Books about Books
With World Book Day approaching on 23rd April, I want to highlight the many books that our library has celebrating the books in our lives.
Agonising over what to read next? Our library has books to help you choose your next favourite author. Try:
- Who Else Writes Like?...A Readers' Guide to Fiction Authors;
- or The New Torchlight List: In Search of the Best Modern Authors;
- or 501 Must-Read Books.
- Books for Living: A Reader's Guide to Life is a celebration of reading as well as an impassioned recommendation of specific books.
There are books about fascinating libraries and bookshops throughout the world:
- The Most Beautiful Libraries of the World is a treasure trove;
- Reading Allowed: True Stories and Curious Incidents from a Provincial Library will have you laughing out loud;
- and BiblioTech: Why Libraries Matter More Than Ever in the Age of Google is a wake-up call.
Don't forget our local libraries:
- Ka Taoka Hakena = Treasures from the Hocken Collection;
- and our very own Freedom to Read: A Centennial History of Dunedin Public Library.
Books about bookshops have a great appeal too:
- Sixpence House: Lost in a Town of Books is set in Wales;
- My Bookstore: Writers Celebrate their Favourite Places To Browse, Read and Shop is great fun;
- and Browse: The World in Bookshops captures the magic.
If you love book illustrations, I can recommend:
- Cats in Books: A Celebration of Cat Illustration through the Ages;
- Arthur Rackham: A Life with Illustration;
- and Shepard's War: E H Shepard: The Man Who Drew Winnie-the-Pooh.
New Zealand illustrators are awe-inspiring, try:
- The Life and Art of Lynley Dodd;
- Coverup: The Art of the Book Cover in New Zealand;
- and Dunedin author and illustrator David Elliot's winning book Snark: Being a True History of the Expedition that Discovered the Snark and the Jabberwock...and its Tragic Aftermath.
Our books on illuminated books are gorgeous, especially The Art of Illumination: An Anthology of Manuscripts from the Sixth to the Sixteenth Century.
Bookbinding has a long and interesting history. Read more in Beautiful Bookbindings: A Thousand Years of the Bookbinder's Art;
or try making your own book - Making Handmade Books: 100+ Bindings, Structures and Forms.
Of course books themselves have influenced history in so many ways. You can't go past Books that Changed History: From The Art of War to Anne Frank's Diary.
Of course I have to throw in some tributes to librarians:
- The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race To Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts;
- The World's Strongest Librarian: A Memoir of Tourette's, Faith, Strength, and the Power of Family;
- and When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War Two.