Is Writing Fiction an Inherently Religious Process?
J.R.R. Tolkien famously described writing as an act of “subcreation.” If we believe that a god created us and our world, then when we create fiction we are engaging in what is ultimately a divine process: the creation of life.
Through this, writing becomes a devotional art. Just as churchgoers express reverence for Christ’s sacrifice by ritually reenacting the Last Supper, authors express reverence by reenacting the creation of the universe and its inhabitants.
The Rights of the Reader – by Daniel Pennac, illustrated by Quentin Blake
Copyright by Walker Books Ltd, London
Banned Books Week (30 Sept - 6 Oct) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. It highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.
By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship. Check out the frequently challenged books section to explore the issues and controversies around book challenges and book banning.
Banned Books Week is sponsored in the US by the American Booksellers Association; the American Library Association; Association of American Publishers; National Council of Teachers of English and many others.
For more information on getting involved with Banned Books Week see the Banned Books Week site.
The wonderful poster above is by Grant Snider
Stray Books - yet another wonderful piece by Grant Snider
In the Hungarian capitol of Budapest you can find this rather nice book-shaped fountain. With each spray, the illusion of a turning page is created.
This is where your grandchildren will take their children who only know books from their Kindle or whatever the dominant e-reader is called by then …
Found on Neatorama.
Artist Guy Laramee has recently completed a number of new sculptural works where he transforms thick tomes into incredible topographical features including mountains, caves, volcanoes, and even water. Many of the works are part of a new project titled Guan Yin, a series of work dedicated to the forces that enable individuals to endure grief and pain, or in his words “the mysterious forces thanks to which we can traverse ordeals.”
Found on This Is Colossal
How a book is born
Found on WeldonOwen, presumably by Mariah Bear.
Dwayne Johnson? Ripping out pages from collectable books? You will go to hell for this.
Scene from ‘Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” (@ 8:37)
Slovakian artist Matej Kren‘s installation Scanner, currently on display in Italy at the Museum of Modern Art in Bologna.
Found at Flavorwire
Hundreds of unusual bookshelves can be found here.
One of the amazing book sculptures by Madrid-based artist Alicia Martin. More on her website.
In a Flood Tide of Digital Data, an Ark Full of Books
Forty-foot shipping containers stacked two by two are stuffed with the most enduring, as well as some of the most forgettable, books of the era. Every week, 20,000 new volumes arrive, many of them donations from libraries and universities thrilled to unload material that has no place in the Internet Age.
Destined for immortality one day last week were “American Indian Policy in the 20th Century,” “All New Crafts for Halloween,” “The Portable Faulkner,” “What to Do When Your Son or Daughter Divorces” and “Temptation’s Kiss,” a romance.
“We want to collect one copy of every book,” said Brewster Kahle, who has spent $3 million to buy and operate this repository situated just north of San Francisco. “You can never tell what is going to paint the portrait of a culture.”
