Stunning Book Art!

It kills me to see books and papers turned and twisted mecilessly but I find a bit of consolation in the fact that these are old newspapers and books turned into wonderful pieces of art. Just goes to show the uselfullness of book!

                                                             A tower of books 

                The Argentinian artist Marta Minujin has built a tower of 30,000 books.

    

 The tower was built to celebrate Buenos Aires' nomination for World Book Capital 2011.

 

 "Paper Elegies"

 Nick Georgiou uses old books to make these colorful artworks

                                                    

                                           

                                                        Carved book landscapes

Artist Guy Laramee says about his work: So I carve landscapes out of books and I paint Romantic landscapes. Mountains of disused knowledge return to what they really are: mountains. They erode a bit more and they become hills. Then they flatten and become fields where apparently nothing is happening. Piles of obsolete encyclopedias return to that which does not need to say anything, that which simply IS. Fogs and clouds erase everything we know, everything we think we are.

Cascades of books

  Artist Alicia martin transformed thousands of unused books into columns that pour out of windows of historical buildings in Madrid into the streets.

 

                                       These over sized sculptures are definitely one of a kind.

 

Sources: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2OceD5/:pZK9eOfY:Tj2GO3yC/www.thisiscolossal.com/2011/12/carved-book-landscapes-by-guy-laramee/
http://www.walltowatch.com/view/2000

Going back to a 'Witchful' past!

Surfing on the internet I came across an article listing the best children's books. Unsurprisingly, Roald Dahl's titles were a staple feature on the list. I think almost everyone has memories from Dahl's books- and his fascinating world of magic!

I suddenly realized how bored I had become of the thriller, horror and drama genres I had been devouring lately and how desperately I craved to live in a lighter, happier imaginary world. Hence, I began reading Roald Dahl's award winning book 'The Witches'. The first time I had begun reading this book was 7 years ago in my school's library, a grim room in the basement with a poor collection. Well, it had this gem so I shouldn't be complaining.

I remember how  the description of these ghastly witches brightened my eyes with fascination. Their image was still etched in my mind. Bald, huge nostrils, claw-shaped hand and square toes!!

Somewhere while reading, it hit me that I had never finished the book. I had only read the first three chapters and then left it incomplete. And for this tragedy, I blame my school's No-book issuance policy. :)

Anyway, during the course of the book, Dahl's imagination never ceased to amaze me. It takes massive talent to write books for children. Simmering complex ideas and  horrifying stories into amusing, fictionalized anecdotes is no easy feat.

I seldom laugh out loud while reading but this book made me do that with every turn of the page. The never ending Mouse-Witch chase, the disgusting witch rituals and the surprising reality of it all enthralled me to bits. A must-read for those who have been plagued by the intellectual-book-syndrome and those who want to renew their love for simple light reading.

Oh, and the best dialogue in the book comes at the end. ‘It doesn’t matter who you are or what you look like as long as somebody loves you.’ 

And just so you know, these words were said by a mouse. 

Happy reading! 

The 'Goddamn' world of J.D. Salinger.

American novelist, J.D. Salinger (1919-2010)

May it be Holden Caulfield from 'The catcher in the rye' or the members of the Glass family from 'Franny and Zooey', Salinger's characters share a disillusionment about the world they live in surrounded by 'phony' adults. Every character in Salinger's book is not your regular, conformist, loveable or (hate-able for that matter) character and they are often hard to relate too. You either love them or you don't. Period.

After being completely smitten by Salinger's controversial book 'The catcher in the rye', I was interested in exploring his other works. Franny and Zooey, a popular hit amongst this writer's fans proved to be a complex piece of work bearing the authors distinguished style of writing.

It's a hard read but at the end, its worth it. Its not a plot-driven novel, instead it is fueled by lengthy dialogues that sometime stretch to pages. In this novel, Salinger's gift of eloquent and real dialogues is exposed in all its brilliance. The dialogues are sharp, witty, honest and never boring. This is real writing in my opinion. Not a word more or a word less. 

While reading this book you get a feeling of being trapped in the freakish world of the Glass family where frustrations, contradictions and a sense of loss run high. You are absorbed into unusual settings where intense conversations take place between the main characters. Franny is the perfectly written first chapter in the book which introduces us to a pretty college student Franny Glass who is on the brink of an emotional and spiritual collapse.

"It's everybody, I mean. Everything everybody does is so--I don't know--not wrong, or even mean, or even stupid, necessarily. But just so tiny and meaningless--and sad-making. And the worst part is, if you go bohemian or something crazy like that, you're conforming just as much as everybody else, only in a different way."-Franny

However, the reasons for her world rejecting attitude and  breakdown are fully revealed in the second and last chapter of the book Zooey. Here, we see Franny's older brother, Zooey's morbidity and humor, his sense of being doomed by their elder brothers and enlightenment. 

"We're freaks, that's all. Those two bastards got us nice and early and made us into freaks with freakish standards, that's all. We're the tattooed lady, and we're never going to have a minute's peace, the rest of our lives, until everybody else is tattooed, too."-Zooey

I was gripped by Franny in the beginning only to see Zooey steal the spotlight and be captivated by his perspectives deeper into the book.

The book is perceived by some as a religious novel, however in the words of the narrator, this offering is '... a compound, a multiple, love story, pure and complicated.' This is J.D. Salinger at his best.