A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man, James Joyce. 2011.11.13
4. The Constant Gardener, John Le Carré. 2011.11.13
5. The Russia House, John Le Carré. 2011.11.13
6. The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco. 2011.11.13

BOOKS READ

1. Flashing Swords #5: Demons And Daggers, Ed. Lin Carter, by Roger Zelazny, CJ Cherryh, Diane Duane, Craig Shaw Gardner, Tanith Lee. 2011.11.02
2. Figuring It Out, Nuno Crato. ISBN 978-3-642-04832-6. 2011.11.19

The wondrous database that reveals what Americans checked out of the library a century ago

"So when I learned about What Middletown Read, a database that tracks the borrowing records of the Muncie Public Library between 1891 and 1902, I had some of the same feelings physicists probably have when new subatomic particles show up in their cloud chambers. Could you see how many times a particular book had been taken out? Could you find out when? And by whom? Yes, yes, and yes. You could also find out who those patrons were: their age, race, gender, occupation (and whether that made them blue or white collar, skilled, semi-skilled, or unskilled), and their names and how they signed them."

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His libraries — 12,000 so far — change lives

One of the legendary triumphs of philanthropy was Andrew Carnegie’s construction of more than 2,500 libraries around the world. It’s renowned as a stimulus to learning that can never be matched — except that, numerically, it has already been surpassed several times over by an American man you’ve probably never heard of. More»

Book shelf by Daniel Eatock

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October 2011

BOOKS ACQUIRED

1. A Preface To Paradise Lost, CS Lewis. 2011.10.06
2. The Strange Story Of The Quantum, Banesh Hoffmann. 2011.10.06
3. Tristan And Iseult. Retold by Joseph Bedier, Trans. Hilaire Belloc & Completed by Paul Rosenfeld. ISBN 0394702719 (Vintage Books, 1965. Review copy). 2011.10.06
4. The Watch That Ends The Night, Hugh MacLennan. 2011.10.19
5. Return Of The Sphinx, Hugh MacLennan. 2011.10.19
6. Understanding Tolkien And The Lord Of The Rings, William Ready. 2011.10.19
7. Flashing Swords #5: Demons And Daggers, Ed. Lin Carter, by Roger Zelazny, CJ Cherryh, Diane Duane, Craig Shaw Gardner, Tanith Lee. 2011.10.19
8. The Children's Treasure House Of Stories: Over 50 Great Tales By Famous Authors. 2011.10.21

BOOKS READ

1. The Golden Treasury Of Children's Literature, Ed. Bryna & Louis Untermeyer. 2011.10.19
2. Michael Foreman's Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll. 2011.10.26

50 unique and unconventional bookcase designs

"Your home usually represent and expresses your personality. We all have different taste and find somethings more flattering than others. Make your home a better place to live, by adding a beautiful bookcase. Not only will you be doing yourself a favor, but you would also be making an industrial design statement. You have great taste/class, now it’s your turn to display it!" More »

September 2011

BOOKS ACQUIRED

1. Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides. 2011.09.10
2. A Book Of One's Own: People And Their Diaries, Thomas Mallon. 2011.09.11
3. Fruits Of The Earth, Frederick Philip Grove. 2011.09.17
4. A Thousand Days In Tuscany: A Bittersweet Adventure, Marlena de Blasi. 2011.09.17
5. The Mythical Man-Month: Essays On Software Engineering, Frederick P. Brooks. 2011.09.17
6. Understanding The Dead Sea Scrolls, Ed. Hershel Shanks. 2011.09.26
7. The Age Of Anxiety: A Baroque Eclogue, WH Auden. 2011.09.26

BOOKS READ

1. The Passage, Justin Cronin. 2011.09.27

Nine books previously owned by Marilyn Monroe

As auctioned in 1999.

