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1st out of 101 books
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The Word Made Flesh: Literary Tattoos from Bookworms Worldwide
by
Eva Talmadge (Goodreads Author),
Justin Taylor
A guide to the emerging subculture of literary tattoos — a collection of 100 full-color photographs of human skin indelibly adorned with quotations and images from Pynchon to Dickinson to Shakespeare to Plath. Packed with beloved lines of verse, literary portraits, and illustrations — and statements from the bearers on their tattoos’ history and the personal significance o...more
Paperback, 173 pages
Published
October 12th 2010
by Harper Perennial
(first published October 2010)
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so yesterday on our AIFAF, brooklyn-style, i remembered just one more thing i hate about summer: hipster tattoos. in the winter, so many of them are safely tucked away under ascots and ironic adidas warm-up jackets and suit jackets with elbow pads worn over seventies t-shirts with skinny ties... but in the summer....halter tops and wifebeaters reveal airbrush-style unicorns and clever rebus tattoos or the artwork of friends or those awful stars...
although i am kind of in love with this one:
but s...more
although i am kind of in love with this one:
but s...more
55 likes · like · see review
view all 37 comments
I pulled this out of its mailer and my husband took one look and said, "Oh, crap. You're going to have a tattoo soon, aren't you?" I was a little hesitant to open it for fear of that very thing myself. I don't have anything against tattoos on other people, they just aren't for me. Let's just say that, working in health care, I've seen too many wrinkled, formless tattoos on those who never thought they'd grow old. Yeah. Not for me.
But in looking through the tattoos in the book, I can admire the a...more
But in looking through the tattoos in the book, I can admire the a...more
Well, thanks to this book, I have officially decided that I need a tattoo of the Runaway Bunny, as kind of an ode to frightening parental over-protectiveness. Or... maybe of Ferdinand the Bull, sitting in the grass and smelling the flowers. Or the Very Hungry Caterpillar! He’s adorable and also enjoys eating, just like me! Or of the last line of Ulysses? "Yes I said Yes I will Yes" has a nice ring to it, right? Right!
Good, I’m glad that’s figured out. I’ll go tomorrow and get... wait... would I...more
Good, I’m glad that’s figured out. I’ll go tomorrow and get... wait... would I...more
If you were to get a tattoo of your favorite literary quote, what would it be?
Eva Talmadge and Justin Taylor have put together a collection of tattoos from people the world over who want to express their love for specific books, authors, quotations, or illustrations. Some pages contain only a name, place, and picture. Others have all that plus an explanation as to why it has meaning for the individual. The book is "all put together like a mix tape, one image intuitively following the next, or li...more
Eva Talmadge and Justin Taylor have put together a collection of tattoos from people the world over who want to express their love for specific books, authors, quotations, or illustrations. Some pages contain only a name, place, and picture. Others have all that plus an explanation as to why it has meaning for the individual. The book is "all put together like a mix tape, one image intuitively following the next, or li...more
My Rambles:
This book truly was awesome! I love the ideas, I love the passion for books that came through! I have been inspired to figure out my own literary tattoo!! My one and only complaint? I wish that there were more pieces from Fiction, instead of just Literature. I know for a fact that there are some paranormal lovers out there who have some wicked tattoos from their favourite books!
There is a wonderful tattoo of Where the Sidewalk Ends. It runs down the length of someones arm.
There are be...more
This book truly was awesome! I love the ideas, I love the passion for books that came through! I have been inspired to figure out my own literary tattoo!! My one and only complaint? I wish that there were more pieces from Fiction, instead of just Literature. I know for a fact that there are some paranormal lovers out there who have some wicked tattoos from their favourite books!
There is a wonderful tattoo of Where the Sidewalk Ends. It runs down the length of someones arm.
There are be...more
What I Can Tell You:
I love looking at tattoos, so when this book come up for review through Harper Collins, I was excited to get it. Right before I received it in the mail a girlfriend mentioned the book to me. She wanted to get it, she was putting it in her Christmas list. It seems that book lovers have taken to putting the written word on their bodies. Whether it is a word, a phrase, a paragraph or sometimes an entire page from a book, readers are memorializing their favorites permanently.
The...more
I love looking at tattoos, so when this book come up for review through Harper Collins, I was excited to get it. Right before I received it in the mail a girlfriend mentioned the book to me. She wanted to get it, she was putting it in her Christmas list. It seems that book lovers have taken to putting the written word on their bodies. Whether it is a word, a phrase, a paragraph or sometimes an entire page from a book, readers are memorializing their favorites permanently.
