Nice Books | Hello, NY!
Have you ever bought (or been given) a lovely book and you think to yourself "I can't wait to read that, I'll save it for when I've got enough time to enjoy it" and you're still waiting for that time? Well, times that by 100 and that's my bookshelf. So, in an effort to curb this behaviour, I thought I'd start a little series in which I sort of review/talk about some of the lovely (mostly visual) books I own - forcing myself to get them off their shelves and enjoy their contents and hopefully introducing you to some books you might find lovely too.
The first book I wanted to share is Hello, NY! by Julia Rothman who is one of my favourite illustrators. She has lived in New York City for her whole life, and understandably, has quite a lot of observations, hidden treasures, details, facts, stories and experiences to share from her favourite place in the world.
The book is a visual feast, full of gorgeous illustrations in Rothman's trademark style, colourful and hand-drawn - part tour guide, part memoir. She takes you from her childhood neighbourhood in City Island to the Tugboat Graveyard to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the Lower East Side Troll Museum to some of the 'lesser-recognised, under-appreciated buildings of Manhattan' to Grand Central Station and everywhere in between, sharing details, observations and stories.
The book is a lovely homage to New York City and has given me a good dose of 'fernweh' as well as a lot of inspiration for my uni project. I'd love to get my hands on some of her other books. I read a quote I really liked by Julia in this Grain Edit interview that said "I love art that looks like it's for children, but it's for adults" - I feel the same way!
I find Julia extremely inspiring because I think her versatile catalog of work shows just how many roles illustrators can play - she designs wallpaper, book covers, images for use in online and print media articles, wearables, objects, patterns, textiles and lot of other bits and pieces. Obviously I'm a big fan!