August 2011

BOOKS ACQUIRED

1. The Eagles' Brood (The Camulod Chronicles Book 3), Jack Whyte. 2011.08.01
2. Cyteen, CJ Cherryh. 2011.08.01
3. A Moving Target, William Golding. 2011.08.01
4. Essentials Of English Speech And Literature, Frank H Vizetelly. 2011.08.22
5. Grow Organic, Garden Organic. 2011.08.22
6. Fatherland, Robert Harris. 2011.08.29
7. On Turing, John Prager. 2011.08.29

BOOKS READ

1. Heidegger And A Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates: Using Philosophy (And Jokes!) To Explore Life, Death, The Afterlife, And Everything In Between, Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein. 2011.08.06
2. Collecting Design, Adam Lindemann. 2011.08.16
3. The Ambler Warning, Robert Ludlum. 2011.08.31

FAHRENHEIT 451: a prescient future resembling today

"The people in this society do not read books (and are prohibited from owning them). They are incapable of enjoying nature, spending time by themselves, thinking independently, or having meaningful conversations. Instead, they drive very fast, take sedating medications, watch excessive amounts of television on wall-size flat screens, and listen to the radio on “Seashell Radio” sets attached to their ears." More »

Man of a Hundred Thousand Books

Don Stewart is the neat, smooth proprietor of a rather unkempt and chaotic bookstore [in Vancouver], where leisurely browsing is addictive and almost mandatory. More »

Harper Lee's treasured fan letter

Forgive me if this is a repeat letter; I'm old, my eyesight is failing and I'm forgetful. I may have forgot that I replied to you, but I know one thing:

I'll never forget your letter. In 45 years of receiving fan mail, I never had a letter mean so much to me. Thank you for it."

— Author Harper Lee's response to a fan letter re: To Kill A Mockingbird

Bill Gates's bookshelf

I love to read, in fact I read all the time. And I’m always sharing with others the really good books that I have read, ones that have just given me a lot of personal pleasure as well as books that make a contribution to our understanding of important topics, like education, energy, development and health.

— Bill Gates

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July 2011

BOOKS ACQUIRED

1. Chesterton's Stories, Essays, And Poems, GK Chesterton. 2011.07.09

BOOKS READ

1. Plato And A Platypus Walk Into A Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes, Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein. 2011.07.04
2. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett, ill. Robert Ingpen. 2011.07.12
3. Man With A Pan: Culinary Adventures Of Fathers Who Cook For Their Families, ed. John Donohue. 2011.07.20
4. 150 Best Eco House Ideas, Marta Serrats. 2011.07.21
5. Baking As Biography: A Life Story In Recipes, Diane Tye. 2011.07.25

June 2011

BOOKS ACQUIRED

1. The Precipice, Hugh MacLennan. 2011.06.03
2. Just So Stories, Rudyard Kipling. 2011.06.05
3. Uncle Remus: His songs and his sayings, Joel Chandler Harris. 2011.06.05
4. Standards Of Living In The Later Middle Ages: Social change in England c.1200-1520, Christopher Dyer. 2011.06.05
5. The Saturday Evening Post Treasury, Roger Butterfield & the Editors of The Saturday Evening Post. 2011.06.05
6. Chronicles, Jean Froissart. 2011.06.25
7. The Alexiad, Anna Comnena. 2011.06.25
8. The Lady Of The Lake And Other Poems, Sir Walter Scott. 2011.06.25

BOOKS READ

1. Far Horizons: All New Tales from the Greatest Worlds of Science Fiction, ed. Robert Silverberg. 2011.06.27

May 2011

BOOKS ACQUIRED

1. Ghost Story, Peter Straub. 2011.05.28

BOOKS READ

1. Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway, Cherie Currie, with Tony O'Neill. Foreword by Joan Jett. 2011.05.23
2. Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku, Lee Wardlaw, ill. Eugene Yelchin. 2011.05.30

April 2011

BOOKS ACQUIRED

1. The Heptameron, Marguerite de Navarre. 2011.04.02
2. Shabby Chic, Rachel Ashwell. 2011.04.02
3. The Grifters, Jim Thompson. 2011.04.03
4. The Toy Collector, James Gunn. 2011.04.03
5. A Heritage Of Horror: The English Gothic Cinema 1946-1972, David Pirie, Gordon Fraser. 2011.04.03
6. A Hymn To Him: The Lyrics Of Alan Jay Lerner, ed. Benny Green. 2011.04.03

