The Literary Pursuit

Have a seat with all your books

nylusmilk — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 12:26:57 +0000

The complete furniture for a reader: light, seat and storage.

I would feel quite uncomfortable sitting on this book chaise. The books look quite real from here!

This has to be my personal favourite though I can imagine how difficult it would be to maintain it. Think of its dust-worthy potential.

This is so cute! I’d put shoes there, though, I think.

I’m liking this too.

A bigger and more awesome version of the previous bookseat/shelf thingy.

An even bigger and more awesome version of the previous! Reminds me of a diner. Super cool!

Nooks to read my book

nylusmilk — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 09:30:13 +0000

I like curling up on the couch with a book best. I do read in bed occasionally but I find that it makes me sleepy after a while, especially when I don’t intend to take a nap. (It’s usually like that, though, isn’t it?) And now I spout the line I’ve said in several posts before – when I own my own home some day, I’d like to have reading nooks like the ones below I found from freshome.

Yes, I clearly have a thing for window box seats.

For outdoorsy reading nooks, these are the ones (also from freshome) I like.

If you want to create a relaxing reading nook of your own, here are some tips.

Bookish Wallpapers

nylusmilk — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 17:02:16 +0000

Not exactly a wallpaper but it could be. A trompe l’oeil library by artist Adam Dant.

Looks a bit spooky but I like it.

Oooh, I like this too. I like how natural it looks.

This is absolutely mind-boggling. Books from floor to ceiling, literally! If only I can visit this cafe.

Right now, I’d be perfectly contented with some bookish art, something bright and abstract like this one.

Decluttering, delinking

nylusmilk — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 08:45:58 +0000

I’ve been keeping so many links to share with you here but I clearly don’t post often enough that the links are piling up in my e-mail. So I’ve decided to just put some down here simply – no pictures, no explanations, just snappy headlines for links (which are mostly copied directly from the links themselves!).

50 Awesome Facebook Apps for Serious Bookworms

10 Tips to Create a Relaxing Home Library

9 Things to do with Old Books

10 Cool Converted Bookstores

The Bibliophile’s Guide to Home Decor

Libraries of the Rich and Famous

Anatomy of a Book

How to Care for Your Books

World Book Night, March 5

From fuckyeahreading! (All right, this is a picture technically but it’s instructions, not images!)

Out of curiosity, which one did you click on, if you clicked any?

Shelf Concepts

nylusmilk — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 09:24:29 +0000

In Malaysia, bookshelves are just plain bookshelves. But on the World Wide Web, you can find creative, ingenious interpretations of this piece of furniture.

Want to show off books on the shelves but keep them away from dust at the same time? This is a nice compromise of the two criteria.

Want a bookshelf that makes a (rather obvious but cool nonetheless) statement? Swipe this idea.

Want a bookshelf with a hidden message? This is just plain awesome to me.

A bookshelf that doubles up as a portable workspace. Great idea but I have a feeling those books will come tumbling down if you tried to move the furniture.

My best reads in 2010

nylusmilk — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 16:00:53 +0000

1. The Hunger Games trilogy – Suzanne Collins
(Well, technically I’ve only read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire so far and both were brilliant. So good that I’m willing to get my copy of Mockingjay at full price. Having previously worked in a bargain bookstore, this is big.)
2. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series – Ann Brashares
3. The Library of Shadows – Mikkel Birkegaard
4. Un Lun Dun – China Miéville
5. Temeraire – Naomi Novik

What about you? I could use some recommendations for the next reading year.

Happy Bookish Christmas

nylusmilk — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 16:00:51 +0000

Now this is my perfect Christmas tree. No pine needles dropping and absolutely unique! As for the second tree, it’d be lovely to have one like that all year round, don’t you think? Though pity the books when it rains… From fuckyeahreading! and The Book Bench.

Happy Christmas! I hope I get a book or book voucher as one of my presents this year.

Multi-storey bookshelves

nylusmilk — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 12:49:48 +0000

From bookcaseporn

From Freshome

Also from Freshome

Pictures of bookcases filled with books always make my heart skip a beat. Shelves that span more than one floor are just… breath-taking!

Twilight is for twits (sorry to say)

nylusmilk — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 15:33:26 +0000

I just finished the last book of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga and I just feel so strongly about the four books I’ve read in a bid to understand why is it so popular.

First, I must say that they were very easy to read, making them seem almost like page-turners. I practically flipped through Twilight and New Moon.

When I hit Eclipse that’s where it started to go downhill. I can’t remember the plot, but I remember thinking what’s the point of book number three?

Breaking Dawn really topped it. The way Jacob transferred his love by imprinting (speaking of which, I find the concept of imprinting quite silly – something about that term just doesn’t make sense to me) on Bella’s daughter, Renesmee, is just too ludicrous for me.

Okay, if I would suspend reality, this is a supernatural romance, therefore one might conclude it will have an unusual couple. Like a 200-year-old Angel falling for 17-year-old Buffy. But older men fall for younger women all the time. I’ve never heard of a man falling for the daughter of a woman he used to love. It’s not incest but it feels like a tinge of it to me.

I find Bella a terrible protagonist. She seemed nice, but there’s nothing much special about her until she became a vampire and acquired supernatural abilities. Before that, the way she brooded when she thought she lost Edward was just so off-putting for a protagonist. Even if you don’t really get over who you think was the love of your life, everyone needs to move on. I understand that it’s a heartbreaking thing to happen, but did the author need to make her suffer for that loooong?

Speaking of which, the books were highly long-winded despite being easy to read. Long-winded and has a really bad tendency to exaggerate. Every negative feeling described on the books seemed to be using adjectives like agony and excruciating – and this was only to describe emotional pain, which happened almost all the time in the books. Come on, how often can you feel excruciating emotional pain?

The climax of Breaking Dawn was so anti-climactic. Almost 100 people gather, prepared to fight and die, and in the end only one person is killed? There was no fight at all, just lots of talking. Yap, yap, yap… okay, no fight. Happily ever after. The end. Such a typical girly, idealistic, unrealistic plot.

Urgh. I probably offend many Twilight fans by my review, but this is just my personal opinion. I can’t stand what Twilight stands for.

Update: Read this instead of Twilight. It’s a better read, I assure you.

These make good bookish posters

nylusmilk — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 09:34:15 +0000

All sourced from various bookish links.