At the recent American Craft Council show in Baltimore, I had a great time searching for items that reflected a love of books. And there were plenty sandwiched among the jewelry, home decorations and other crafts. Each day this week, we'll feature one of the artists, who range from California to good old Baltimore. First up is Jim Rosenau, who specializes in the creative reuse of books at his Berkeley studio, This Into That. I really liked the sense of humor reflected in the titles chosen for his shelves. Here's a Q&A with Jim:

How long have you been working with books and/or paper? I made my first bookcase from a set of discarded encyclopedias in early 2002. But it took years to get the guts to do so. I was raised better. My father was a publisher as was my mother's father. One weekends, we worshipped at the library. So I sat on the idea for years before making the first piece.

What is it about books that connects with you – and with buyers? Buyers appreciate both the appearance of my pieces and the word play I manage to wrest from book titles. They bring their own nostalgic feelings for the sort of material I select and their passion for the subjects I produce. Each of my pieces has a theme, based on the book titles, often by misconstruing the meaning of the titles. I suspect this is self-evident when you look at my site. Personally, much of what I know about the world I learned from reading since I skipped college and jumped right into life after high school.