Hot off the presses, folks…

its Brother John’s new EP, the tiniest bones the infinite everything

and it is truly a beautiful piece of music.

What’s in there you ask??

I was lucky enough to be involved in this project by contributing a mini book:

Other new (spring) things:

My shop got an incredible face-lift (as predicted):

oh yes!!!! You better believe I got Moo cards with those beautiful puppies. (http://us.moo.com/)

I’m also reading The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky. Last night’s recorded quote:

“And now imagine that in the final outcome I do not accept this world of God’s, I do not admit it at all, though I know it exists. It’s not God that I do not accept, you understand, it is this world of God’s, created by God, that I do not accept and cannot agree to accept. With one reservation: I have a childlike conviction that the sufferings will be healed and smoothed over, that the whole offensive comedy of human contradictions will disappear like a pitiful mirage, a vile concoction of man’s Euclidean mind, feeble and puny as an atom, and that ultimately, at the world’s finale, in the moment of eternal harmony, there will occur and be revealed something so precious that it will suffice for all hearts, to alloy all indignation, to redeem all human villainy, all bloodshed; it will suffice not only to make forgiveness possible, but also to justify everything that has happened with men-let this, let all of this come true and be revealed…”

Oh Ivan! Good luck, Ivan!

I’m reading the Everyman’s Library edition of this book. (http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/classics/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780679410034) which is just absolutely beautiful.

Off to Perkins Center for the Arts for tonight’s lecture!

Ladies and Gentlemen start your bonefolders!

Lots of new things to come. I found some great vintage fabric with little vignettes of pioneer scenes, and an awesome photographer to show them in all their glory. Not to mention shes a little genius. Well, shes actually regular sized. See:

The gift of her blog can be received here: http://blogpresents.tumblr.com/

I’m also almost done reading a book on DaVinci, The Romance of Leonardo DaVinci by Dmitri Merejkowski. And I have been in good company:

She appreciated the same quotes as I did. Wonder if I’ll be the last person to read this book…

I have just finished reading Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway. What an amazing piece. My favorite quote is as follows:

“Then (she had felt it only this morning) there was the terror; the overwhelming incapacity, one’s parents giving it into one’s hands, this life, to be lived to the end. to be walked with serenity; there was in the depths of her heart an awful fear. Even now, quite often if Richard had not been there reading The Times, so that she could crouch like a bird and gradually revive, send roaring up that immeasurable delight, rubbing stick to stick, one thing with another, she must have perished. She had escaped. But that young man had killed himself.”

I’ve also recently finished a biography of Sarah Bernhardt called Madame Sarah by Cornelia Otis Skinner. It was one of the gems I found on the dollar rack at the local antique store. She was quite the character! And just the time period I love reading about, turn of the century. Interestingly, I can across this tumblr:

http://turnofthecentury.tumblr.com/

If you go on long enough, you’ll find a picture of Sarah. She was apparently quite ubiquitous at the time.

I’m also finishing up Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy. I was a fan of Tess of D’Urbervilles and this one is just as good. My favorite quote so far is:

“As you got older, and felt yourself to be at the centre of your time, and not at a point in its circumference, as you had felt when you were little, you were seized with a sort of shuddering, he perceived. All around you there seemed to be something glaring, garish, rattling, and the noises and glares hit upon the little cell called your life, and shook it and scorched it. If only he could prevent himself from growing up.”

There. Now perhaps I have told you too much about myself.

One more thing, before I go. I don’t know if you have troubled yourself to make it though Joyce’s Ulysses yet, but if not there is an amazing website, http://www.ulyssesseen.com/ to help you through. It’s great artwork and you should check it out even if you don’t care to ever read it.

I’d love to hear your experience of any of the above books. Or, just let me know what your into recently.

I write you again (finally) from a newly transformed space. There’s something about moving furniture around that can really clear my mind. Actually, I’ll give myself more credit and admit that I (we) went through a lot of items in this room, and threw away what we no longer needed. Making room for my most special finds:

meaning both the chair and the two sconces. Rex hung them on the wall this evening, asking “so what are you going to put on these?” Books, of course.

