summer in the shade

I've just returned from the library, loaded down with yet more books to add to an already precariously high stack of summer reading. The girl at the crepes stand on the Ped Mall even suggested that I get a little red wagon to ease the load. A few highlights:

- A Short History of the Printed Word, by Warren Chappell (almost finished)
- The Form of the Book, by Jan Tschichold (a little bit started)
- What Do Pictures Want?, by W.J.T. Mitchell
- Printing and Publishing in Medieval China, by Denis Twitchett (a lot more interesting than it sounds)
- The Printing Press as an Agent of Change, by Elizabeth L. Eisenstein
- Don't Go Where I Can't Follow, by Anders Nilsen (currently my favorite comic artist)
- A Field Guide to Getting Lost, by Rebecca Solnit (not that I need a guide for that)
- The Yiddish Policemen's Union, by Michael Chabon
- Making Comics, by Scott McCloud

My nose will be buried in these pages for most of the summer, but for a change of peripheral scenery, I've scouted out a few of my favorite third places: House of Aromas with bubble tea; by the Iowa River near the art building in the company of ducks; across the river by North Hall in the company of rabbits; in front of the Old Capitol under the best shade trees.


On a side note: whoever is eating my daisies, please stop. The poor thing only had two blooms anyways. The lady down the street has much more.