Shooting Thoughts: Do You Like Book Art?

Posted November 19, 2015 by shooting in Uncategorized / 17 Comments

Last month I read and reviewed a novel called Found at the Library by C. J. Munoz, and if you remember, I said I would have a couple posts next month that were inspired by that book. So here we are! In the novel, one of the main characters is named Tommy and he creates beautiful pieces of art by sculpting actual books. I think this is a great idea. I’m one of those people that love book inspired art – from the purses made of actual books to people shaping the books’ pages to look like something or to spell out a word.

At the same time, I know that some people think of this and don’t like the idea. In Found at the Library, Mac is such a person. He hates the idea of a person “ruining” a book to make something. He’s an author, after all, so it makes sense that he wouldn’t want someone to take his work and completely change it. I know there are other people out there that are really protective of their books’ physical state. You won’t see them lying the book so the spine will bend. They would never fold a corner to use as a bookmark. I’m not like this, but it’s okay if you are! We all show our love for books in different ways.

What I wanted to discuss with you all today is what side of this issue are you on? Do you like book art or do you think it’s wrong to “ruin” a book? Is it different if the book is old versus new?

Be considerate of others’ opinions, but don’t be afraid to share your thoughts! We can all think differently about this topic and still love books and the art of reading.

Since I am a fan of book art, my other post inspired by Found at the Library is to share some book art I’ve found online! Be on the look out for that post this month!

17 responses to “Shooting Thoughts: Do You Like Book Art?

  1. I like looking at book art. Since I'm mainly an ebook person, I'm not strongly against it, but I understand how some people love their physical books and don't want them altered.

  2. I personally love book art. I think the best book art I've seen so far is Cait at Paper Fury. She takes old, second hand books and gives them a new lease on life by making paper crafts, like mobiles and flowers. They really do look amazing! I bought some just over a year ago and absolutely adore them.You should check those out Lauren, she even custom makes them in colours to match your decor <3 Great post hun, looking forward to your book art post this month too <3

  3. I love book art and think it's okay to create something out of a book! While I don't think I could personally cut one up or anything I wouldn't mind buying something off of Etsy like it 🙂

  4. Lilthograph does some amazing things with digital book art that I love! I'm not against it at all but I can see why some would be. I don't know if I would ever attempt making something but mainly that is because I have zero talent in the art department.

  5. I used to work in a library and not to depress anyone but I can't tell you the truck loads of old, out of date, worn out books we would take to the recycling center. Our librarians do workshops in book art and use these books. It's a way of repurposing the books and I love some the phenomenal things they've made. I will tell you this, the map books go fast 😉

  6. I actually love bookish art, Lauren, and some people are so creative it's amazing! And I think that most of the books used to make them into something else are somehow made unreadable by missing pages, something spilled on them and similar things.
    Making a new thing out of something already artistic is beautiful!
    Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews

  7. Aieeeee, I admit that the idea of "ruining" a book can make me flinch! I treat my books very well and I hate bent pages or food stains or (gasp!) broken spines!! BUT, there are some pretty fantastic artists out there who can make beautiful things out of books. And in that case, I like to think that they're not destroying the book – they're enhancing it! 😀

  8. I love book art, but I'm not sure if I would indulge in it myself. I'm extremely overprotective of my books ha! I've borrowed books where friends have highlighted, written on, and drew on the pages and I have to confess there's an added spark to the read whenever I see this 🙂

Leave a Reply

(Enter your URL then click here to include a link to one of your blog posts.)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.