I’ve really been perfecting my craft and have several new books in the shop I am really excited about and proud of. Like:

The pattern is like my personality on paper.

Here is the rest of my new space:

I wish you the best for 2011, and I’m serious about my resolution to be a better steward of my blog. Need a good resolution for yourself? How about keeping a journal, not for posterity, but I believe you’ll find it quite beneficial in your current life. Treat yourself. Refer to: http://readwritebooks.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/listen-up/

Good things to come! Happy Reading, Writing, and Booking!

Well, real in-dog, anyways. It was a great experience, and I met some very nice people. Collingswood is a cool place. But, I was looking forward to my next event, the Not Yo Mama’s Craft Fair in Jersey City, NJ (right by NYC, we saw the Statue of Liberty on the way home!!). This one fared better:

that’s me way back there, holding the cup of coffee (of course). Now this event, this was a treat for me! I got to listen to great music and mingle with like-minded people, which is a rare occurrence these days. Here’s what my table looked like:

The event was an overall success, and it was great to see my customers in person! Something I noticed was that people seemed to feel a little daunted by the idea of buying an entire blank book that they would then be responsible for filling. For my thoughts on this, please see my previous post, http://readwritebooks.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/listen-up/

So thanks to everyone who stopped by my booth, and I hope to meet many more wonderful people in the future. For future craft fairs, check the shop announcement in my Etsy shop, readwritebooks.etsy.com.

Peace, and enjoy the beautiful spring weather! I know Benny is!

This is a selection of my new wares. I would love some feedback- I’ve also been trying some new things with the fotos and I’m not sure if they are looking great on all computer screens.

Also, are you on the East Coast? Are you an artist? Do you participate in craft fairs? Would you like to let me know when and where these are? Would you like me to stop asking questions?

Most importantly…would you like to buy a book? http://www.etsy.com/shop/readwritebooks

I’ll still like you whatever the case.

Have a great weekend everyone! ♥

I found this cool fabric that for some reason looks like it has two ends that were sewn together by this really pretty, dare I say, sea-foam green/teal thread. It creates a cool effect around the book.

And, I’m just going to say, as much as I hate daylight savings time, having the sun out later into the day is helpful.

My trusty little box shelf is going to need some help!

Okay, I didn’t actually do all of it. The lovely owner of Lucky Me Beads (http://www.etsy.com/shop/luckymebeads) did the silhouettes for me and I turned them into this! I would love to say I could make one for you, too, but I think I’ll stick to books.

This is my latest:

Hand dyed and felted by yours truly. A great little soft book to hold in your hand.You can find it at www.etsy.com/shop/readwritebooks (if you didn’t know by now).

Of course I have to make Benny part of the action.

Peace!

You have good ideas. You are an interesting person. Anything that may come across the horizon of your mind deserves a good home. Save who you are on paper. Put your signature on something, inspire your future self. I can’t tell you how many times going back into my old journals has helped me realize how funny and wonderful I can be.

So start something. Maybe you could just write a little thought every day. Or every other day. Or do a doodle every day. Learn something about yourself and your vision. I bet you’re going to like it.

It’s good to remember our own histories.

Open the door to something amazing, yourself.

I say sneak because these are not listed yet, but will be in the next few days. They are little Japanese stab bound books and they turned out very lovely. I’m looking forward to making more, and using them myself.

I’ve also made myself more available on the web (I guess you have to these days) and finally got myself a twitter.

http://www.twitter.com/readwritebooks

Tweet me. Or listen to my tweets. And I’ll listen to yours. Or, read, rather. Either way I’m sure it will all be very interesting…

Also you can find me at Plumdrop.com, which is a pretty cool website:

http://www.plumdrop.com/members/readwritebooks

AND (I know I was really busy) at yaami.com:

http://readwritebooks.yaami.com

which is a REALLY cool website and I recommend you take a look.

Well I guess there is some kind of game being played today, which people are interested in. Go Colts!