Daily Bookshot: Wonderful as wallpaper!

Wonderful as wallpaper!, originally uploaded by Robert Burdock.

I remember being around on Twitter last week when Sceptre Books revealed the cover art for David Mitchell’s eagerly anticipated latest novel, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet. Impressed though I was with the cover design (the creation of the hugely talented Joe Wilson), I urged that nobody should show it to Mrs. Rob, because she would probably want to commission it as wallpaper. A few people laughed – including bookish friend @kimbofo – but I was deadly serious, and the subject for today’s Daily Bookshot will prove that (sort of).

Being a huge fan of Anne Fadiman’s bookish essay collection, Ex Libris (Penguin), I almost fell off my seat a couple of weeks ago when I discovered that she also published a more general collection of essays (the one you see above), called At Large and At Small (Penguin). Published in 2008 I’m a bit slow on the uptake I know, but better late than never I put in an order for a copy.

That order arrived at the weekend, and excited at the thought of clutching a brand new (to me) batch of Fadiman in my hand, I rushed through to tell Mrs. Rob. With a look of boyish glee on my face I held the book up in front of her. “Look what I got,” I said. Disinterested (because she’s used to my overly excited behaviour after the postman has called) Mrs. Rob turned to look at me. But then her face lit up instantly. “Wow!” I thought. “A book she finally likes the look of” Well, I was partly right. Taking the book in her hands and turning it over a few times, she looked at me and said, “Oh, wouldn’t that design make wonderful wallpaper?”

I rest my case!