Off the Coffee Table

I recently had the privilege to peruse some truly lovely books at work. These books are too stunning to leave on the coffee table. You need pick them up and ooh and ah over all the gorgeous images they contain.

First is The National Parks: America’s Best Idea by Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns. This book has pictures of the lush landscape found in America’s national parks, the people who helped found and develop them, the art they’ve inspired, as well as the wildlife they contain.

The second book is Next Houses: Architecture for the Twenty-First Century by Ron Broadhurst. This absorbing architecture book highlights some truly amazing new marvels of architecture. I particularly liked the Casa Tolo building, which is built on an extreme incline, and the House in Highgate Cemetery, a beautiful glass and concrete structure that overlooks a intriguing, old, and gothic-styled cemetery.

The third book which I enjoyed looking through was Great Plains: America’s Lingering Wild by Michael Forsberg with Dan O’Brian , David Wishart, and Ted Kooser. This attractive book explores the history of the Great Plains, its wildlife, and the ecological impact of civilization.

So if you want to read an enjoyable book in which the illustrations are as interesting as its text, check out these books.

The Girl Who Chased the Moon

The Girl Who Chased the Moon: A Novel
by Sarah Addison Allen

I once read that Sarah Addison Allen describes her books as “Southern fried magical realism.” That’s actually a great description. This third book by Ms. Addison tells the story of Emily Benedict.

Emily’s mother recently died, and Emily both finds out that she has a grandfather and is sent to live with him in Mullaby, North Carolina. Grandpa Vance is a gentle giant of a man whose daughter abandoned her hometown, leaving resentment and scandal in her wake.

Emily must make a home for herself and overcome this small town’s prejudice against her because of her mother’s past. Her next door neighbor Julia Winterson, the owner of a local BBQ restaurant and famous baker, takes her under her wing. Julia, though, has her own tragic past with which she must come to terms.



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