I am excited to announce that The Boy and the Pearl, the illustrated fable that I published as a limited edition artist’s book in 2004, is now available in iBooks/iTunes for 99 cents. I was inspired to write the fable after Daniel Pearl’s murder. Diane Salter created the beautiful illustrations.

At the moment, the book can only be read on an iPad with iBooks 2. I will probably do a Kindle version, but you can’t really beat the ease with which I created the book in iBooks Author. I plan to run a review of iBooks Author soon, but I lost half of the review when MS Word crashed, so I’ll finish writing it when I am done sulking about that. That teaches me for not writing it in Pages!

If you have an iPad, I would love it if you checked out the book. Diane and I are really pleased with how it turned out.

These shelves hold traditionally bound Korean books, created with handmade paper

Even so, I couldn’t imagine giving up the tactile experience of reading an actual book. There is just something wonderful about holding a book in your hands. But I have a history of shunning new technology only to embrace it later. I was NOT giving up my records in favor of CDs, and now I only buy music digitally (and we are not even going to talk about my eight track tape player). I got on the DVD bandwagon a little more quickly, partially because they are so much easier to store than VHS tapes. And when digital download of movies becomes faster and higher quality (for the average person), I’ll be there.

But books aren’t like anything of these other mediums. Books have been around a long time in various forms. They’ve stood the test of time a lot longer than any other media. I liked my records, but I LOVE my books. Yet I couldn’t help but be intrigued when e-readers started coming out. I loved the idea of being able to carry around dozens (even hundreds) of books with me at once. I take the train to work, and so I always need reading material. With an e-book, if I finish my book while I am on the train, I can just download another. I found that idea pretty appealing.

I considered a Kindle for a long time, but I held back, partially because I have so many real books and partially because I didn’t want to spend money on a device that only does one thing. If I decided I didn’t like reading on it, then I had basically thrown the money away. If you’ve read my iPad review, then you’ll know that was the device that finally got my attention. If I decided I didn’t like reading books on it, it still does a zillion other things.

It took me about 10 minutes to decide I love reading books on my iPad. I read two series of books on the iPad, and I just flew through them. When I’d finish one, I could immediately start on the next. I didn’t have to wait to get home to grab the next one, or go to a bookstore. Even if I didn’t already have the next one, it only took a couple minutes for me to find and download it. The only drawback is that is very susceptible to glare, so it is difficult to read in full sunlight. I have to carefully choose my seat on the train so that I can still see what I am reading.

Reading a few books on the iPad really helped me to separate form from content. I still adore actual books, but as long as I can make myself comfortable while I am reading, it doesn’t really matter how the content is delivered. This leaves me with a dilemma. What should I do with the gazillions of books in my house? I had been slowly working my way through them, and I certainly don’t want to buy e-books of books I already own, but I’d love to divest myself of a huge chunk of them. Most of them came from BookMooch, so they entered my home fairly cheaply. If there was some way to cheaply transfer them onto my iPad without tons of labor, that would be great. I am not quite handy enough to make my own book scanner, although that would be awesome. I guess my plan will be to do another weeding and see what I can get rid of now, although I’ve already done a pretty good job of getting rid of things I don’t think I will read.

What will I keep? I have a big collection of books about Korean history and culture, many of which are out of print, and those are staying. There are a few art books (how-tos) with lots of full color illustrations, and those are staying (although I would like to see how one of those books would look on the iPad). I’m keeping my books on animal intelligence, plus a few favorite authors. But that leaves many, many books that I want to read and then get rid of permanently. It seems silly to buy books to read on the iPad when I have a house full of books yet to read, but I find myself less and less willing to carry around a book. No one is more surprised than I am that I don’t want to lug around a book anymore. The main thing holding me back from completely making the switch is the financial aspect. There is no reason to be buying new books for the iPad if I have plenty of actual books left to read. Buying books online isn’t really much cheaper (if at all) than buying hard copies.

Has anyone else made the switch from all actual books to all e-books, or somewhere in the middle? I’d like to hear about it.

Okay, I made that up. As far as I know, there is no such thing as Be Nice to Your Spouse Week. You should probably be nice to your spouse every day! But I bring it up because I am in the middle of reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. She selected a different area to focus on each month for a year, in order to try and increase her happiness (that is an extremely simplified version of what she did). I am only on the third month now, but I was so taken with February that I had to write about it now. The book would be worth it just for February alone.

That chapter’s focus was on love. Specifically, how we can’t change our spouse, so we should focus on what we can change – ourselves. This is all no brainer stuff, but I really like the way Rubin talks about it. She says of her husband Jamie, “I’d donate a kidney to Jamie without a moment’s hesitation, but I was intensely annoyed if he asked me to stop at the drugstore to pick up shaving cream.” Most of us – those of us who aren’t perfect – have let petty annoyances get in the way in our marriages, but this really crystalized for me how important it is to fight against that. I am NOT going to be perfect, but since reading this chapter, I’ve really tried to stop and think before I speak to my husband. When he does little things that annoy me, I seen to forget all the reasons that I love him and just focus on one petty thing. That’s not to say that I always need to agree with everything he says and does, but I have to learn to let some things go. I have no idea if my husband has noticed or will notice any change, but what I have already found out is that it does make me happier. It is a lot more relaxing when I can let things go and just enjoy his company.

I am putting most of my focus on two things, both of which Rubin discusses in the book. First, I am not complaining about work. I’m trying not to talk about work at all. It has to be kind of stressful for him to have to come home and listen to me complain about my stressful day when he just wants to relax. And the bonus is that then I don’t have to carry the stress home with me – I can just leave it at the office. It will be waiting for me when I get there tomorrow!

