Inspired again by housekeeping

"I live in my house as I live inside my skin; I know more beautiful, more ample, more sturdy, and more picturesque skins; but it would seem to me unnatural to exchange them for mine." – Primo Levi

Another cross post.

A Room of One's Own

Note: I've been neglectful lately, since I've been keeping busy curing my apartment. But I've missed being here. I started making a to-do list at work this morning, and the only think that came to mind was "I need book time." I couldn't think of anything else until I wrote that one down.

I was fascinated and inspired by last Friday’s post at Apartment Therapy: San Francicso linking to this recent Guardian photo feature. The Guardian photographed around 35 studies of top contemporary writers including A.S. Byatt, Seamus Heaney, and Mark Haddon, then had the writers provide the commentary.

Observation is the power of the artist, particularly of the writer; and reliable self-observation is the power in its highest form. It’s not surprising, then, that this collection of writings should include insights of rare quality into personal style. Which should be interesting to all of us now cultivating our own spaces.

Some interesting things I noticed:

• Nearly every room featured includes red as either the primary or primary accent color (See Graham Swift's study in the photo).
  

• Unsurprisingly, many of the writers professed an antithapy for computers, so technology is rarely in great evidence. One surprising exception is Diana Athill, who, at nearly 90, expressed a pragmatic affection for the backspace key (“In one's late-80s one rather loses touch with one's extremities.”)
  

• The spaces are very real, very lived-in, very believable. Few are fastidiously tidy or exceptionally cluttered. And attitudes to clutter vary:

I just need to know where everything is before I go in search of things in my own head, and every time I look up from my desk it helps to see order, which is why the room is so crazily tidy. - Andrew O’Hagan

I don't mind working in a bit of clutter. It's your head that has to be clear. -Beryl Bainbridge

I always think of myself as a tidy sort, but this photo gives the lie to that. There is, however, method in the seeming chaos. Trust me. -Ian Rankin

From the “Know Thyself” Files

I envy people who have the ability to surround themselves with interesting things - beautiful little whichwhats that a burglar might want to steal, or amusingly whimsical doodahs, or thingummies full of secret personal significance. But it's not something that I can do, and it's no use pretending. - Michael Frayn

The objects in the room are in a way a metaphor of my mind. They are brightly coloured, or transparent, and are about intricate patterns and structures. ... Snails, towers, DNA. I like spirals. It looks like clutter but it's a kind of order. - AS Byatt

The computer desk is an ugly, ancient thing - but I don't suppose I'll ever replace it. I've written 13 books on it. And I'm the kind of person who can feel sentimental affection for a teak plank. - Rose Tremain

Roominess is my one requirement, I would happily write on a roller-rink. - Joshua Ferris

I always had a superstitious fear of setting up a too well-designed writing place and then finding that the writing had absconded. - Seamus Heaney

Only when I saw this photograph did I realise that it looks like a primary school library. … My best days do seem like a distillation of all that was best about school. Write a story! Paint a picture! Write a poem! Make a print! And my life always feels a little empty if I'm not learning something new (it's the piano at the moment). - Mark Haddon

How I envy writers who can work on aeroplanes or in hotel rooms. On the run I can produce an article or a book review, or even a film script, but for fiction I must have my own desk, my own wall with my own postcards pinned to it, and my own window not to look out of. - John Banville

Photo Credit: The Guardian.

A meme? Moi?

Hey, look, Sylvia posted a meme a couple of days ago that actually got me curious enough to do it (that Sylvia is pretty inspiring this week). Rules: Search Amazon for your own name and pick your favorite cover.

Del Pantano brought back a lot of hits, mostly comprising Spanish-language horror novels (swamp monsters, wouldn't you know). But I liked the design of this one best:

Searching on my real first name brought up mostly genre romance, but I thought this was pretty:

I know what a search on my full name would return - I share my name with the title character of a series of Nancy Drew-like mysteries published in the 1940s and '50s, now mostly out of print. I like this, because it makes me reasonably Google-proof. I've never read any of them, but they're on the list for as soon as I find a library that shelves them.

More Places to Keep Books

Sylvia posted a link to this stunning gallery of bibliophilic pin-ups from around the globe. Of the libraries pictured, I've only had the pleasure of visiting those in New York and Boston, but it got me thinking on the possibility of embarking on a library tour - you know, a sort of bookstore tourism for the grandiose. I say it's got potential.

My favorite shot was this one, from the Hague:

But my all time favorite library interior? This one, from East Hill University, my alma mater (wish I could find bigger shots):

Fair warning: I've been exploring the Chicagoland libraries, and there are going to be a lot more pictures where these came from.

The Only Thing More Boring than the Last Two Days...

...would be a book about the last two days. I've hit upon a title for my first novel: The Killer Mosquitoes of Findlay, Ohio. I don't know what it will be about yet, but stay tuned.

Since talking about coffee shops is almost like talking about books, kudos to the folks at Coffee Amici for making a trying business trip a lot more bearable. They make one mean iced latte. Seriously, I was really impressed.

Also, on the long drive to and from this trip, I got in my first big chunk of audiobooking since starting my heavenly ten-minute commute. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell gets a lot more compelling after the first third or so. Started out too fairy-tale for my liking, but now it's good stuff.

Has this ever happened to you?

http://www.unshelved.com/archive.aspx?strip=20060226

Rhetorical question.