Chapter 2 - The Open Book Café – Sunny Indoor Reading Spaces
Updated: Sep 1, 2019
Welcome to Chapter 2 of The Open Book Café. The Introduction can be found here.
This blog post includes sunny indoor reading spaces,...
Setting The Environment
How does one set the right atmosphere to lose oneself in a good book? I am currently in the process of finding a new apartment. And like many, I choose a new living space by its natural lighting and its potential to contain a really good artist studio/office space/reading room.
Sight and Touch:
For me, the perfect indoor reading space starts with a sunny room and a comfy place to sit. A chaise lounge, a couch - or a chesterfield chair; I try to make my booknest as lavish as I can. Mask any discomfort: make up for it with pillows. After comfort has been accomplished, everything else is icing on the cake. It involves the rest of the senses that remain.
Sound:
Right now, I live in a neighbourhood of convenience, not quiet. Friendly patio restaurant diners and boutique shoppers by day. Then strange merry-makers at night. And right on cue - a firetruck blares down the street. As thankful as I am at emergency responders, I need to keep focus and finish my writing. I resolve the issue with a pair of earplugs and the playlist that I created on YouTube: Reading Room
There, you can find calm, peaceful and atmospheric/mood music.
Feel free to add suggestions on what works for you.
Taste & Smell:
Green, black, hot, ice,... Shall we have an afternoon tea? Fill the delicate antique with chocolate chai matcha latte. Keep the chamomile for night - it helps me relax and ease into sleep.
I must drink lots of tea or I cannot work. Tea unleashes the potential which slumbers in the depth of my soul. ― Leo Tolstoy
Some people will tell you there is a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea. ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
But sometimes, it will be coffee.
This coffee falls into your stomach, and straightway there is a general commotion. Ideas begin to move like the battalions of the Grand Army of the battlefield, and the battle takes place. Things remembered arrive at full gallop, ensuing to the wind. The light cavalry of comparisons deliver a magnificent deploying charge, the artillery of logic hurry up with their train and ammunition, the shafts of with start up like sharpshooters. Similes arise, the paper is covered with ink; for the struggle commences and is concluded with torrents of black water, just as a battle with powder. ― Honoré de Balzac
But each day, there must be fruit,...
Breakfast is always the best time for something juicy, sweet and fresh - it just feels like the right way to open the day. ― Yotam Ottolenghi
In my pile of books to take back to the library, are the foraging books... A seperate blog on foraging is on the horizon.
What are you reading now?
To me, the forest is simply green and vast, but Huia knows exactly what she's looking for and points things out from a distance. But slowly I learn. I distinguish devil's club and stinging nettles and salmonberry. I spot the hummingbirds that dart and quiver around pink flowers. I spy a patch of fiddleheads and start plucking before Huia warns me to take only a few so the plant can keep growing for next season. ― Hannah Tunnicliffe, Season of Salt and Honey
While perusing on Pinterest, before closing the laptop I found this...
20 Hacks for Storing Books in Small Spaces:
https://www.bookbub.com/blog/bookshelf-hacks-for-storing-books-in-small-spaces
Show off your favourite reading spaces that let the sun in. Indoor or outdoor. Why not include your favourite book, or the book you are currently reading (hard cover, paperback, magazine...)?
Thanks for stopping by The Open Book Café.
See you next Sunday!
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About the author
Susan Leitch is a multimedia artist and curator of art. One of her writer pseudonyms is Hannah Ellie.
Her ongoing projects and various creations can be found at MultiMediaSusan.com
© Copyright 2019, Susan Leitch. All rights reserved.
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