Most Unusual Books In The World

"Words Create Worlds" by the Anagram Bookshop in Prague

Sometimes the most unique art comes from twisting one established form into something completely different.  In this case, a book becomes entirely unreadable. But then, that’s not the point.

Today I’m excited about this photoglut of art made from books. (“Photoglut” is a snazzy word that I thought everyone knew. Nope, turns out it’s coined by Stupid Ugly Foreigner, a funny and fascinating blogger. Pretty soon “photoglut” will come into common usage because it’s awesome.)

We use books so often, for everything—they become so throwaway. Martin Frost adds some mystery with his fore-edge scenes. Sometimes the paintings are not visible unless the book is open.

Brian Dettmer has no problem with slashing books. In really cool ways.

With a name like Robert The, he’s simply got to work with words.

An unknown artist thinks outside the box/book/bird…

Edit 6/6/11: Thanks to careful reader Jason Smith for noting: the above piece is not by Donald Lipski (now attributed correctly as anonymous). But Donald Lipski can, in fact, be found here with many more sculptures of books and other interesting things. One of his famous “book” sculptures is called “Good as Gold”—check it out, it’s cool. 

 

My favorite, Su Blackwell.

What do you think? Comments are welcome!

(This is an understatement. I sit at my desk anxiously refreshing the page in the hopes that you’ve left a comment.)

(This is only a slight exaggeration.)

(Help! Don’t leave me to drown in my own self-corrections!)

Hey Bookworms! It’s another BookWeek!

It’s Children’s Book Week!  From May 2^nd to 8^th the streamers will be thrown and the little bookmarks handed out in celebration. Hooray! The packaging is half the fun. I think the poster by Peter Brown above is sort of heartwarming.

And I don’t know about you, but I rarely used the bookmarks they gave us in school because it would mean putting down the book. But they’re still pretty!

Today I’m stealing a bookmark from the happy colorful Children’s Book Week 2011 website. Jeff Kinney, the author and illustrator of Diary of a Wimpy Kid (which I haven’t read but may yet), has designed us a bookmark. And not just a bookmark. No. A full-fledged, disclose-your-bookworm-self, fill-in-the-blank list.

Whoo! Exciting! Disclosure time. I had a hard time whittling this list down to one answer per blank. Here we go:

1. The longest book I’ve ever read:  based on thickness, Harry Potter #6—you could kill a person with this book (I’ve written about that before); based on length, the Bible.

2. A character in a book I’d like to have as a friend would be:  as opposed to an enemy? Gandalf. God. The Dread Pirate Roberts.

–Oh, oh, you meant a friend… Anne of Green Gables, definitely.

3. A book whose title sounds like the story of my life is:  Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Haha. That’s not every day, but my life sounds more dramatic that way.

4. A book I tried to read but couldn’t get past the first page was: The Count of Monte Cristo. I’ve started it three times. Maybe I need a large print copy.

5. A great book for reading in the bathroom is: a page-turner, that way you don’t even hear the pounding on the door. Kidding! I much prefer reading on the couch, or in front of a fireplace, or sometimes in a tree. (But rarely. Just when you get comfortable you fall out.)

I clearly had difficulty keeping the answers down—it was too much fun.

What about you? Tell us your answers to the list!