Here’s a wonderful one from last summer created by Massimo Bartolini for Project TRACK (you can read more about it here: http://track.be)

Set in the vineyard at St Peter’s Abbey in the city of Ghent, Bartolini’s library mimics a vineyard; the shelves reminiscent of the vines themselves. As with any pop-up library, visitors could borrow a book, buy a book, or exchange one.

all photo credits: track.be

Hopefully, they provided some wine as well!

So when I saw this work of graffiti in NYC a few weeks ago, I not only chuckled at its fun message, but I immediately thought of him.

I sent Nicola the photo and asked him if the graffiti inspired him in any way, would he be generous enough to write something for my blog, and lucky for me, it did!

from Nicola:

Girl, smell more
And the world will unfold.

Smell the brown,
Your day can be more round.

Smell the yellow,
Feel the joy, let it be your fellow.

Smell the green,
Freedom, that’s what it means.

Smell the white,
Flowers by day, love by night.

Smell the blue,
The sea is yours, but he is… who?

Girl, smell more
And the world will unfold.

THANK YOU, Nicola! Sei un tesoro!

So, let’s all read more, smell more, inspire and be inspired!

Check out Nicola’s blog here: postmodernspray.blogspot.com

There’s a bookstore in lower Manhattan called McNally-Jackson that delivers books to your door (if you live in NYC, that is, which, alas, I do not).  I like the idea of spending hours in a bookstore,choosing as many volumes as I want and then not having to worry about carrying them all home.

And I love the idea of having books hand delivered to my home by my local bookstore.  The joy of receiving something I love at the door, the inevitable rapport one would have with the book delivery person, the excitement of rediscovering what I bought a few hours ago.

Not having this option this time around, I only bought two slim books: Yoko Ogawa’s Revenge (I really enjoyed The Housekeeper and the Professor so I’m looking forward to reading this) and Cesar Aira’s Varamo (a ‘Staff Pick’ that looked interesting).

New books in hand, I came across this door about a block away!

I came across these fun photos of a one-day beach library in Australia. In 2010, to advertise its bookshelves, IKEA put 30 full bookshelves on Bondi Beach in Sydney.

Surfers and swimmers could exchange their own books or leave a donation to The Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation.

all photos by James D. Morgan/Rex Features

I wish my local beach had this!

photo from nobelprize.org

On Monday April 20 1998, I was sitting in a classroom, waiting for my teacher,

my book of Octavio Paz’s poetry on my desk.

Our teacher had asked us to read some of Paz’s poems for class, and I was looking forward to learning more about them and more about the poet and essayist in general.

“You may already have heard this in the news,” my teacher began, “but Octavio Paz passed away yesterday.”

“I thought we could have a moment of silence in his honor,” he continued, “as we are here to explore the beauty of his words and his contribution to literature.”

And so we did.

Today, March 31, is Octavio Paz’s birthday (he would have been 99).

So I thought I would take a moment to honor his words once again.

And perhaps to remind myself of that special moment in a classroom many years ago.

“Entre lo que veo y lo que digo” by Octavio Paz

What draws you in at first are the front doors themselves which are giant rotating bookshelves:

bookstore photos from livrariadavila.com.br

But the stores inside are great too….

The last time I was there, I picked up this book of poetic thoughts by Mario Quintana called Para viver com poesia (‘To live with poetry’- my translation).

As today is World Poetry Day, I offer you little snippets from the book with my rough translation:

“As crianças não brincam de brincar. Brincam de verdade….” (Children do not play at playing. They play for real.)

“O mistério faz parte da beleza.” (Mystery is part of beauty.)

“Um dia de chuva é bom para a gente comprar livros de poemas…” (A rainy day is a good day for us to buy poetry books…..)

Good advice!

Happy World Poetry Day!

The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk

Fortunately, I was able to save and dry the book (it’s just significantly larger than its orginal state!).

MIT Professor Jerome Lettvin also enjoyed reading in his bath (he famously spent hours reading in the tub):

image from technologyreview.com

Kate Moss shows us a unique position for enjoying a book in the bath:

photographer: Sante D’Orazio
from: csebastian.tumblr.com

Dalton Trumbo wrote, and presumably read and edited, his screenplays in his bathtub so often that there’s a statue commemorating his lengthy soaks:

DVD cover “Trumbo” from amazon.com

photo by Andrew Gulliford
from durangoherald.com

But, as Marat would tell you if he could, beware of writing in the bathtub….

“La Mort de Marat” (The death of Marat) by Jacques-Louis David,
photo from bc.edu

And, of course, Winston Churchill famously enjoyed reading in the bathtub, but, alas, I have no photographs of him bathing to share with you!

from biography.com

A draft of Webster’s dictionary in the Morgan Library

In order to create a standardized American dictionary, Noah Webster learned 26 languages.

Seeing the draft in the Morgan Library in NYC, I was drawn to the fact that it was handwritten and had parts crossed out.  I suppose this is because a dictionary normally feels so unmoveable, so fixed, despite the fact that it – and language itself- is always evolving in some way.

The Morgan Library rotates its books on display periodically so I felt so lucky to see the dictionary draft (I love dictionaries!).

Here are some other photos I took of the library in case you have never been.  It’s worth a visit!

King Richard III’s skeleton (guardian.co.uk). Hunchback and all….

Richard III’s skull (from: guardian.co.uk)

King Richard (from gaurdian.co.uk)

This fascinating discovery led me to think of Shakespeare’s play, of course, and how we read plays in general.

from goodreads.com

If memory serves me right, the first play I read was Shakespeare’s Macbeth (I can still picture my small, rotund teacher stirring an imaginary cauldron and cackling, “Eye of newt, and toe of frog”). I’ve read many plays since then (mainly Shakespeare’s but some others), but I remember how I initially struggled to understand how one should read a play.

Should I read it aloud? In that case, should I give each character a different voice?

How much time should I spend on the stage directions? Should I mentally construct the stage before each scene?

I think it takes us all a little time to figure out the best way to read a play that suits our personal needs. For me, it turns out that reading aloud in my head works best: giving each character a different voice and “hearing” that voice in my head.

Rest in Peace, King Richard….

photo from www.style-files.com

And sometimes you just want to curl up in a good book…..

photo from lifeintheslowline.blogspot.com

And here’s a duvet cover to keep your arms and hands warm as you read!

photo from www.happinessinbed.com