Showing posts with label Xander Keaton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Xander Keaton. Show all posts

Jun 4, 2018

Decor Tips for Book Lovers






Within a day Xander moved everything he wanted into the house on the bluff. The books
presented the biggest challenge. The library wouldn’t hold all of them.
“I never imagined this house would be too small for anything.”
He shrugged, studying the shelves, now filled with books. And the tubs on the floor, still full of them.
“You don’t want all your books in one place anyway. We should scatter some around.”
“There are too many to scatter.”
“Don’t even think about saying I should get rid of some.”
“Wouldn’t think of it.”
Maybe she had—just for an instant—and had just as quickly rejected the idea.
“I just don’t know where to put them. They don’t deserve to be stuck in tubs either. How will I know what’s in there I want to read?”
“Kevin could do another wall of books.”
“I’d love a wall of books,” she considered. “But I don’t know where.”


The Obsession





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As PBS launches ‘The Great American Read,’ designers 

and actor Ming-Na Wen weigh in on building around books.





Where you read can be almost as important as what you read. 








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"That's quite a library."
"Oh, that's just some of them."
He stayed where he was when she crossed over. Joyce, Yeats, Shaw. Those were to be expected. O'Neill, Swift, and Grayson Thane, of course. But there was a treasure trove of others. Poe, Steinbeck, Dickens, Byron. The poetry of Keats and Dickinson and Browning. Battered volumes of Shakespeare and equally well-thumbed tales by King and MacAffrey and McMurtrey.
"An eclectic collection," she mused. "And there's more?"
"I keep them here and there around the house, so if you're in the mood, you don't have to go far. A book's a pleasant thing to have nearby."


Born in Shame





Feb 11, 2018

Upgrade Your Valentine's Day Flowers






“You want romance? I could bring you flowers.” 
“I don’t have anything to put them in.” 


The Obsession





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Vincent van Gogh [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons



(Hint: It's All About The Vase)



There’s a reason why sending flowers for Valentine’s Day never gets old: People love them. As a Rutgers University study points out, subjects receiving flowers responded with more-heartfelt smiles than those gifted candles or fruit baskets—and they even remained happier for the next three days compared to the control group, too.





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“Absolutely. You put those flowers in something pretty now. 
They’re too sweet to  stay in that old bucket.”


Heaven and Earth







Nov 19, 2017

Accidents Happen






“A lot of good things happen by accident.
If Charles Goodyear hadn’t been clumsy, we wouldn’t have vulcanized rubber.”
“What?”
“Weatherproof rubber—tires, for instance, as in Goodyear. He was trying to figure out how to make rubber weatherproof, dropped this experiment on a stove by accident, and there you go, he made weatherproof rubber.”
Baffled, she rubbed her aching temple.
“I’ve completely lost the point.”
“Not everything has to be planned to work out.”


Obsession



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By Alf van Beem - Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24784542



How a Wild Rocket Misfire Created Cape Canaveral



In an excerpt from Spaceport Earth: The Reinvention of Spaceflight, author Joe Pappalardo explores how one errant rocket helped create the U.S.'s most important spaceport.




Sep 1, 2016

Mentions in Nora Books




“Do you like eggs Benedict?”
“Never had it.”
“You’ll like it,” Naomi decided, and got out of bed. He was right. The normality of cooking breakfast soothed and calmed. The process of it, the scents, a good hit of coffee. The raw edges of the dream, of memories she wanted locked away, faded off.
And she was right. He liked her eggs Benedict.
“Where has this been all my life?” he wondered as they ate at the kitchen counter. “And who’s Benedict?”
She frowned over it, then nearly laughed. “I have no idea.”
“Whoever he was, kudos. Best four A.M. breakfast I’ve ever had.”


The Obsession



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Eggs Benedict








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May 8, 2016

Book Organization Style



And Naomi stared, with wonder and delight, at the living room wall of books. “Wow, the rumors of book lover are true. That’s quite a collection.”
“Part of it.”
“Part? You’re a serious man, Xander.”
“About books, anyway.”
She glanced around. “Very efficient space, and that is one of the best uses of a wall I’ve ever seen. Color, texture, dimension.”
“Not to mention words.”
He walked over, offered her a glass of wine, took the bottle from her.
“Yeah, words. I like to read as much as the next guy—unless you’re the next guy.”
“That’s the plan.”
She laughed, waving him off as she walked up and down the wall. “But this is art.
You’re smart enough to know your furniture is absolute crap. You don’t care about that.
You’ve arranged your space for efficiency and highlighted a passion. 
And by highlighting it, created art.”


The Obsession


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By David Joyce (http://www.flickr.com/photos/deapeajay/2701178993/) [CC BY-SA 2.0 
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons



What Your Book Organization Style Says About You


It's almost more telling than what ​you read. 


It's not just the subject matter of the books you read that reveal insights into your personality — the way you organize said spines is very telling, too. You see, some arrangements are all about being practical, while others focus more on being style-forward. Find out what your method says about you:




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“Is there a system to the way you shelve the books?”

He glanced up. “Where they fit, why?”

“You have Jane Austen beside Stephen King.”

“I don’t think either one of them would mind, but if you do, you can move books around.”

“No, that’s part of the point. It’s a wall of stories. Take out any one, go anywhere.
It’s . . . Storyland.”


The Obsession