bookworms with ink

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:50:11 GMT

This is the best idea for a group ever! I'll have to hook my roommate up with it so she can post her tattoos, too!

I got my fourth tattoo yesterday on a whim¹ when my roommate asked me at brunch if I wanted to go to the tattoo parlor. Of course I did!

Got this done at Empire Tattoos in Upland, California. It took a WHOPPING 90 SECONDS to finish², and I love it dearly, dearly, dearly.

I don't know if you all heard about David Foster Wallace's suicide on September 12th, and if you did, I'm sure you heard about how he was a professor of English and Creative Writing at Pomona College.

I had the pleasure of having him for a professor last year, the last year he taught, for Creative Writing. On a year to the day of his death, I was in his class, where my piece was being workshopped. I got it back the next day with this lovely note at the top.

After the shock of his passing³, I knew I wanted that face. All of the things I have from him are special to me, but this one is by far the most so. For starters, he genuinely liked the piece, so I felt the smile was legitimate, but also because of the fact that it was, unbeknownst to all of us, the start of the last year of his life, to the hour.

I decided on the placement, slightly off-centered, because now, when I write, I can see this guy smiling up at me with his goofy, lopsided grin and weirdly ungelled toupee.

It's a reminder to me that, while Dave might have succumbed to his depression not long after, he was a genuinely silly, thoughtful man and ought to be remembered as such.

It might be the simplist of all my tattoos, but it is already easily my favorite⁴.

/|:v)

________________________
¹ The idea wasn't on a whim, but the trip was.
² Note the sarcastic use of capital letters.
³ Though, I am not sure that ever really goes all the way away.
⁴ But let's face it, the others aren't all that great.

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:07:25 GMT

jonathan safran foer.

my best friend died two months ago, and it's just a constant reminder that everything happens for a reason. i'm adding much more to it.

New Tattoo!

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 07:01:59 GMT

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. -Nietzsche

Done by the awesome Nikki Pettis at Grinn and Barrett Tattoo in Omaha, NE and the font is Goudy Bookletter 1911.

I can't believe how swollen it is right now! Also, I'm not the biggest Nietzsche fan or anything, and I found a few places that attribute the quote to Kipling, but it seems like most people think it's from dude's "overman" concept, blah blah blah, boring. Anyway, reverendluke gets all the credit, because I fell in love with this quote after reading it from him. It stuck in my head forever afterwards, and everytime I'd start doing something stupid and give-in-ish, I'd be all, "But remember that one quote!"

So there, now I'll have to remember it forever.

**Edit**
Here's one more to show the placement better:

The Iliad, by way of Donna Tartt

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 03:21:16 GMT

This is a quote from The Secret History by Donna Tartt, which is supposedly from book 11 of The Iliad. I've never found anything exactly like it in book 11, though I could see it as a summary of one small part.
(It looks a bit crooked in the photos, just the way I'm holding my arm I believe.)

I plan for my next tattoo to be a Jeanette Winterson quote from Oranges are Not the Only Fruit - "no emotion is the final one."

Winterson/Donne

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 21:49:04 GMT

Hey fellow bookworms.

I just finished reading "The Stone Gods" by Jeanette Winterson, and a particular quote struck me - i have a desire to get it tattooed, which is how i ended up with my previous two literary tattoos - a particular word or phrase hit me like a bolt and i thought "Yes. I want THAT."

The quote, however, is not Winterson - it's a line from Donne which recurs throughout the novel - "she is all states, and all princes i/Nothing else is;" I love these lines, and i love Winterson's own poetic use of them when writing about the world, the human condition, and love. However, i don't know if i like the tone of the original Donne poem, which seems somewhat possessive.

I was just wondering how people felt about quotations which, like this one, can have two or more sources of meaning. Is what a quote means to you more important than the tone or intention of the author? How do you reconcile your own meaning with what the author may have meant? I'm not so much looking for an answer to my own little puzzle here as hoping for some discussion, as that's often helpful. Thanks!

