Summer Review//The Lord of the Flies

I wanted to revive my old series of summer reviews. These are posts are about required reading I did over the summer. That said there is no summary or star rating of the book. However, these posts are more focused on my relationship with the book.

August Round-Up

Well, fall is in the air (though it doesn't officially start till the 21st does it?). I just finished high school orientation, which is every bit intimidating as it sounds. I'll catch the wisps of freedom as the impending start day of school comes. Yet, I still have summer reading to finish, but then I'll get to delve once more back into YA.

August has been a fairly slow month. I got back from camp and still miss dearly. On the bright side, I got to intern at a local real estate office and use some of my design skills from the blog. My grandmother also came to visit, after over a year separated I loved seeing her again. I can't wait to get back into the rhythm of reading.

Posts
July Round Up
Bookish Places
Room by Book//The Mind's Eye

Goals for September:
1. Try to schedule posts (yes, after years I still have a problem with this)
2. Settle into school
3. Read YA

Room by Book//The Mind's Eye

Heller Studio Bocca Sofa from All Modern

Self Portrait 2000 by Chuck Close Limited Edition Print from Art Brokerage

Moresque Table and Ceiling Lamp by Alessandro Zambelli and Saleb from Do Shop

Fan Table Black Birch from Tom Dixon

The Mind's Eye by Oliver Sacks (cover)

Well, I had this piece sitting around and tragically this morning I heard on the news Oliver Sacks past away. Oliver Sacks was one of my heroes-- he got me intrigued into neuroscience and writing. The Mind's Eye is a collection of experiences Dr. Sacks had with his patients and himself. The couch looks one dimensional to resemble a lip, but some of the patients in the book couldn't see three dimensions. Chuck Close, a famous modern artist, is known for his deconstruction of faces; he also has prosopagnosia (face blindness) just like Dr. Sacks. The table and light fixture were more for visual play as the light is very asymmetrical, while the table is symetrical. My greatest sympathies to the family of Dr. Sacks and I do hope I've honored his memory.

Bookish Places

I've done some traveling and I always try to find a connection to books sometimes. Maybe it's as little as a bookshop or small museum. These are some of my two favorite places I've found.

The Rosenbach Museum

The Rosenbach Museum is a house full of antiques and books-- in other words a place full of history. The organization was set up by two brothers in their will, they were both dealers of antiques and rare books. Their house was cultivated by them during their lifetime as they served the rich families of America. The museum has a beautiful library pungent with the smell of books. It houses the handwritten manuscript of Ulysses by James Joyce and letters from the Founding Fathers of the USA.

The antiques breathe of the stories of two men who found old ta;es the most intriguing. I try to comprehend the luxury they enjoyed with delicate leaves of books and wood from Orient. Seeing miles of books waiting to be conversed with breaks my heart, they are from the first century of printing to first editions to some of the great pieces of literature. The Rosenbach is the spirit of my inner historical object lover.

The New York Public Library Main Branch

This is the library branch of DREAMS. When I envision a classical library filled with study tables and lines and stacks of books of knowledge this is it. I lived in New York when I was younger and would sometimes drag my parents there just soak up the ambiance of the place, even if I couldn't understand any of the books. The intimidating building makes it have an old world feel of how the building speaks, an old grandfather passing down wisdom.

Even then looking through the building there are small references I would notice. Sometimes the statues are standing in reference in front of a room. These rooms sometimes house special collections likes maps. I would want anybody who stops by in New York to just take a walk through the halls to experience the majesty of how a library once was supposed to be.

What are some of your favorite bookish places?

July Round Up

Wow! Summer has gone by quickly hasn't it? It's been almost a month since anything has gone up on the blog (sorry, I got some stuff mixed up). This summer has been filled with stress and joy. I've moved, am going to start high school, and attended neuroscience camp (it's brain numbing-- sorry for the pun). It's also been cool since I've been able to use my blog to showcase some of my work with graphics and websites. I'm going to get regular access to a laptop soon, so the posts should be more regular. In terms of social media, I really do hope I start to involve myself more. However some exciting news about some people I admire, Jack from the (what used to be the Book Stop) is going to start blogging at Deliberate, Ruby changed her blog name to Rustled Pages, and Amber is crowdfunding to help pay for high school.

Blog Posts
Room by Book//All The Time in the World
Traveling Paris
Poetry//The Hours
A Few Months of Round Ups

Poetry//The Hours

More poetry from me! Perhaps it is the stillness of the night that is inspiring me. Well, anyways, this is a follow-up to this post. The theme of the poem is more to do with time, hence the photo of a clock. I'm undecided as whether or not this will be a long running theme, but who knows (maybe you should leave a comment helping me decide).

Time is gone
Like another cycle of an endless circle
Less time for stacks of pages
More time for senseless media
What a waste?
At least that is what they yell
Just seclusion
Sounds pleasant
Me and me alone
In a quiet, quiet place
Tonight
Leave alone
More duties to uphold
A senseless media to run
Ink to be gobbled
And typed about
What happened to those typewriters?
With stress reducing clicks
Not anxiety producing taps
Which monitor words per minute
All alone in a quiet room

Room by Book//All The Time in The World

All The Time In The World is a book with a romantic notion that certainly yearns for traditions long past. These traditions tend to be off the beaten trail, and the furniture is a testament to that exploring. The carpet is from a small, local rug shop in Instanbul that tells some story a weaver had in mineg long ago. However, the book has a slight objectification with Japan has shown with the Asian inspired sideboard. While rowing down the canals of Venice, a light fixture was found that had too much of a blend of Asian traces and classic Italian influence. The wall hanging was found in a little dusty antique shop in St Petersburg, even though the information regarding it was not understood. Overall, this time I just wanted the Room by Book to be an ode of unique things not found by the ordinary.

All The Time In The World: A Book of Hours (cover) by Jessica Kerwin Jenkins
Usagi Sideboard by Greentea Design
Proibita by Venetia Studium
Hereke Silk Rug from Ozturk Rug House
(Unamed but seems to be a wall hanging) from Russkaya Starina (rusant.ru)