Building your teleporter/time machine/library

I've always like the idea of an actual teleporter/transporter like the kind you get in Star Trek where Captain Kirk commands Montgomery Scott in his most famous phrase to 'beam me up Scotty'. That my friends was probably the most nerdy thing I have ever said on the internet but these things should not surprise you, not really. An obsession for books, law and paper can only point to a slightly 'nerdy' side in any one. 

Because I am useless at physics, because I will never make it into star fleet and because I do not currently have the freedom to jet-set I have been building the next best thing; a personal library. And given that I have already ranted and raved about the importance and my love of books here and here the time can only be right to inspire your library building senses too. 

Here follows my list of advice and considerations for building your personalised library of dreams:

The Bookcase Rant

I am a confessed aesthetic, to the point that sometimes it becomes a little OCD. My flat mate finds its hilarious that of all things its my bookshelf that has to look 'just right'. After weeks of petty debating I finally gave in and let her place her spiral bound notebooks on the third shelf rather than in her room (where there is no bookshelf). This may sound quite shocking to you but I cannot help but underline how ugly spiral bound notebooks are. They were simply not designed to be placed side on. 

On the subject of spines I have recently begun a collection of classic novels to my already bustling collection of books. I figured it was justifiable to spend some extra pennies on stories that have stood the test of time alongside the dozens of paperbacks I only read once and then either get lent out of sit looking pretty on the shelf (the aesthetic shelf). The stories I have read more than once are few but they are copies of books I will never lend, these include Paulo Coelho's 'The Alchemist' and Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gatsby' as well as copies of original Grimms' Tales and Harper Lee's 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. These are stories I shall never be without. 

Anyway back to my original point; the Classics. This week I invested in my first 7 copies of the Penguin English Library. These books have beautiful covers and wonderfully colourful spines making them look like a very appealing read indeed when stacked in a neat collection on my bookshelf. In fact Penguin designers have even got the spines down to a fine art:

so a complete collection would look something like this:

They are SO pretty - no willpower is required to read these babies!

After having released 10 every month for the last 10 months creating a grand total of 100 beautiful classics I do hope that Penguin doesn't stop at 100.. there are so many other great novels to be included. The books I have begun with are as follows: 

• Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
• Short Stories, Edgar Allen Poe
• Tess of the d'Ubervilles, Thomas Hardy
• Wings of the Dove, Henry James
• The Picture of Dorian Grey, Oscar Wilde
• Kim, Rudyard Kipling
• Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens

There is a minor conflict of interest at the moment in that with all this 'Skyfall' talk I'm rather keen to begin collecting and reading the vintage versions of Ian Flemming's novels starting of course with the first, Casino Royal. I guess this will have to wait until christmas.... although I may be needing a new bookcase by then.

With love,

xoxo

An Ode to Words

Last night I was on a huge ship cruising from the ports of Sri Lanka through the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal bound for England. I have spent my time with a small group of boys taking part in their adventures and witnessing their discoveries about the passengers on board...

... Last week I was on an island somewhere in the Mothering Sunday islands in another dimension. Here a young man is trying to rebuild his community after a devastating Tsunami wave wiped out his family...

... And the week before that I was in South Africa many years ago trundling through plantations in the colony before the abolition of the slave trade.

This summer I have travelled to distant lands, different worlds and alternative dimensions. I have travelled backwards and forwards through time and met an array of complex and fascinating people. I have experimented with the mind, learnt new theories and made discoveries about myself and most of this occurred in the late evenings with a mug of hot chocolate in a dimly lit room. I feel wiser, older and more self aware and the price I paid for it was marginal. 

There is something so magical about the pages of a novel. You see it in the eyes of many customers as they browse amongst shelf upon shelf in the bookshop. Their eyes brimming with opportunity, thirst for knowledge or lust for adventure. The four walls of the shop provide them with a playground for their desires. 

I am not a writer, I lost my ability to create life and stories with my imagination with childhood but I love to listen to the stories of others. I'd rather eat words than food and food prepared by another is always far better than the food we cook for ourselves. 

The point of this little rant is that there need not be one. Most of us have amazing opportunities in life. I have travelled to many beautiful and fascinating places in this world and I will without a doubt do so again but for those times when we cannot, for those days when we would rather be taking a few more risks or just need an escape, find yourself a bookshop and disappear into a novel. The world around you will fade away and the destination? That all depends on you. 

xoxo

Back for the Summer!

I found this on Tumblr... I think it sums up the dream pretty well!

Well Hello,

Damselfly I have missed you, I have neglected you and I am sorry for this. Life picked me up by my ankles and swung me over its back a good 10 months ago and it took me a while to get my feet back on the ground again!

I am currently enjoying my official ‘summer’ although the likelihood of me spending even one day in seven on the beach is slim according to the weather forecasts. It has been the wettest June on record and July doesn’t seem to be shaping up to much either. Safe to say I have been enjoying my time anyway. Last week I played ‘lawyer’ at a large firm near my parents’ home and loved it. This week I return to Cornwall to start my new seasonal job as that-girl-who-runs-that-bookshop. I will be sporting a pair of geek chic glasses and trying to dress a little less casual. Most importantly, I will be reading a great many books.

During my degree amongst the towers of legal textbooks and journals my enjoyment in reading gets a little bit lost. In the last two weeks I have chowed down on five books. I thought I’d begin with a little review.

The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern: Rating *****

The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho: Rating ****

Before I Go to Sleep - S J Watson: Rating ****

The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes: Rating **

Fifty Shades of Grey - E L James: Rating **