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 03:54:37 GMT

Alright so, as soon as I gather up enough money I'd like to get my first literary tattoo! I would like to get "I am a ghost wanting what every ghost wants- a body" but I am uncertain about font. help?

My Missing Piece

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:52:54 GMT

I got my first tattoo this afternoon; it's from The Missing Piece by Shel Silverstein.

The redness is from me pinching my back in an attempt to get an idea of what I was getting myself into. It wasn't too bad, really, and only took about 45 minutes. My mother and I read The Missing Piece a lot when I was young, so this is a tribute to the book and to her.

Tattooed by Scot Padgett at Living Art in Northampton, Massachusetts.

First post

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:21:05 GMT

Okay, so I want to get one word tattooed but have absolutely no idea where to put it.
If it was a longer quote, I'd think of my inner bicep, my side, etc. But Those are too big of spaces for just one word, and I'm not looking to make the font huge to fit.
I was thinking, maybe on the side of my finger?
No feet, or wrists. Plus I don't want it around my ankle.
I'm really picky and this is making me insane because I really want it and can afford it right now!
If it helps, the word is 'dienu'.
Any suggestions will do because I'm stumped.
Thank you!

Anglo-Saxon Tat!

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 02:34:33 GMT

I am thinking of getting a quote from the Anglo-Saxon poem "The Dream of the Rood" across my feet.

"Wonderous was the triumph tree, and I" (across right foot) "stained with sins, wounded with wrongdoings." (across the left)

Thoughts?

I'm not sure if this is allowed but . . .

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 02:09:26 GMT

Im going to get a "reading" related half/quarter sleeve. .

I want to tie a few of my favorite childhood books into this sleeve which includes Narnia, Where The Wild Things Are, Harry Potter (more so my teen years) and some of the Dr. Seuss books. .

What I have so far that is going into this sleeve will be

From Narnia the quote "Make your choice adventurous stranger; strike the bell and bide the danger, or wonder, till it drives you mad, what would have followed if you had"

and even tho its a total different Narnia book I want this image apart of the sleeve as well. .

From Harry Potter I havent thought of anything yet I am in the process of going through the books looking for inspiration. I am thinking of something that has to do with Sirius and Harry. . . maybe Lupin and Tonks? idk. .

but this image came from Harry Potter land. . .

and I love it very much. . .

From Where The Wild Things Are

I want this image. .

and from the wonderful world of Dr. Seuss I want the quote

"You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.”

and the many images of my favorite stories. .

and i may want to tie some old fashion Charlie Brown in there too (the peanuts gang) bc I'm from Southern California and we have Knotts Berry Farm whom the peanut gang is KBF's mascots. .

SO what do you think? Could I pull all this off? All these different types of images?
Any ideas? thoughts?

oh and . .. any of your favorite lines or images from Harry Potter would help me very very much. .

THANK YOU!!!
hope to hear from you!
Be honest, criticize if you must. .

punctuation/grammar/font help!

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 04:31:05 GMT

i've finally got it. after months and months of intense thought, i've officially decided on my tattoo. it came to me by accident but when i finally blurted out the words in random conversation (as though normal people quote shakespeare in everyday conversation lol), i immediately stopped as though i had some kind of epiphany and i couldn't believe i hadn't thought of it sooner. so im getting "Life is but a walking shadow" from Macbeth. Question is...font suggestions and punctuation. I'm having it done on my foot, kind of from my ankle to my little toe (if that helps with any sort of mental picture) and I want a font that is kind of classic that i wont have to squint to see but that isnt too bold. and also, i'm not sure what to do with punctuation. should I add the quotation marks? should i end it with a period or an ellipses? i'm even curious what everyone thinks in terms of capitalization. thoughts??

book fonts!?

