Art: Surmounting the Classics

Painted by Ricky Colson

Infograhic: Harry Potter Experience

Via: Mad Potterhead

Quote

Source: Etsy.com

Art: Carved Book Landscapes

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."

Interview: George R.R. Martin

A video of George R.R. Martin's visit to the offices of Audible where he was interviewed by Steve Feldberg.

"Recently we had the pleasure of welcoming to our office a great figure in the literary community (and one of Time's 100 Most Influential People of 2011!). George R.R. Martin, who recently completed the fifth book in his hugely popular series, A Song of Ice and Fire, shared stories about his life, his careers in both literature and television, and the power of fiction."

Quote

Reading a book should be a conversation between you and the author. Presumably he knows more about the subject than you do; if not, you probably should not be bothering with his book. But understanding is a two-way operation; the learner has to question himself and question the teacher, once he understands what the teacher is saying. Marking a book is literally an expression of your differences or your agreements with the author. It is the highest respect you can pay him.
- Mortimer Adler, 1940.

Bookshelves: Target Bookshelf

Target Bookshelf by Mebrure Oral

The 'target books' shelf by Turkish designer Mebrure Oral is designed to keep books organized
by separating them into sections of 'already read' and 'yet to read.' Each segment is demarcated
by its own bookend, a line of text that is built into the shelf that states either 'has been read' or 'will be read.' Each 'target books' shelf is produced in three pieces via injection molding of recyclable ABS plastic.

Art: Mini Christmas Tree

Via: Tumblr

Book Trailer: A Monster Calls

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness and illustrated by Jim Kay

At seven minutes past midnight, thirteen-year-old Conor wakes to find a monster outside his bedroom window. But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting-- he's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments. The monster in his backyard is different. It's ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth. From the final idea of award-winning author Siobhan Dowd-- whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself-- Patrick Ness has spun a haunting and darkly funny novel of mischief, loss, and monsters both real and imagined.

Art: Bookguns

Bookguns by Robert The

"Books (many culled from dumpsters and thrift store bins) are lovingly vandalized back to life so they can assert themselves against the culture which turned them into debris."

Link Round-Up: December 19, 2011

Condescending Literary Pun Dog

5 e-Book Collections with Over 100,000 Free e-Books

After 2 years of work, Jonathan Harris (of We Feel Fine fame) launches Cowbird, a “simple tool for telling stories and a public library of human experience,” beginning with a “saga” about the Occupy

Bookfessions: confessions and thoughts of a bibliophile. "797. When I finish a book, I close the back cover and just sit there."

George Whitman, founder of the Parisian landmark bookstore Shakespeare And Company, has died at the age of 98

Library Use Value Calculator: Library users might want to try out this little exercise to see what your public library means to you and your wallets - and to learn what services you may not have known your library offers. I ran the calculations, and my public library turns out to be worth about $5,000 a year to me.

How to Extend the Due Date of Your Library eBook on the Kindle

New York based artist Robert The carves guns out of old books found in dumpsters and thrift store bins.

Novel First Sentences, Novel Last Sentences

Book Trailer: Blue Remembered Earth

Blue Remembered Earth is the first volume in a monumental trilogy tracing the Akinya family across more than ten thousand years of future history...out beyond the solar system, into interstellar space and the dawn of galactic society.

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There are books full of great writing that don’t have very good stories. Read sometimes for the story… don’t be like the book-snobs who won’t do that. Read sometimes for the words—the language. Don’t be like the play-it-safers who won’t do that. But when you find a book that has both a good story and good words, treasure that book.
- Stephen King

Lecture: Beautiful Books and the future of Storytelling

The always-excellent Craig Mod of Flipboard on “beautiful books” and the future of storytelling in age of digital books – a must-watch for any storyteller, designer, and media observer.

Interview: Art Spiegelman

At the 92Y, Art Spiegelman talks about the creation of Maus, one of the most influential comic books of all time, a chronicle of his parents’ experience during the Holocaust. His excellent recent book, MetaMaus, delves into the making of the iconic comic and the questions of “Why comics? Why mouse? Why the Holocaust?”

First published in 1986, Art Spiegelman's Maus, a comic-book chronicle of his parents' experience during the Holocaust, was hailed by Jules Feiffer as "a remarkable work, awesome in its conception and execution . . . at one and the same time a novel, a documentary, a memoir and a comic book. Brilliant. Just brilliant."

To mark the book's twenty-fifth anniversary, Spiegelman now publishes MetaMaus - "my notebooks, my sketches, rough drafts, interviews, transcripts, photos [and] historical references made into a work that can sit next to Maus." The book has been edited by Hillary Chute.

Humor: Works of Fiction

Source: Incidental Comics