For years I’ve copied passages out of the books I read, first into notebooks, now into Day One on my phone. There’s an old name for a collection like this: a commonplace book. This one is public: one page per book, gathering the sentences that impressed me or that I would like to read one more time.
I keep the passages in the order I read them. These pages aren’t meant to be reviews. If a passage is here, it’s because I stopped reading to write it down.
As a child, I dreamed of designing book and album covers. Here’s my chance. Each Reimagined cover starts from my notes: what stayed with me, what surprised me, and the version of the book that formed in my imagination. I turn those fragments into a few ideas and write prompts for each, trying them in print styles like woodcuts, cyanotypes, and Swiss posters. Then I pick favorites and refine them over several rounds. On every book page, my covers sit next to the publisher’s.
I’m Fırat. I read in English, Turkish, and Spanish. During the day I work with data, and I love telling stories with it. My essays, visuals, code, and listening notes live at fgelbal.com.
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