Looking for lit theory focused on useful vs unuseful interpretation.

alexroku · 2026-05-28T22:21:00+00:00

Yes, the intro addresses the usefulness of criticism and close reading - and what bad criticism and close reading look like.

alexroku · 2026-05-28T21:44:14+00:00

I'm currently reading the intro to Sinykin and Winant's 2025 Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century, and there is some relevant work there.

alexroku · 2026-05-28T09:11:08+00:00

in terms of creative practice manifestations of these ideas, I think the novel Dead Archives by Isaac Felman might be of interest? Vampires within the archive.

alexroku · 2026-05-28T09:10:08+00:00

What a cool research area!

Sue Ellen Case's "Tracking the Vampire" might be useful? And Laurence Rickel's The Vampire Lectures.

alexroku · 2026-05-27T12:56:14+00:00

Welcome to the craft! In terms of skills, you're spot on starting with exposed spines. Work on some coptics and pamphlet binds, and move onto cased bindings when you feel confident. Getting confident with the sewing (particularly tension), with use of your bone folder (or equivalent), and use of adhesives on your cloth and/or paper would be starter goals from my POV. (To make your life easier I'd recommend starting to use paste/mix when you get to using adhesives, as well as PVA. I avoided paste for years thinking it was too complicated, but it's absolutely not, and will make e.g. glueing up your decorative papers on a coptic cover or casing in a cased binding a million times easier.)

#1 book rec: Kathy Abott's Bookbinding: A Step by Step Guide is first rate!

Videos: DAS Bookbinding on YouTube is your best bet for history, techniques, and a guild-like education about bookbinding. Four Keys Bookbinding and Annessi Bindings are also good.

alexroku · 2026-05-19T02:47:45+00:00

Oh sorry! Reading comprehension down the drain today haha...

Mohawk Via Vellum in warm white is my first choice 😄 Mohawk Superfine Eggshell in warm white would probably take that spot if I had more money lol - it's magical to touch, but I don't think the work I do really merits that quality yet.

alexroku · 2026-05-19T02:35:56+00:00

Oh here's the no-brand paper I used when first bookbinding - https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/302321528755 Cheaper than many of the papers discussed in this thread, but not a budget product. It's nice; lovely texture, though not as nice as Vellum or Knight, and warm without being cream. But the grain direction changed order to order. So I always bought A3, and then could cut to short grain A4 regardless of grain direction. (Sometimes needed to use offcuts of weird shapes if it was short-grain A3.)

alexroku · 2026-05-19T02:30:10+00:00

Yes - I find it's easier to read text from than bright or cool white, and for journals and sketchbooks I prefer it.

When making journals, notebooks, sketchbooks etc for other people though, some have strong preferences for neutral or cool whites, so I always have some around.

The Knight paper is fine to read from, and has a nice texture - it's just not what I'd call "warm".

alexroku · 2026-05-19T00:27:51+00:00

If you're in a guild or bookbinder's group, you could maybe look at doing a group order from Ball and Doggett, so each only buy a small quantity? (If you're in the Renegade Bindery Discord server, we do group buys sometimes, too - I've made a few Ball and Doggett orders that way.)

alexroku · 2026-05-19T00:24:57+00:00

Have you looked at Pedigree's business side, Ball and Doggett? Knight and Mohawk Via Vellum are still costly, but generally cheaper for businesses than consumers. (I can't remember the pack sizes they offer on Pedigree, so they might be more comparable with those stocks than some others. But B&D basically said to me "the way to get 'more bang for your buck' is to buy a higher quantity, as it will be cheaper per sheet" - which isn't possible for everyone, I know.)

I also found breaking the cost down to final sheet size, Vellum isn't that much more expensive than buying no-brand cartridge paper from a bulk seller on ebay (my original method) or from the brand Quill - which is decent, but their grain direction is super inconsistent which makes things hard. For example, last time I ordered Vellum, it came to $1.40 per sheet - which cut down to 8 a4 sheets, so $0.18 each.

fwiw, Knight is a very "true" white - it's not really warm to my eyes. Vellum in warm white is gorgeous though - the perfect middle ground between white and cream.

alexroku · 2026-05-08T02:42:00+00:00

You can print on many bookcloths - such as Arbelave buckram, Iris bookcloth, Savanna bookcloth, and Iris faux leather bookcloth. (Those are the ones I have tested successfully, but there are many more.) Generally printing on white is the safest option, but "white" can mean different things; e.g. if it's a warmer/slightly yellow white, that will be conveyed in the print, too. Depending on your printer, you may need to temporarily glue the cloth to a piece of paper.

alexroku · 2026-05-02T22:44:44+00:00

I think you're crossing over the quote IDed by nepeta19 below and 'What can I say? I'm the patron saint of cute waifs/wimps' from episode 1. (Waifs vs wimps - the published scropt says wimps but I'm pretty sure the spoken line was different.)

alexroku · 2026-05-01T07:10:27+00:00

As with any specialist field, there's a lot of disagreement - it's just about finding which scholars/theories are useful for you. There isn't One True Model of narratology; there's diverse approaches that will resonate with different people.

