On bookbinding (finally)

My fascination with books as objects has been with me as long as I can remember: the smooth of the cover, the unsplit spine, the perfection of the edges and corners, the way they look lined up along a bookcase, the promise of a whole world contained within them (often, I prefer the unread promise to the experience of reading itself).

My fascination with the process of bookbinding came much later, during a short break in Dublin. As we walked through the dimmed rooms of Trinity College’s visitor exhibition, towards the Book of Kells, I was drawn more and more to the engineering of this famous manuscript. Strange to think, it had never struck me before that this craft has had such influence over me throughout my life. A few days later, we visited the Chester Beatty Library and I was, once again, drawn to the collection of bindings. I was hooked.

So, it has been in the back of mind for some time to try my hand at bookbinding. Sadly, it is not the kind of evening class you find at every local college and, besides, I’ve been occupied by much less creative study in recent years. This year, though, I was determined to get my hands on a ticket to one of the three hour courses run each year at the Cheltenham Literature Festival.

I am not naturally “crafty” and my artistic skills have always left a great deal to be desired. But after three hours with Cheltenham based bookbinder and book conservator, Sue Crossley, I came away with a beautiful hand bound notebook, an overwhelming sense of achievement and an even fiercer fascination with bookbinding than I’d had before.

The following day, I booked a full day workshop at Sue’s Cheltenham studio: a former bookshop, appropriately. “Bring lunch,” she told me on the phone, “and bring an extra Mars bar. It’ll be a long, hard day.” She was right, but it was also a wonderful day. We arrived at 9am – four bookbinding novices – and got to work, observing Sue as she took us through each step to create our own journals in the limp vellum style, and described the history of the craft, and then throwing ourselves in to it. Sue uses high quality materials for her books: super soft, natural grained goatskin and heavy 140gsm cotton rag mould-made paper. We stroked each, cooing over them.

The cutting and folding of the paper, the stitching of the pages and the head and end bands, the marking out and punching of holes in the leather: it was almost meditative. The stitching of the headband, in particular, took considerable patience and acute concentration. And whilst I look at it now and notice its imperfections, it is my favourite element of the finished book, the greatest part of my achievement.

At 5.30pm, I left the studio, delighted with the final book. Back aching, thumb sore, eyes crossed, but delighted.

Aren’t they beautiful? (The green book was made at the Literature Festival, the terracotta book during the full day workshop.) Now… What should go in them…?!

For more information about Sue Crossley’s bookbinding workshops (which I highly recommend!), visit – http://www.thegreenwoodgallery.co.uk/index.html

Wishlist

Thanks to the generosity and kindness of friends, family and colleagues, I find myself thoroughly spoilt and in receipt of a total of £135 of Amazon vouchers, given as leaving and Christmas gifts. My plan was to treat myself to some online shopping during the few, relaxed days after Christmas but they weren’t as relaxed as I’d hoped and so I have still only spent a few pounds on a couple of e-books, ordered directly from my Kindle.

I must admit that, because I hadn’t expected so much, I’ve been a bit stuck as to what to buy. I have no need or desire for any ‘larger’ purchases, e.g. electronic goods or technology – I have all the technology I want; there are things I know I don’t want, e.g. sat nav; household appliances don’t count because they’re boring (though I would quite like a slow cooker and a new iron); and I wouldn’t buy a smartphone from Amazon. (Granted, my beloved six-year-old 30GB white iPod video could and probably will die at any moment and is likely to need replacing but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.)

So I get the rather exciting opportunity but to buy lots and lots of smaller things… Today, I set about the task of bolstering my wish list and thought I’d share some of the items:

Scott Pilgrim on BluRay and volumes 3-6 of the Scott Pilgrim graphic novel – I can’t wait to watch the film again and, having been given volumes 1 and 2 of the graphic novel for Christmas, I’m eager to keep reading. I may also get Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Lost At Sea, which looks lovely.

Le Creuset Mug – I adore the traditional Volcano colour of Le Creuset products and have wanted one of these mugs since I saw them in my favourite kitchen shop in Worcester (which, as an aside, is almost identical to a kitchen shop my mum would take me to as a child, each year, to buy a new cake tin in the shape of my age). I am still debating whether or not to take this in as my office mug.

Baking Made Easy – added to my list on the strength of one episode of the new BBC cookery programme. Because a girl can never have too many baking books and because it really does look easy.

Poach Pods – I got a pair of these for Christmas and they are a revelation. Getting two more so that I can poach more eggs at once.

