books by bloggers

Looks like I better clear some space on my coffee table! Is it just me, or is every design blogger coming out with a book this spring?? Here's a round-up of my favorite new books by bloggers:

I just got my hands on a copy of Justina Blakeney's The New Bohemians a few days ago and it is gorgeous! It might be worth buying for these illustrations alone, but really every page is just bursting with colorful inspiration! The book features photos of twenty homes, as well as DIY guides, decorating advice, and a plant encyclopedia to help you embrace Justina's Bohemian "Jungalow" aesthetic. 

SF Girl By Bay's See San Francisco doesn't come out until April 28th, but the preview images I've seen are really beautiful. With Victoria Smith's bright, clear photography, its sure to be a great coffee table book (and amazingly, she took all the photos with her phone!). We better enjoy photos of the unique sites of SF now, before Google takes over the whole city!

Like everything Joy Cho does, the new Oh Joy book is full of great style, cheery bright colors, and plenty of gold (check out the gold foil on the cover!). It features 60 projects for entertaining, cooking, decor and fashion. Even if you don't end up actually doing any of the crafts, you're sure to be inspired by the fun styling and fantastic photos! Her blog features a sneak peek inside the book here.

Brit + Co publishes a crazy amount of content on their site, and their new book is no slacker either. The cover of Homemakers proclaims that it features over 1000 creative ideas for your home, and I don't think its exaggerating! Brit Morin puts a modern spin on homemaking and offers a really wide range of projects. Whether you're into decor, crafting, cooking, or health - this book's got you covered.

I don't have kids yet, but when I do, I will certainly look to the Design Mom book for decorating advice. How she manages to raise six (yes, SIX!) kids in the Bay Area without her house looking like a garbage dump is beyond me. I think most of us could probably benefit from her practical storage solutions and tips for making your home a more thoughtfully designed place, whether or not kids are in the picture.


[from top: vase photo from Oh Joy, New Bohemians photo from The Jungalow, See San Francisco photo from SF Girl By Bay, Oh Joy photo from Oh Joy, Homemakers photo from Brit + Co, Design Mom photo from Design Mom]

the bookshelves of my dreams

Hey, remember it was my birthday last weekend? In case you still want to get me a gift, I'll take these bookshelves and this library ladder please (oh and I'll also need a new house with really high ceilings, thanks). I have been waiting and waiting for the fall issue of domino to come out so I could finally see these bookshelves, and I think they were worth the wait! Jenny Komenda of Little Green Notebook is an absolute decorating genius, and I'm green with envy over these shelves. 

What's that, you wanted to see the side view? Yep, still fantastic. She styled them beautifully as well. It's so nice to see shelves actually full of books that look like they've been read and used. It seems like so many shelves you see in photo shoots these days are just full of art and vases with a few pretty books thrown in for good measure. Oh, and don't even get me started on how gorgeous those hardwood floors are. 

OK, one more photo. Close-up on that vintage library ladder. I've been wanting one of these since I was a kid. If I had one, I'd be sliding back and forth all day LIKE IT WAS MY JOB. How does that song from Beauty and the Beast go again? Actually, maybe it's better if I don't get one...

Check out the full post on LGN for even more photos. And if you don't quite have the cash for custom built-ins yet, she also has a great post on how to DIY the look using IKEA shelves. 

[all photos from Little Green Notebook]

organizing bookshelves by color

I recently reorganized my bookshelves by color and I'm in love with how they turned out! I previously had them organized by category, which made my inner librarian happy, but wasn't very visually appealing. Read on for a glimpse of my organizing process, and the final results:

There's really no way to do this without making a big ol' mess. I sorted all my books into stacks on the floor according to the color of their spine. Since my bookcases only have three shelves (which are not adjustable), I had to further divide each color stack into short books and tall books. Once I saw how many books I had in each color, I decided to put all the colorful books in my larger bookcase, and the black and white books in the smaller case.

