tsundoku

Reincarnation for this thrift store book.  It will now travel through the mail to a new home on the planet.  Saved!!!

 I will be attending our Library’s used book sale today - which is a huge Bi-annual event.  

A gold mine if there ever was one for mail artists.

One more postcard made from a neglected book

My Tsundoku pile contains a book called "The Anatomy of Bibliomania" ...

Asemic piece, I think, from a month or two ago, titled Bookcase:

Ooooooh! I'd like to have been a mouse in your ceiling moulding to watch creation of this piece with it's sharp-fine lines and blobby droozly splats'n'drips!

Fike, I'd like to have seen it that way too, but alas. Let me know the secret if you discover it, ok?

Suppa duppa abstract asemic piece Nancy!  Thank you a joy to see.

Really I joined because there are things that intrigue me in relation to books and how they are used.

Do you bookie people keep them in neat piles, or not so neat perhaps, in one room? Or is the term 'pile' used metaphorically? My 'pile' is distributed all over the house plus there are ebooks that lurk in my tablet. Unread or semi read as they might be.

I said semi read because I always have several books on the go at the same time. This is to suit my mood, time of the day, or night, place and wether I am lucid enough to understand what I read.

I may have misunderstood the purpose of this group. Is it about tearing up books to make mail art? Oh! I could never do that!

I have used my old copy of Cannery Row but only because I found it had completely desintegrated all by itself

I had such hopes for this group, but it seems to have gone to sleep. As I said, I could not tear a book but much of my artmaking is based on, quotes or otherwise owes its existence to something I read.
There is the problem, or perhaps it is not a problem, that I have several books on the go at the same time, always. One of them is Ulysses by James Joice. Am I alone in finding it it very funny?

Strange.... I found Ulysses kinda heavy.  Pun intended

Yes that is the general consensus Judi, but then I am  peculiar. Probably it is the length of it that puts people off but as I am reading it in my tablet I do not notice. Until the tablet falls on my nose when I fall asleep reading in bed.

On tearing books: After feeling like you, Martha, for many decades, I now find it almost easy, using only old books that are literally falling apart. If they're not readable and not salable, why not give them new life? Is how I see it now. I'm in love with them (and also with the ones on my shelves -- or in piles, yes -- which are not falling apart and not to be used in art.) Still, there IS pain on discovering a book in its death throes! But then the rebirth in other forms takes that away.

I found Ulysses both funny and heavy, and loved Molly's ending soliloquy most of all. Could never read the whole book again, however. ... 

Fike, so glad you formed this group! In my studio old books and magazines abound. I should stop buying, but I can’t stay away from used book sales and thrift stores! 

20.02.20 ....As a child, I was taught to take especially good care of books & certainly not to write, etc. in books. I spent countless hours entertaining  myself with trips to & fro & in the library. Still yet, after all these years, books , libraries, Barnes & Noble, second-hand bookstores & the  "Goodwill" book shelf remain a central concern in my day to day. But also... long ago, I was privileged  to witness occasional books (children's books primarily) that contained markings, drawings, underlined sentences, commentary in the margins , etc., etc. &  I begin to see that the book could serve a multitude of possibilities of expression beyond its original format.The foremost proponent in this realm that I was most impressed with is the British artist Tom Phillips & his adopted  book "A Humument" ( I think the title of the original book was "A  Human Document"). Several year ago, Mister Josh Rosen (I.U.O.M.A. member) put together a mail art/book project (involving many mail artists) that I thoroughly enjoyed  & thought to be most successful. His project was entitled "Revising The Century". The other day I went to the local recycling center  . They had bins for all manner of materials including books & paperbacks---of course,the public is not allowed to pilfer thru the contents. & finally, ... I saw the movie "Ulysses" with Kirk Douglas years & years ago---so, was never attracted to all the hoopla about James Joyce  & his "Ulysses"---- as it is my usual practice not to "read the book before  I see the movie" as I don't want to spoil the end of the movie.

Yes! thanks Fike for forming this group.

Nancy, you are right; when a book falls apart it is OK to re-birth it as art. The only one that did so for me is Cannery Row. I picked it up to re-read it  and I was so sad when the paperback fell to pieces in my hands. It seemed natural to use it. Back to Ulysses, I do not feel such an oddity now, but must say that reading it on the tablet I can, when finding something beyond my understanding, invoque Google and some kind soul would have explained whatever it is. Of course it makes Ulyses even longer but the pleasure is in the journey. Only I need several parallel lives.

Richard; my policy is the reverse of yours. I do not to see the movie before I read the book, I do not want to be told what to think. As to spoiling endings, I seem to be inmune. I have read detective stories many times over, knowing 'who done it'. Back to enjoying the journey! I think what I enjoy the most in a book is the authors handling of the language rather than the story. Anybody can tell a story but the telling is what matters for me.

Jayne; you would love to visit Beckenham. It used to be a village, now submerged in the sprawl of London, but the High Street retains its character reasonabley well. There are around a dozen charity shops and all sell secondhand books, among other stuff. The temptation is huge.

21.O2.20  Dare Ficus S., yes, ...this group  is another "feather in your cap".  & Wow!  Do you speak Japanese? The only word I seem to know is "Wabi-Sabi" or something like that......& to Ms. Mail Art Martha, ...I certainly bow to your point of view. My commentary about Ulysses was intended to be a joke on myself & the classic everyday line that goes "don't tell me how it ends --I don't want to spoil ending". Obviously,  poorly presented.  I can only assume that  a film about an ancient Greek hero  & a contemporary  book by the author James Joyce have little in common other than perhaps an intricate & complex journey. SinCelery, Richard Canard

I realized you were joking Richard! I wasn't though. Sometimes I read the ending to see if I can read/enjoy/stomach a book. That is if it is a novel. Mostly I prefer non-fiction, no danger of finishing crying.  

