Better-looking books

Books have always been my big [read 'huge'] indulgence. I've been collecting art books for nearly 20 years and they have been making a bid to take over my home for some time now. In fact, I was getting rather worried about what might happen if the "big pile" of those sitting in the hall still waiting to be returned to their shelf after use actually fell on me. We had a bit of a battle just after Christmas and they won and the academic books lost! The ones in the piles are not only all back on the bookshelves but they're also now all readily accessible on all the best bookshelves. I have to confess that I'm deeply nerdy about this and have got them all sorted into categories as well!

When I visit other people's websites or blogs I've always enjoyed it when somebody has referenced an art book and has included an icon from Amazon which shows you what a book looks like and provides a link straight to where you can check out the on-line price, maybe have a look inside and generally find out a bit more about it (I love reading the reviews!)

Also, I've already had feedback from people saying how much they're enjoying the book they bought after reading my comments. And since I love my art books and also like writing about books I thought I better get a bit better organised about this.

So, after much umming and erring (.......and then a bit more umming and erring.......) I've finally found out what one has to do to become an Amazon Associate. Basically it means I get the code to include the icon in a post when I talk about a book and can also include some good basic reference books in the resource sections in the right hand column - which breaks up the long lists and provides a bit of colour as well! ;). Anyway, the system all appears to be quite simple and I get some pennies out of it as well which is nice. Except I opted for the voucher system as in the end, given where everybody lives, I decided to go with Amazon.com on the blog rather than Amazon.co.uk. And the voucher system is probably a good idea as I try really hard now in art shops not to buy a book at full price and to wait until I can get back home and find out what the online price is. I'm not always successful but I am trying..........

I have no wish to be cured of my 'affliction' of collecting art books am always interested to hear from people who have got the same 'bug'. And if anybody wants to know what I think of a book then I'm happy to write a review for them if I've got it.

art , art books, coloured pencils , drawing , painting , pastels