Tuesday 31 May 2016

The Open Book


Nestled into the pristine lowlands, The Open Book is a charming bookshop with apartment above in the heart of Wigtown, Scotland's National Book Town. Live your dream of having your very own bookshop by the sea in Scotland...for a week or two.
Airbnb

Friday 27 May 2016

Wednesday 25 May 2016

The Safe House: A Decline of Ideas (trailer)

A new documentary which explores the heritage and significance of the British Public Library, also questioning why such a historically important British institution is in dramatic decline in today's contemporary society. The film features intimate and personal stories from great British figures, including names such as Stephen Fry, Irvine Welsh, Bonnie Wright, Amma Asante and Daisy Goodwin. Titled Safe House: A Decline of Ideas, the project will also discuss possibilities of how public libraries could be salvaged for future generations.

Tuesday 24 May 2016

The Guantánamo Detainee Library


"Given its location, it isn’t astounding what periodic international uproar the Guantánamo Detainee Library has generated. Created early in the century, there was great concern and speculation about what measures the U.S. Department of Defense might take to deprive their detainees of intellectual and linguistic stimulation. It isn’t the only library in the detention center—there is also one for military personnel—but it is surely the most controversial. According to reports, there are books in eighteen different languages in the bookshelves."
Ilan Stavans and Muira McCammon
Read the whole article at Kenyon Review

Friday 20 May 2016

Supergal Bookend

A female superhero character seems to hold your books preventing them from falling.
Made of metal, painted black.
Size: L 20 x W 12 x H 17 cm ; Weight: 350 gr
Artori Design

Tuesday 17 May 2016

Fiction

Make your books fly. Whether vertical or horizontal the Fiction book stand turns an ordinary pile of books into a sculptural feature in your home or office.
Sebastian Bergne 

Friday 13 May 2016

Book sales up, digital sales down


New figures released today by The Publishers Association shows that the UK publishing industry is in good health with total sales or book and journal publishing up to £4.4bn in 2015. The figures also revealed the UK’s love affair with the printed book is far from over as for the first time since the invention of the ebook, overall physical book sales increased while digital sales decreased.
Highlights of the research include:
  • Sales of physical books from publishers increased for the first time in four years while digital sales fell for the first time since The PA started collecting figures
  • There was particularly strong growth in sales of physical non-fiction/reference books which saw sales increase by 9% to £759m
  • School books sales were up overall by 9% to £319m with growth in physical and digital both home and abroad.
  • Audiobook downloads had another good year with 29% growth in 2015.
Commenting, The Publishers Association Chief Executive, Stephen Lotinga, said:
“These figures show that the UK publishing industry continues to go from strength to strength and the UK’s love for print is far from over. Digital continues to be an incredibly important part of the industry, but it would appear there remains a special place in the consumer’s heart for the aesthetic pleasure that printed books can bring. At a time when the Government is looking for world leading sectors to drive growth in the UK economy, they could do a lot worse than look to the success of our publishing industry.”
Image: Cassia Beck

Thursday 12 May 2016

Monday 9 May 2016

Tidying your bookshelves


Like a lot of avid readers, I enjoyed Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up but bristled when it came to the section about books. The gist of her now-famous method is this: go through all your possessions by category, touch everything, keep only that which “sparks joy,” and watch as your world is transformed. It seems simple enough, but Kondo gives minimalism the hard sell when it comes to books, urging readers to ditch as many of them as they can. You may think that a book sparks joy, she argues, but you’re probably wrong and should get rid of it, especially if you haven’t read it yet.
Lithub