Bookmark Hoarder (and proud of it!)

I love the physicality of books and all the little accessories that we book lovers like to accumulate. Unlike other interests and hobbies we book people are pretty undemanding when it comes to what we need to make our experience a pleasurable one. Just give us the book, a place to sit, lay down or lean and a bit of lighting and we are pretty much set to read anytime, any place, anywhere. We really are a low maintenance group of individuals!

But some of us do like to show off a little of our personalities with a lil’ somethin’ somethin’~~

I have bookmarks from vacations, other people’s vacations and just because….and like a lot of people I can NEVER find one when I need one. Then I resort to whatever piece of paper is within reach…an envelope, a receipt, a kleenex (unused of course!)…and from my time working in libraries I am not the only one using this method of place keeping. We’ve found (and returned when possible), credit card bills, money, photos and even airplane tickets….and of course special bookmarks.

So today I’ve noticed that the Art Ori Design Studio has come up with some bookmarks that I must possess.

Don’t you love them?!

I have to say this is not the first time I’ve written about Ori Niv’s designs on my blog. There is something so appealing about the whimsy and functionality of everything he has created and obviously he must be a book lover! Currently I haven’t found a place to purchase these gems, but you can bet as soon as one is found I will be buying a couple of them!

Related articles

• What’s your Bookmark (wiedsco.wordpress.com)
• http://jottingswithjasmine.wordpress.com/2012/03/06/bookends-by-artori-design/

Reader’s Block

I am suffering from a problem that I find incomprehensible and I hope is curable–Reader’s Block!  For the past three weeks I have not read more than two paragraphs in a book and I have had absolutely no longing or desire to crack open a spine, flip a page, or peruse some text. Unheard of!!  Sacrebleu!

I have to say I’m slightly scared because if I don’t have reading as part of my life than really who am I?? I hate to sound so dramatic but there hasn’t been a time in my life when I can remember not eyeing that next book on the shelf that I am ready to read once I finish the book in my hand, or wondered when I would get to visit the library or my favorite bookstore again.  I am heart and soul a bibliophile!

Growing up our house was chock-full of books. Of course when I was little I didn’t realize that not every household was like mine with teetering piles of Book of the Month Club novels on my Mom’s bedroom floor, shelves sagging with ancient school books and an entire library of Golden Books at the end of my bed. I was lucky!

And my house today is the same way I’m afraid! What some might call messy with books I might call brimming with books. My accumulation of old smelly books are front and center  on my family room bookshelves. The more modern books are on shelves in my bedroom with the overflow on the bedroom floor, a la my dear old Mom and the basement has several plastic tubs full of those same Golden Books that I read as a child. I am literally surrounded by publications from every century and every genre….a bookworm’s shangri-la!

So this brings me back to my current problem…no lust for lit….is there a pill for that??

The Man Booker Prize longlist 2012

The highly anticipated longlist was announced today for The Man Booker Prize 2012 and as usual I am hopelessly ignorant of almost all of the books on the list! And I call myself a bibliophile?! For shame!

The judges waded through 145 submissions to come up with the dozen books on the list and come September 11th, they will cut this list by half to come up with the titles on the shortlist, with the winner being announced October 16th.

The Yips by Nicola Barker was definitely one that was on my radar and I read (with much difficulty) Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel, but I’m going to have to delve a little deeper into the synopses of the other 10 titles to find a few to read before the next announcement in September!

Happy reading everyone!

Related articles

• Booker prize longlist 2012: what do you think? (guardian.co.uk)
• Hilary Mantel on Booker longlist (bbc.co.uk)

M-I-A MOB back in the saddle again!

It has literally been weeks since I’ve written a blog post and I can only blame one thing….THE WEDDING. Yep, my daughter got hitched this past Friday and a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders and I think a two-ton semi has been lifted off of her much daintier ones!

My lovely, capable daughter did an amazing job of organizing this beautiful shindig in under 10 months, with the help of her patient, hard-working fiance (now husband!). If the team work they displayed throughout this stressful planning process is any indication of all their future endeavors together, I know there will be no stopping them in whatever they do throughout their lives!

And, yes, my Mother of the Bride weight loss program worked spectacularly and enabled me to fit easily into my MOB dress! And in the immortal words of George Peppard’s character Hannibal in the A-Team, “Don’t you love when a plan comes together?”  I know I sure did!

But of course, just as promised in a previous post, I have done a 360° and started eating everything in sight!

And it all started with the candy buffet that was set up at the wedding reception,

progressed to Crumbs Bakery in Virginia,

and culminated in a ginormous A & W root beer float this afternoon!

And now I’m feeling not only guilty, but downright lousy because I’ve discovered a side effect from all this healthy living ~~ eating better makes me feel better. Simple but true darn it, because to be honest with you, I’m feeling kind of poorly right now after a three-day sugar spree.  I won’t lie to you, it was mighty tasty and I devoured every morsel I could get my hands on, but I think tomorrow it’s time to strap on my tennies, run a few miles, and start counting those calories again.

….rats….

Capitol Hill Books

I love to visit used bookstores when I’m traveling, it’s usually always on my to-do list.  It is getting a bit hard to find them though and that’s a crying shame. My favorite used books stores are jam packed to the rafters, with precarious piles strewn hither and yon, and the owner manning the register knowing exactly where to lay his hands on any requests you may have.

I found all that at Capitol Hill Books in Washington, DC.

Located near Eastern Market, this bookstore was opened in 1991 but it seems like it’s been around a lot longer than that…just look at all these lovely books!

And what’s even more amazing is that they are actually shelved by subject and in alphabetical order to boot! Wowzeer, my kind of bookstore!

I didn’t find anything this trip, but it sure was fun looking and I can’t wait to go back!

Biblioburro

When I was a little kid I LOVED bookmobile day. It didn’t come around nearly enough for me (probably once a month), which is probably why I was shaking with anticipation while I was waiting for the truck to pull into the church parking lot by our house. I can still remember holding my mom’s hand while I struggled to climb those ginormous steps up into that sweet smelling book Shangri-La. It was heaven, and usually hot and crowded too because of course there were quite a few of us practically wetting our pants with excitement!

The librarian, would let each of us check out 5 books. I would carefully pick out my selections, then take them to where she sat on a wooden stool next to a small countertop and wait while she stamped the due date cards one by one and placed them in my books.  When I got a bit older our small town finally got a tiny library and then we were no longer on the bookmobile route. It was a good thing, but I sure missed the mobile library a lot!

The Biblioburro in La Gloria, Columbia serves that same function, and watching this video shows me that these children are just as excited to see their mobile library as I was to see mine!

It is truly inspiring to see what grade school teacher Luis Soriano has done to spread the joy of reading among his neighbors!