The other thing I am focusing on is not nagging. This morning, I started to tell him to move the bag of dog food out of the foyer and into the hallway, but I stopped mid-sentence. It didn’t have to be done that moment. I knew we would be cleaning the house this weekend before my Mom comes to visit, and I know it will get put away then. Normally, I would just do something like that myself, but I am no longer allowed to lift a 30 pound bag of dog food – definitely not worth the pain. There are some things that I simply cannot do (and some I just don’t want to do), and I’m trying to step back and remember that most things don’t need to be taken care of immediately unless I am willing to do them.

The New York Times had an article today about couples arguing on Facebook that I found rather appalling. The lack of respect these couples had for one another was staggering. I know it’s a different generation, but respecting the person you love shouldn’t really go out of style. But it was another reminder that not everything needs to be said. I am very sarcastic, and things that I intend to be funny sometimes just come out mean. Is it really worth it? Probably not. In her book, Rubin points out that we tend to be more kind and considerate to other people than to our spouses. That feels true to me. We should be kind and considerate to everyone, but that should INCLUDE our spouses.

Rubin started a blog (see chapter three) about the Happiness Project, and it is also a great resource. I think it is still worth reading the book, however, because it follows a very specific month by month plan and the blog is more general. A friend loaned me the book (even though I should be reading the books I already have) and I am really glad she did. I am not a big fan of self-help books, but I really like Rubin’s non-sappy, organized approach to the material. I related to so much of what she shares about herself in the book, that I found it much more useful than just some general book with a list of tips on how to be happier. The Happiness Project is really a memoir of how Rubin approached bringing more happiness to her life, and her personal successes and failures are what make the book work.

Stephen will probably read this (although I’m kind of hoping this will be one of the times he doesn’t read my blog), so it won’t be a very secret experiment. These are things I can change that won’t take any extra time out of my life. It just takes a little more thought before I open my mouth, and we could probably all stand to do that.

This article, about the bridal “bookquet” I carried in my July 2003 wedding, appeared in the September/October 2003 issue of Somerset Studio Magazine. The magazine can be ordered as a back issue from Somerset’s website. The photographs in the article were taken by my husband, Stephen Bay. The text from the article is below. The pictures are from Stephen’s website – you can see the full set there.

A Wedding by the Book
by Kara Sjoblom
Photos by Stephen Bay

When I got engaged last summer, I knew that I wanted certain elements of our wedding to reflect my artistic interests. Because I am a book artist, I knew that our invitations would be handmade books, but I also looked for other ways to incorporate books into our ceremony. Soon, I hit upon the idea of creating flower-shaped books as my bridal book-quet. I started asking my friends in Bay Area Book Artists (BABA), if they had seen any flower-shaped books that I could use as a starting point, thinking I would make 10 or so identical books.

When BABA founder Jone Small Manoogian heard what I was doing, she came up with the most amazing idea. “Why not ask BABA members to each create a flower book of their own design,” Jone asked. I got a little teary-eyed at the prospect. As a recent transplant to the Bay Area, the wonderful artists of BABA had been my lifesavers. Not only did I consider the other members my dear friends, but I also knew that they were outstanding artists, each and every one. The idea of carrying a book-quet created by people (BABA) that I love and admire was overwhelming.

I immediately set out to create some loose guidelines, leaving room for the enormous creativity that exists in the group. I asked only that each book be no larger than two inches by two inches, that the artists either attach a stem or create a spot to attach one, and that they use my wedding colors of sage green and metallic gold and/or accent colors in sunset shades of red, pink, peach, orange and yellow. Beyond that, each artist was free to interpret the idea of “flower book” however they chose.

The artists presented the finished books when my fiancé Stephen Bay and I hosted a meeting for Bay Area Book Artists. The flower books were beyond my wildest dreams. I couldn’t believe that I would be carrying such a beautiful and unique book-quet. Everyone shared something about their book, and, because of all the beautiful things that were said, I was reminded again how much these people mean to me.

The fable, The Boy and the Pearl, was inspired by journalist Daniel Pearl. Rather than using his murder to fuel hatred and divisiveness, the reaction of his family and friends was to celebrate his life and promote the values that were important to him: cross-cultural understanding through music and communication. The Boy and the Pearl is a reminder that even in the worst of circumstances, we can find hope.

You can visit the website of the Daniel Pearl Foundation to learn more about the work they do or to make a donation.

I wrote and bound the fable in collaboration with artist Diane Salter (identified as Diane Windell in the book), who created the fantastic watercolor illustrations. There are seven full-color pictures and four black and white pencil illustrations with spot color. It was printed on Moab Entrada Fine Art 190 paper, using an Epson 2200 printer. The 32-page book is coptic bound in a limited edition of 40 books and 10 artist proofs. The book is 5″ x 5″ when closed and is covered with hand painted hanji paper. We have donated $10 from the sale of each book to the Daniel Pearl Foundation.

Update 1/24/12: The Boy and the Pearl is now available in iTunes.

Scared of the Bugs is a little artist’s book I created in 2002. It is just a funny little book with a poem and a story about spiders. It also has two flaps that open up to a big picture of a scary spider. The softcover book (really more of a booklet) is covered in paper illustrated with pictures of bugs. It was bound using a pamphlet chain-stitch binding and small beetles. It was an edition of 20 books. There are two copies still available, although I will probably keep the last one. If you are interesting in purchasing the other copy, please contact me.