"Amongst the Bohemians": Lera Tribel at Charleston by Tom Allen for Harper's Bazaar UK November 2014

This shoot was done at Charleston, the home of the artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, and the country meeting place of the Bloomsbury Group.  

(Oxymore)

Harper Perennial Olive Editions

Harper Perennial's Olive Editions are gorgeous trade paperbacks, at $10 a piece, with covers illustrated by Milan Bozic.

(Harper Perennial)

Personalized Penguin Book-Inspired Mugs by The Pot Bank on Etsy

The Pot Bank makes these great china mugs that borrow the iconic design of Penguin books.  They have a couple of book-themed ones, and they also personalize!

(Etsy)

Mr. Men and Little Miss X House of Holland

Kooky British label House of Holland has teamed up with the publishers of the Mr. Men and Little Miss books to make a collection for both children and women.  Buy it at Colette.

For kids...

Old Friends Library Check-Out Card Print Fabric by jenimp for Spoonflower

I love this fabric printed with a photographic print of those old library book checkout cards.  The designer of the fabric made the cards have the titles of her favorite books, and she will even personalize the fabric for you, using your own favorites!  

Here's a list of the books that are on the fabric: Pride & Prejudice, The Bell Jar, The Catcher in the Rye, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson, Robin Hood, Much Ado About Nothing, The Last of the Mohicans, Alice in Wonderland, Little House on the Prairie, Choose Your Own Adventure, A Separate Peace, Tom Sawyer, King Arthur, Emma, The Great Gatsby, Peter Pan, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Crying of Lot 49, Northanger Abbey, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Farhenheit 451, Where the Wild Things Are, Nancy Drew, Jane Eyre, Selected Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Slaughterhouse Five, Harriet the Spy, Walden, Persuasion, The Wind in the Willows, Cranford, The Tempest, The Secret Garden, On the Road, Huckleberry Finn, Leaves of Grass, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, A Wrinkle in Time, Little Women.  

Not a bad list, eh?  Buy it here at Spoonflower.

(Photos)

Review: Eat: The Little Book of Fast Food by Nigel Slater

First of all, I'm a huge fan of Nigel Slater, so I was prepared to love his newest book, even before it arrived.  When I did get my hands on it, I kind of squealed.  You can't tell from this picture, but the lower half of the cover is actually a removable jacket, and the book itself has this gorgeous semi-flexible yellow rough fabric cover.  It's also an unusual size, thick but little.  As the subtitle suggests, this book returns to territory Slater has dealt with before, namely quick dishes, but it is a much more sophisticated and beautifully designed book than his earlier Real Fast Food.  Like most of his books, Eat doesn't have traditional recipes with an ingredient list at the top with precise amounts, and then a dry list of instructions.  Instead, the ingredients are in a list at the top, but without amounts (those are provided in the text of the recipe), most likely because Slater generally doesn't write recipes that rely on precision.  Even better, the text of his recipes are beautifully written, simple, and read almost like delicious poetry.  You can really read his recipes.  For example, a recipe for "Spiced Mushrooms on Naan" ends, "The nourishment of warm bread.  The heat of spice."  I especially love the way in which he organized this book.  No "appetizers, main courses, salads, and soups," but rather, "In the hand," "Little stews," "Under a crust," and "In the frying pan."  Each section starts with beautiful and mouthwatering little essays.  Another thing I love about the book is the way in which little recipe-lettes are sprinkled throughout.  You find delicious, ingenious throw-away ideas in these chapter-starting essays, as well as next to some of the more straight-forward essays, in the form of "A few variations."  Slater can't help himself.  He's just brimming with brilliant ideas, and his book provides a very strong sense of his generosity with those ideas.  The one thing I quibble I have with this beautiful book is the heavy emphasis on non-vegetarian food.  There are vegetarian recipes, but the great majority of the recipes and mini-recipes have meat in them.  This isn't a criticism, of course, because this is purely an issue of personal taste.  Frankly, it's a testament to how great this book is, since I just want to be able to use more of his ideas!

(I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for an honest review.)

Literary Collegiate Pennants by Out of Print Clothing

I would definitely prefer to fly a Pemberley flag than one from an actual school!  Out of Print makes felt pennants that reference Pride & Prejudice (Pemberley), The Catcher in the Rye (Pencey Prep), The Great Gatsby (West Egg), and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Emerald City).

(Out of Print)