My favourite author as a child was Monteiro Lobato. A Brazilian educator of liberal tendencies who wrote a series of books aiming to educate through entertainment. They are fantastic. He was not liked by the Establishment. I met Ulysses through him.

He said that books of no consequence should be printed on something edible so you eat them as you go along. Lobato would have approved of tearing up certain books to make Mail Art. Mmmm...

Richard, A Humument is incredible, yes, fascinating visually and I also try to "read" it. A multi-years project. Just a page or two takes me an hour. It's kind of like dessert, only better. Neil Gordon taught me the term Wabi-Sabi when I was trying to describe why decay is beautiful, and failing. Wabi-Sabi took care of that problem.

You must have been a really sophisticated child, Martha. My favorite author was probably E.B. White. I was still reading "Stuart Little" at 14 and laughing my guts out. 

Entropy is a Great Artist!

feel like this group was created solely for you (me) ?

a public library withdrawn book becomes an art supply store ... carefully being deconstructed and thoughtfully repurposed.  Your thoughts?

Absolutely Mike!

Not sophisticated child, Nancy, just sick frequently. The only thing I could do was read.  The Ulysses I met through Lobato was the real one, the greek myth, only decided to read James Joyce recently because everybody says it is difficult. Could not resist the challenge.

I still read kiddies' books! No shame in that I tell myself.

That's a wonderful way to describe it, Mike. I can't claim such carefulness, as a lot of experimenting goes on with painting, folding, tearing pages. Any part of the book still semi-intact when I find it tends to quickly fall off by itself during all that. I keep everything, though, and have a beautiful supply of parts of covers + spines and innards. I truly love that stuff but only occasionally use it, maybe because I just can't keep my hands off the paints.

Glad something good, reading, came of childhood sickness, Martha. That you're reading Ulysses on your own is impressive. I read/studied it in a seminar in school and needed all the help I could get via the thoughts of others as we went through it. The nearly worn-out copy is still on my shelf after all these years. It has lived in 9 apartments and 3 houses.    

Oh, Bradford's entropy almost got lost below! I had to google to remind myself of its non-physics meaning: "lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder." It IS a great artist. Often the heart of art, in my book.

I am not reading Ulysses on my own, Nancy, but with the help of many that have written about it and  published in the Internet. The beauty of the tablet is that I can jump from the ebook to the net in a click and back. The inconvenience is when I fall asleep and the tablet falls on my nose. Ouch!

MInd you, the book is probably just as heavy.

I got these pages from an old cookery book from Bonniediva. We shall see if I have learned from you guys.

Does this mean you'll be sending us chocolate devils food cake? One can always hope.

Frank Ching 1975 book - "de rigueur when (Heide) was in school." - a bit of a sacred texts for design students. 

Has anyone else copied an image onto cardstock (instead of cannibalizing the original) ?

I don't imagine it will help -- but -- before I discovered HP 4x5" glossy photopaper [which they make for refilling their photobooth printers] I used to print cards on 4x6", unlined index cards. both inkjet and laser printed.

Yes, but no doubt a lousy job on my part. They looked like photocopies (the paper can't have been good enough for one thing) and get used very rarely. Those in your photo look exquisite. Acrylic transfer turned out somewhat better for me than my version of copies. 

Joining this group already relieves me. Thank you for this initiative, Ficus.

We are self isolating! Soon may be obligatory. At last I shall work through my pile of To Read Books!

Perhaps I'm in the right place. I'm heavily inspired by things I read and old books. My husband has been libraries for all his adult life. He used to be in charge of weeding material at his previous branch, so I received many great books with damaged spines that they weren't allowed to sell/give to the public. 

here's a tsundoku link I found today online in someone's "pocket"

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/tsundoku-the-art-of-buying-books...

Janus sent me a postcard with a page from a  book stuck on one side and on the other instructions to add my view on it. Obviously ideal for this group. The page is from Candida by Bernard Shaw.

By the way I am reading the Pickwick papers at the moment. Very funny and full of turns of phrases, something I much enjoy.  

pages I did for Attic Zine assembling magazine, issue #12, Orange 1

Luis Filipe Gomes illustrates his life as a reader!

Tsundoku - Saw a post to an IUoMA group about your love of reading.  I enjoy reading too. Also enjoy library and planned parenthood book sales .. seeing books as a source for art supplies .. to create envelopes and other mail art .. even creating altered books. Is this in your wheelhouse? Some ppl can't stand to destroy a book like this.? - Smilin Mike

I could only destroy or mailartify, depending on point of view, really bad books. Any written by Vlad the Great for example

Oops! I made a mistake, this book was meant for this group and went to Ficus new group about the war, sorry, the special operations in Ukraine.

All the way from Tasmania, from Pam Parks. 

Hmmmmm. We may have to move our living area out onto the porch.

Looks like you're entomed.

Ouch!

Is that your Sundoku? Oh my stars! I thought my 10 or 12 books waiting for attention were too many. I take it that Sundoku means ' this pile of books I am going to read, one day' . Am I right?

On an envelope from Helene lagache a great stamp featuring my favourite author, Marcel Proust. I revel in the long sentences! I cannot stand the staccato short sentences of Hemingway, for instance. Another favourite is Henry  James.

Thank you Martha. I love Henry JAMES too, and Faulkner, Joyce Carol OATES...Naipaul..etc

I also read about ten books a month, books are essential to my life. I participate in several book clubs and you?

Helene, my pleasure. I made a bookmark with the top of the envelope!

...Martha .. :-)