"For the love of books" or "for the love of reading" are phrases I find myself using in product listings lately because I find myself making things for people who love books and reading. I suppose that's because I love books and reading.

I'm one of those people who keeps books long after I have read them and the kind who buys hardbacks of audio books I find particulary wonderful. They serve as a reminder of great story telling and imaginative use of language, and of the effect a well-written book can have on a reader.

My most recent project was created for the person who loves books and reading—for me. I enjoy fashioning small books out of old novels written in the early 1900s that no one remembers, the kind that sell for a buck at the flea market. Lately, I began using scraps of leather to make covers for these little gems, creating them in different colors and various stages of use.

Did you know, if you rough up a little leather book on cement, it begins to look as if someone has been reading it and carrying it around for years and years? That's the kind of book collection I would like for myself, as opposed to one that looks prestine and fresh off the press. I wonder what my neighbors thought when they saw me sitting out on the cement patio adding years to my miniature library. "There she goes again," they might have said, "doing something weird."

The little collection found its way into this new assemblage with other goodies—a little wooden chair I picked up at an antique store and an excerpt from Pride and Prejudice in which a character extolls the benefits of reading. The text suspends from an old hinge and serves as a screen between the little library and tiny lights that glow in the background.

You can see more details in the listing, including a description of the scene from Jane Austen's great storytelling HERE.