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 05:42:29 GMT

i'm an idiot. what font is used in printing novels?

i need help finding the most crisp, straight, pretty version of it. please help. i've already looked at dafont.com and everything, i'm running on little sleep and i feel ridiculous asking help for this, but i want my first (and maybe only) tattoo to be perfect!

i'd like it even more if it were slightly smaller, the letters a little closer together and slightly more bold. this is what i want tattooed:

"Rabbit's clever," said Pooh thoughtfully.
"Yes,"said Piglet, "Rabbit's clever."
"And he has Brain."
"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit has Brain."
There was a long silence.
"I suppose," said Pooh, "that that's why he never understands anything."

so i don't want it so small and bold that it all starts mushing together, but i want it to be straight and crisp and perfect! like it was ripped from a page! halp!

New with fresh tattoo!

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 05:12:42 GMT

Hello! My name's Danielle, and I've been watching this community for a long time now. But now that I've finally gotten a tattoo, I desperately want to show it off to you guys! Btw, I have to say that I really admire a lot of the gorgeous tattoos in here...they were definitely an inspiration for me, so thank you for sharing :)

I just got this last Saturday, for my 17th birthday. I'm hoping it's literary enough for this community, and I apologize if it isn't!

Over the past couple of years, my spiritual beliefs and thinking in general have changed drastically. I gradually went from being Christian to Buddhist with a side of New Age stuff ;) One of the most important changes I'm making is that I'm trying to be present all of the time. I want to live in the present moment, detach from my thoughts, and forget about the past and future as a way of finding peace and happiness. Since making this decision, my life has definitely become easier and more peaceful. So I wanted to make my first tattoo a spiritual one that would stand as a reminder to myself.

I knew what I wanted the moment I read this passage in Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now, "Always say 'yes' to the present moment. What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to something that already is? What could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now? Surrender to what is. Say 'yes' to life - and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you."

This was taken the first day, still oozing and everything! :D

Second day, and looking much better.

The writing is my own and my older sister designed the half-paisley. She's an artist, so I thought I'd add a little piece of her and have her design something. I love paisley :) I also like how it's moving out from the word, showing that if I do say "yes" to the now, a beautiful life will come from it.

Thanks for looking! :D
Credit to Bo at Ultimate Art Form in Wentzville, Missouri.

Hello

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:05:12 GMT

Hello everyone. I was super excited when I found this community. I admire tattoos and reading. I need some suggestions.

"There is no pit so deep, that God is not deeper still"-- The Hiding Place. This phrase means so much to me and I want to get it as a tattoo. The dilemma is that I want to shorten it some and I'm not sure what font would be best, or a good place to put it. This will be my first tattoo. I've done some research, but my knowledge is still limited. Any advice?

HALP ME, INTERNETS!

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:20:47 GMT

I need some help choosing a font for my next tattoo. I've narrowed it down to five.

Please to be giving me your opinions! I've seen lots of beautiful text tattoos in this community, so I think you guys know what you're doing.

In case anyone is wondering, the quote is from Velvet Underground's "Pale Blue Eyes," and I'm planning to put it on my upper back.

Thanks!

longer literary quotes.

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:04:53 GMT

i have been trying to figure out just exactly what to do with my first tattoo for about a year now. i know what i want tattooed, the trouble is that i don't know where to place it. at this point i think i'm only ever going to have one tattoo, because i just want this one because of the meaning it has to me. and while i adorrrre tattoos, i'm not sure i'm the type of person that could handle more than one. something that permanent on my body, especially if it doesn't mean anything, freaks me out. basically, another tattoo on my wrist is out of the question at this point, which is why i'm debating so much as to where to place this.

so anyway, i've always, always wanted a tattoo on my wrist. i still do. however, the quote i want just won't fit there! i'm at a loss for ideas as to where it would look good. i'm just afraid that it's too much and it won't look good anywhere with all those commas and quotation marks. i don't want to break any of it up, though. thoughts, help, tips, suggestions? this is the quote/passage i want:

"Rabbit's clever," said Pooh thoughtfully.
"Yes,"said Piglet, "Rabbit's clever."
"And he has Brain."
"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit has Brain."
There was a long silence.
"I suppose," said Pooh, "that that's why he never understands anything."

thanks!

