Category: General

This is the last in my recent flurry of new coaster designs… This set has 4 different designs (2 of each). See more here.

Faced with a new book, how do you decide whether it’s worth reading? I usually read the first couple of pages to see how fast I’m drawn in. I figured this was what everyone did, especially since for books available on a Kindle, Amazon lets you download the first chapter before you buy.
But maybe not — according to this website, “people in bookstores often read page 99 of a book to get a taste for the writing — to determine if they’d buy the book.” They go on to say

You walk into Barnes & Noble or Chapters, wander around, find a book that intrigues you and check out the cover artwork, the title and author, and the snippet on the back — all of which are, of course, crafted to sell. Then? Then the savvy among us flip to page 99 and read that whole page.

That’s where the quality of the whole book can be revealed. How can that be? Well, page 99 is a perfectly random page and likely not as overworked as the opening and ending. So it can reveal a lot about the story, the tension — basically, the writing — in about 25 seconds.

How about you? How do you decide whether to read a book? (By the way, the website mentioned above, while not live yet, is going to allow writers to upload their page 99s for readers to get a taste of their publications.)

I had to laugh at this article about the decor in D’Espresso’s coffe bar in NYC. According to the article, the owner “told his designer, ‘Let’s do a coffee bar that looks like a library, but would be more interesting.’“ So the designer made a room tipped on its side — one wall is covered in oak flooring, the ceiling, floor and rear wall are tiled with an image of bookshelves (on their side). Is that “more interesting?” Cute maybe, but much as I like coffee, guess I’d rather go to a real library… (Photo below by Elaine Louie.)

I spoke to a book friend from San Francisco this past week, who mentioned that she’d gone to Roadworks, the annual Fall fund raiser and print making event at the SF Center for the Book. A few days later while unpacking yet another box I found a bookmark — moving & remodeling has meant a constant shift of boxes from one room to another, or one side of the hall to another, as we slowly finish off the various rooms. It’s always gratifying to empty a box and put its contents away, collapse the box and put it in the recycling pile! But back to my story — I think the bookmark was from a Roadworks several years ago where my friend Cathy provided book-ish activities for kids. At this one, she had them design bookmarks. Mine has a jaunty ballerina all in pink, pirouetting. I pinned her to the cork board behind my computer. That very day I saw a mention somewhere for the National Book Festival — “a celebration of the joy of reading for all ages” that took place on the Mall in Washington DC on Sept 25. I checked out their website and was immediately drawn to the Borders Bookmark Contest where children across the country designed bookmarks to convey their love of reading. The one to the left is by Arya, Grade 2, NJ. You can see the winners from each state here. There are also podcasts of the speakers at the event on the Mall — ranging from author Isabel Allende to poet Rae Armantrout.

I couldn’t resist posting these paper clips in the shape of numbers. Available here and first seen here.

Given my interest in both books and bicycles, here’s a announcement I got from my friend Colleen about her new project, Papergirl:

Papergirl is a new San Francisco community art project with an open call for entries and community distribution by bicycle…. the only limitation for submissions: all artwork must be roll-able as it will eventually find its way into the receiver’s hand by roadside bicycle delivery….Papergirl is prints, drawings, stencils, textiles, and hard work rolled up into an accessible art project. It is mail-art meets old-school delivery system. The project is participatory, non-commercial, and impulsive in which rolled art pieces are distributed by bicycle in the style of American paperboys to random passers-by in the streets of San Francisco for free. Before the work is rolled up and distributed, the work will be exhibited in a non-traditional gallery space.

There’s a similar project in Berlin — see pictures here. And you can follow Papergirl on their blog.