I Still Need REAL Books…

Tags

Abraham Lincoln, Art Books, Bookstore, Design Books, E-book, eReader, Foreign Language Books, Groucho Marx, IPad, Japan, Kinokuniya, New South Wales, Queen Victoria Building, Sydney

The Size of Books
(Image from toothpastefordinner.com)

The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who’ll get me a book I ain’t read. (Abraham Lincoln)

I like to think I’m a modern, forward thinking kind of girl (at least for a Gen’ Xer, anyway). In some circles, I could even be considered an ‘early adopter’ of some technology. For instance, I was one of the first among my friends to get an iPad. I loved it. Now, I have graduated to an iPad mini – and I love it even more.

I’m a bit of a reader, and I have quite a few eBooks. I just counted them for you – 404 as at the time of writing! I even surprised myself! 

Anyhoo. The point I’m getting to is that as much as I love my eReader, sometimes I need a real book. Not a soft copy. I love my eReader for fiction. I particularly love it when I’m travelling because real books are heavy and take up a lot of room. And, because I have been known to chew through a book a day when I’m on a serious reading bent.

But still, sometimes, I need a real book. I ALWAYS buy cookbooks in real book form. And, I’m starting to think I shall now do the same with all my non-fiction reading. Sometimes, especially with non-fiction, I want to flick back and forward. I want to spend time on specific information. I want to refer back to things I may have read earlier. At these times, a real book is the answer.

Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read. (Groucho Marx*)

Today, I was in need of a specific real book**. And, for me, the first port of call in Sydney for a real book is the most fabulous Kinokuniya.

Kinokuniya Sydney
(Images by TSL)

Kinokuniya is the largest bookstore chain in Japan with over 80 stores worldwide.

Kinokuniya Sydney offers a huge range of books with over 300,000 titles in English, Japanese, Chinese, French and German. So, it’s great if you’re visiting Sydney and need a wee something to read in your language of choice!

Located in the heart of Sydney CBD, Kinokuniya stocks an extensive collection of Manga, graphic novels, art and design books, cookbooks, travel books and children’s literature. I reckon it is the place to come for art and design books.

You can find Kinokuniya at Level 2, The Galeries, 500 George Street (opposite the QVB), Sydney NSW 2000.

*eReaders clearly had not been invented at the time of Groucho’s quote!

**as it happens, my book was out of stock, but the very helpful man at the information desk sorted me out.

Blog-world Friendship and Klockwerks

Tags

Abraham Lincoln, Art, Bertrand Russell, Blogging, Clock, Homewares, Roger Wood, San Antonio, Shopping, Steampunk, Texas, Time, Toronto

Exploding Alarm Clock by Klockwerks
CAN$360
(Image from Klockwerks)

The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time. (Bertrand Russell)

I have a friend. She is a blogging friend. We have never met – in fact she lives in Texas, so it is somewhat likely we never will. I don’t know what she looks like (Possibly, Jennifer Anniston?). I don’t even know her name. I do know she is a forty-something mother and teacher living in San Antonio.  I do know that despite the fact that she writes a hugely engaging blog, she hates giving personal details about herself, so she is happy to have her readers fill in any blanks with their imaginations. I don’t think she knows how vivid my imagination can be…

Oh – and I also know she is very funny. At times laugh out loud. You should go and check out her blog. You can find it at WHATIMEANT2SAY. It might even behoove you to read WHATIMEANT2 NAME EVERYONE, too. It explains who Dimples and Wonderbutt and Cap’n Firepants are.

Anyhoo, my anonymous Texan blog buddy sent me a link to Klockwerks. I clicked and found the whimsical world of Roger Wood – clock sculptor. It’s kinda’ wild.

Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. (Abraham Lincoln)

According to his bio, Roger Wood creates with time in mind. Yet even though the clock can be a consistent element of his work, it’s often secondary to its creation. Whether it’s a curious timepiece or a unique assemblage, Wood thrives on working with an immeasurable array of findings from the tarnished and forgotten to the odd or intriguing. He is a devoted collector of usual and unusual objects with one thing in common, a history.

Apparently, the source of all Roger’s inspiration lies in the hundreds of curiously labelled drawers and boxes brimming with artifacts of all description that line the shelves of his Toronto studio. He plays with an arrangement from his myriad of treasures until the precise moment that it feels right. Then he glues them all down so they can’t escape.

The result is quite magical…

Shoe Mold Clock by Klockwerks
CAN$340
(Image from Klockwerks)

Clock in Glass Box by Klockwerks
CAN$1,590
(Image from Klockwerks)

Big Brassy Clock by Klockwerks
CAN$570
(Image from Klockwerks)

Steampunk Mantle Clock by Klockwerks
CAN$620
(Image from Klockwerks)

If you’d like to see more of Roger Wood’s creations, check out his website here.

By the way – I’ll be in New Zealand for the next few days, so my communication and response times may be a little more intermittent than usual.