There are many ways to organize the layout of your rainbow. Because of the heights of my shelves, I decided to do a full spectrum of color on each shelf. This proved to be a challenge, as I had far too many red and blue books. I had to get creative with some sideways stacks to get everything to fit.

Ta da! The colorful bookshelf in all it's rainbow glory!

The black and white (and a little grey and gold) bookshelf. It's quite orderly, but not nearly as fun. Looks like I have to only buy colorful books from now on!

new cookbooks

I recently got a peak at many of the new cookbooks that will be coming out this fall and can't wait for all of them to arrive in the shop! Here's my top picks for new and soon-to-be-released cookbooks:

Brown Sugar Kitchen: I'm pretty sure everyone in the Bay Area has been eagerly waiting for Tanya Holland to spill the beans on making her ridiculously delicious chicken and waffles.

Josey Baker Bread: Josey Baker, another local fave, has released a beginner's guide to making bread at home. Now devotees of the Mill's thick slabs of toast won't have to trek all the way to NOPA for their artisanal bread fix. 

The Real Food Cookbook: I'm reading Nina Planck's book Real Food for book club this month (which I highly recommend!) and I can't wait to read this accompanying cookbook. Planck encourages eating real, traditional foods like whole milk, eggs, cheese and lard - yes please!

Bar Tartine: The Tartine books always have the most gorgeous photography and food styling, and this one is no exception. Their recipes for curing and pickling are sure to be interesting.

Flourless: This looks like an excellent dessert book, whether or not you're gluten-free. Rather than using funky hard-to-find flour mixes and gums, the author focuses her recipes on ingredients that are naturally free of gluten. Genius!

Plenty More: I guess Yotam Ottolenghi heard the cries of the masses when we all shouted "The recipes in Jerusalam are amazing! We loved Plenty! Give us more! More!"

Dinner: The Playbook: I don't know about you all, but I've been in a dinner rut lately. Does a tomato salad and popcorn count as dinner? Anything to avoid making pasta again, right? I'm couting on this book to solve all my problems. 

Make it Ahead: The Barefoot Contessa is coming to help you this holiday season. Ina Garten's latest book will show you what you can prep and make ahead so you can throw a party and not be stuck in the kitchen all night. 

[Top photo via Bay Area A List]

monday links

Happy Monday! How was your weekend? I helped throw a graduation party for my friend Kait (photos to come!), and I've been working on organizing our spare bedroom to make it more of a functional office. I still have a ways to go before it can really be called anything other than "the room where we stash all our crap and close the door" though. 

Fashionable Selby is my new favorite coffee table book. Like the other books in his series, Todd Selby gives you a behind-the-scenes peak into the studios and lives of a really interesting mix of fashion designers, stylists, shoemakers, and more. This book is like an explosion of inspiration- I feel like I could look at the photos over and over and still notice something new each time. 

How rad is this banana-themed birthday party from The Alison Show?! I love her creative use of relatively simple paper decorations (the Arrested Development banana stand reference might be my favorite part!). She really knows how to take a theme and run with it- even if she does spell Allison wrong ;)

The Songza playlist Good Ol' Timey Eatin' is full of fun and hilarious old songs about food. Great for a listen while you're making dinner. Plus, it features this gem from Doris Day, a.k.a my new theme song. Lyrics don't get much better than, "Must admit your kisses would be missed, but how in the world could I exist without tacos, enchiladas, and beans", amiright??

[top two photos from the Fashionable Selby, banana party photo from The Alison Show, taco photo from Chow]

monday links

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Who's ready for a margarita? I love this festive tabletop from Dish Wish Events! Be sure to follow them on Instagram for more great tabletop inspiration.

No one around here was surprised by this NY Times article comparing Oakland to Brooklyn. In fact, the only thing surprising is that it was just published this week. I feel like I've been reading versions of this article for the last 5 years- usually the NY Times isn't so late to the party.

