(via prettybooks)
usually. Depends on the book.
(Source: lunamalfoy7, via prettybooks)
Get your post-holiday decompression in these 10 Excellent Reading Nooks
The 10 Commandments of a Righteous Reading Life
And lo from the heavens did the God of Literature (who is not, however self-appointed, Jonathan of Franzen) come down from its heavenly cloud made of unreleased Atwood novels and an unpublished fourth book of the Millennium series, and it did tell unto a lowly blogger the Ten Commandments of a righteous readerly life.
10. Thou shalt not spoil.
It is not up to thee to tell unto the people how Snape doth dispatch with Dumbledore lo upon the termination of the Good Wizardly Books. Shutteth thy mouth until thy friends have had a chance to read, or thou art knave.
9. Judge not, lest ye be judged.
Let he who is without literary sin cast the first stone. Thy secret passion for novels by Tom of Clancy’s ghostwriter should stop thy mouth from thy petulant snark. And admitteth it: thy problem with thy mother reading 50 SHADES OF GREY is primarily that she liketh the sexy bits. Groweth up.
8. It is not up to thee to save readerly humanity from itself.
Thy tastes are thine and thou art entitled to them, but thou needest not be evangelical to the point of being patronizing. Those souls thou deem unenlightened thinketh thou art kind of a douchebag.
7. Thou shalt not steal.
Long-term borrowing where thou eventually forgetest to returneth the book, however, is totally cool. (See also: let he who is without sin…) God’s corollary: returneth thy library books on time and pay fines promptly, thou jerkass.
6. Thou shalt not covet thy neighour’s library (or thy neighbour’s wife’s library).
Take joy and not jealousy in the books of others. Maybe thy neighbour will lend thou some books and then thou canst pull a Commandment 7 on them.
5. Thou may write in thy books if thou wishest, but write not in the books thou borrowest from others.
Also, freaketh out not if someone engages with their books differently than thee. Some may write, some may dog-ear. Thou art not the God of Literature, art thou? Then pipeth down.
4. The medium is not the message.
Marshall of McLuhan art a fly dude, but in this case he was wrongeth. Thou art not a more righteous reader for holding slavishly to paper. Are commandments on stone tablets more legit than those read on thy iPad? Answer not that rhetorical question. Judge not the method of literary transmission; rejoice instead in the love of literature.
3. Thou canst totally have other Gods than me.
Thy passion for Celebrity Rehab maketh thou not a less righteous reader than those who profess to not own a television set. And there is a 64% chance thou art less irritating at parties.
2. The book and the movie art separate things, and thou would enjoyeth both more if thou could acceptest that.
Like, thou probably doth not need to writeth another blog post about how the book art better than the film. That deeply original thought may indeed have been voiced sometime previous.
1. Thou shalt not kill the joy of reading in others.
I shall cast out of those souls who strive to make readers into slavish interpretations of a singular identity. Book art life. Allowest joy.
So shall it be written. So shall it be read. So shall it be done.
Yknow, I’m totally cool with this, except for #9. And I’m generally down with #9. But certain things.. no. If it’s something spreading a message of hate, or spreading misinformation, or romanticising things like abuse (see: Twilight, 50 Shades, old-school rapey romances), I am NOT okay with these.
And no, my problem with things like 50 Shades and those Old Skool Romances isn’t the sexy bits. I encourage the sexy bits of books. GO SEXY BITS GO! Fuck, I grew up on the internet reading fanfic. My problem with them is they encourage abuse and rape, that they promote them as ~*~romantic~*~, that they spread false information (50 Shades spreading HORRIBLE misinformation about BSDM), etc.
Yeah, they’re written terribly. But seriously, that’s not my beef with them. If you want to read something written badly, go for it. If you want to read something actively promoting abuse? FUCK NO. And guess what? Twilight, 50 Shades, and their ilk do the latter. And that’s where I judge.
Hogwarts and Minas Tirith, made out of gingerbread. Yes, gingerbread. These are baked goods held together by icing and obsession.
The Reader’s Bill of Rights, Illustrated
The right not to read
The right to skip pages
The right not to finish
The right to reread
The right to read anything
The right to escapism
The right to read anywhere
The right to browse
The right to read out loud
The right to defend your tastes
(‘The Reader’s Bill of Rights’ from Daniel Pennac, Better Than Life, 1994)
Absorene Book and Paper Cleaner
Absorene is a magical putty straight from the hands of the bookish angels. I’m only sort of kidding. It comes in a tub and has the consistency of slightly dry play-doh. You remove a small amount and warm it with your hands, then rub the ball in one direction on the pages of the book, or over a cloth bound cover. Its slight magic comes from its ability to remove film left by cigarette smoke, along with some of the smell. It will also remove surface dust, dirt, and smudges. If you’re using Absorene on a board cover and it isn’t working as well as you would like, try Clean Cover Gel, a petroleum-based gel used for cleaning and restoring board covers. Use a lint-free cloth, and only a small amount of the gel.
"Ok, I was legitimately too old to be watching Wishbone but I did anyway — I saw every episode, and I’m pretty sure the only reason why I made it through my BritLit survey in second year was because of my thoughtful knowledge of the classics gleaned from Wishbone. For those not in the know, Wishbone was a Jack Russell terrier who lived out the adventures he read about in great works of literature. Personally, I think they should reboot Wishbone and give us renditions of Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, 50 Shades of Grey, and Hunger Games."
— How Retro Public Television Brainwashed Me into Becoming a Reader (via bookriot)
(via bookriot)
