Oh, wow. This place looks great. Oh, I feel like a witch in a magic shop.

Willow ,'Help'


Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.

There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."


Volans - Sep 21, 2007 8:50:00 am PDT #3917 of 28212
move out and draw fire

I was going to say the Eyewitness books, and also the "100 Things You Should Know" series.

I shriek about designers who come into people's rooms, look at the books cases and go

And what's with the new fad of putting the books on the shelves so that the pages, not the spines, are showing? God. It's like advertising that you can't or don't read.


Nutty - Sep 21, 2007 9:42:53 am PDT #3918 of 28212
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."

My suggestion would be narrative comic books. Much easier to figure out the story even if you can't read the words, and they're usually reasonably high-level.

signed,
read one of the Tintin books in French years and years before I discovered it was a story about the opium trade and the Japanese invasion of China. Even without the words, it was still very exciting!

Middlesex

I didn't care for that book, either, and I sold my (purchased used) copy to a used book store.


Emily - Sep 21, 2007 10:24:11 am PDT #3919 of 28212
"In the equation E = mc⬧, c⬧ is a pretty big honking number." - Scola

Middlesex

I was going to say something about this and then realized I was thinking Middlemarch. D'oh.


lisah - Sep 21, 2007 10:36:12 am PDT #3920 of 28212
Punishingly Intricate

askye, a local artist did an awesome picture book that I think would be fun for kids of all ages:

[link]

We both read it, neither of us wants to read it again, no reason for it to languish on our shelves when it could be out there making some other reader happy. I look at getting rid of books as giving a gift to that mysterious other reader, which makes it a lot easier.

This is how I feel as well.


askye - Sep 21, 2007 11:01:40 am PDT #3921 of 28212
Thrive to spite them

lisah, I'll send her that link too. That looks like it would be a good "interactive" book.


lisah - Sep 21, 2007 11:22:41 am PDT #3922 of 28212
Punishingly Intricate

lisah, I'll send her that link too. That looks like it would be a good "interactive" book.

it is totally fun and there is a SHOCKING bit at the end. and the illustrations are gorgeous.


Toddson - Sep 21, 2007 11:30:30 am PDT #3923 of 28212
Friends don't let friends read "Atlas Shrugged"

In re books (yes, I'm among those who furnish with books) - a while ago the Post magazine section had an interior design issue with lots of uninhabited rooms with knick-knacks and other fancy decor. One of the rooms shown was the "library" ... with not a single book to be seen. Lots of glass thingies - nice ones, but .... Anyway, there were quite a number of letters from people saying that if it's a library, where were the books. Stoopid decorator!


Kathy A - Sep 21, 2007 11:43:06 am PDT #3924 of 28212
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil

The only time I agree with removing books when redecorating is when you're trying to sell your place. The A&E show "Sell This House" always has people packing away all their tchotchkes, photos, and excessive books to make the place more impersonal, so potential buyers can imagine their stuff in the house. I personally think that people who can't look beyond the furniture and personal things are not seriously house-shopping, but too many bookshelves can cover up the actual amount of wall space in a room and make it look smaller. Also, packing up stuff early helps when you have to pack up after you sell.


Ginger - Sep 21, 2007 11:45:30 am PDT #3925 of 28212
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda

One place I worked built some model homes to demonstrate energy-efficient features. The home had some books artfully arranged on the built-in bookshelves and scattered about the living room. The books were a very odd assortment, and I asked the decorator about them. She told me there were companies that sold books by the pound to decorators.


Connie Neil - Sep 21, 2007 12:07:01 pm PDT #3926 of 28212
brillig

it's a library, where were the books.

I saw one picture of a room described as a library, and after some hunting in the picture I saw one shelf with some books tucked behind the couch. It looked like a bunch of law books intermingled with Reader's Digest Condensed books.

Amateurs.