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 04:20:17 GMT

Not literary in the strictest sense, but it is text:

It reads: "Be grateful to everyone" and is one of the Tibetan lojong proverbs. Click to enlarge.

oh the possibilities.

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 04:11:25 GMT

i'm thinking about a text tattoo, & i say 'thinking' because i want to be sure in my decision.

the quote i want is "the only thing that separates me from the animals is a lot of words, so when i'm not talking much, the gap closes really quick" by brian andreas.

i really identify with this quote so when i thought about a text, i knew this was it.

i'm just not sure of the location. i want it somewhere easily concealed. i was thinking about having it done down my side, but i'm worried about pregnancy in the future. any ideas?

text only -- sorry!!!

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 03:51:06 GMT

hello! my name is liz and i've been lurking and sometimes commenting on people's beautiful tattoos!

when i stumbled across this community, i was so pleased to see how many people still read. as a writing major at northern michigan university, i've been talking to people who haven't picked up a book since 7th grade. it bummed me out so much, but, this brings back some faith in the world. :).

currently, i'm olny seventeen, but, in november, i'll be turning eighteen and i've been saving my money for my tattoo. though i have several planned, i know which one i want first. it's going to be around my ankle and it'll be in korean since that's my herritage. originally, it was going to be a bob dylan line from his song, ballad in plain d -- "are birds free from the chains of the skyway?". however, i've decided i can design a better tattoo to show my love for bob dylan.

so, i've changed my mind and now, i'm stuck on choosing a quote. i've narrowed it down to three.
1. "elephants don't believe in ghosts." -- jonathan safran foer's "extremely loud and incredibly close".
2. "solitude was corrupting me." -- valdimir nabokov's "lolita".
3. "my heart was a hysterical unreliable organ." -- valdimir nabokov's "lolita".

these two books have shaped my life in too many ways. with the nabokov quotes, though, i would want to make it into the present tense, changing the "was" to "is".

anyway, i've always liked the advice that i have seen on this community and i feel confident is asking for all of your opinions. thank you all so very much!

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 03:24:38 GMT

Hello everyone, first off, forgive the name, i made this journal when i was 13 (am now 20) and have only held onto it for the purposes of this group. I am seriously considering getting a tattoo. I have 2 quotes that I am seriously considering, both using the same font, and I just wanted to see what everyone thought about them and wanted some other opinions.

The first quote is from perks of being a wallflower.
"I feel Infinite"
I feel like that one is becoming a little overused but it still means a great deal to me.

The second is a quote from Salman Rushdie's Fury.
"Life is Fury"
I feel like this one is slightly more meaningful and poignant for me and as of right now I'm leaning more towards this one.

After writing that i realized it would be simpler just to put up a picture with the font so here it is. Thanks in advance for all the opinions and advice.

Deciding on a Wuthering Heights Tattoo.

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 20:06:54 GMT

Hello everyone. I am currently without any tattoos, but I've been seriously considering it for the last year or so.
I will finally be of an age where I can go out and get one by myself in about one month, so I'd like to have a decision made within the next few weeks.
I've always been enamoured of gothic literature, and have decided that I would like my first tattoo to be of one of my favorite quotes from Wuthering Heights. The following are a couple of different quotes that I am in love with. I want to limit the tat to a few words, a line a the most; I could seriously use some help selecting the best lines from the following paragraphs. D: I"ve bolded the parts I am seriously considering getting done, but I'm still very much undecided.
Comments and advice are most heartily appreciated. Also - if you've any ideas for the placement, I'd be very, very interested and grateful to hear them!

"You teach me how cruel you've been - cruel and false. Why did you despise me? Why did you betray your own heart, Cathy? I have not one word of comfort. You deserve this. You have killed yourself. Yes, you may kiss me, and cry; and wring out my kisses and tears: they'll blight you - they'll damn you. You loved me - then what right had you to leave me? What right - answer me - for the poor fancy you felt for Linton? Because misery and degradation, and death, and nothing that God or Satan could inflict would have parted us, you, of your own will, did it. I have not broken your heart - you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine. So much the worse for me that I am strong. Do I want to live? What kind of living will it be when you - o, God! would you like to live with your soul in the grave?"

