Our Blog

August 12, 2014

Crafting

How to Tuesday: Create Your Own Bookish Hoop Art

Hoop-ing up embroidery pieces is a great way to quickly and cheaply DIY wall art. There are so many directions to take hoop art, from the bold to the serene, that there's no way to go wrong. Here at Quirk we love words & books, so we took our inspiration from hand lettering to make our take on hoop art, but you can go with whatever floats your boat!

Supplies

– Fabric. For this particular project, you'll want a solid color or a small pattern.

– Backing fabric. Plain white linen should do the job.

– Embroidery needle

– Embroidery thread

– Scissors

– Embroidery hoop (or two)

– Quilting marker (optional)

– Pencil and Paper (optional)

– Pins (optional)

Directions

1. Decide on a quote– I went with a favorite from A Series of Unfortunate Events author Lemony Snicket (AKA Daniel Handler): "Never trust anyone who has not brought a good book with them."

Posted by Whitney Penn

August 11, 2014

Fifteen Books for Fans of Haruki Murakami

Photo via Vintage Anchor's Tumblr

I am an admitted addict of Haruki Murakami's work—if he's written it, I've read it, and possibly written a paper on it. The English translation of his latest novel, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, comes out this week. If you’re a crazed fan like me, someone who has enjoyed the odd work in the past, or you clicked on this link through pure happenstance: well, here's a list of what to read when you're finished.

If you like reading, and especially reading Murakami, then you’re in the right place. Murakami’s hard-to-pin-down style is often considered magical realism, and most of his fans are told repeatedly to read the (thoroughly brilliant) works of Marquez. But here are fifteen books you might not know about that you ought to check out while waiting for your next fix.

Posted by Maia Brown-Jackson

August 8, 2014

Fiction: MG & YA

Nick & Tesla, Stuff Every American Should Know, Featured in Today’s Kindle Daily Deal

This week in “Awesome Books You Can Get for Your Kindle for a Really Good Deal” (ABYCGFYKFARGD for short), don’t miss your chance to grab some great titles, all for under $4.00! You really have no excuse.

Thanks to some sweet Kindle Daily Deals, you can pick up Stuff Every American Should Know for $1.99, and Nick and Tesla's Robot Army Rampage and Nick and Tesla's Secret Agent Gadget Battle, each for $3.99!

Whether you were wondering about how to make the perfect all-American apple pie, or what the science-y siblings were up to now, you can find out without breaking the bank.

Get reading!

Posted by Marissa Stern

August 7, 2014

Cats, Comics, Humor

Eat More Books, Episode 26: Bookstore Cats

Posted by Rick Chillot

August 6, 2014

Handbooks: Worst-Case

eBook Deal: The Complete Worst-Case Scenario Handbook Only $2.99 All of August

Instead of your weekly Wednesday tip from our Worst-Case series, we've got an eBook deal for you!

The Complete Worst-Case Scenario Handbook has been selected for an eBook promotion lasting the entire month of August. All month long you can grab the eBook for only $2.99 across all major eBook retailers, including Amazon, iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, and Kobo.

We've pooled together some links for you below.

Pick it up! It's always good to be prepared for the worst.

Posted by Eric Smith

August 6, 2014

Fiction

Four Ways to Celebrate National Book Lovers Day

Here at Quirk, we celebrate books every day, but we are especially excited to celebrate on August 9th, National Book Lovers Day! Here are some of our favorite ways to celebrate books, paired with some of our most cherished books about booklovers!

Go to the library! Full disclosure: I am a librarian and have already written about what libraries mean to me for Quirk, so of course my first recommendation is to go to your local public library! There’s a joke I overheard another librarian tell a patron once that if you don’t like the book, you get your money back (as long as you return it on time)! The best part of the library is that they provide all these wonderful materials for free, so it’s a great place to go for books and bookish events too.

Book recommendation: “Uncommon Reader” by Alan Bennett, about a certain British monarch who becomes obsessed with a mobile library.

Go to an independent bookstore! The death of the independent bookstore has been foretold for a while now, but like libraries, they aren’t going anywhere, no matter how hard Amazon may try. Whenever I go to an independent bookstore, I’m always excited to browse their local authors section since it is usually has things I wouldn’t easily find elsewhere. Buying from an independent bookstore is a great way to support a local business in your community too, so buy a book at one today!

Book recommendation: “Parnassus On Wheels” by Christopher Morley, about a travelling bookseller and the woman that purchases this enterprise from him

Join a bookclub! Book clubs are a great way to find a community of like-minded booklovers and you can celebrate National Book Lovers Day together. Our first two recommendations often host book discussion groups, so you can always check there first if you are looking to join one. It may be even more fun to start a book club with your own friends! You can find out a lot about a person by how they interpret a particular book, so it may lead you to find out things about your friends you would not have otherwise.

Book recommendation: “The Haunted Bookshop” by Christopher Morley, a sequel to “Parnassus On Wheels,” about a bookstore in Brooklyn and the mysterious events that take place there.

Read alone! All of the previous recommendations were based around a community one way or another, but we are mostly solitary in our literary pursuits. Reading in bed or a particularly comfy chair is a favorite pastime for many, but you don’t have to limit your solo reading to your home. Read in the park, read at a restaurant, read at a bar! I once saw a whole lot of people standing around reading while waiting for a concert to start, so just read wherever you want!

Book recommendation: Matilda by Roald Dahl, about a young girl and booklover who, with the help of her teacher, discovers the wondrous powers she possesses

Do you have another way you celebrate today? Let us know in the comments!

Posted by Brian Morell

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