Spineless!

Many thanks to the Happy Booker for noticing a trend in decorating that has to be stopped: white pages on bookshelves, as in books turned backwards in these Pottery Barn photos:



Even Mitchell Gold got into the act in one of their ads.

If you like the spines out design, but are unsure what books to place on those shelves, here's an answer Dummy Books.

Our faux book products have graced everything from television and movie studios to the finest homes, hotels, yachts and restaurants. ...supplied in approximately one foot sections, to any length required, the book spines are manufactured in England from resin material which is handpainted, gilded and polished to simulate in authentic detail the look of time worn handcrafted leather books.Our essence is to allow the eye to feel that it is seeing real leather bound books.

I love to see real book spines on book shelves with their differing heights and colors. Of course, I just love the smell of a new book and I'm always curious about what's under the dust jacket, always hoping there will be some great secret.

There's this wonderful book Mike and I read recently, Shadow of the Wind.

Young Daniel's father runs a used bookstore in Barcelona; his mother died when he was 4, and he misses her desperately. One afternoon in 1945 the older Sempere informs his not quite 11-year-old son that he is taking him to The Cemetery of Forgotten Books. "You mustn't tell anyone what you're about to see today." They wander through narrow winding streets, then finally stop before "a large door of carved wood, blackened by time and humidity. Before us loomed what to my eyes seemed the carcass of a palace, a place of echoes and shadows." Inside "a labyrinth of passageways and crammed bookshelves rose from base to pinnacle like a beehive woven with tunnels, steps, platforms, and bridges that presaged an immense library of seemingly impossible geometry." Daniel's father tells him that "according to tradition, the first time someone visits this place, he must choose a book, whichever he wants, and adopt it, making sure that it will never disappear, that it will always stay alive." Daniel chooses -- or perhaps is chosen by -- "The Shadow of the Wind," by Julian Carax.

Don't you just want to hug your favorite book to your chest and hope you find another as good...soon?

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery