The House of Mirth: Book Jacket

Since she had read The Age of Innocence, I have been wanting to get my sister a copy of The House of Mirth.
And since I was to make a gift of it, I wanted to find her the best edition available: one with not only an attractive cover, but crisp, sharp text that's easy on the eyes.
I found one that had the latter, but wasn't too happy with the cover.
So over the weekend, I designed and printed a book jacket.

The House of Mirth is written in the style of a novel of manners and in the first few chapters, several names pop-up in conversations and events. This makes it hard for the first time reader to keep track of characters names, their backgrounds and their relationship to each other. To solve this issue, I placed brief characters' profiles on the book jacket's inner flaps for instant access and easy reference.

Illustration: There's a dog in your Sun

From Stephen King's novella. I liked the idea, but not the story; I imagined a different outcome.

Of nineteen and of twenty-nine

“Attractive women of nineteen and of twenty-nine are alike in their breezy confidence; on the contrary, the exigent womb of the twenties does not pull the outside world centripetally around itself. The former are ages of insolence, comparable the one to a young cadet, the other to a fighter strutting after combat.

But whereas a girl of nineteen draws her confidence from a surfeit of attention, a woman of twenty-nine is nourished on subtler stuff. Desirous, she chooses her apéritifs wisely, or, content, she enjoys the caviare of potential power. Happily she does not seem, in either case, to anticipate the subsequent years when her insight will often be blurred by panic, by the fear of stopping or the fear of going on. But on the landings of nineteen or twenty-nine she is pretty sure that there are no bears in the hall.”

Tender is the Night, Chapter 56

book want: other people's sketchbooks

Cloclwise from top left: A Guy's Art Diary: 15 Minutes Life Sketch - Sara Midda's South of France: A Sketchbook - Oga Kazuo Animation Artworks II - Everything is its own reward

To Kill a Mockingbird

If I were to recommend one summer book/movie, it would be To Kill a Mockingbird. If I never recommended it before, it's because it's such a classic most likely everyone have read and/or seen it already. Though because it's an obvious choice, many might have overlooked it and haven't had the chance to enjoy it. Moreover, if you've read the book, try the movie. Or the other way around.

“He had dawdled over his cigar because he was at heart a dilettante, and thinking over a pleasure to come often gave him a subtler satisfaction than its realisation. This was especially the case when the pleasure was a delicate one, as his pleasures mostly were; and on this occasion the moment he looked forward to was so rare and exquisite in quality that—well, if he had timed his arrival in accord with the prima donna's stage-manager he could not have entered the Academy at a more significant moment than just as she was singing: "He loves me—he loves me not—HE LOVES ME!—" and sprinkling the falling daisy petals with notes as clear as dew.”

The Age of Innocence, Chapter 1

Solemn lullaby

“Will not a tiny speck very close to our vision blot out the glory of the world, and leave only a margin by which we see the blot? I know no speck so troublesome as self.”

“It was a lovely afternoon; the leaves from the lofty limes were falling silently across the sombre evergreens, while the lights and shadows slept side by side: there was no sound but the cawing of the rooks, which to the accustomed ear is a lullaby, or that last solemn lullaby, a dirge.”

Middlemarch, Book Four, Chapter 42

Reading List

I'm looking for good books to read this summer. I like classics but I'm tired of the same suggestions like Alice in Wonderland, anything by Jane Austen or HP series. What do you recommend? (formspring)

Any or all of the above (see photo).

The Age of Innocence, redux

“The Countess Olenska was the only young woman at the dinner; yet, as Archer scanned the smooth plump elderly faces between their diamond necklaces and towering ostrich feathers, they struck him as curiously immature compared with hers. It frightened him to think what must have gone to the making of her eyes.”

The Age of Innocence, Chapter VIII

I suspect I'm beginning to form an unhealthy infatuation with this story.

unwritten rules, unquestionable conventions

“...an unalterable and unquestioned law of the musical world required that the German text of French operas sung by Swedish artists should be translated into Italian for the clearer understanding of English-speaking audiences. This seemed as natural to Newland Archer as all the other conventions on which his life was moulded: such as the duty of using two silver-backed brushes with his monogram in blue enamel to part his hair, and of never appearing in society without a flower (preferably a gardenia) in his buttonhole.”

Chapter 1, The Age of Innocence
Image taken from the 1920 first edition. The whole scanned book can be found here.

The enterprise of marrige

"Don't you ever mind," she asked suddenly, "not being rich enough to buy all the books you want?" 

He followed her glance about the room, with its worn furniture and shabby walls.
"Don't I just? Do you take me for a saint on a pillar?"
 

"And having to work—do you mind that?"
 

"Oh, the work itself is not so bad—I'm rather fond of the law."
 

"No; but the being tied down: the routine—don't you ever want to get away, to see new places and people?"
 

"Horribly—especially when I see all my friends rushing to the steamer."
 

She drew a sympathetic breath. "But do you mind enough—to marry to get out of it?"
 

Selden broke into a laugh. "God forbid!" he declared.
 

She rose with a sigh, tossing her cigarette into the grate. 

"Ah, there's the difference—a girl must, a man may if he chooses." She surveyed him critically. "Your coat's a little shabby—but who cares? It doesn't keep people from asking you to dine. If I were shabby no one would have me: a woman is asked out as much for her clothes as for herself. The clothes are the background, the frame, if you like: they don't make success, but they are a part of it. Who wants a dingy woman? We are expected to be pretty and well-dressed till we drop—and if we can't keep it up alone, we have to go into partnership."

Excerpt from chapter 1, House of of Mirth.

He come to town...

To me, this cover feels reminiscent of over world layouts of old-school RPGs. It's likely not intended to look like that, because the more I look at it, the less I see it as such. But at first glance, I almost expected to find a pixelated, sword-and-shield-wielding sprite wandering somewhere in the forest.

Fashioning fashion cover

I saw this cover today while book browsing. I've always wanted to take photos of book covers while wandering around bookstores. Some editions have really remarkable cover designs and it's hard to find an image of the same cover online to post. This time I was lucky though.

Doyald Young books

I've been going through my (wish?)list, editing out items that I was no longer interested in buying, when I came across Doyald Young's page which I bookmarked months ago. They're a fine set of books, I'm sure. But a little too steep for me to buy anytime soon. I'm still keeping them on the list, for now.

Research

Looking for names, and coming across interesting, and surprisingly amusing, results.

Have a good weekend.

(Summer) Projects

Slow down

... and observe.

101 Things I Learned...

How do you grow a business? Is there a proper way to hold the knife while cutting? What are push and pull strategies? How do you turn a sketch in to a garment prototype? What's the right way to draw a line?
I know the cliched number is a little off-putting, but these books are surprisingly good.
Listing 101 things the authors picked up from architecture, business, fashion and culinary school, these books are a primer for the heavier reading material.  Even people with marginal interest in any of those fields will gain some wisdom and insight.  I'd say they're excellent for a high school student or recent graduate considering heading to any of those schools.

Currently reading

 Unfortunately, due to some delivery charge snafu, it cost more than it should. Hope I can clear that up. 

Covering: The Wizard of Oz

A while ago, Jessica Hische posted an entry in her blog on her students' work: designing a cover, end paper, title page and bookplate for a novelization of The Wizard of Oz.
The covers were so wonderful that I wouldn't have guessed they were students' work. Have a look see.