Delancey, the second book from Molly Wizenberg (of the lovely blog Orangette) comes out tomorrow. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy! I loved her first book, and all it's many delicious recipes, so I'm sure Delancey will not disappoint. You can order a signed copy here.

Did you hear that we may have reached peak beard? A new study has found that now that dudes everywhere are sporting huge lumberjack beards, clean shaven men are going to start to be perceived as more attractive. What do you think? Are you pro-beard? I'm a little dubious that guys who have gotten used to not shaving are going to be rushing to the store to buy a new razor...


[Tabletop photo from Dish Wish, Oakland photos by Thor Swift for the NY Times, Delancey photo by Molly Wizenberg for Orangette, Tom Hanks photo via NY mag]

bookstore day

Saturday, May 3rd is California Bookstore Day! Support your local independent bookstore while enjoying author appearances, readings, and prizes! I'm most excited about the exclusive selection of books and art pieces that have been created especially for the event (and will only be available Saturday). I'm intrigued by this two-foot-tall book from McSweeney's:

I'd also like to check out this Don Delillo stencil:

Check the directory to find a participating bookstore in your area. Yay book party!


[photos from CA Bookstore Day]

cookbook party

Yea! It's a cookbook party over here! OK, that might be over-hyping it a bit, but I have been feeling like jumping for joy lately with all the new cookbooks we've been getting in at the shop. As a serious cookbook fan, I always love this time of year, and have to stop myself from buying them all. I thought I'd share a peak at some of the recently released cookbooks I've had my eye on:

Side note: see if you can pick up on a theme in the design of these cookbook covers 

summer 1927

This month, my book club is reading Bill Bryson's latest book: One Summer: America, 1927. I'm only about half-way through, but so far it's been fascinating. That summer, Charles Lindberg made the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic from New York to Paris, Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs, and Al Jolson's "The Jazz Singer" was released as the first "talking picture". If you're a fan of the show Boardwalk Empire, you may already be familiar with the flappers, gangsters and bootleggers of the era (season 4 was supposed to take place in 1924), but as I've been reading, I've found myself wondering what everyday life looked like for most Americans. A little internet sleuthing turned up a treasure trove of great photos.

Read on for lots of fun photos from 1927:

the kitchen diaries

I love the way Nigel Slater writes about food. One of his early cookbooks, Appetite, was the first cookbook I ever read cover to cover. His writing is casual and comforting, like a good friend hanging out with you in the kitchen, nibbling on cheese and offering recipe suggestions. The tagline for Appetite is, "So what do you want to eat today?". For each recipe, Nigel offers a full page of possible substitutions to suit your tastes and what you happen to have in the fridge. 

I recently picked up a copy of Slater's The Kitchen Diaries. It was originally published back in 2005, but it was reprinted last year due to popular demand. The Kitchen Diaries is Nigel's account of a year of shopping, cooking, and eating in his kitchen. It is a collection of his notes about the weather, what he ate when feeling too lazy to cook, as well as proper recipes. His idea behind keeping the diary was an attempt to eat seasonally and document when food is at its best. As he puts it: "learning to eat with the ebb and flow of the seasons is the single thing that has made my eating more enjoyable". 

I decided to start this January and read The Kitchen Diaries in semi-real time, month-by-month throughout this year. Of course, he is in London, so his seasons are bound to be a bit different from mine (especially if our 70 degree weather keeps up), but I think it will still be interesting to follow along with what he ate each month. 

January features a few delicious recipes I can't wait to try:

- Onion Soup without Tears - featuring the genius idea of roasting halved onions before chopping them

- Double Ginger Cake - looks amazing, but I have to track down some golden syrup, or maybe I can substitute molasses or honey? This is one problem with cookbooks from the UK.

- Sausages with Salami and Lentils - if it ever gets cold enough here to need comfort food, I think this extra meaty casserole should do the trick

Nigel recently released the follow-up to Kitchen Diaries called Notes from the Larder, which I'm looking forward to reading next.