The...more
The Good Stuff
* Fascinating stories and some exceptionally artistic tattoos
* Very unusual and interesting selection of literary tattoos
* Inspiring if you are interested in getting a piece of body work
* Great story about girl with the Hungary Caterpillar Tattoo
* Information and story about living book called "Flesh"
* Tons of Librarians with Tattoos ( we are cool people!!!!)
* Very creative and talented artists
* The photo's of the tattoos are wonderful
The Not so Good Stuff
* Would have like...more
* Fascinating stories and some exceptionally artistic tattoos
* Very unusual and interesting selection of literary tattoos
* Inspiring if you are interested in getting a piece of body work
* Great story about girl with the Hungary Caterpillar Tattoo
* Information and story about living book called "Flesh"
* Tons of Librarians with Tattoos ( we are cool people!!!!)
* Very creative and talented artists
* The photo's of the tattoos are wonderful
The Not so Good Stuff
* Would have like...more
I don't have any tattoos. Somehow I made it this far in life without them. But I love looking at unusual tattoos. I'm married to someone with a literary tattoo. I am a bookworm. I have often thought about a bookish tattoo but doesn't it seem like the words would melt when you get old? Robin's friend, April, is in this book with her Ray Bradbury tattoo. The world is so small.
Also, I had no idea so many people get tattoos from the book Ulysses. I mean, I had a cat named Ulysses once, which seems n...more
Also, I had no idea so many people get tattoos from the book Ulysses. I mean, I had a cat named Ulysses once, which seems n...more
2 likes · like · see review
I've written before about my desire for a literary tattoo and my admiration for those who go through with getting one. I think that they're beautiful, inspiring, and always have great stories behind them.
The book itself includes dozens of color and black and white photos of different literary tattoos, some of them with their accompanying stories. Each picture also has the line rewritten and the book/ poem/ play that it came from written underneath, for those who didn't get the reference.
Honestly...more
The book itself includes dozens of color and black and white photos of different literary tattoos, some of them with their accompanying stories. Each picture also has the line rewritten and the book/ poem/ play that it came from written underneath, for those who didn't get the reference.
Honestly...more
The Word Made Flesh: Literary Tattoos from Bookworms Worldwide brings together two of my favorite things - books and tattoos. Many people live under the misconception that those who love books don't get tattoos and vice versa. The World Made Flesh goes far to prove just how wrong that line of thinking is.
Tattoos are often used to show something someone loves. Words are a powerful thing and when you read a particularly profound passage in a book, you yearn to share this thought with others. Tatto...more
Tattoos are often used to show something someone loves. Words are a powerful thing and when you read a particularly profound passage in a book, you yearn to share this thought with others. Tatto...more
This is a really neat collection of tattoos that celebrate the written word or iconographic images from famous literary sources. I like books of quotes, and I like books that show art, and I also like books that cast a positive light on tattoos, so this fits the bill three times over. The tattoos are mostly simple text so there's not a lot of artistic wow here, but I would hope it would spur readers to think about a quote that has meaning enough in their life, whether or not they'll get it tatto...more
Sep 09, 2011
Shelf Magazine
added it
According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, 36 percent of people in the United States between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five, and 40 percent between the ages of twenty-six and forty, have at least one tattoo. They’re mainstream now, as acceptable as pierced ears and daring haircuts, and almost as common. So it comes as no surprise that people you might label “bookish types”—those
librarians among us who know the Dewey decimal number for poetry by heart or the booksellers with
a love...more
librarians among us who know the Dewey decimal number for poetry by heart or the booksellers with
a love...more
What a great book...wonderful photographs, interesting back stories and even my own lovely Bloomington was featured (thanks to a local tattooed bookworm)! I also love that they showcase some E. E. Cummings tattoos as he's one of my most favorite poets. My one complaint is that I wish it was longer. While the editors did represent tattoos from more modern books, really the only ones shown were from the blockbuster Harry Potter series and Twilight series. I would have loved to seen more modern fic...more
This was a really neat book. I didn't like all of the tattoos of course because everyone has different tastes, but I admire most of these people for forever emblazoning their love for particular books or authors or poems on their skin. I think it's easier and a lot more likely for a person to end up regretting a tattoo of a significant other's name or a current favorite band name or something like a cute bunny (or god forbid, Bugs Bunny's portrait) than it would be to get a tattoo commemorating...more
Jan 30, 2012
Rev. Mysterium
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone who appreciates art and verse.
