This Is

When we were in New York my friend and I stopped by Magnolia Bakery on Bleeker Street for some of their famously delicious cupcakes. Across from the bakery I noticed a cute little bookstore called Biography Bookstore. Although we didn't go in, we window shopped and looked through the little bins of books outside. These little travel books caught my eye, I thought they were so cute! (The 2 other books were This is New York and This is Paris*)

 

I looked up the store on yelp and apparently it's pretty popular place. It was even featured in an episode of Sex and the City! I just wish that we had taken a second to stop inside. On such a rainy day like today, I am reminded of the simple pleasures in life...like discovery a quaint little bookstore, even if it is miles away.

*I looked the books up on Amazon, and there are a ton of them!  They are a series of children's books about travel written by Czech artists an author Miroslav Sasek. In addition to the books I saw, Sasek has written about many other destinations, including This is Washington, D.C. Check out the descriptions of some of these and other books he has written.  

Paper Cuts, Moles and Harry Potter

Just a few things that have caught my attention in the past few days:

Paper Cuts- This is "A Blog About Books" put on by the New York Times. Definitely check it out, they post about random things (kind of like this blog!). In light of the approaching holiday, a recent post was about customized erotic novels. According to the press release "Users simply select what type of novel they'd like to customize then are asked a series of questions about themselves and their spouses; such as name, nicknames, body types, hometown, hair color etc. If the user prefers to leave their spouse out of the book and replace him/her with a celebrity, it's completely up to them."

According to the Web site they cost 26.95 in pounds. I'm not sure how much that is in US dollars, but is it worth it? If nothing else I'm sure it would definitely be a good laugh or make a funny bridal gift at the least. However, be careful - due to the highly personal nature of this product they are unable to correct spelling and recommend you review your answers before submitting....the pressure! You also can customize the level of sexual content included in your book by filling out the U-Star Lovin-O-Meter. This sounds more complicated than joining an online dating service!

Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed -Ran across a mention of this children's book in another blog that is completely unrelated to books. The book is by Mo Willems, who is apparently pretty big in the children's book world. This book is about being who you are not, not conforming to societal norms. The title alone (and the goofy picture) make me want to check this one out. Library trip this weekend? I think yes.

HP Update-Harry has completed has just completed his second task with the lake and merpeople. I am obsessed with anything related to water, aquatic life and mermaids. These merpeople weren't exactly like the ones I remember from The Little Mermaid (not the original, the Disney version), but I wish J.K. Rowley had set an entire HP book about merpeople.

So was that random enough?