Heading back to the old city of Suzhou again this week. After showcasing a bookmark from their modern museum, here’s one from their famous Lion Grove Garden, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The garden was built in 1342 by Buddhist monks, and has had to be rebuilt several times in the centuries since. It’s so named because the rock formations are supposed to look like lions, though from the pictures I’ve seen I think that’s a bit of a stretch.

Fun fact: The Suzhou Museum was designed by I. M. Pei. The Lion Grove Garden was previously owned by the Pei family, and I. M. Pei played in it when he was a child.

Book: The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu

Bookmarked Bookmarks

This is a bookmark from the Suzhou Museum, which was designed by the architect I. M. Pei. I have friends from Suzhou and they’ve given me several bookmarks. I’d love to visit the place, home of the celebrated “Pants” building, but it’s a long way away and I hear it’s very hot.

Books: The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu

Bookmarked Bookmarks

Nope. I’ve never been to New Zealand either. But somebody did get me a nice bookmark when they went! According to a note on the back it’s made from “Native Paua Shell and Rimu Timber.”

Book: Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Bookmarked Bookmarks

This is the second 3-D bookmark I’ve posted on (here’s the first). The problem is you don’t get the 3-D effect from a picture like this. You have to look at it from different directions so that the wolf seems to be moving.

Book: Nostradamus: The Evidence by Ian Wilson

Bookmarked Bookmarks

A great collection of literary essays (reviewed here), and you know every great book deserves its own bookmark.

Book: A Report on the Afterlife of Culture by Stephen Henighan

Bookmarked Bookmarks

Basically these “book darts” are a variation on the paperclip bookmark, but gentler on the pages. You can use these without causing any damage to the book at all.

Book: Chaucer’s People: Everyday Lives in Medieval England by Liza Picard

Bookmarked Bookmarks

When I was a kid I used to look for four-leaf clovers. Not sure if I ever found one. If I did, I might have stuck it between the pages of a book. That’s what you did with things like that, in times long ago.

Book: A Nation and Not a Rabble: The Irish Revolution 1913–23 by Diarmaid Ferriter

Bookmarked Bookmarks

Leo doesn’t seem too happy in this self-portrait. But then he was getting old and that’s not for the weak of heart.

Book: Leonardo: The Artist and the Man by Serge Bramly

Bookmarked Bookmarks

Painted leather. I’m a little ashamed to admit that pulling this bookmark out of my collection I not only had no recollection of who gave it to me, but that I wasn’t even sure where Costa Rica was. Central or South America? I wasn’t sure. So of course I had to look it up.

Book: Encyclopedia Britannica (1973 edition)

Bookmarked Bookmarks

Neat promotional bookmark. Obviously I never planted the seeds, and nearly ten years after Panacea was published I don’t know how likely they would be to grow. Not that I use basil for much anyway.

Book: Megathreats: Ten Dangerous Trends That Imperil Our Future, and How to Survive Them by Nouriel Roubini

Bookmarked Bookmarks