Anyway. A follow-up from one of my posts last week:
Miriam Teows's A Complicated Kindness was the last book standing at the end of CBC's Canada Reads challenge. Teows's novel, about a teenaged Mennonite girl living in the prairies, was championed by John K. Samson from The Weakerthans in a week-long panel debate that also included lawyer/politico/writer Maureen McTeer and Scott Thompson from The Kids in the Hall.
A Complicated Kindness is much more contemporary and edgy and sympathetic than my brief description makes it sound. Don't think "updated Little House on the Prairies." Think "somewhat more uplifting Cruddy."
My understanding is that the next step after announcing the winner is enlisting Canadians across the land to read the book. But really, I think people everywhere should read this novel. I don't often tout books as having something for everyone, but I really think almost anyone can get something out of this story. It's that good.
In other news, I got two emails within an hour of each other -- from tuckova and Kim -- pointing me to this crazy thing. You recall that I have a thing for chairs, as well as a thing for bookshelves? Those nutty kids over at the Italian design firm Nobody & Co. have brought these two great flavours together in the Bibliochaise.
I know it's totally 1998 to point out cute other-language-to-English translated web copy, but according to the Nobody & Co. website: The Bibliochaise is an armchairlibrary for who likes to be immersed in deep reading.Apparently it can shelve five linear metres worth of books, which is pretty impressive, but I'm curious as to how comfortable it is. It looks a tad... cubey. And there doesn't seem to be much padding inside the arms. Also, I'm not sure how I feel about the aesthetics of it. Maybe a teak or mahogany or even birch veneer, rather than black? And something other than orange vinyl for the upholstery. I'm thinking that mismatched books don't really work with this chair, either. Much as I hate the matchy-matchy approach to organizing books, sometimes it works.
Hm. This chair is starting to seem like a lot of work. What do you guys think? Yay or nay?
13 comments:
Me likey! But I'd want it to be a bit wider---one of those chair-and-a-half deals---and it needs an ottoman, also surrounded by books, of course.
I think it looks uncomfortable. Plus I'd be worried about the inevitable de-shelving that would occur every time I lifted an arm or something.
Cool idea, crap execution. -- Deborah
I'm with Anonymous Deborah (if, in fact, that is her real name): cool idea, drap execution. And the color is making me twitchy.
I'm kind of digging it. I would go with a nice dark wood and maybe ivory upholstery; I think all I'd need would be a nice throw pillow since I usually find myself contorted sideways into a reading chair anyway.
A matching ottoman would be very cool.
Yeah, I'm not the biggest fan. I prefer my book-reading chairs to be soft, squashy, and somewhat larger than that. The idea's cool, though.
When I say things such as "I would like to surround myself with books," I don't mean it literally. This seems awfully claustrophobic and uncomfortable to me. Pass.
It's uncomfortable enough to sit on vinyl with shorts ... now you'd have to wear long pants to avoid getting paper cuts on your calves.
It doesn't look terribly comfortable, but in an extra-storage-spare-seating-decorative kind of way? Not too horrible. Although . . . where would you rest your cup of tea or coffee??
In addition to Deb's points, where would your cat lie? Mine likes to sprawl on my lap in much the same manner that Lucy van Pelt lounges on Schroeder's piano. I don't think he'd be very happy with this non-cat-friendly seating arrangement.
Also, your legs would be brushing against the books on the bottom, which would not only be hard and uncomfortable, but also lead to "oh my god I smashed the book! Is it okay?" freakouts (at least, it would for me).
a big NAY here! I'd much rather have a comfortable chair with plenty of bookshelves nearby!
And BTW -- Blogger was MISERABLE yesterday! I am not a swearer; but I almost reconsidered while trying to post an article for a couple of hours in the AM.
Blogger is sort of why I sold out and switched to LiveJournal. I may not be an emo-kid, but it's a darn sight easier to use since I don't know code of any kind or how to upload images to anything on Blogger.
I like the chair--if only because I officially ran out of bookshelf space forty-five minutes ago as I was moving boxes of books back into their rightful places for the summer. Two floor-to-ceiling bookcases, a desk with shelves, a side-table, a small table, and now moving on to the real-estate I find on the floor.
I'd probably go down to the Salvation Army and get half a dozen throw-pillows to fill out that bad boy, though.
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