Calling the ponceyness police...

Yup, it's the 'designers and books and bookshelves' thing again - they're baaaaaack. And this time they claim to be 'saving the book'.

In decor, shelves that embellish (in the selections from The New York Times included with today's Observer.

Unholster the codfish, comrades!

Selected extracts:

The printed book has been given a stay of execution by an unlikely source: the design community.... a library Mr. Colle had built from French chalked quarter-sawn oak. There is room for more than 1,000 books*.
....
Mr. Weinstock still shops in London to find just the right leatherbound look, he said. "Some people will insist that they be in English, because they want them to look as if they could read the books," Mr. Weinstock said. "Others don't care what language the books are in as long as the bindings are beautiful."
....
Thatcher Wine, who creates custom book collections in his Boulder, Colorado, warehouse. Mr. Wine charges from $80 to $350 per 30 centimeters. The rare vellum is more pricey.
....
Federico Uribe, a Colombian conceptual artist working in Miami, has ordered thousands of books in primary colors to make sculptures of palm trees and boa constrictors.
....
Peter Pennoyer, a New York architect, is designing wooden boxes that look like perfectly bound books to contain a client's unruly collection of classics. "A book is a meaningful, sensory experience," he said.
....
She wondered if she might stack her books and turn them into legs for a coffee table. "Then," she said, "I can put my Kindle on top."

*A mere 1000 books? Amateurs/poseurs.

Culinary

Saturday breakfast rolls: soft brown buckwheat (2:2:1 strong white, wholemeal and buckwheat flours) with blueberries and a dash of maple syrup.

Today's lunch: pheasant pot-roasted in brandy and madeira with celery, served with roasted buckwheat (kasha) and a salad of wild rocket in macadamia nut and pomegranate vinegar dressing.

This week's bread: Greenstein's Psomi loaf, but with toasted sunflower seeds. It's tasty, but I am still not quite getting things right with the Romertopf bread pan.