Once Soundtrack – I finally watched Once last night and it was lovely (all the best love stories are unconsummated. See also: Lost in Translation, Brief Encounter). I only recently discovered The Frames thanks to a twitter recommendation but didn’t make the connection. I’m glad I finally did. I really love Glen Hansard’s voice, particularly in this scene:

Elbow’s new album – I guess it’s not cool to like Elbow since they won the Mercury Prize. Well, I still like them. They’re responsible for my all-time favourite song (Powder Blue, but you knew that already) and I walked down the aisle to an Elbow track (the opening bars of Mirrorball).

Natasha Walter’s The New Feminism – I read this as a student specialising in feminism and queer theory, when I was full of optimism about women’s place in the world, and recently enjoyed her follow-up, Living Dolls: The New Sexism. I’m looking forward to re-reading The New Feminism with the benefit of hindsight.

Just My Type: A Book About Fonts – I own too many coffee table books but this one looks interesting…

A range of ebooks, including those I’ve already bought – Jonathan Powell’s The New Machiavelli, Ali Shaw’s The Girl With Glass Feet (started but not finished before I had to give the book back), Sebastian Faulks’s A Week in December, David Nicholls’s One Day, Chris Mullin’s A View From The Foothills (which has been on my wish list for a long time but has suffered from my disinterest in big books – thank goodness for the Kindle), Clare Morrall’s Natural Flights of the Human Mind, and many more…

I haven’t added all of that up but I think I’m up to roughly £100. And hours and hours and hours of pleasure. Can’t quite believe my luck.

 

Reading meme

Hot on the heels of yesterday’s Literature Festival post, I stumbled across this reading meme on @rich_w’s blog. Late to the party as I am, I felt like rewarding my finance assignment progress with a bit more book talk…

Do you snack while reading? > I rarely snack full stop.

What is your favourite drink while reading? > A cup of tea, unless it’s late Sunday morning or I’m in a coffee shop, in which case it’s an Americano with room for milk please.

Do you tend to mark your books while you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you? > I am a literature graduate: most of the books I own from those days contain much underlining and copious annotations. These days, I don’t tend to annotate fiction (if a line really strikes me, I’ll write it down in my Moleskine) but I’m more likely to mark non-fiction, particularly if it’s work-related.

How do you keep your place? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book open flat? > I use my bus pass so that I never forget it.

Fiction, non-fiction or both? > Again, I’m a literature graduate so fiction tends to win out. But I’ve started to read a great deal more non-fiction in recent years, generally books on architecture and planning, politics, feminism and theatre and biographies. I also harbour a (no longer) secret obsession with self-help and business management books and have something of a fetish for cookery books.

Do you tend to read to the end of a chapter or can you stop anywhere? > I prefer to stop at the end of a chapter but will make do with the end of a section or paragraph.

Are you the type of person to throw a book across the room or on the floor if the author irritates you? > I am a somewhat tenacious reader and will put up with anything. Even Ian McEwan.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away? > I’m a bright girl. I can usually figure it out.

What are you currently reading? > Fiction: the last book of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy, ‘The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest’ – I’m on the home-straight now and it really is a cracking read (when it’s not going into the intricate details of Swedish political history and its intelligence service). Non-fiction: ‘First, Break All The Rules’ by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman. It’s one of my management diploma set-texts but I’m rather enjoying it (I’ve already confessed my love of business management books). I am very much convinced by the idea that an organisation has as many cultures as it does managers.

What is the last book you bought? > See yesterday’s post.

Do you have a favourite time/place to read? > Sunday mornings, curled up on the sofa in my dressing gown, whilst my husband plays video games.

Do you prefer series books or stand-alones? > No preference! It rather depends on the book or series, doesn’t it?

Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over? > The only people I would recommend books to are my mum and @AllyWickstead. I *think* I know what they might like…

How do you organize your books (by genre, title, author’s last name, etc.)? > I tend to keep ‘type’ together, i.e. novels, plays, poetry, non-fiction (by subject), cookery, etc. I have a single shelf for unread books, so that I don’t forget about them (easily done) and I always keep authors and series together.

