A love affair with books

I have recently rediscovered my passion for books, when I say rediscovered it’s not to say I fell out of love with them rather stopped buying them!

My modest collection has begun to grow once again and I have found myself browsing for new and interesting titles at every opportunity. My latest acquisition is the ‘Atlas of Remote Islands’ by Judith Schalnsky a renowned author and graphic designer. (Until this book unknown to me.)

I came across the book during a regular browsing of the shelves at Foyles on the Southbank. I often like to visit the shop and cast my eye over it’s offerings many of my recent purchases have come from here. It’s funny how I never go in with a book in mind; I seem to treat the shop as a inspiration centre, I mean why would I buy a book on Small Islands; I’m not a geographer!

The book is stunningly beautiful, on one page there are perfect maps you can’t can help but stare at in awe and on the other are bizarre stories from the history of the islands themselves. The book transports you into a world you can’t wait to become a part of, “fifty islands I have never visited and never will” is written on the front of the book but just maybe I’ll get to visit one.

“Tenderly tracing one finger over the maps, we lose ourselves in the beauty of filigree lines, points and letters. We smell the sea, hear the surf breaking, see icebergs and rocks and under our feet feel fine sand. Anyone who opens this, the most enchanting book of the autumn, is likely to get as lost as Robinson Crusoe for a while.”
(DIE ZEIT)

“an utterly exquisite object ... her book makes a magnificent case for the atlas to be recognised as literature, worthy of its original name - theatrum orbis terrarum, "the theatre of the world".
(Robert Macfarlane, The Guardian)

I’m sure you’ll agree very compelling reviews, and for myself it’s an object you want to just own and treasure and luckily I can now do both.