Stuttgart City Library, Stuttgart – this minimalist structure designed by architect Eon Young Yi is something to behold.The British Library, London – home to one of the world’s biggest collections – with more than 170 million items including one of Leonardo Da Vinci’s notebooks.Beitou Public Library, Taipei – Taiwan’s first green library, with rainwater used for the toilets and natural light reducing the need for electricity.Royal Portuguese Cabinet Of Reading, Rio de Janeiro – a treasure trove for bibliophiles, it has the largest collection of Portuguese texts outside Portugal.The Morgan Library, New York City – opulent, with illuminated manuscripts on the walls, it houses original manuscripts by Balzac.“You pick up a book and you’re having a totally different sensory experience – one that I crave and need.”ħ Incredible Libraries To Visit Worldwide “Even if I don’t feel like, I make myself do it,” she says. Lovatt admits she is as guilty as the rest of us when it comes to mindless screen time, hence reading provides a much-needed reboot. Social media is amazing for communicating and connecting on one level, but there’s so little room for nuance.” People are hungry for nuanced conversation. “But I haven’t found that to be true at all. “We hear a lot about how dumbed down our culture has become,” she says. Lovatt adds that books provide a counterpoint to our digital lives. I enjoy going out for a drink, but I also really enjoy the exchange of ideas.” “I want to foster space for a different kind of exchange and a different kind of connection. “In a way, the books are not the point they are symbolic,” she says. The salon events are popular – possibly because they provide a different kind of date in your diary. Writer and consultant Lovatt started her Public Library in 2021 as a place in which to read books, but also to talk about them. If that sounds throwaway, those involved in the book industry believe the rise in interest comes from a desire to think more deeply. The result is that books – once seen as hopelessly geeky – are the height of fashion right now. Adding to the trend? More connections between fashion and publishing – see author Ottessa Moshfegh modelling for Maryam Nassir Zadeh AW22 and Rachel Comey’s collaboration with the New York Review of Books. Meanwhile, piles of finished or ‘to be read/TBR’ books are now a familiar feature on Instagram feeds (see by Nina Freudenberger for posting inspiration). Pictures of celebrities including Kendall Jenner and Emily Ratajkowski reading titles such as Hilton Als’ White Girls and Chelsea Hodson’s Tonight I’m Someone Else have made them so-called ‘hot girl books’. The hashtag has a whopping 136 billion views and helped publishers sell 20 million printed books in 2021, according to The New York Times. BookTok, the corner of TikTok dedicated to reading, is increasingly powerful. Then there’s Phoebe Lovatt’s Public Library, a space in London where visitors can browse the collection of books and zines and discuss texts in regular salons.Īll this comes at a time when books are especially fashionable. In 2021, Solange Knowles’ multidisciplinary brand Saint Heron launched a virtual library and archive of Black authors where members can borrow books for 45 days at a time. The Oslo-based International Library Of Fashion Research has over 5,000 items ranging from lookbooks to magazines from 1975 onwards and also offers a digital arm. But there is hope: small, specialised libraries are popping up all over the world, using digital and physical spaces to bring books to us all. Childhood leads directly into manhood they’re very close together, which is something I’ve tried to capture in my writing.Īny bookworm would be downcast when faced with a news cycle telling us that public libraries are closing – almost 800 since 2010 in the UK alone. You’ve got childish things such as drawn-on goalposts, right up against the biggest shipyards in the city. ![]() ![]() ![]() The image was taken next to the Govan shipyards and you see the looming crush of industry that will catch all young boys in the city. I love how audacious that pink bubble is – bubble gum was the only pink thing boys were allowed so it’s kind of special. ![]() The boy with the pink bubble gum is Shuggie for me. What he found were ordinary people living on the margins and clinging to life in a city that was coming apart quite rapidly. In fact, two of them were the result of an assignment where The Sunday Times newspaper sent French photographer Raymond Depardon to Glasgow to show how modern it was, and how much progress had come with the city’s new housing schemes. They capture working-class communities in Glasgow and the North of England that were often overlooked by traditional photojournalism. Glasgow (1980) © Raymond Depardon/Magnum Photos
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