Category Archives: books

My earliest (and most enduring) source of inspiration.

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Filed under books, inspiration

I hope to hell that when I do die somebody has the sense to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you’re dead? Nobody.
J.D. Salinger
January 1, 1919 – January 27, 2010
.

I keep opening and editing this post with the intent of writing something—anything—to commemorate the loss of Salinger from all of our lives, since I suspect many of us are feeling the same thing right now.

J.D. Salinger is the writer who made it okay for me be a reader. It’s hard to be a cynical kid. The sense of mistrust that accompanies early tendencies toward cynicism (and loneliness, and arrogance, and…) makes it difficult to take anyone’s word on what books are good to read, but I’m glad that I listened to my dad when he gave me his battered copy of The Catcher in the Rye. I must have been 10 or 11 years old, I guess. I read the whole thing in a weekend, which felt like a monumental accomplishment at that age.

Next up was Franny and Zooey, which I devoured with a similar ferocity, followed by Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction shortly thereafter. I was a bit older (16, perhaps) when I finally dipped into Nine Stories. I was beside myself with teenage glee when I discovered the source of inspiration for not one, but two songs by my then-favorite band, the Cure, within its pages.

When I was 18, I got my first pet ferret. I named him Salinger.

I try to read The Catcher in the Rye at least once a year, and the rest of Salinger’s (small) cannon of published work whenever I feel like I need a reminder of the enormous impact the characters he created have had on my life—and the total development of my personality. (I’ve always thought of my family as being more than a bit Glass-ish, after all.) This letter, written by Salinger in response to yet another request to acquire the film rights to Catcher, perfectly sums up the reasons why I admire him not only as a writer, but as a man of artistic integrity. J.D. Salinger never gave us more than he wanted to, and I respect him immensely for that.

(By the way, did you know that Salinger had a lifelong design clause in his contract that stipulated his books covers could not contain any imagery? Fabulous.)

(EDIT: If you’re into the whole book cover thing, check out this great essay by Michael Bierut, “The Book (Cover) That Changed My Life”.)

When someone dies at the age of 91, it’s a bit of a stretch to be surprised. I think I thought J.D. Salinger would somehow live forever, though.

Yiddish for Babies winners!

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Filed under books, four legs, friends and family

51! 73! 19! The winners of the Yiddish for Babies giveaway are…

First Prize: Hana! (Yiddish for Babies & Hip-Hop for Dogs)
Second Prize: Elise! (Yiddish for Babies)
Third Prize: Mrs. Limestone! (Yiddish for Babies)

Congratulations to all the winners! I will be contacting you shortly so we can arrange shipping. I hope you enjoy your books!

p.s. If you didn’t win, you can pre-order a copy of Yiddish for Babies now. (Janet’s other books (Yiddish for Dogs and Hip-Hop for Dogs are available, too!) The entire Door Sixteen household personally endorses all three.

Yiddish for Babies giveaway!

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Filed under books, four legs, friends and family

I never ever do giveaways here, but this is a very special occasion! My friend (and fellow book designer!) Janet Perr has a new book coming out, Yiddish for Babies, and TWO of my adorable nieces are featured in it. (Yiddishe kop and shnozz, if you’re curious.)

The book is SO CUTE and so funny, and I want to do a little giveaway to celebrate its upcoming release on November 10th. To sweeten the grand prize, I’m going to include a copy of one of Janet’s other books, Hip-Hop for Dogs (starring the fabulous BRUNO as the DJ!).

Here’s how it’s going to work:
Leave a comment on this post between now and midnight EST on Sunday, November 1st. On Monday morning, I will use the Random Number Generator to choose three numbers corresponding to the order in which the comments were received.

ETA: COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED. I will draw numbers and announce the winners on Monday morning!

Prizes:
1: Yiddish for Babies & Hip-Hop for Dogs
2 & 3: Yiddish for Babies

All books can be autographed and personalized, too!

My name is Anna! I design books.

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Filed under art & design, books

I finally put together a little portfolio site for some of my book covers.

Inscriptions.

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Filed under books, friends and family

Do you inscribe the books that you give as gifts? It’s a practice I think has fallen out of fashion, but I’d like to see it come back.

I found this little Modigliani book while I was reorganizing my work area, and I opened it to find a note written to me by my father in 1979. I was not yet four years old, and I had taken the Amtrak train from Rhinecliff to the art school in Manhattan where my father taught (and still teaches).