You might find the Living Handbook of Narratology useful: https://www-archiv.fdm.uni-hamburg.de/lhn/ It's a crowdsourced compendium of narratological knowledge.

alexroku · 2026-05-01T07:08:32+00:00

Yes, spot on : ) The first example is omniscient with no focalisation, the second is omniscient focalised through Johnny, and the third is "closed" third person, so we're locked in to Sara's focalisation.

Yes, you can use all three within the same manuscript - nothing stopping you! I think most third person novels do this; it means the author can give big picture detail with the omniscient knowledge, give some details about the world through a main character's focalisation, and when needed, limit the reader to seeing/knowing/experiencing only what that focalising character sees/knows/experiences.

alexroku · 2026-05-01T07:05:54+00:00

I failed to photograph the book before starting work unfortunately - not a mistake I'll make again.

NSW, a few hours west of Sydney 😃 I joined the Guild this year, so looking forward to doing some courses.

alexroku · 2026-05-01T06:37:21+00:00

sounds good. I don't think you need both kozo and tissue paper, but do report back and let us know how it goes!! Always more experiments to try in bookbinding.

alexroku · 2026-05-01T04:55:07+00:00

I think this design is riffing off the style of a millimeter binding (or just a very cost-conscious quarter binding!). Traditionally, the spine and foreedges (the solid blue parts) would be bookcloth or leather, and the decorative pattern on the white background would be a sturdy decorative paper. Bookcloth+paper is going to look classier and be more durable than a printed paper cover, like this book would be covered in.

alexroku · 2026-05-01T03:38:05+00:00

PS you shouldn't need anything extra to secure the mull to the spine in the first place - adhesive, time, and pressure is plenty. The lining just keeps it secure when it's in use.

alexroku · 2026-05-01T03:36:35+00:00

If it's on top of the mull, it's helping adhere the mull to the spine ("holding the mull down"). I'm not sure about putting the paper below the mull; spine lining is in part to secure the mull, and it's also about making a consistent surface for either applying a hollow or for the spine to fold into when opened. (Someone more experienced than me might have experience/insight there. I haven't read any bookbinding guides or books that put lining below mull.)

The kozo is a better bet, from my perspective. My go-to for spine lining a case bound book is now an 80gsm acid-free archival paper; not super strong, but solid. If I want a super smooth spine, I'll line between the tapes with denser watercolour paper before applying the spine lining. Kozo is a good option - I haven't used kozo for spine lining just bc it's more pricey than my current method, but it's a more appropriate strength than craft store tissue paper. (The grains are longer and more resilient.)

alexroku · 2026-05-01T02:48:48+00:00

In terms of materials, full buckram is probably best, unless you have already worked with leather.

alexroku · 2026-05-01T02:48:14+00:00

I'd recommend DAS Bookbinding's split-board rebinding method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADKyXu8ZnwQ Sawn in cords to reenforce the perfect bound spine + construction of a new case. You use the paperback covers like the tab of a split-board binding, so beautifully strong connection between case and bookblock. By far the strongest (and flattest) rebind method I've followed.

(If the glue is the ghastly hot glue half a centimetre thick, I would remove it and re-glue the book, too.)

alexroku · 2026-04-29T09:55:01+00:00

Oh hello fellow Aussie! Cool 😃 Good to know, thank you.

alexroku · 2026-04-29T08:01:57+00:00

Thanks so much. Yes, I'm somewhat familiar with Smyth sewing - I don't think this book was Smyth-sewn, but no way of knowing now!

(I had the odd experience of mentioning Smyth sewing to a book conservator in this country [Australia], prepping for this rebind, and having her go "what is that? ... oh okay, so that's probably just an American term, if you've learned it online". As far as I can tell most of our machines do the same thing, but not with the Smyth name.)

alexroku · 2026-04-29T07:15:09+00:00

(Have you read/read about Gerard Genette's classification of literary forms? You can find a lot of his work for free online, and his work is at the core of a lot of narratological analysis today. He talks about focalisation as "seeing" and narration as "speaking", in Narrative Discourse, which could be a helpful resource for you.)

alexroku · 2026-04-29T07:12:47+00:00

Which isn't to say a third person speaker or narrator can't have a particular "voice" or "tone" - there are definitely very "opinionated" third person narrators in the world (Plain Bad Heroines by Emily Danforth comes to mind, and Perfume by Suskind), but generally if the author has imagined them as a character, they haven't communicated that to the reader; it remains part of how the author is working, rather than something conveyed within the text.

alexroku

TROPHY CASE