 

What JH has been reading / watching / listening to

N.B. This blog post is a shameless rip off of a similar, but far superior blog post by Bookish Brunette, which can be found here > http://bookishbrunette.wordpress.com/2010/08/08/what-bookish-brunette-has-been-readingwatchinglistening-to/

Reading:

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
These are the best children’s books I’ve read in a long time (though I appreciate I am a mere 11 years late to the party). They are smart and quirky and more than a little macabre. All the best children’s books deal with ‘adult’ themes (see Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials).  Though in no way comparable to Pullman’s trilogy, the way that A Series of Unfortunate Events deals with grief is just wonderful:
“It is like walking up the stairs to your bedroom in the dark, and thinking there is one more stair than there is. Your foot falls down, through the air, and there is a sickly moment of dark surprise as you try and readjust the way you thought of things.” (Lemony Snicket, ‘The Reptile Room’)

Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami
I am new to Murakami, having only read The Wind-up Bird Chronicle to date. I found Sputnik a much less challenging novel, though I very much liked the continuity of themes (wells, telephones, strange well-dressed women, alienation, the splitting of the self) from the earlier novel and was struck again by the deceptive simplicity of Murakami’s prose. Recommendations for my next Murakami novel will be most welcome.

Watching:

Up In The Air
I didn’t have particularly high expectations for this film but I really enjoyed it, despite some of its failings. Anna Kendrick is brilliant as an over-ambitious 22 year-old psychology graduate, struggling to balance her views on her career and relationships and, even though the story should be all about George Clooney, I missed her whenever she wasn’t on screen. The film doesn’t have anything earth shattering to say and the endless montages of people reacting to being ‘let go’ are a bit glib. But it is a fun way to spend a couple of hours, with some witty dialogue and heaps of chemistry between George Clooney and Vera Farmiga.

The Devil’s Backbone
Pan’s Labyrinth would probably sit somewhere in my top 5 films of all time but, until now and despite many people urging me to, I’d not seen Guillermo del Toro’s earlier film, The Devil’s Backbone. I think I like it even more than Pan’s Labyrinth. It’s a little neater, a perfectly crafted ghost story (although it’s more than that too). Pan’s Labyrinth is more beautiful and other-worldly but I think The Devil’s Backbone is just a more complete film. The ominous, unexploded bomb ever present in the orphanage courtyard, the ghost’s sigh echoed by the climactic sigh of Jacinto and Carmen’s adultery, the parched landscape of Spain at war, the touch of Lord of the Flies towards the end… Wonderful.

Listening:
Mainly to Odd Blood by Yeasayer, which is an album that gets better with every listen, and to the mix CDs I’ve received in the post from @AllyWickstead and @omrrc this week but that’s for another blog post…

Cashing in my winnings

So, I told you I won a prize, right? No?

Well, I got “a prize of books” from the RTPI for getting the highest grade in my masters degree, which was nice. Although, in reality, I received a cheque for £60 posted to me a few weeks after my graduation ceremony. But, in the spirit of the prize, I did indeed buy myself some books. And here they are:

Rather disappointingly, it doesn’t look like much but there’s £45 worth of books there (I’m saving the other £15 to spend later but already have a few books in mind). But I’m definitely looking forward to starting 2010 with the following selection of books:

‘A Prayer for Owen Meany’ by John Irving – recommended to me as a teenager but a book I never quite got round to reading, recommended again recently by a colleague so one I definitely must read now.

‘In Cold Blood’ by Truman Capote – because I fancied reading some modern classics, and enjoyed Capote (the Philip Seymour Hoffman version).

‘Sputnik Sweetheart’ by Haruki Murakami – much to the horror of friends and family, I got to the age of 27 without having read any Murakami. Having absolutely adored ‘The Wind-up Bird Chronicle’ this year, I can’t wait to read more.

‘Simply Complexity’ by Neil Johnson – this looks fascinating and is full of maths, which I’m determined to get to grips with in 2010.

‘Bad Science’ by Ben Goldacre – because I read the column, follow him on twitter, like what he has to say, etc.

‘Death and the Penguin’ by Andrey Kurkov – recommended by the fabulous Ally, and with an intriguing premise…

‘Madame Bovary’ by Gustave Flaubert – when Leigh and I went to the Literature Festival this year, we went to a talk on mad women in literature and this was discussed. Sounds like fun.

‘Wuthering Heights’ by Emily Bronte – because what English Literature graduate hasn’t read it? I am a disgrace.

‘Enough’ by John Naish – which was recommended, although I cannot for the life of me remember by whom. Dealing with enough information, enough work, enough stuff, it certainly appears to be just what I need over the Christmas period…

Just got to finish my current read (Alan Paton’s ‘Cry the Beloved Country’) so that I can get started

Live to work, or…?

I don’t tend to blog too regularly about work. (It’s not that I’m ever likely to say anything particularly disparaging but, equally, my career is important to me and I don’t feel it’s worth exposing myself inadvertently to criticism. Besides, I like to convince myself that I have other, more exciting material to write about.) But I have been meaning for some time to blog about work/life balance and about the attitudes of my colleagues and peers, of wider society.

