Dutch Book Fairs July 12, 2008

Summer is the time of the book fair. Well, there are book fairs all year round, but in The Netherlands most of them are during the summer. We visited two of them recently and I thought it would be nice to give you a small photo impression. I wonder if book fairs look different in other countries…

The first fair was on June 29. it was in the city of Haarlem. There were about 170 stands in the city center. The atmosphere was very cozy. We overspend. Big time. The second one was in Dordrecht, on July 5. This is the second largest book fair of The Netherlands. There were about 450 stands. It was very busy, but we managed to find some new treasures for our library.

Click on ‘more’ the see some photo’s we took.

(Literary) Remembrance May 4, 2008

Each year on the 4^th of May we, the Dutch, take a couple of minutes to remember the people who died in WWII. And the wars after that. The next day, the 5^th we celebrate the ending of the war. I also do a little ‘remembrance’ on Kimbooktu,but in a bookish way. I bring you a post related to the Second World War and books. Last year I wrote an article on Anne Frank, to be seen here. This year’s topic is the destruction of books during WWII. Click ‘more’ to read the article.

Personalized books May 1, 2008

If you are looking for an original gift (for a book lover) a personalized book might be an idea. There are several websites which provide this service. Usually you can choose a book of your liking. You can then choose one or more names that you want to have featured in this book. Below you will find a small selection of websites that provides this type of book. If you have any books or experience with personal books to add, please do so in the comments.

A2Z Personalized Children’s Books

You can choose out of 150 books for children. There are also some titles available for adults. All the books are hardcover and it will cost between twelve and fifteen dollars to have a book made.

Printakid

This website sells ‘personalized stories for children’. The fun part is that the illustrations are also personalized to look like the child.

Created4Me

This company has only one book on offer, but it adds first, middle and last names to the book. Most other personalized books only have first names.

MadLuck Books

Here you can pick from a variety of themed books for babies, children and adults. The books can have the name, age, home town and other names printed in the story.

Boekado.nl

A Dutch website that has a choice of books in different themes. You can also choose children’s books and books by The Netherlands most popular crime writer, Appie Baantjer. It is also possible to pick by price.

Funny add March 13, 2008

I just found this add for an American bookstore. It might be old, but I thought it is quite funny.

Click here for a larger image.

The Science of Fairy Tales March 13, 2008

Ever wondered if events in Fairy Tales can actually happen or exist? I did not, to be honest. It never crossed my mind if it is actually possible to have someone climb up a tower by the means of very long hair. A Fairy Tale is a Fairy Tale, after all. It does not mean it is very interesting to read the science behind these tales.

If you are intrigued, click here to read an article posted on LiveScience. It is written by Chris Gorski of the American Institute of Physics. It immediately made me wonder about other tales too…

Design your own book cover January 29, 2008

I just found this fun online program which enables you to make your own book cover. You can choose different animals for the cover picture and different colors. You can type the titles you like. After you are done, you can save the cover and a link to it is provided. Give it a try! Click here. Do not forget to post the link to your cover in the comments! (This is mine.)

Bookish wallpaper I January 26, 2008

I thought you might like some wallpaper. No, not the stuff for your walls, but the things for your computer desktop. I browsed the web for some nice large bookish images to make your computer a bit more bookish. These are the a view I came up with. I will post more of them next week. (Click the image to see the large file.)

In case you do not know how to set the image as a wallpaper, do the following: Click a picture above and right click on the large image. Choose ‘save as’ and save the picture on your computer. When it is saved, right click the file and choose ‘set as wallpaper’. Hey presto!

Tiny books December 9, 2007

I do not know what it is, but I do love miniature books. The curiosity, the craft, or maybe the envy. I have posted about them before and I have found you some links on this topic again. This video is all about the wonder of the miniature book. Enjoy! Click here to watch the video.

Wireless Reading Devices November 24, 2007

A reader e-mailed me about the following reading gadget. As we do most of the things digital these days, Amazon has introduced a digital reading device. The Kindle. I thought it was proven in the past that this sort of reading gadget is unwanted. It surprises me to see that all sorts of companies market them again.

Not only are these devices bizarrely expensive, you will have to pay extra for a book too. (Imagine the amount of books you can buy for 400 dollars!) And this book will not even get a place in your library, since it is all digital. No flipping of pages, no scribbles in the margin, no amazing cover art. I understand why this e-reading thing failed the first time. I do not understand why the manufacturers try again.

If you are curious, this is the wireless reading device Amazon just introduced. Click here to learn more about the Kindle. And click here to see a video on how to use it.

Beautiful libraries November 6, 2007

There are some amazing libraries all over the world, which most of us will never see in person. Luckily there is a website that has pictures of the best examples. Click here to see it. I can also reccomend the book ‘Libraries’ by Candida Hofer. I am proud to finally have this book in my collection. (Click here to read a previous post about this book.)

    The fantastic library of ‘our’ Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Thanks to Urbi for the link!