Your Home Library is now: Your Shelves! September 29, 2007

Even though the ‘Your Home Library’ project has slowed down a little, I decided to give it a domain name of its own. This way, I hope more bookish enthusiasts will find their way to the libraries you have sent me. Even more so, I hope that new libraries will come in so the project will take off like I hoped.

Since the domain “yourhomelibrary.com” was already taken, I went for “yourshelves.com”. To make sure people do not get confused, I changed to name of the blog to Your Shelves! If you have linked to the website, do not worry. The WordPress address still works fine. I am sorry for the inconvenience.

If you have not linked to the project yet, I would really appreciate it. The same goes for your libraries a.k.a. shelves. If you have not sent in your library yet, I really hope you will do so. Click here to go to the brand new www.yourshelves.com.

Patricia’s shelves

At last… Kimbooktu’s Meme! September 26, 2007

Since everybody is doing meme’s, Kimbooktu could not stay behind, haha. Seriously, I have been wondering how everybody has come up with a meme. They are so creative! I have tried my hardest to come up with a fun bookish meme. I hope you like it!

I tag these five bloggers, which I have randomly picked from the Bookish Blog Links A-Z: Bibliophile Bullpen, Chronicle Books Blog, Naked Without Books!, So Many Books and last but not least: Try Harder.

 

1. Hardcover or paperback, and why?

2. If I were to own a book shop I would call it…

3. My favorite quote from a book (mention the title) is…

4. The author (alive or diseased) I would love to have lunch with would be ….

5. If I was going to a deserted island and could only bring one book, except from the SAS survival guide, it would be…

6. I would love someone to invent a bookish gadget that….

7. The smell of an old book reminds me of….

8. If I could be the lead character in a book (mention the title), it would be….

9. The most overestimated book of all times is….

10. I hate it when a book….

 

What to do next: the five tagged bloggers chosen by me have to tag five other bloggers. Those bloggers have to answer the above questions and so forth. I cannot wait to see your answers…

 

Dangerous!

I begin with a warning, since this website is very dangerous. I am quite sure I posted their products in the past, but since I love their goods so much I am not even going to check.  Browsing through the website, had me reaching for my credit card on more than one occasion. The umbrellas, the card’s, the bookmarks… I want them all! If you are strong enough, you may click here.

Thanks to Inge for the link!

 

Great British (Bookish) Journeys September 25, 2007

Every Tuesday night I am glued to my television, which is a rare thing. This particular evening, there is an very interesting program on the British BBC 2. The series is called “Great British Journeys”. Every week we get to admire Nick Crane, who follows into the footsteps of (great) writers. Via their journals and/or books he tries to reconstruct their travels in Britannia. You can find the website of the program here.  There is even an interactive map on the website that shows you the journeys. You can also ‘sneak preview’ the episodes.

Some authors featured in the series are only known for their travel literature, others are more known for their other writings. Until now, the episodes were about the following authors: (Click on a name to learn more via an Wikipedia article.) Daniel Defoe, Thomas Pennant, William Gilpin, Celia Fiennes, William Cobbett and Gerald of Wales.

Every week, I regret that I have not seen them all. It is such an interesting and, because of presenter Crane, an amusing series. Via this series you not only get to see the beautiful English countryside; you get to learn (more) about some very interesting authors. The last two episodes, seen tonight and next week, are about John Leland and HV Morton. So tune in to BBC 2 tonight to catch the series!

The BBC also made a book about the series (of course!), which you can find here. (People closer to Britain, click here for the book. It is much cheaper here.) If you have missed the programs, you can purchase the DVD of the series. Click here to learn more.

Bookish wall art

I got this link in my e-mail recently. After clicking it, I can only think: want it, want it! I have an interest in language – and not only my own – for years. This adhesive wall art combines everything I feel passionate about. It has everything to do with language, because the image is a quote from a dictionary. The specific word is “Read”.

