SKY HIGH OR UNDERWATER COVERS

I think it might be time for another ode to the book cover designer. These dreamlike covers are by Henry Sene Yee, the creative director at Picador.

Just wanted to give you an example of what a difference a beautiful cover might make to your favourite book.  Voices is a grisly crime novel set in Rekjavik, Sene Yee's design is on the left while the one on the right is what you're likely to find in most bookshops. In a paperless, digital age, this is the reason to buy a good old fashioned book. Even trees are happy with the deal.

PORN FOR BOOK LOVERS

Sometimes, when I'm feeling a little bit lonely and it's late at night, I sit in bed and glance through photographs on the internet. It's not an addiction or anything, I don't have a problem, they just look so good and I want all of them so much. The site I'm talking about, unsurprisingly, is Bookshelf Porn - picture after picture of the most beautiful shelves and shops and scultpures in the world (they even have one of Daunt Books in Marylebone, as they should). I think this is one of my absolute favourites.

GOOD BOOK PLEASE

Someone said to me the other day that they never read current books - there are so many classics it seemed stupid to waste time on something that might be terrible. I totally agree and unless you read book reviews, have a friend with exactly the same taste or a trusted independent bookseller it's tricky. So I wanted to suggest a few recent, really good books that I can promise won't be a waste of time ...

Brodeck's Report by Philippe Claudel

Written by the screenwriter of I've Loved You So Long starring Kristen Scott Thomas, this book is fantastic. It's about a poisonous war, determined survival and, ultimately, what it means to be human.

A small, nameless French village is reeling from the Second World War. During years of occupation by the Nazi's, each and every person has done something or behaved in a way they wish to keep hidden. One day a mysterious stranger enters the village riding a white horse and leading a donkey. He seems to be painting the surrounding countryside but somehow he is going to drag up all that these villagers wish to remain hidden. Finally, as the novel unfolds, we find out what the hero is hiding and why his wife has lost her voice.

If you're looking for a page turner then this isn't for you, but if it's a profound, moving and thought-provoking piece of modern literature you're after, then this is hard to beat.

LET ME GUESS ... YOU'RE WEARING BOOK BY KARL LAGERFELD

I'd like to say that books smell different. Some of them smell of nothing at all, some of them smell like dust and attics, some of them smell like calm, quiet, safe places, some smell like stuff you've dropped on them by mistake like mince ... But, for all those people who gush on about how much they love the smell of books, apparently Karl Lagerfeld is one of them, it is now possible to actually smell of books.

FOR FLAPPERS TO PHILOSOPHERS

One book cover designer you'll be seeing everywhere at the moment is Coralie Bickford-Smith who designs all of Penguin's classic editions. I think they're mixed, but the Scott Fitzgerald collection of six novels and short stories is absolutely beautiful. They also make great presents - a treat for anyone who hasn't read them or a glorious edition for anyone who has.

THE TERRIBLE ENDS OF THE GASHLYCRUMB TINIES

Many of you will know him already, but I'm continually thrilled to see Edward Gorey books in the best bookshops. Born in Chicago to parents who were divorced and then remarried 16 years later, he has illustrated or written countless books all recognisable for their strange, macabre and Edwardian feel. Think Tim Burton crossed with Hilaire Belloc.

My favourite of all is his creepy alphabet book about the terrible ends of the Gashlycrumb Tinies.

FOR THE BOOK COVER LOVER

In honour of my dear friend the Book Cover Lover, I thought I might do some features on beautiful book covers and their designers.  The master of contemporary book design is undoubtedly the marvellous Chip Kidd. I've picked two of my favourites here, but you would recognise many of them, for example the covers of Jurassic Park and The Essential Tales of Chekhov were designed by him. If you fancy a bigger fix then his collection, Book One, is irresistible.

ARE YOU GOING TO SAN FRANCISCO?

For any lovers of San Francisco, this is the book for you. Author and resident Rebecca Solnit has created an atlas charting not only the geography of this 7 mile urban space, but a social, political and cultural history. A loving, minute exploration of the bay area with endless discoveries, from blues clubs to butterfly habitats. There are also 22 coloured maps, each by a different artist, which illustrate the book perfectly. 

DO YOU LOVE ME, NOW THAT I CAN DANCE?

Because it's been a bit of an art week, I'd like to bring your attention to MONPA, or the Museum of Non-Primate Art. The organisation has got some really great stuff this season that is definitely competing on an international level and I'd like to bring them some much-needed publicity. Their three current online collections are the thought-provoking Why Cats Paint, the emotive Dancing with Cats and the expressionist Bird Art. The purpose of the museum, as they define it, is to "preserve the movements, marks and sounds of non-primate species and consider them, without prejudice, as modes of aesthetic communication, in the hope of gaining new insights into our world." I can honestly say that this work has given me some new insights into our world. If you'd like something to keep forever (and who wouldn't?), what better than a powerful photographic collection that accompanies the exhibition from Heather Busch and Burton Silver.

AND WHAT BIG KITCHEN UTENSILS YOU HAVE GRANDMA!

Illustrator Jean-Francois Martin and cookery journalist Esterelle Payany have published this quirky little cookbook with recipes inspired by fictional villains. Unlike a lot of small, stocking-filler type books, this is funny, well-written and the illustrations are beautiful. The Big Bad Wolf teaches you how to make Pigs in Blankets, Brutus makes a Caesar salad and Hannibal Lector shares his recipe for sweetbreads with sherry.

MARVELLOUS MAPS

If you are someone who finds maps as intriguing as I do, there are two beautiful books out at the moment which should satisfy any cartophile. In Atlas of Remote Islands Judith Schalansky has picked 50 of the most remote islands in the world, places she is certain never to go, and drawn an exquisite map for each one alongside a pocket, poetic, enchanting history. Schalansky makes these islands sound like magical inventions from Jonathan Swift. From Here to There is another gem - a remarkable collection of the rudimentary maps drawn everyday by people trying to remember where the nearest tube is, inventing an imaginary land or drawing something important to them like the inside of their school locker. Kris Harzinski, author of this collection and founder of the Hand Drawn Map Association, has included sketches from Abraham Lincoln to a woman suffering from arthritis who maps where she has been given injections so she can leave her body time to heal.

TALES OF DOMESTIC DESPAIR

Inspired by Victorian ghost stories and spirit photographs from the late 19th century, Corinne May Botz has travelled the United States photographing eighty haunted houses. Even when you don't know the stories, which you can listen to on her website, aren't they sinister?