Literal Decorative Books

So apparently you can buy/rent "decorative books" to make your house look like it is a super ritzy library type house.  The books are not really meant for reading, but to add a bit of "how awesome am I to have such a great looking library" to your home.  Now to be fair, this is usually used for set dressings where the look is important, but according to the site they do lots of private homes as well.

 I guess if I had a choice all my books would be pretty...I just want books I want to read, not just look at.  That being said, if you are looking for a way to swank up your library go to Bookdecor.com and you too can have a library if nothing else "looks" like it belongs to a collector of antiquities.  I will admit that the various collection this site has is stunning and beautiful...now if we could just figure out a way to take my existing books and make them look just as good.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Paperback To Awesomeback!

I know I know I owe you all some nice long ramblings...but I have not seen my bed in a really long time.  Instead I will apologize for the lack of post yesterday and show you how to turn a plain old paperback into a leatherbound work of awesomeness!

Leather binding tutorial 

This could be a really cool way to "upgrade" your existing paperbacks, or if your like me and like your books to match, this is a way to do it.  Now who wants to come to my house and make some of these for me?  Happy Reading Everybody!

Cover Under The Sea

I love love love love love the idea of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne.  I mean I really like the book itself, but the idea and feel of it is what really hits home for me.  It is steampunky, underwatery, angsty, tensionfilledy, creativy, (all real words, I swear) and all of this tends to come out in some of these really cool covers.  Here are a few of my favorites.

I love this old school cover and how it makes it feel like the bottom of the sea is similar to space

The Nautilus looks like a steampunk metal deep sea fish here and I love it!

Here is cover that gives us the ultimate giant squid that wreaked so much havoc!

This black, white and red version is one of my favorites

This cover conveys a bit of an ominous tone

I see the giant squid!

This stylized version is one of my favorites.

These are just a few of the many amazing cover versions of this awesome book, send me any you think are cool and I will add them to my collection :-)

It's Just Like (Insert Name Of Currently Popular Book Here)

Sometimes I hate blurbs, and I almost always hate comparisons in blurbs, you know the ones that go, "If you liked the Hunger Games read this book (Even though the book is about a nursing home where they put on a bake sell to raise money for their hair salon every year, but hey they play Bingo at some point so that's a game so yeah)".  Seriously people not every book has to be compared to the Hunger Games, or Twilight or Harry Potter or Charlaine Harris!  This is most prevalent in YA, with publishers who I am sure are trying to capture some of the magic and big bucks that the popular titles bring in.  I understand that dollars are tight,

but when it is a misleading comparison, I think it just hurts the books credibility.  I know that the author's have very little say on what goes on the cover of their books, and I am sure many hate that their books are being compared or touted as the next (insert currently popular book here) which makes it even worse!  When it comes to genre books people seem to think that the only story set in these is the one that made it currently popular.  Every YA dystopia is now "just like the Hunger Games" when we all know that is just not true.  We have series like The Maze Runner which was in my opinion not only less well written then the Hunger Games, but other then being a dystopia and centering on teenagers (as YA is wont to do) it is completely different.  On the other end of the scale we have excellent books like The Giver (which is being made into a movie, I am partly totally excited and partly terrified they will ruin it!) which was written long before the Hunger Games and other then being a dystopia has very little in common with it.  Yet both of these books have been touted to be similar to the Hunger Games.  It was the same with vampires for a while, forget the original (and scary and disgusting and dangerous) Dracula, nope all vampires now have to be sexy  and brooding and in love with 17 year old girls.  Not every book that has magic in it is the same as Harry Potter (though to be fair those books were/are constantly being compared to The Lord of the Rings and Narnia, which again while all are fantasy are not the same type of story at all!  I guess I understand trying to draw in audience in because 

they read a certain type of book before, but there is so much more to most books then their genre and sometimes plastering another books name all over can be detrimental as well.  I personally did not enjoy the Twilight series very much, so when a book said "for fans of Twilight" all over it, it made me reluctant to pick it up, which potentially sucks 'cause I now know there are some great books (some not even about vampires) that have that blurb stuck all over it.  I understand I am being picky, that this is a marketing technique that obviously works, but still it annoys the crap out of me and makes me want to scream THERE ARE OTHER GOOD BOOKS BESIDES THE CURRENT POPULAR ONE OUT THERE!  But I don't, I try and get past the blurb and read the book on its own merit, loving it, mehing it, or hating it regardless of what the cover says.

What is one of your book pet peeves?  Is it overly picky book bloggers?  How much do the blurbs influence your book buying?

Disguised As A Book

Sorry my posting has been a little spotty, life has been a wee bit hectic.  I should be maintaining a fairly regular schedule for the foreseeable future.  I think we all know that electronics have completely taken over many of our lives (mine included), but there is something sad about seeing all of these shiny top of the line toys taking over shelf space.  Here are some perfect solutions to help your toys blend in to your awesome book decor (if that sentence did not make any sense, I blame the lack of coffee).

Laptop Book Cover

I love the black and red options for this cover...I think I would get one of each and switch them out depending on my mood.

Old Book ipad Cover

I love the old style of this simple case for your ipad

E-reader Book Cover

These covers are for all of those die-hard "real" book fans who think an e-reader is selling out, maybe this cover will convince them otherwise.

Phone case/wallet

This nifty little book cover does double duty as a phone case AND a wallet...I need one!

Book Laptop Skin

I love these easy on/ easy off skins for laptops and tablets, it's a quick fun way to disguise your electronics, and if you get bored you can always switch it out!

Are you ashamed of all of your electronics that take up precious reading time?  Are electronics disguised as a book more acceptable?  Are a forward thinking technophiles who thinks it is awesome that you can now get books on demand on all of your electronic devices?