I’m not sure I would have remembered that day (29 years ago!) as clearly as I do now had I not found the book. Memories rushed back to me instantly—I know exactly how soft those seats were, I know that I tucked my box of markers into the pocket on the back of the seat in front of me. I can see so clearly the cook in the bar car giving me that orange balloon, too! Most importantly, I remember being at work with Dad, feeling special like you do when grown-ups are excited to meet you, even though you’re only three years old.

Grey Tuesday.

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Filed under books, four legs, sewing

I’m curled up on the sofa with my coffee and a manuscript for a book I’m working on the cover for. The story is told from a dog’s point of view, which sounds really awful, but it’s actually quite smart and well-written. I’m still trying to figure out what the protagonist looks like and what kind of dog he is, but that information can really only come from the dialogue of other characters in the book (I do know he has one black ear and one white ear). Dogs, apparently, don’t spend a lot of time looking in the mirror or worrying about their fur color.

I made Bruno a new bed on Sunday (big enough for two!), and he’s enjoying it more than I expected he would. I just sewed an oversized envelope-style pillowcase out of linen, and put a really soft down pillow inside. I was thinking about sewing on a circle of boiled wool in the center, but now that the weather is slowly, slowly getting a little bit warmer (I still need a scarf, though), I think I’ll just leave it as is.

p.s. The plumber is coming today! By this afternoon, all of the roughing in should be done.

Chip Kidd on graphic design (and graphic designers).

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Filed under art & design, books, inspiration

Within the world of book cover design (a world I inhabit for at least 40 hours a week), Chip Kidd is both admired and despised (I suspect that a lot of the animosity comes from a secret jealousy that we less-famous book cover designers don’t like to admit to or talk about). There is no disputing, though, that he is by far the most famous, the most rockstar of us all. Book cover design isn’t one of those things you just do here and there on a whim—most people I know who work in the field started out there, and will spend the majority of the duration of their careers there, too. This is especially true for those of us who, like Kidd, work in-house for a publishing company. A book cover designer doesn’t wake up one day and decide to start doing corporate identity packages at an ad agency (or, for that matter, book interiors—that’s a whole different world). I know people who have tried to leave the field, but they always come back eventually.

I think the next step for graphic designers is to figure out how to meaningfully generate their own content. That’s what I’ve found that I have been doing, and want to continue to do. Whether it’s a book, or whether it’s music, or a film, or whatever; I think it’s the natural growth, rather than just strictly working for a client all the time.

Kidd is really on to something with the above quote, and his point absolutely applies to every person working in the field of graphic design, regardless of their field of focus. Working in a creative position within a larger corporate environment can be difficult for a person who is visually expressive by nature. The further you get from the creative freedom of your college years, the more you become entirely directed towards satisfying an outside demand (whether it be from a publisher, and art director, or an author). I don’t think this is a simple as defining “Art” as a separate thing from “Design”; I think it’s about nurturing a part of yourself that will eventually die off completely unless you figure out how to generate that original content he’s talking about, even if it’s just for yourself. I know many, many graphic designers who have struggled with this idea for years.

Chip Kidd also has a FABULOUS apartment, which you can see some of in the video. He’s an avid collector of Batman and other comic book-related ephemera, and he definitely knows how to display that collection in a way that is both sophisticated and accessible. The New York Times ran a great article on Kidd and his home a couple of years ago. The Eileen Gray chairs are to die for, right?

By the way, my apologies to those who are seeing this post for a second time today (albeit in a different form). Technical difficulties and further thought required a total reposting!

…and Hanukkah presents for me, too!

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Filed under art & design, books, friends and family

(Moomin books.)

(From this guy.)

Elfa shelving!

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Filed under books, house

Yay! The Elfa shelving in the dining room is finally up and fully loaded with books. Sorry for the grainy photos, our dining room doesn’t get a lot of light and my camera is fussy.

elfa shelving in the dining room

elfa shelving in the dining room

It was more than a little nerve wracking putting the shelves up: everything hangs from a single horizontal rail at the top! This makes installation fairly easy, but wow…it was scary putting all those heavy books on there. It’s been 36 hours and it’s still on the wall, though, so hopefully everything is going to be okay. We’re very happy with how it looks, and are now planning to put in more shelving on the other side of the fireplace. It will be great to have all of our books (minus the comics and graphic novels…ugh) put away!

Waiting room.

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Filed under books, new york city

waiting at grand central

Tonight I sat in the waiting room at Grand Central, waited for Evan, and read my new book.

Two new books.

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Filed under books, sewing

sewing books

I have two lovely new books to encourage me to sew:
1. Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter
2. Bend-the-Rules Sewing by Amy Karol

I have so many projects around the house to work on, but not until I make at least one little bag with a fancy button that’s just for show.