If you happen to be in London...

The Royal College of Arts is preparing to hold its "secret" postcard sale on Nov. 20. This is how it works: Every year 1,000 artists, designers, illustrators -- some of them would renowned -- donate their works for a one-day only sale.

The postcards are signed on the back, so the author's identity remains a secret until the cards are purchased. Last year, Tracey Emin, Gerhard Richter, Bill Viola, Julian Opie and Grayson Perry, well as fashion designers Sir Paul Smith, Manolo Blahnik and Erdem participated in the event, which raises funds for the arts college. (There's a flat rate per postcard: £45, and only four cards per person.)

There will be several special viewings of the cards, starting on Nov. 12, at the RCA campus in London -- but you have to register online first.

Do you have running shoes and a good eye? Give it a try. (And let me know how it goes!!)

Twig Hutchinson Captures the Castle

Twig Hutchinson, star stylist of the Toast catalogues, cleverly updated her online portfolio to look like an actual book, complete with a quote from Dodie Smith's "I Capture the Castle."

"I write this sitting in the kitchen sink..."






LOVE!

Complete fluff...

I was very excited to discover today that the Barnes & Noble Review has a special section for books on clouds.

This is how they describe "The Invention of Clouds," by Richard Hamblyn:

"A fascinating study of the amateur meteorologist who, in the early 19th century, 'forged the language of the skies.' Creating the classifications -- cirrus, stratus, cumulus, nimbus -- which are now familiar, Luke Howard captured the imagination of contemporary artists and scientists, as well as generations of their heirs."

It also reminds me that I need to get out more with my Polaroid camera. (I took this photo, above, last year.)

Book Covers, Re-imagined...

I love it when independent artists decide to create their own book covers...the results are always unexpected. Take these for example:





They were created by two Portuguese women -- Sandra G. and Orquidea C. -- now living in Amsterdam. They used their own photography and wit....As a result, their sensibility is so wonderfully European. It's hard for me to pick a favorite. Maybe The Hours? What do you think?

(More on their blog, re-cover project.)


Oh, and I almost forgot, today is Dylan Thomas' birthday...(thank you Giulia!)

Remember:

"Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

Taschen's Audrey Hepburn

The luxury books publisher released a glossy volume of Audrey photos last month...




The photos were taken by Paramount Studio stills photographer Bob Willoughby between 1953-1966. Taschen put the volume on sale Sept. 11, as part of an exhibit of the photos at its gallery in Brussels, Belgium.

At $700 each, the books sold out almost instantly.

If there's a second printing, this tops my Xmas list!

(Luckly you can see the entire book online here.)

Escape Reading

Hello everyone. I finished two freelance pieces and now I'm rewarding myself with an afternoon escape -- reading about Paris. My latest book about my favorite city is called "The Secret Life of the Seine" by Mort Rosenblum, former Editor in Chief of the International Herald Tribune. Rosenblum lived for a time on a 54-foot boat made of Burmese teak and brass, tied up alongside the barges near the Pont Alexandre II in the center of Paris.

This is what I call escape reading. Without it, life would be so dreary.

What's your favorite escape book?

(Photo by Miu37)

More Monroe...

Vanity Fair Magazine hired a handwriting expert
to analyze the actress' diaries....

The results might surprise you!

Paris Review: Author Interviews

The Paris Review has long been known for its wonderful writer profiles. Now, thanks to the Internet, you can access all the pieces online. I've compiled a little selection below:


Isak Dinesen..........Truman Capote..........Arthur Miller

Graham Greene..........Dorothy Parker..........Ernest Hemingway

Jorge Luis Borges..........William Faulkner..........Evelyn Waugh

The author illustrations, by the way, were done by Spanish artist Fernando Vicente Retratos. More of his work here.

Amis and Fonseca

One of my favorite stories from the weekend papers: A Wall Street Journal Magazine profile of novelists Martin Amis and Isabel Fonseca. The two discuss the pleasures of reading, writing and their marriage.

"Being married to one of Britain's most celebrated authors could be a disappearing act for some women," writes author Ariel Leve. "But the American Fonseca, 49, is an impressive writer herself. Amis, 61, married both a muse and an equal, and they are mutually supportive...."

I love this quote from Amis on Fonseca: "I rely tremendously on her beauty. She looks very nice when she's asleep and she wakes with a smile. It's an extraordinary thing. It's very unfair, as all things to do with beauty are, but it's a fact. I rely on it for joie de vivre. It's proof of her equilibrium as well. Your happiness determines your demeanor in the world."

See the full story here.

And a list of Amis' books and Fonseca's.

(Photo above by Simon Upton for the WSJ.)

Happy Monday everyone!

Keep Calm and Craft On

Hello everyone! I'm so sorry my posting has been so light. But, I have very good news: I've been asked to participate in Unique LA's H.D. Buttercup boutique and I'm working like mad on my jewelry designs through my little firm, Crown and Badge Salvage Co. I'm so excited to be involved with Unique LA -- a group that runs one of Los Angeles' largest and most prestigious craft and art shows. And it's doubly sweet because H.D. Buttercup is sort of like the west coast version of ABC Carpet in NYC. I've been making jewelry for a long time, but this is the first time I've seriously set out to design a line. So this is heaven for me.

