Described by books The Zine.
1.
This is me. Described by books. From my earliest and most treasured book to the books that accompany my adult passions. The Green Umbrella. A rhyming Ladybird Books tale of a family of bunnies who head out on a beach picnic with a giant green umbrella. When Bluebell gets swept away in the green umbrella by the wind all she can think about is a bun.
me.
the formative
But it was the illustrations that captured my 4 year old imagination in this book - you could almost touch those plump bunnies and taste the loaves of bread. I still have the book, 46 years on. A little dog-eared, but the illustrations as vibrant and mouth watering as ever. This was the beginning of a life-long sensual curiosity - wanting to taste, touch, smell and hear the world around me. And books can provide that in wonderful illustrations and descriptions.
sensual curiosity
2.
Any Beatrix Potter. An enchanting collection of books for any child to get their hands on. For me it was the fact that these litle creatures had proper professions and family lives that captured my imagination.
imagination
dreams 3.
Cider with Rosie. This book was read as a class when I was about twelve. It played to my romantic dreams of whiling away balmy afternoons in a cornfield, the buzz of bees in the air and the first rites of passage into adolesence. And the seductive first taste of the forbidden.
erotica 5. Fear of Flying by Erica Jong with 40th Anniversary cover design by Noma Bar. Published in 1973 Fear of flying marked a watershed in erotic and, some would say feminist, fiction. It also coined a new phrase for a sex act which was pivotal in the book. It’s this phrase that inspires this strikingly simple cover design by Noma Bar.
dark 4. The Omen and Kiss Kiss by Roald Dhal. Welcome to the dark side. Since my teenage years I’ve had a fascination with dark tales and journey’s into the darkest recesses of the human mind.
5.
Arial by Sylvia Plath. Poetry has always spoken to me, both reading it and writing.I love the immediate and distilled nature of poetry and the melancholy nature of Plath’s writing was irresistably attractive to my angst-filled teenage self. I also find the layout of words that reflects the rhythm of some poetry utterly satisfying and this sparked a lifelong love of typography.
words
My constant companion during my poetic youth was Roget’s Thesaurus and I still have my old disintegrating copy, faithfully serving up synonyms like an old friend.
finding
letters
6.
Letraset catalogues. From the age of 16 when I became a trainee commercial artist my daily companion was the Letraset catalogue, poring over the pages deciding which transfer sheet to buy. And learning the skills of laying down well-kerned headline.
Cooper In today’s frantic digital world I still find myself picking up those old catalogues to try and regain some of the essence of the craft.
hungry
7.
Any Nigel Slater book. For me a journey through the books of my life wouldn’t be complete without a cookbook. I love food. Nigel Slater’s books are the only cookbooks I include in bedtime reading. Apart from his mouthwatering prose, they are beautifully designed. In fact I wouldn’t really call them cookbooks, more handbooks for the greedy.
8.
The Stars over Paxos and A House in Corfu.I married my husband in Paxos a tiny island just off Corfu and it’s our second home. We’ve been captured by these two rocks in the Ionian for the last twenty and these two books have been instrumental in casting the spell.
me. 9.
art
One thousand drawings by Tracey Emin. You could say she’s the Marmite of the art world but I admire Tracey Emin for her bold, confessional approach mixed with a sense of fragility. I’m also a collector of her work. This book is a weighty, three inch thick collection of drawings each one printed on one side of delicate 100gsm paper which, for me, makes it a precious artefact.
lost generation searching for the
. now
finding
Over the last year we have made several pilgrimages to Paris, inspired by the works of the ‘Lost Generation’. Treading in the footsteps of Picasso, Matisse, Braque et al. Accompanied on our travels by the words of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Stein and the vintage erotica of Anais Nin and Henry Miller.
10.
passionate
curious
dark
hungry
creative
arty
sensual
imaginative dreamy
books &