"Where is she? Not there - in heaven - not perished - where? O! you said you cared nothing for my sufferings! And I pray one prayer - I repeate it til my tongue stiffens - Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living; you said I killed you - haunt me then! The murdered do haunt their murderers, I believe. I know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be with me always - take any form - drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you!"

"I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!"

Yeah, I know it's kind of a lot, but I really need some experienced assistance in deciding.
Help, please?

EDIT -

Another good quote is the final paragraph in the novel, which isn't any dialogue at all:

"I lingered...under that benign sky: watched the moths fluttering among the heath and harebells, listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass, and wondered how any one could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth."

This is another really good choice. Gah. @.@

i can't go on, i'll go on.

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 06:41:18 GMT

yeah, i know it's a pretty overexposed quote, but i don't really care - over the months, it's come to mean alot to me, due to vivid real life associations that have forever tied it to me & this period of my life.

also: i'm a pretty word-oriented person, so all my tattoo ideas are quotes or lyrics, et cetera, not many are image-related. so me & my artist came up with this idea to compile a list of all the quotes & lyrics i want, & he's going to tie them all together into a quilt-like sleeve design. i'm definitely going to get quotes/lyrics from jack kerouac, hunter s. thompson, j.d. salinger, james joyce, oscar wilde, jean-luc godard, george bernard shaw, ee cummings, bob dylan, w.b. yeats, thomas wolfe, sylvia plath, franz kafka, ginsberg...a few others that escape my mind at the moment. not really looking for any input as to what quotes i should use from each writer (though if you'd like to toss in some, you're more than welcome), just wondering what everyone thinks of the general idea?

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 11:04:49 GMT

just got it; I love it

I got a semicolon because it's my favorite form of punctuation, and writing is so important to me.

placement and font choice

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 05:20:41 GMT

I've been perusing through here the last couple days. I am currently without a tattoo. It's never been for lack of wanting one, I just wanted to make sure it was something I would be comfortable having permanently placed on my body.

Idea one is a brussel sprout and that's not literary so I won't go into that.

Idea two is that I want to get some portion of the first verse of the Modest Mouse song Edit the Sad Parts on either my inner bicep or inner forearm. I'm not sure which.

Sometimes all I really want to feel is love
Sometimes I'm angry that I feel so angry
Sometimes my feelings get in the way
Of what I really feel I needed to say

It's long so I don't know if I want the whole verse or just the first two lines or how that would even look and how big I'd need to go. I'm leaning towards typewriter fonts where the g has the full bottom loop.

That's very vague. Sorry.

Advice on placement please!

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 04:31:28 GMT

I'm ready to get my 5th tattoo. I have 3 text tattoos already and I'm having a hard time deciding on the placement of this one. I want to get "the world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places" from A Farewell to Arms. I'll probably split it into 3 lines. Right now I'm really torn on placement and I need help!
Ok so I already have this one on my left side

and I have this one on my right side

I kind of want to put this new one on my ribs on the right side, but I feel like that's too much text on my right side. So then I was thinking of somewhere on my back. Part of me thinks it would look cool right in the center of my back, but I have a small arc of stars on my lower back and I don't know if it will look weird with 2 on my back, both centered like that. So then I was thinking maybe putting it vertically down my spine, but I have that vertical lettering on my left side, so I kind of don't think that will work either. Aaaaand then I was thinking of my left shoulder, but then I start worrying about somewhere down the line having to wear a formal dress for something and not wanting 3 lines of text out there. So then I go back to the ribs. But then I think that I do want this one to be somewhere that other people can see it (not just when I'm naked!) so then I go back to the shoulder again. So I really don't know what to do. I obsess over placement and would love to hear some input from other people!

This is my first post here, I hope I didn't fuck up the formatting too badly.