Maurice Sendak Posters to Promote Reading

I had a little staycation this weekend as my husband spent some concentrated time with our daughter. I spent the morning in bed, drinking coffee and reading Paul Yoon's gorgeous new novel, Snow Hunters.

I also came across this fun post by Brain Pickings, showcasing a series of posters by Maurice Sendak promoting reading to children. These are my two favorites:

SFCB: Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here

In light of the tragic bombings in Boston this week, I thought I'd share an exhibition I saw last week when I attended a workshop at the San Francisco Center for the Book. Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here is a collection of 55 artist's books that were created in response to the March 5, 2007 bombing of Baghdad's "Street of Booksellers." Each artist created three copies of their book, one copy of which will be donated to the Iraq National Library.

Needless to say, each resulting book was as unique as its creator. The photo quality is sorely lacking, but here are a few quick pictures I snapped:

 

 

Some books that were open to artwork included text excerpts on separate pieces of paper, so that you could sample the poetry or writing within, such as this:

It's Spring 

by Loretta Cappanera

Italy, 2012 

It was a clear morning, the first day of Spring. In the little flower pot on the bedside table was a bunch of violets, the white sheets, the hands placed one next to the other, tied to a blue thread. Those hands had accompanied mine when sketching my first designs and tenderly followed my first readings. There always was a book in his hands, even after a tiresome day. I wished to bind those hands to mine.

The day before, there had been a big demonstration in Rome against the war in Iraq. The thousands of people present had tightly held another's hands around an extremely long flag, bearing the colors of the rainbow and the writing, "It's Springtime."

The exhibition is open to the public. Just walk into the SFCB at 375 Rhode Island St., between 16th and 17th. Viewing hours are Monday - Friday 10am - 5pm and Saturdays from 10am - 4pm.

wanted: a map of the world

Thanks to brain pickings for the heads up about this book: A Map of the World: The World According to Illustrators and Storytellers. Magical.

Vesa Sammalisto - Island of Manhattan

Dorothy - LA Film Map 

Vesa Sammalisto - Hartwall Lapin Kulta

Harriet Lyall - 3.2 Miles / 9 Bridges 

Masako Kubo - Kyushu Train All Stars

João Lauro Fonte - Boots Adventures in London (Converse)

These maps really underscore how many ways there are to view the world. They also remind me of Rebecca Solnit's Infinite City, in which she explores my hometown of San Francisco in 22 unexpected maps and 19 really wonderful essays.

Check out the post on brain pickings for a description and a few more striking image samples.

Putting the Book back into eBooks

Made by the oldest bookbindery in the U.S. - using heavyweight cloth, recycled materials and traditional techniques - these hard covers have been pimped out inside with a rubber cradle that will fit an iPad 2 or 3, Kindle Fire 7" and soon, the Nexus 7.

Even more rad, the company will donate an actual book to a community in need with each eJacket purchase. Available from Out of Print.

the stories within.

It's like someone at Anthropologie read my blog...

(Don't I wish!) But here's a few images from the November 09 catalog. More paper trees from recycled books:




It's been a busy weekend. I guess they all are lately, and now I'm procrastinating on some fellowship applications, but am rather proud of myself for going into Anthropologie today and not buying any clothes (socks don't count!). They did have, however, a cookbook from The Hummingbird Bakery, located on Portobello Road in London, where I had the best cupcake - pink vanilla marshmellow - and now I have the recipe! Perhaps, if I finish what I am supposed to be doing, I can make some.

**Post-post update (11/16): One day later, the Chronicle Books Blog is also featuring the Anthropologie catalog. Am I a trendspotter or what? Actually, the scoop I recently learned at a BBQ this past weekend, where I met an employee of Anthropologie, is that they just launched a new blog called The Anthropologist. It was described to me as being similar to the much-loved The Sartorialist, although a quick look reveals: "The Anthropologist is an online space for inspiring works and inspiring individuals." For example, Jane Campion's virtual production scrapbook from her film Bright Star (which I still want/need to see), is posted there. Quite lovely.