BOOKS READ

1. Supreme Justice, Philip Margolin. A Calliope pick. 2011.04.08
2. The Sleeping Beauty & Other Classic French Fairy Tales, Charles Perrault & Madame d'Aulnoy, ill. Edmund Dulac, Gustaf Tenggren & William Heath Robinson. 2011.04.15
3. Gothic, David Day, ill. Alan Lee. 2011.04.19

March 2011

BOOKS READ

1. More Show Me How, Derek Fagerstrom, Lauren Smith & the Show Me Team. 2011.03.07
2. Granta 29, Jonathan Raban, Rian Malan, Robert Fisk, Roger Garfitt, Josef Skvorecky, Paul Theroux, Patricia Highsmith, Tim O'Brien. 2011.03.25
3. The Magic Flute, adapted from the opera by WA Mozart, P Craig Russell. 2011.03.30

February 2011

BOOKS ACQUIRED

1. Gothic, David Day, ill. by Alan Lee. 2011.02.26

BOOKS READ

1. Tetrasomy Two, Oscar Rossiter. 2011.02.08
2. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass, Lewis Carroll. 2011.02.10
3. The Animal Garden, William Mayne. 2011.02.13

January 2011

BOOKS READ

1. Real Simple: The Organized Home, Editors of Real Simple. 2011.01.03
2. Throw Out Fifty Things: Clear the Clutter, Find Your Life, Gail Blanke. 2011.01.11
3. Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader, Anne Fadiman. 2011.01.23

2010: Books Read

1. The Reader, Bernhard Schlink. 2010.01.16
2. The Van, Roddy Doyle. 2010.01.23
3. Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Joan Didion. 2010.02.06
4. The Secret Pilgrim, John Le Carre. 2010.02.13
5. The Sky People, SM Stirling. 2010.02.28
6. In The Courts Of The Crimson Kings, SM Stirling. 2010.03.20
7. Augustino And The Choir Of Destruction, Marie-Claire Blais. Challenging read, half-finished. More periods, fewer commas, needed. 2010.04.03
8. Perdita Durango, Barry Gifford. 2010.04.15
9. Mauve Desert, Nicole Brossard. 2010.04.24
10. Phoenix Vol. 3: Yamato/Space, Tezuka Osamu. 2010.04.25
11. Phoenix Vol. 4: Karma, Tezuka Osamu. 2010.05.02
12. Mystery In Spiderville, John Hartley Williams. 2010.05.02
13. The Religion, Tim Willocks. A Calliope pick: The first great siege of Malta in 1565. 2010.06.30
14. Wizard, John Varley. 2010.07.10
15. The Maze Runner, James Dashner. A Calliope pick. 2010.07.10
16. Cemetery Dance, Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child. A Calliope pick. 2010.07.31
17. Southland Tales (Book 1): Two Roads Diverge, Richard Kelly. 2010.08.04
18. Remake It Home: The Essential Guide To Resourceful Living, Henrietta Thompson. 2010.08.17
19. Remembering Crystal, Sebastian Loth. 2010.09.01
20. Nova, Samuel Ray Delany. 2010.09.06
21. Japan Home, Lisa Parramore & Chadine Flood Gong. 2010.09.18
22. Midnight In A Perfect Life, Michael Collins. A Calliope pick. 2010.10.03
23. The Raven, Edgar Allan Poe, ill. Ryan Price. 2010.10.21
24. The Highwayman, Alfred Noyce, ill. Murray Kimber. 2010.10.21
25. Canadian Ghost Stories, Barbara Smith. A Calliope pick. 2010.10.31
26. The Gunslinger: The Dark Tower Book 1, Stephen KIng. 2010.11.08
27. Cradle Of The Sun, Brian Stableford. 2010.11.26
28. Sand Sharks, Margaret Maron. A Calliope pick. 2010.12.26

December 2010

BOOKS ACQUIRED

1. The Return Of The King, JRR Tolkien. 2010.12.29

BOOKS READ

1. Sand Sharks, Margaret Maron. A Calliope pick. 2010.12.26