Shelves:
cant-wait-for-more,
counter-culture,
favourites,
great-cover-art,
hard-to-put-down,
my-body-your-body,
non-fiction,
philosophy,
photo-book,
think-outside-the-box,
well-illustrated,
ya-appeal,
skin-and-ink,
express-yourself,
poetry-and-visual-arts,
artistic,
bibliophiles,
eye-candy,
creativity-at-its-best,
eccentric-unique-cool,
tattoos
This is a beautiful book. Amazing ink work coupled with verse and inspirations from great known and not so known masters of the written word. Tattoos are such a popular art form these days that they sadly now run the risk of being a fad with little meaning behind them. The drunken "tramp stamp", or "main squeeze's" name on your arse cheek has sadly diminished from the awesome symbolism and personal meaning that many true tattoo wearers honour and respect. This book shows that there can be deep s...more
1 like · like · see review
A 2012 Christmas gift from my awesome wife.
I really love this book. Not every tattoo is amazingly well done and there are some quotes and images that you wonder why they would mean enough to brand into ones skin. (But I'm sure my Larry Levis tattoo would leave many scratching their heads as well...) All in all, though, it is a very cool collection of images of people who care enough about reading and writing to make it permanent upon themselves. That's something I can get behind (obviously).
The...more
I really love this book. Not every tattoo is amazingly well done and there are some quotes and images that you wonder why they would mean enough to brand into ones skin. (But I'm sure my Larry Levis tattoo would leave many scratching their heads as well...) All in all, though, it is a very cool collection of images of people who care enough about reading and writing to make it permanent upon themselves. That's something I can get behind (obviously).
The...more
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Purchased: Sent to me by Publisher
What I Loved:This was a fantastic picture rendering of many different literary tattoos. They ranged from classics to contemporaries and all were a work of art! I loved when the people would explain why they got a particular tat.
What I Liked: The authors really set back and let the tats speak for themselves.
Complaints: None really!
Why I gave it a 4: I really enjoyed looking at all the pictures and wishing that I had enough nerve to ge...more
Purchased: Sent to me by Publisher
What I Loved:This was a fantastic picture rendering of many different literary tattoos. They ranged from classics to contemporaries and all were a work of art! I loved when the people would explain why they got a particular tat.
What I Liked: The authors really set back and let the tats speak for themselves.
Complaints: None really!
Why I gave it a 4: I really enjoyed looking at all the pictures and wishing that I had enough nerve to ge...more
Literary tattoos, in this book, is expanded to mean any tattoo with text. Or a typewriter. Or a book cover illustration. There are some lovely tats herein. My favorite was the complete text of Sharon Olds' stunner of a poem, 'I Go Back to May, 1937'. The lovely bit was that the text was all scrambled, rushing and urgent and only recognizable to someone who'd already read the poem. So well done. I also loved the Dewey Decimal number tattoo- that's one that could be fun. Mostly, reading people's s...more
If you are a colorful (in more ways than one) literary geek such as myself, "The Word Made Flesh" is just about heaven sent! Chock full of beautifully inspiring tattoos with a literary tie-ins, this book is a wonderful compendium for the literary punk; the tattooed nerd; or the boldly bedazzled bookworm. While the book is a bit thin on material and none of the individual's stories go into detail, what is here is a commendable, original anthology of tattoo culture on paper. I am the girl that lov...more
Though this book is not at all heavy reading, I certainly recommend it as thinking material. Is it worth the $15 cover price? I don’t know — that depends on your love of tattoos more than it does literature, I think. Perhaps it’s more of a book you buy as a gift for others. Still, it’s always interesting to hear the stories behind why people choose to decorate their bodies in the way that they do, though I imagine that for any living writer, seeing their words as tattoos must be both bizarre and...more
The title tells all. This book is a compilation of pictures of tatoos, often with a commentary from the owner of said tatoo, explaining why the text or illustration of text is dear to them. I preferred the text tatoos. I personally have never felt the impulse to tatoo my body and always thought, if I had to for some reason (gun to head, a step toward world peace) I would get one of the Grateful Dead's dancing bears in orange. Having read this book, I've changed my mind and now love the idea of c...more
Too literary for my taste. I wanted more newer books, less older. At the very least an attempt at a semi-even number. Nestled in the back of the book you'll find a few newer books (Twilight, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, etc.) but that wasn't enough for me.
