Book lover
An essay
That is a strange title for a post. However, those who know me, know how much I love books. When we moved here from Indiana the movers said to me: “you have too many books!” Picture them carrying box after box in the southern heat. And picture me scoffing and muttering something along the lines of Aaaaaannnnndddd???? I did not care. I paid for them to move my stuff and that was their job. I sound upset still, don’t I? Haha! I guess it still bothers me. I know, I know. My Amazon lists includes two lists: one for art and design books and another for other books. Both are very healthy and growing.
Going to Barnes and Noble with me is dangerous. I come back with a pile. You are probably wondering “does she even read them?” That is not the point but to answer your question, yes, I try to read every book I have. Other books I own because I believe in their value and what they represent both culturally and intellectually. Books are a witness to a period of time, a story told from someone’s point of view, a collection of items such as poems, thoughts, notes, drawings, a story to tell about someone or something, a place to learn and imagine, and a place to learn and teach.
One of my dreams is to own one of those big libraries where you go and consult a book on any topic. Some people organize their books by topic, by author, or by title. I organize mine by color. Take a moment here. The first time I shared online that my books (both in my house and in my office) are organized by color, I got lots of criticism. But, I remember their color and where they are in the shelves. It works for me.
Recently I received three little books that are the most charming books I have seen in a while written by Thomas Bohm. Thomas is a designer based in the UK and we have known each other through my editing work at Smashing Magazine. He has written several articles and I have edited some of them. Have I mentioned how much I love my editing work at Smashing?
Thomas wrote three small books in the form of story telling. The books are titled as follows:
Punctuation…?
The Journey of Larks
Life
The drawings in the books are simple and linear. They are distinctive and light on the page but they have a lot of personality. They remind me a little of the drawings in Shel Silverstein’s and Dan Roam’s books. Fun drawings that are neither proportional or accurate but instead are intended to communicate and resonate with the reader. The drawings are humorous, light, and animated. Isn’t it amazing how much one can say with a linear drawing by allowing the line to fold, contour, turn in and out, and changing its length? Imperfection is sometimes much more effective than perfection, especially in drawings. There is something about the spontaneous and loose drawings that makes them come alive and almost feel like the drawings are bouncing on the page. That is how I saw the drawings in Thomas’ books. I am fascinated by them.
The book titled Punctuation is, as the title suggests a book about explaining the most commonly used punctuations marks. The drawings illustrate the purpose of the punctuation mark discussed in the page. Below are some pictures. The funniest page is the one where the exclamation mark is explained and I learned that I use the exclamation mark… a lot. Should I stop?
“It is perhaps, the punctuation mark that should be used with most restraint.”
The Journey of Larks
This book had me at “typographic shenanigans.” The book plays on words and phrases to illustrate them accordingly. It is not only witty in language but also in its drawings. Some of the spreads are hilarious.
“All are terms of larks, those imaginative collective nouns that evolved in the middle-ages when the sophisticated art of hunting demanded an equally sophisticated vocabulary.”
Life
There are no words on this book. It is a visual story about somebody’s life. The drawings are so expressive partly because there are no words and partly because of the way Thomas used the space.
I think these books are beautiful and should be on a designer’s library. In my library they are already settling quite nicely on the white books’ shelf.
