Mind-Boggling Bookshelves

Bookshelves often seem to burst. You always try to squeeze in another book into the last gap which is far too narrow. „Platzhalter“ gives in to force and makes space for more books by literally bursting. An initially hidden board stretches between the split halves and widens the usable surface. The more books you add to the shelf, the wider it opens. The classical rectangular shape turns into a V-shaped outline until the shelf reaches its defined limit.

Behold the ‘bursting’ bookshelf.

Personally, the design is not aesthetically pleasing but it sure is unique! (By the way, I’m not sure why the guy looks like he thinks the bookshelf is smelly.)

And what about this Book Porcupine? Looks messy but pretty darn cute! If I have a bookshop I’d use this to display last copy books as an appealing way to attract customers. Or if I were to put it in my room then I’d put the books waiting to be read, to make them look more enticing. Then again, I might not with the price tag of 950 pounds!

The photo above is so simple in its presence, just a bookcase in a non-descript room that you wouldn’t think much of it. It is the photo of the bookcase which swung out to cover the secret opening to the annex where Anne Frank’s family lived while in hiding from the Nazi’s.

It sure makes you think about bookcases differently.

Found this interesting bookshelf trivia via here.

Hotels That Smell Like Libraries

Books smell so good, a hotel chain is spraying its hotel with a scent specially made to smell like books!

Book that scent
SONIA RAMACHANDRAN

What does a hotel smell like? A book apparently, much to the surprise of SONIA RAMACHANDRAN

WHAT captures the values of chic, culture and discovery? That was a question two young men had to grapple with when they were asked to design a scent for the Le Meridien hotel group.

Edouard Roschi and Fabrice Penot own Le Labo, a store that designs custom fragrances. A few months later, they came up with three fragrances inspired by French femininity, the Greenwich Meridian longitude and an antique book.

French femininity was inspired by the scent of old perfumes while the smell of being on a yacht crossing the sea was the inspiration for the Greenwich Meridian.

The book was chosen. Why a book?

“A book is a symbol of chic, culture and discovery. It could be a photography book about a country or a region or something. Obviously that can be chic and culture intensive. You can learn and discover things from books. If you are curious, you don’t have to travel. Just pick up a book and look at the pictures,” says Roschi.

Why did Le Meridien pick the scent of the book?

“The scent was designed to stimulate the guest experience by engaging in memory and emotions through the sense of smell. The construction and shape of LM01 was inspired by the Earth’s meridian lines as a nod to the origin of Le Méridien’s name.

“The scent was chosen to reflect one of the books as this was close to our core values of culture and art in the widest sense,” says Le Meridien and W Hotels Worldwide Global Brand Leader Eva Ziegler.

Since Le Merdien was founded in 1972 by Air France, Roschi and Penot took a very old copy of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Le Petit Prince (the author was a pilot too), and analysed the rich smell of the book.

“We used that as the platform. We added things to the perfume because the smell of the book was too regressive, too clamouring,” says Roschi.

He says they liked the idea of taking a copy of the book to be analysed. “The book was about five years old and it smelled like old paper,” he says.

“Le Petit Prince is such a French symbol and is read to kids and adults alike. It’s about travelling but it is about travelling in a very surreal way.”

Wouldn’t an old book smell musty?

“The original smell is musty — it’s oak moss and smells like mould, like a humid cupboard. That wasn’t enough to make an interesting and engaging perfume so we made it sweeter with amber, vanilla, jasmine and gave it personality with iris.”

The best part, adds Roschi, is that it actually smells like what it is supposed to do.

How does it make a guest feel?

“It starts with you leaving the taxi, bus or whatever you came in to the hotel. You’re struck by the visual welcome and then you are transformed, experiencing something more intimate, more the Meridien experience and the scent adds to that experience.

“You don’t necessarily know why, but at the end of the day you realise that there is a specific smell to the reception, to the welcoming experience. It’s not necessarily something that makes you to say, ‘Oh, that is a nice smell’. People will not just say that. They will say, ‘Oh, it is a nice smell but…’. It’s memorable, sometimes it’s bizarre.

“I think a lot of people will stop and say ‘it’s nice but what does it smell of?’. You can’t describe it in one word. That’s what we wanted as well — to stop and engage people’s curiosity.That is what the new Meridien inspires,” says Roschi.

I’ve featured book scent products here before, so not a new thing in the online market. If only perfume companies would make one for the mass market now!

This Shit is Crazy!

That’s how reading is described on this T-shirt.

Hilarious! I’d love to wear that.

Another crazy site is this one called Everything But the Books. Name is self-explanatory.

This is a Cadbury book biscuit tin. And below is a lawyer book lamp.

I’m not a kid but I sure wouldn’t mind having this rug in my room.

Lots of great kids furniture here at All Children’s Furniture, especially the book-loving ones. There’s even one for the big boys: a Harley-Davidson bookend.

Nothing Mere About Mum

Interesting use of words to describe what being a mum is all about!

Just a Mum?

A WOMAN, renewing her driver’s licence at the county clerk’s office,

was asked by the woman recorder to state her occupation.

She hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself.

“What I mean is,” explained the recorder, “do you have a job or are you just a …?’’

“Of course I have a job,’’ snapped the woman. “I’m a Mum.’’

“We don’t list ‘Mum’ as an occupation, ‘housewife’ covers it,’’ said the recorder emphatically.

I forgot all about that story until one day when I found myself in the same situation, this time at my town hall. The clerk was obviously a career woman, poised, efficient, and possessed of a high-sounding title like “Official Interrogator’’ or “Town Registrar”.

“What is your occupation?’’ she probed.

What made me say it? I do not know. The words simply popped out.

“I’m a research associate in the field of child development and human relations.’’

The clerk paused, ball-point pen frozen in midair and looked up as though she had not heard right.

I repeated the title slowly, emphasising the most significant words.

Then I stared with wonder as my pronouncement was written, in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire.

“Might I ask,’’ said the clerk with new interest, “just what you do in your field?”

Coolly, without any trace of fluster in my voice, I heard myself reply, “I have a continuing programme of research (what mother doesn’t) in the laboratory and in the field, (normally I would have said indoors and out).

I’m working for my Masters, (first the Lord and then the whole family) and already have four credits (all daughters).

“Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities (any mother care to disagree?), and I often work 14 hours a day (24 is more like it).

“But the job is more challenging than most run-of-the-mill careers and the rewards are more of satisfaction rather than just money.’’

There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk’s voice as she completed the form, stood up, and personally ushered me to the door.

As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up by my glamorous new career, I was greeted by my lab assistants – ages 13, seven and three.

Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model, a six-month- old baby, in the child development programme, testing out a new vocal pattern.

I felt I had scored a beat on bureaucracy! And I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable to mankind than “just another Mum’’.

Motherhood! What a glorious career. Especially when there’s a title on the door.