In the last year, my balance has shifted. The last few weeks have brought the issue sharply into focus.

But, ironically, I’m too tired this evening to compose a coherent blog entry on the subject. Instead, here are some things I should have been writing about:

1. My graduation – I had the most wonderful day, made all the more enjoyable by the fact that my mum, step-dad and husband made the journey to Bristol Cathedral to witness it. It brought a sense of achievement that I didn’t feel when I completed my undergraduate degree. Back then, there was the sense that I was going through the motions, doing what most teenagers do, focusing on the social, rather than academic education that university provided. Studying for a masters degree, whilst working full time and maintaining a long-term relationship took enormous effort and real commitment. And I did a far better job of it than I could ever have imagined I would. I even got a prize.

Here’s my mum (looking proud) and me (also looking pretty proud):

2. Finally finishing Cormac McCarthy’s ‘The Road’ – which took such a long time because I struggled to pick it back up each time I put it down, it was such a punishing read. My brother basically bullied me into reading it, urging me to “hold my heart in my hands” whilst I did so. His advice was entirely appropriate. It is bleak and harrowing, breathtaking and heartbreaking. And ultimately, hopeful. (Although now I’m reading some wonderfully witty fiction by the brilliant Zoe Heller to restore the equilibrium.)

To watch the film or not to watch the film?

Things I want to do

#1 Read books I read as a teenager and didn’t really get, e.g. ‘Waterland’ and ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘Brideshead Revisited’.

(Yes, I found the # key on my MacBook. Not where I thought it’d be.)

Cheltenham Literature Festival

On Friday, Leigh and I took a well-earned break from the office and spent the day at the Cheltenham Literature Festival. We had a genuinely lovely day. Not necessarily because of the events we paid to attend (although they were all excellent, both entertaining and insightful) but because of the room it gave us to think and to be challenged intellectually. Owen Sheers made me want to rediscover poetry and to seek out his BBC4 programme on iPlayer; the discussion on mad women in literature triggered a desire to discover a few unread classics; and the subject of journalism writing history highlighted global issues I know scarcely enough about to make the kind of judgements I find myself making.

If only I had the time to do all of those things: to read non-fiction, classics, poetry, political diaries; to watch documentaries about subjects that are new to me; to visit places that will stimulate me. I do have that time. I am simply too distracted by day-to-day living but also by the technology in my home, which requires little attention, wastes many hours and allows me to passively absorb information – little of it of any consequence – in bite sized chunks. A case in point: this week I have tried (and failed) to read three different books. This is not the fault of the books. It is my painfully and increasingly short attention span.

I would like our day at the literature festival to change that.

Some other observations from Friday:
1. I was having breakfast (well, coffee) in Starbucks. They’ve started asking for your first name when you order and then proceed to shout, “tall Americano with room for milk for Jenn!” I don’t like it.
2. Leigh phoned whilst I was in Starbucks to say she was lost (she really, really was). I used Google Latitude to find her and it worked a treat.
3. I was impressed by the sheer number of children at the festival and completely bowled over by their delight and enthusiasm as they had books signed by authors such as Anthony Horowitz and Julia Donaldson. I was bowled over in a very different sense by the number of adults queuing to meet Alan Titchmarsh.
4. There was a lovely European market on the Promenade and it was there that I discovered that sweet ginger is delicious when eaten together with sundried tomatoes.

Reading in bed

During the long (and, if I recall, hot) summer after I graduated, I mainly lived alone in our Cardiff flat, whilst Chris worked in Gloucester and I looked for jobs in the West Midlands. And during that summer, I spent a great deal of time lying on our lime green sofa with the balcony doors open and I read prolifically. Since then, other things have got in the way and my reading has been limited to a few pages on the bus on the way to work, a few more in bed before I fall asleep and, where possible, some more on a Sunday morning.

But since the wedding and my degree have finished, I’m spending more and more evenings reading for several hours. It’s the nicest thing and I’d forgotten how relaxing it could be. Plus, for the first time in a long time, I’m reading books at a faster rate than I’m buying them. Which is definitely a good thing.

And I’ve read some really good stuff as well. Last week, I finished “The Believers” by Zoe Heller, which was beautifully written, although I barely cared about its middle-class protagonists and their (to me) somewhat insignificant concerns. And now I’m reading “The Other Side of You” by Salley Vickers, which has turned out to be worth the perseverance, even though I struggled with her clunky prose at first. It has loosened up a bit and the story is an essentially good one.

Trying to decide what’s next…

P.S. This blog entry reminds me of this song. Which is also the nicest thing.