Most of the tattoos are quoting obvious classics and very well known authors. A few may be obscure books no one has ever heard of in an attempt to look smart on the part of the tattoo-e. I don't know - I never heard of the books.
A few note-...more
Most of the tattoos are quoting obvious classics and very well known authors. A few may be obscure books no one has ever heard of in an attempt to look smart on the part of the tattoo-e. I don't know - I never heard of the books.
A few note-...more
Literary tattoos absolutely fascinate me - I am secretly very tempted to get a book-related tattoo. Don't worry it's not actually going to happen. I'm way too scared of needles and saggy old lady skin to get inked. But I can now live vicariously through this awesome book! The Word Made Flesh is a compilation of book/author/writing/publishing/librarianship tattoos along with the stories behind the tattoos and why each person chose to get one. They range from the highbrow (Whitman, cummings, etc)...more
Have you ever thought about getting a tattoo for your love of books, or just one story or author in particular? Well these folks have. This is a wonderful collection of literary tattoos on booklovers. From Eric Carle to Walt Whitman everybody has that book that meant something to them. Maybe it looked really nice. As the stories of tattoos inside state, not all tattoos are created equal. Sometimes you just have a love for how they look, or a love of words. Sometimes you have something more.
This...more
This...more
I currently don't have any tattoos, but I may get one in the future . (Of course, it would need to be small and easily concealable for work - I'd probably get it on my foot.) I've been obsessed with the idea of literary tattoos ever since I came across contrariwise.org. I could browse it for hours!
You can imagine my excitement when I received a copy of The Word Made Flesh: Literary Tattoos from Bookworms Worldwide by Eva Talmadge and Justin Taylor (thanks HarperCollins!). The book features color...more
You can imagine my excitement when I received a copy of The Word Made Flesh: Literary Tattoos from Bookworms Worldwide by Eva Talmadge and Justin Taylor (thanks HarperCollins!). The book features color...more
I really liked this book; it is a collection of photographs, and the stories behind them, of literary tattoos. The photography is wonderful, and stories are always interesting. I'm always curious about why people get certain tattoos, and what they mean to them; and this book provides both. As someone who has worked in publishing for over 20 years I am an avowed word junkie, and I love the idea of having a favorite quote or illustration made into a tattoo. I currently have two literary tattoos, a...more
Dec 13, 2010
Idiosyncratic
marked it as to-read
Oh geez. Now I'm stuck getting ANOTHER tattoo. I already have the chi from the Lindsfarne Gospels on my rear end, and the image of Mary Poppins from the front cover of "Mary Poppins Opens The Door" on my calf and I am getting Pippi Longsticking on my shoulder next spring, and now....now that I am seeing people printing quotes on themselves, I'm probably gonna end up putting TS Eliot somewhere on me. (This is beginning to feel like a bit of a hodge-podge.)
I stumbled on this by accident looking for a different book with the same title. Photos and blurbs about literary tattoos. I thought it was fascinating, the phrases and illustrations that struck people strongly enough to have them permanently etched into their skin. Proves again how words can be so powerful, and how different snippets resonate with different people.
I loved it! I just wish I would have known about it sooner so I could have put mine in there!!! I loved all the differnt tats and the great ideas. Some of them very so original and then some where just what they were!. My faves were the most simple ones with just one word. I did love how one guy had a whole essay written on his back. That's dedication!!! I will definitely keep this one on my shelves forever!
Jun 22, 2012
Dustin Crazy little brown owl
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Bookworms who want tattoos
I am a bookworm and I am getting me some literary tattoos.
My favorite author is Dean Koontz so I have one of his titles "By The Light of the Moon" tattooed on my right arm as a banner under my owl tattoo. I have another Dean Koontz title "One Door Away From Heaven" tattooed on my left arm. I have also used the lantern on a branch on the cover of One Door Away From Heaven as a tattoo element.
This Literary Tattoos book has given me some good ideas about using quotes and book covers so I might de...more
My favorite author is Dean Koontz so I have one of his titles "By The Light of the Moon" tattooed on my right arm as a banner under my owl tattoo. I have another Dean Koontz title "One Door Away From Heaven" tattooed on my left arm. I have also used the lantern on a branch on the cover of One Door Away From Heaven as a tattoo element.
This Literary Tattoos book has given me some good ideas about using quotes and book covers so I might de...more
3 likes · like · see review
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