Month: January 2015

Meet the Authors!

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Let us introduce ourselves…   { Favorite book } Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert; Wild by Cheryl Strayed; The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald; The Help by Kathryn Stockett; Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn; Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. I could go on, and this list is always growing, but those are a good start.   { Favorite book } I can’t choose… The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Under the Banner of Heaven, In Cold Blood, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Harry Potter (all of them)…   { Favorite book } The Catcher in the Rye   { Favorite book } My all-time favorite book is Mrs. Mike by Benedict and Nancy Freedman. Published in the 1940s, the book tells the story of a young girl named Kathryn Mary. It was the last book my mom read before giving birth to me, and ta-da! I was named after her. { LEARN MORE ABOUT THE AUTHORS }  

Dust Jackets Reimagined

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Dust jackets, that detachable outer sleeve that covers a new hardcover, have a history dating back to the 1800s. They were (are?) used to protect fancy book bindings before they reached their final destination. They were usually treated like gift wrapping… torn off and thrown in the trash (back then they didn’t recycle). And, well, you may still treat dust jackets that way. Who needs that extra paper hanging off a hardcover threatening to give you a nasty paper cut? Occasionally they’re shiny and pretty, and sometimes if the book is thin enough it can be used as a bookmark of sorts, but for the most part dust jackets are just for show. But one man, surprisingly, has capitalized on the dust jacket industry (apparently there’s a dust jacket industry). Thatcher Wine started Juniper Books in Boulder, Colorado in the early 2000s. The focus is the creation of unique libraries through the use of custom-designed dust jackets. They work with clients, commercial and private, to create unique book sets that they can feature in their library. In some cases they design …

About the Cover Art Project

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Hi all! I love books, everything about them. I especially love the art and design of book covers. In my work life I do a lot of graphic design, and it’s always been a dream of mine to design books covers. Although I don’t do it professionally, I thought Bookly would be the perfect place to share some cover redesigns and inspirations! So every once-in-awhile I’ll redesign a book cover for a book we read here at The Bookly Club, or another favorite from my list. In the meantime, I thought I’d share with you one of my favorite covers. It also happens to be one of my favorite books. In Cold Blood is a frightening novel by Truman Capote published in 1966.  It’s the true story of a family murdered, in cold blood, in rural Kansas in 1959. Reading this book put me on the edge of my seat and made me fearful of ever being home alone. It’s a haunting classic and I HIGHLY recommend putting on your reading list. As published by Flavor …

A Great Find!

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This is an edition of The House of Seven Gables from 1913, and Uncle Tom’s Cabin from 1853. The cover art on this edition of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic is beautifully simplistic. It’s kind of nice to see a cover design missing all the New York Times reviews and critical praise. It just goes to show, you never know what treasures your grandparents homes might house.

Bookshelf Inspiration

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Do you have too many books and not enough shelf space? Yep, us too. Someday we’ll have that dream library where nothing but built-in shelves line the walls. But, until then a minimalist Ikea shelf will have to do the trick! In this case, all the colorful/fun books are arranged prettily on the available shelf space, and those less-attractive/beat-up/embarrassing paperbacks are hidden in boxes down in basement storage. It’s necessary when you’re a book lover with book hoarding tendencies. But no one ever has to know… shhhh.