Back to the bindery.

Before I left my job in Connecticut, I promised a colleague I'd make a guestbook for her daughter's wedding. Behold said book. It's been quite awhile since I pulled out my bookbinding stuff, but it felt really good to get back to the bindery. Huzzah! You like? I'm pretty pleased with how it came out, although it was a bit tricky with the humidity we were enduring. Anyway, now that I have all my tools out, I might as well keep going, right?

Ex libris,

Marissa

Literally the best thing ever!

A few months ago, the teen librarian where I work sent me a link to a TEDx Teen Talk featuring Tavi Gevinson. Right now, you might be like, "Who?" but watch the TEDx video. She is, in a word, rad. She started a fashion blog at age 12 and word spread. Now at 16 she runs an online magazine called Rookie which I wish was around when I was a teenager. I want to say it's the anti-teengirl magazine, but it's just much smarter and more well-rounded than the average magazine you pick up that's all "What flavor lip gloss represents your style?"

To celebrate a year of Rookie, Tavi edited and released Rookie Yearbook One via publisher Drawn & Quarterly. This circles back to my original point, the TEDx talk. After watching, Susan (my library's teen librarian) ordered Tavi's book. I checked it out and just finished it yesterday. In a word, LOVE. Just fresh and funny and informative and made me feel awesome-- and I'm not even the target audience! Some highlights: How to Be a Happy Homebody, An Actually Useful Article About Dressing for a Party, Midnight Snacks: A Taxonomy, How Not to Care What Other People Think About You, Confessions of a Fangirl (which happens to be about Hanson, a favorite band of mine), Thrifting: The Master Class, and all sorts of interviews with amazing people.

All these articles-- and more every day-- can be found on the Rookie website. I highly recommend the book, too! Tavi has been on Jimmy Fallon and some other shows. She's a rising star.

Enjoy.

Ex libris,

Marissa

Resolutions

Another year! Man, they just fly by. A new year means resolutions. I think I have only ever really kept one resolution, and that was 2001 when I resolved to write down all the books I read like my grandmother did. I still do that with pen and paper. My LibraryThing is a small slice of the list. I read 83 books in 2012 (although I missed some because when I read a picture book on the fly or read to my Lego Club, I don't count those.) I will continue to keep that resolution, but here are a few things that I will try to do in 2013:

1. I will add all my books to LibraryThing.
2. I will take my old notebook I write my books in and rebind it.
3. I will organize my room to the point that I can get a new bed.
4. I will finish the quilt I started randomly some years ago.
5. I will make more art! Bookbinding, spinning (my new love), whatever. It has been awhile.
6. I will visit people and/or travel just for kicks. (Lookin' at you, Martin Luther King Jr. Day.)

I'm going to stop there because I like even numbers. So, in short, be more creative, be more social, and clean up. I don't want to make any reading-related resolutions because of the Nutmeg Committee. I have 2 left of the 8 books I have to read by February 13. The Nutmeg Committee is a resolution in and of itself, reading-wise and being more social. I did that on purpose.

A few recommendations while I have you:
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn (before she wrote Gone Girl)
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

Ex libris,

Marissa

Two non-paranormal books that I really enjoyed.

 I recently finished two books that I really enjoyed. Sisters of Glass by Stephanie Hemphill was historical fiction and Tokyo Heist by Diana Renn was a mystery. Nary a ghoul in sight. I was happy to read some realistic books for myself and also to recommend to others who may be worn out from paranormal books or dystopias. I like those genres as much as the next person, but it's nice to read something different for a change!

Sisters of Glass snagged me with its beautiful cover, and then really snagged me with its subject matter-- glassblowing. For a long time it was my career ambition to be a glassblower. I took workshops and even interned for a glassblower in college. To be fair, the book is not just about glassblowing. It's also a story about family, love, and duty. Maria is the younger daughter of a glassblower, who has stipulated that she marry a nobleman. She'd rather work in the furnaces of the glass shop or sketch. Her older sister Giovanna is miffed that she was passed over for the betrothal, and Maria finds herself falling for a man she can't have.