Since the art work looks exactly like a quote from a dictionary, I think it would suit anybodies home library. You can even choose out of three different sizes and lots of colors! The smallest size is 14 inches by 16.5 inches (35 cm by 41,25 cm) and costs 39 dollars. Click here to learn more about his bookish wall art.

Pop-up book lamp September 20, 2007

This seems to be fun! It is a book, like a pop-up book, which has a lamp in it. I think it would look nice on a table in a library. It is designed by Takeshi Ishigoro for a company called Artecnica. Since it is design, it does not come cheap: 95 dollars. Click here to learn more.

Thanks to JaneFan for the link.

A tree for every book

I got this link recently for my Bookish Blog Links A-Z. Since I found it quite different and interesting, I decided to inform you about it. The link is to a blog called Eco Libris. According to them; “About 20 million trees are being cut down every year to produce paper for books sold in the U.S. alone.” 20 million?!

I find the claim quite interesting. I never really think about the trees that have to be cut down to make paper. Quite strange, since I am not only a book lover, but a huge fan of nature as well. And I do know paper comes from trees! I (almost) feel guilty… If you have come to the same revelation and you want to do something about your nagging guilt…

“Eco-Libris is offering book lovers an easy and affordable way to do something about it – plant one tree for every book they read.” According to their website you can “Balance out your books”, by planting 10 trees for 10 dollars. You receive a sticker (made from recycled paper, of course) for every tree you plant. You can learn more about it by clicking the links below, or read their news release here.

Click here to go to the Eco Libris blog. Or click here to go directly to the website that helps you “make up” for your reading.

My library September 18, 2007

I have shown you my library via the Your Home Library website a couple of months ago. As said, I would post a better picture. And so I have. In fact, my library looks a bit different now. Of course. Libraries keep on changing. No matter if it’s a library as an institution or a library at home. The beautiful thing of a library is that it keeps evolving.

Before and after

And so does mine. Ehrm… Ours. Below you can see a before and after picture, as posted them on the site. The after picture is taken less then an hour ago. The biggest change is that the cabinets are now on both sides. We had to buy another cabinet because the others were full. This caused me to make the room more symmetrical and line them up on opposite sides.

In the lower left corner you can see my desk, where I always sit to write you. I actually hate having a computer in my library. This modern machinery looks so out of place. Since I have no other place to put it, the library has to put up with it.

LibraryThing

As I told you earlier, I have joined LibraryThing. I spend hours scanning our books, which was actually a lot of fun. You can find the actual books of our library here. (There is also a button in the side bar.) I have made the categories in English, so you should be able to understand if you do not speak Dutch. Of course, the majority of our books is not in English.

Again, it (almost) becomes boring, I would like to appeal to you to submit your Home Library. If you are on LibraryThing (or another online catalog), send me the link too! I will place it along with your picture and the description of your library. (If you already send me a picture, I would like to receive your LibraryThing link too!

Before (left) and after.

Shakespeare’s Globe DIY

The days are getting shorter (depending on where you are on the planet), so If you want to have a project for the dark evenings… Build your own Shakespeare’s Globe! I found you this fun model. This is what the makers have to say about it:

“The model was made from details found from historical etchings and prints of the original Globe Theatre. This required quite a bit of research as there were actually three Globe Theatre buildings, and inaccuracies abound. This model represents the Globe as it probably looked around the time that Shakespeare’s plays were presented there (1599-1608).”

Click here to see the model and download it. If you want to learn more about the Globe, click here to go to the website.

Writers’ Rooms

You all know of my voyeurism when it comes to other peoples libraries. I while ago I posted a link to the books famous people have on their bookshelves. (To be found here.) Now I found a great link on the website of The Guardian. You can look at the rooms of famous writers. Very interesting! And they keep adding new ones. A few of the authors have made their workplace look awful on purpose. They claim it make s them focus on their writing. You can look at the rooms here.

Mark Haddon’s ‘office’