THE STACK, The Shack and Puerto Rico
This summer I have a massive reading list...so massive that I have been using it to weigh down those pesky corners on my area rugs that keep creeping up. (I realize that is what you get when you buy $20 IKEA carpets...they work for now...) Meet THE STACK.
Great Garden Design by Ian Hodgson - A fun read that is eye candy at its best. From modern to traditional and back again through the waves of taste and trend, this book is a fun, light walk through garden style and living. The sections on gardening with a conscience and a practical guide for commissioning a designer are fresh and informative.
Comfortable Country - A yard sale find that I bring out every couple years and STILL find inspiration in. Country doesn't change much...it just settles in.
Of course THOSE are just the garden and design books. I am not even counting the fiction, the junk, the magazines, the continuing Outlander series, and various things by Lisa Jo Baker. OH and THE SHACK has been on my list and literally on my bookshelf for about 3 years now with the recommendations of EVERYONE I know and love. I still have not read it. It is top of my list. I will NEVER get through my list, will I?
I would love to make it through every single page of every single one of those books.
I am starting with these two:
They are actually one and the same, but completely and utterly different.
Recently, I attended the Design and Garden Bloggers Conference in Atlanta (Thanks Bonnie Plants!). The keynote was given by Bunny Williams and she was there promoting the reprinting of her classic design book On Garden Style. True to habit, I went immediately to Amazon and snatched up a copy of the OLD version because I knew they would now become in short supply. A week or so later, Bunny's publisher asked me if I would like to check out the NEW version and I was totally game. Same text, different photos and it is fascinating to see how a classic book gets updated for modern sensibilities. Here -- take a peek!
Is that not stunning? This photo (above) is from the new edition.
The photos below is from the old. Still inspiring, but the photography is definitely of a different caliber.
Another comparison:
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| Still my heart....STILL |
...annnnnnd statuary in the older edition. Still inspiring, but clearly from an older text.
Whether is is the old edition or the new, both are beautiful and beneficial.
A "be still my heart" moment from the first edition...
Next on the list might surprise you a bit...
The Irish Garden caught my attention because the description noted that Ireland has both tropical and temperate aspects to their gardens. We are leaving in three weeks for Puerto Rico and will be splitting our time between the Island and our home here in Pennsylvania. I NEED some tropical inspiration and I do not want to leave my traditional American zone 6 gardening behind completely, so a mixture of the two was perfection. The gardens in Ireland are apparently all perfection too because LOOK:
Perfection.
Rounding out the reading list :
Great Garden Design by Ian Hodgson - A fun read that is eye candy at its best. From modern to traditional and back again through the waves of taste and trend, this book is a fun, light walk through garden style and living. The sections on gardening with a conscience and a practical guide for commissioning a designer are fresh and informative.
Comfortable Country - A yard sale find that I bring out every couple years and STILL find inspiration in. Country doesn't change much...it just settles in.
Cornelia Guest's Simple Pleasures - Found at the dollar store for a buck, this quick read is delightful and I would definitely have paid more than a dollar for it. However...RUN OUT TO DOLLAR TREE AND FIND IT PRONTO!
Writer's Houses (not pictured): I have been buying up this series of books that focus on artist and writer's homes. I cannot get enough. Peeking into the space where creatives create is like bread and butter to my soul. THIS ONE is next and then THIS ONE.Of course THOSE are just the garden and design books. I am not even counting the fiction, the junk, the magazines, the continuing Outlander series, and various things by Lisa Jo Baker. OH and THE SHACK has been on my list and literally on my bookshelf for about 3 years now with the recommendations of EVERYONE I know and love. I still have not read it. It is top of my list. I will NEVER get through my list, will I?