The novel is written in non-rhyming verse, and most of it is quite lyrical and pretty. The atmosphere of Murano, the Venetian island where glass is produced, feels sort of mystical. The story follows a traditional arc and it was refreshing to read one point of view instead of many. As I was reading, I was concerned that Stephanie Hemphill would lose readers with the glassmaking terminology she uses, but behold! A glossary at the end. I'd recommend this to historical fiction fans and any teen interested in glassblowing (although I might've been the only one, and that was-- gulp-- fifteen years ago). For a different, much more complicated story set in France, try Daphne du Maurier's The Glass-Blowers.


Now, for something completely different: Tokyo Heist. This one got me from the art angle too-- it's about a stolen van Gogh painting. Violet arrives in Seattle to spend time with her dad. His employers have recently commissioned him to paint a mural in their office building in Japan. Unfortunately, they have also recently been burglarized and a van Gogh has gone missing. Violet goes to Japan with her dad so he can work on the mural and Violet tries to solve the mystery surrounding the painting and the gangsters who want it. This is a fast-paced mystery with international flavor.

Violet reads a lot of manga and is a budding artist herself, so at the same time her own story is going on, she's writing a manga story called Kimono Girl. I really liked the parallel stories of Violet and Kimono Girl. I know pretty much nothing about manga other than it's Japanese, but I still found it accessible in this story. There are Japanese words sprinkled throughout that can be figured out from context, and they are used purposefully. I really enjoyed this one.

Sisters of Glass was published under Random House's Knopf imprint in March of 2012 and is available now. Tokyo Heist was published under Penguin's Viking imprint in mid-June of 2012 and is also available now.

Ex libris,

Marissa

A REAL librarian

I am a real librarian, friends. Graduation was a few weeks ago and I'm taking a break from my final paper to write this blog post. I will turn it in and the graduate school will issue my degree in August. It feels great and also weird. Going to school and working full-time is HARD, yo. But it was worth it because I'm doing what I love!
Next week is Art Adventures, a four-week mini art history and craft program. We're doing Mondrian first. I went to the art store on Friday morning and got all my supplies. I showed actual restraint and didn't buy anything for me, which is very hard at an art store.
I say this every time I blog, but now that school is pretty well done I hope to blog more. And read more. Quick book recommendation: The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour.

Ex libris,

Marissa

Birthday book.

This is the second year I've bought a book for the library I work at. This year, I chose Playing With Books by Jason Thompson. The book is full of great ideas for using old books. We've already used the paperback postcards tutorial for a drop-in teen craft at my library, and we're going to be using the kusudama flowers tutorial next week. In addition, Thompson is the proprietor of Rag & Bone Bindery, a bindery that creates gorgeous albums and journals. I wanted to work for Rag & Bone after college, although there wasn't an opening and it was a pipe dream! I bought my sister one of their paper page albums after my niece was born, and it's now the only thing she ever asks for.

In summary, giving a gift on your birthday is good karma, as is finding new uses for old books. And if you need a new book, try Rag & Bone.

Ex libris,

Marissa

The Sketchbook Project

First things first-- done with my fall semester! It's such a relief. So now I need to get started on the Sketchbook Project!

The Sketchbook Project is run through a very very cool group called Art House Co-op. The project works like this: After I signed up, I received my theme for the sketchbook. Then I received the sketchbook in the mail. It has a barcode on it and a book pocket. The theme is also printed next to the barcode. I have to complete the book and send it back, and it will be in several exhibitions. Then it will be in a permanent library of sketchbooks and the barcode will be linked into a database! It's the best of both worlds for me-- libraries and art. Full deets are here, but the deadline to sign up is long gone (sorry).

The themes are randomly assigned out of thirty possible themes. My theme is how to save the world. I have tentatively titled it "Live Simply/Simply Live" because I feel like everything is way too complicated these days. The world would be a better, cleaner, and more peaceful place if we just simplified things. I want to incorporate the Shaker song "Simple Gifts" into my piece as well.

What do you think? Any ideas on how to save the world? Once I get my project going, I'll post photos in my Art House profile. I can use it as an online portfolio, as well, which is super cool.

Phewwww, I really need to get back into art. I hope this is a great jumping off point.

Ex libris,

Marissa