I wish I could find a good book to live in.

I have grown up listening to Melanie.* My mum always played her in the house, having loved her since her Woodstock days, and I treasure her beat-up best of vinyl like a friend.


Her covers are great, her voice makes you feel like you're in 1969, and some of her lyrics are brilliant:


A little bit of wholemeal, some raisins and cheese,
But I don't eat animals and they don't eat me.
(this song, 'I don't eat animals', singlehandedly made me vegetarian for a time).


My favourite was from a different song, one I heard so much I could even belt along to the french section, despite my inadequate language skills:


I wish I could find a good book to live in,
Wish I could find a good book,
'Cos if i could find, a real good book,
I'd never have to come out.


With this in mind, you'll understand the smile I got today when I saw this:

This house was made by artists Carson and Miller from around 5,000 antique books- almost all English Literature and published in the UK. It says on their website:


'Spines out, pages in, the work is a library turned in on itself, a space of infinite possibility where nothing may be read yet everything imagined. The work has no windows and in the absence of external stimulation, we must imagine the worlds of the books, and hear the voice in our head that talks to us when we read. Books, the stories they tell about the opportunity they offer for escape into other worlds, are a key inspiration for Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller.'


I want one of my own. 


You can see more of their work here: www.cardiffmiller.com


*Her full name is Melanie Safka but she's usually just referred to as Melanie, on albums, interviews etc.