How charming to hang a small book of essential reading by the bed, or, as we imagine, anywhere, including the loo. It takes only a two or three-foot cord knotted at one hand to be snugged like a bookmark into the spine of the book, and hung from a tack which readily pushes into drywall. You can take the book off the cord to read it in a moment and just as quickly hang it back up. We figure 10 ounces is about the maximum weight.
What small, light books would provide just the right hits of illumination? We can think of many:
Yoko Ono’s Acorn has a lovely cover with lots of quick, transformative bits inside…
…As are any of the Everyman Pocket Poets Series (we wrote about it here). Rilke is great anytime.
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino has a quiet outside with a deeply wonderful, multi-dimensional, mind-expanding inside.
And of course, a small notebook is always a good idea, for dreams or ideas, like this tiny red Moleskine.
What book would you hang… and where?
We stumbled upon this unattributed image while scrolling through year’s old pages of Ocean Vuong’s tumblr on the Wayback Machine.
Sally, we can count on you to recognize a treasure when you see it. Thank you.
I so love this idea. . .I used to stack reading material on the small radiator in my bathroom, but my dog would inevitably nab whatever was there. This will be a great way to keep a book out of her reach.
Yeah, it’s so very simple, but curiously great. I’d love it if there were books hung all over town, in elevators, wherever… (well, I guess that’s sort of what the Little Free Libraries do).