A book is an idea. It is also an object. You can feel its weight, smell the ink and paper. The pages rustle as you turn them.
When I think of books that have delighted, scared, comforted or bored me I can see and feel the physical books in my memory. I now read many e-books because it is easy to get and store them. But I wonder if the ideas will linger as long without being anchored to physical objects.
Isabelle Arsenault from Velocity of Being
Right now I am reading The Library Book by Susan Orlean. It tells the story of the LA Library fire. It is the story of millions of pounds of books, of one specific library and of libraries in general. Her prose is exhilarating and surprising, enriched with odd morsels of information.
Violeta Lopiz – Velocity of Being
I am about to read The Velocity of Being: Letters to a Young Reader, edited by Maria Popova and Claudia Zoe Bedrick.
Here is their description of the book:
And here is a link to Popova’s announcement of the book in her newsletter Brainpickings.
I am happy to be there in The Velocity of Being along with so many people I admire. Here is my illustration painted in response to a letter by Sarah Lewis.
I look forward to reading, seeing and touching the book.
Vladimir Radunsky- The Velocity of Being
I have a favorite cookbook that is falling apart from use. The binding is shot. The pages are battered, spattered and lumpy. My husband found a brand new copy of the book at Goodwill, so I gave mine to a friend. But I missed it! The wrinkled and oil-spotted pages told a history of my life in the kitchen. I traded back for my old book.
Beatrice Alemagne – The Velocity of Being
Well-loved and oft-read books have memories that stick to them. Despite the konvenience of Kindle I still like holding books in my hands. The content comes through all the senses.
Lara Hawthorne – the Velocity of Being
Bonny Becker
Julie Paschkis
Julie Larios
laurakvasnosky
Margaret Chodos-Irvine
Books Around The Table 
Reblogged this on joy murray –art ~ books ~ life and commented:
Here is great blog post by Books Around the Table on great books about books. I’m especially looking forward to reading The Velocity of Being.
Thanks for sharing this with your readers.
I always enjoy your blog.
Oh, there is so much here to think about. So much that speaks to me. Thank you for featuring A Velocity of Being. I think it needs to be on my shelf, and a few shelves of people I know.
Thank you!
thank you for the cook book sweet attachment comments. m2
On Fri, Nov 30, 2018, 7:55 AM Books Around The Table Julie Paschkis posted: “A book is an idea. It is also an object. You can > feel its weight, smell the ink and paper. The pages rustle as you turn > them. When I think of books that have delighted, scared, comforted or bored > me I can see and feel the physical books in my memor” >
Can’t wait to read this book and I’m excited that you have a beautiful piece in the book!
LOVE your piece in the Velocity of Being. Looks to be a masterpiece of a book. Can’t wait to see it!
Thanks, Jama. I look forward to seeing the actual book too. It is supposed to be available in early December, even though it is listed to come out on 12/31.
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I just asked my library to order it – they’re really about ordering books, too, so I fully expect that they’ll be getting this one. It’s the first time I quoted the blurb directly, because it’s SO GOOD. Also, so thrilled to see you included in this; you’re probably #1 on my list of favourite artists.
Thank you so much!
And your library probably already has The Library Book – it is an improbably entertaining book.
I have a beat-up Concise Oxford Dictionary that I won as a school prize in 1965. Of course it is terribly out of date so I bought a new, crisp, clean edition that includes words like “meme.” But I can’t ditch my old one and find myself reaching for it. It just contains my personal history of looking up words.
My family used to play the game Dictionary (making up definitions to odd but real words). We always used my mother’s Concise Oxford Dictionary which was probably from the 1940’s or 50’s. I swear it had more interesting words and definitions than other dictionaries!
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