[top photo by me, second and third photos from The Kitchen Diaries, photographed by Jonathan Lovekin]

book recommendations

I decided to start a book club recently, in an attempt to avoid hibernating all winter with my Netflix streaming addiction. I'm beginning to plan our first meeting and I'm grappling with a lot of tough questions: What will our club be called? Should we all wear sweaters with patches on the elbows? What snacks should I serve?  The one detail that's proving to be the most tricky is possibly the most important: What books should we read? It's a lot of pressure to chose a book for all your friends to read. What if you chose something terrible everyone hates? We're only meeting once a month, so I don't want to waste everyone's time with a lackluster book. 

As I do with all my problems, I turned to the internet for advice. There are a ton of sites dedicated to helping you decide what books to read. Here are my impressions of a few:

GoodReads: A popular site I've used before, good for finding new books and sharing your opinions on books you've read. GoodReads allows you to connect with your friend's virtual bookshelves and get recommendations from them. They are also accepting votes for the Best of 2013 lists right now, which are the only major book awards decided by readers. 

Your Next Read: Type in a book you like and this site will give you a list of similar books you may  also enjoy. Results seem a little mixed, some searches yield similar books and others seem to just give you random titles. This seems like one step up from Amazon's recommendations for me based on my random search histories. 

What Should I Read Next? : Very similar to Your Next Read, but seems to give even less useful recommendations. Books are tagged with keywords about the book's subject, themes and location. Many of the keywords seem arbitrary- I don't know many people that choose novels based on their location. Just because I like a novel set in Seattle doesn't mean I want to seek out other books set in Seattle...

Whichbook: A rather interesting way to find a new book. Whichbook gives you a choice of gradient scales that you can manipulate based on what you're in the mood to read. The gradient scales cover everything from "Funny" to "Serious", "Larger than Life" to "Down to Earth", and "Easy" to "Demanding".

The Staff Recommends: Created to act as a web version of the staff recommendation cards often seen in bookstores (which are actually often my most trusted sources of recommendations), this site offers a highly curated selection of books from a McSweeney's editor-at-large. Assuming you agree with his taste in books (so far it looks like I do), this is a great resource. The current selection features only 8 titles, much less overwhelming to look through than the thousands of titles offered on the other sites. 

Do you know of any other ways to find great books? Are you old school like me and still go to bookstores to find books?

[library photo via Old House Dreams]

a great summer read

I picked up a copy of Where'd You Go, Bernadette?  recently at my local bookstore. I was looking for something light to read on a camping trip and had heard the author, Maria Semple, used to write for Arrested Development (the book's cute cover didn't hurt either). To my surprise, it turned out to be one of the most imaginative and entertaining books I've read in a long time. Semple's innovative narrative uses e-mails, letters, bills, and even F.B.I. documents to piece together the story of Bernadette Fox, a certified-genius architect turned eccentric recluse who disappears before her family's planned trip to Antarctica. Rather than just serving as a novelty, the varying formats of the story work to keep you engaged in the absurd antics of even the most unlikeable of characters. 

I like reading trashy tabloids as much as the next gal, but if I'm going to take the time to read a novel I want my trash to at least be well-written. Semple's acute observations and wry sense of humor elevate this novel far above your standard beach read. Maybe its my inner nerd, but I like to feel like I'm learning something from everything I read. The desire to learn often leads me to non-fiction, but its nice to be reminded how great fiction can trigger your imagination and pique your interest in new subjects. In the course of reading this novel, I learned quite a bit about the particulars of traveling to Antarctica, but I was too busy laughing and enjoying the story to even notice. It wasn't until after I finished it, that I found myself daydreaming about Semple's vivid descriptions of towering glaciers and icy alien landscapes. Maybe it was just the heat wave that hit us this weekend, but I feel ready to jump on the next cruise and join Bernadette and the gang on an adventure to the frozen ends of the earth.

[book photo from Barnes and Noble]