If you're in Los Angeles, there will be a reception for the new boutique from 6 to 8 pm on Friday at H.D. Buttercup.

Meanwhile, will see you back here soon. xoxo

Tina

(Illustration, above, from the Keep Calm store on etsy.)

Toast: House and Home, Autumn/Winter 2010

I LOVE the Toast catalogues, maybe even more than the ones from Anthropologie.

The Impossible Cool of Patti Smith

It's awards season for the books industry, and today the National Book Foundation announced its twenty finalists for the National Book Awards. Among those included in the non-fiction category is Patti Smith's autobiography "Just Kids," covering her years as muse to photographer Robert Mapplethorpe.


Reviewer Tom Nissley sums up "Just Kids" so beautifully:

"Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe weren't always famous, but they always thought they would be. They found each other, adrift but determined, on the streets of New York City in the late '60s and made a pact to keep each other afloat until they found their voices--or the world was ready to hear them.

"Mapplethorpe was quicker to find his metier, with a Polaroid and then a Hasselblad, but Smith was the first to fame, transformed, to her friend's delight, from a poet into a rock star. "

What is it about Patti Smith that makes her so compelling, like a young Mick Jagger?

(The National Book Award winners will be announced on Nov 17 in NYC.)

The Secret Writings of Marilyn Monroe

Hello all!

Here's new book of note: Farrar, Straus and Giroux today released Fragments, a collection of  “poems, intimate notes, and letters” by Marilyn Monroe. The glossy tome is packed with pictures and references to the many books in Monroe’s life. (She loved to read and was often spotted with a book during breaks on film sets.)

Here's a snippet from the publisher: "These bits of text—jotted in notebooks, typed on paper, or written on hotel letterhead—reveal a woman who loved deeply and strove to perfect her craft. They show a Marilyn Monroe unsparing in her analysis of her own life, but also playful, funny, and impossibly charming. The easy grace and deceptive lightness that made her performances so memorable emerge on the page, as does the simmering tragedy that made her last appearances so heartbreaking."


PS: Howard Jacobson won the Booker Prize for the Finkler Question!

Weekend media bits....

Happy Monday everyone...Here are a few little newspaper gems that caught my eye this weekend:

Rosie Blau, the books editor of the Financial Times, wrote about what it was like to be a Booker Prize judge with a new baby.

"Reading 138 books over the head of a suckling child felt, at times, like the worst possible way to enjoy or judge literature," Blau wrote. "I can’t imagine ever not wanting to read a novel but I did occasionally suffer mediocrity overload....

"From the deepening hollow of my sofa, my reading took me cottaging in a Cambridgeshire toilet, into the home of an Indian untouchable, along the path of the down and seriously out."

She adds: "That we can tell and experience the same stories in an infinite number of ways is, for me, the glory of fiction. The uniqueness of life is repeated – again and again."

The only thing I remember reading with my newborn daughter was Goodnight Moon. The fact that Blau read 138 novels is, well, amazing. The Booker Prize will be announced tomorrow...can't wait to see who wins! (Here's the short list.)

*

Next up, Jack Spade (husband of Kate.)


The Wall Street Journal caught up with Spade in its
20 Odd Questions column.

He reveals all sorts of interesting facts about himself. For example: "The neatest stores I've been to recently are Dave Eggers's Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co. and his 826 Valencia Pirates Supply Shop in San Francisco. He sells things like invisible paint. In Brooklyn, you have to swear in, and say you're a superhero and will abide by the rules. In San Francisco, there's a big pirates' chest that my daughter loves. If you find a gem, you can redeem it for a gift, but you also have to sing or dance."

*

Next, Rachel Donadio spends 36 hours in Rome for the NYT:



Donadio's most offbeat stop: A cemetery.

"Like Père Lachaise in Paris, the Protestant Cemetery (Via Caio Cestio, 6; 39-06-574-1900; cemeteryrome.it) is one of Rome’s most meditative and overlooked spots," she writes. "The final resting spot of non-Catholics for centuries, the cemetery counts John Keats among its permanent residents — his tomb reads 'Here lies one whose name was writ in water.' Besides romantics, there’s often a steady stream of graying lefties, who pay tribute to Antonio Gramsci, the founder of the Italian Communist Party."

A name writ in water.
Lovely.

Print Is Not Dead: Anthology Magazine

Hello everyone.

I'm crazy about this new decor magazine called Anthology. It was created by Anh-Minh Le, a regular contributor to The San Francisco Chronicle Datebook and Home & Garden sections, and by Meg Mateo Ilasco, who has authored six books, including Craft, Inc. and Crafting a Meaningful Home. The duo have adopted the motto "Print is not dead," music to my ears! Anthology is printed quarterly, but you can also get a sneak peek online.

Have a look:









The enterprising editors have also done this fantastic video:

Print Is Not Dead from Anthology Magazine on Vimeo.

Love!