My Favorite Coffee Table Books

Coffee table books...

If you know me or you’ve been to our home, then you know what I’m talking about when I say that they’re my love language. I may never have enough. A beautiful book that reads well also makes for a fantastic gift! For these reasons, I’ve purchased my fair share. Here are a few of my favorites:

The New Southern Style by Alyssa Rosenheck

A vibrantly illustrated exploration of the creative, inclusive, and inspiring movement happening in today’s Southern interior design

The American South is a place steeped in history and tradition. We think of sweet tea, thick drawls, and even thicker summer air. It is also a place with a fraught history, complicated social norms, and dated perspectives. Yet among the makers and artists of the South, there is a powerful movement afoot. Alyssa Rosenheck shines a much-needed spotlight on a burgeoning community of people who are taking what’s beloved, inherent, and honored in the South and making it their own. The New Southern Style tours more than 30 homes and includes interviews with the designers, artists, and creative entrepreneurs who are reinventing Southern design and culture. This beautifully illustrated book is sure to inspire the home and soul.

Wild Interiors by Hilton Carter

“We work with Hilton because he’s both a plant stylist and an incredible plant-care wizard. Hilton doesn’t just teach you how to get your plants to thrive—he teaches you how to bond with them.” Apartment Therapy

Bestselling author Hilton Carter brings his unique eye and love of plants to show you how to create luscious interiors that not only look amazing but are good for your well-being, too. Hilton first guides you through his own plant journey, his inspirations, and his top ten favorite house plants. He then takes you on a Journey in Greenery where he showcases the homes of 12 inspiring plant parents that demonstrate the versatility of decorating with plants. From a tiny house in Venice, California and a light-filled loft in New York City, to a Berlin apartment decorated with vintage finds, and the Barcelona home of a ceramic artist, there are ideas for all types of spaces and budgets. Hilton then sets you off on your very own plant journey, taking you room by room, profiling the plants that are most suited to each: those that thrive in the tropical humidity of bathrooms, the erratic heat changes of kitchens, and plants that can live happily in the indirect light of an entryway or bedroom. Packed full of interior design advice such as using “statement plants” like Fiddle-leaf figs to create a focal point, how to layer your greenery by using hanging baskets, and how to assemble the perfect plant shelf, Hilton shows you how bringing houseplants into your home creates instant impact. Be inspired to create your own Wild Interiors with Hilton’s expert styling advice, plus his hints and tips on plant care that take the mystery out of looking after your green friends.

Southern Women by the editors of Garden & Gun

From the award-winning Southern lifestyle magazine Garden & Gun comes this rich collection of some of the South’s most notable women.

For too long, the Southern woman has been synonymous with the Southern belle, a “moonlight and magnolias” myth that gets nowhere close to describing the strong, richly diverse women who have thrived because of—and in some cases, despite of—the South. No more. Garden & Gun’s Southern Women: More than 100 Stories of Trail Blazers, Visionaries, and Icons obliterates that stereotype by sharing the stories of more than 100 of the region’s brilliant women, groundbreakers who have by turns embraced the South’s proud traditions and overcome its equally pervasive barriers and challenges. 

Through interviews, essays, photos, and illustrations these remarkable chefs, musicians, actors, writers, artists, entrepreneurs, designers, and public servants will offer a dynamic portrait of who the Southern woman is now. The voices of bona fide icons such as Sissy Spacek, Leah Chase, and Loretta Lynn join those whose stories for too long have been overlooked or underestimated, from the pioneering Texas rancher Minnie Lou Bradley to the Gee’s Bend, Alabama, quilter Mary Margaret Pettway—all visionaries who have left their indelible mark not just on Southern culture, but on America itself. 

By reading these stories of triumph, grit, and grace, the ties that bind the sisterhood of Southern women emerge: an unflinching resilience and resourcefulness, an inherent love of the land, a singular style and wit. And while the wisdom shared may be rooted in the Southern experience, the universal themes are sure to resonate beyond the Mason-Dixon.

Lost Fish: Anthologies of the work of the Comte de Lacepede by Assouline

Elizabeth Kolbert is one of today's leading environmental journalists.

On Flowers by Amy Merrick

Named a Best Gift Book of the Year by InStyle, Real Simple, Better Homes & Gardens, and the Wall Street Journal

“If coffee tables could make . . . wish lists, [this book] would certainly be on them.”
—Better Homes & Gardens

A singular, personal celebration of the beauty and possibilities of nature

Amy Merrick is a rare and special kind of artist who uses flowers to help us see the familiar in a completely new way. Her gift is to revel in the unexpected—like a sunny spring arrangement housed in a paper coffee cup—and to overturn preconceptions, whether she’s transforming a bouquet of supermarket carnations into a breathtaking centerpiece or elevating wild and weedy blooms foraged from city sidewalks. She uses the beauty that is waiting to be discovered all around us—in leaves, branches, seedpods, a fallen blossom—to tell a story of time and place.

Merrick begins On Flowers with a primer containing all her hard-won secrets on the art of flower arranging, from selecting materials to mastering pleasing proportions. Then she brings readers along on her journey, with observations on flowers in New York City and at her family’s summer home in rural New Hampshire, working on a flower farm off the coast of Washington State, and studying ikebana in a jewel-box flower shop in Kyoto. We learn how to send flowers like a florist, and how to arrange them like a farm girl. We discover the poignancy in humble wildflowers, and also celebrate the luxury of fragrant blousy blooms.

Escape by Gray Malin

Gray Malin’s collection of incredible beach photography was a runaway hit. Now the it-photographer takes his astonishing photography beyond the beach. Collecting breathtaking images, journal entries, and behind-the-scenes anecdotes, Escape explores Gray Malin’s enduring drive to capture life’s joyful moments. These awe-inspiring images of exotic locales from around the world are a celebration of light, shadow, and absolute bliss. Whether trained on the snowy mountains of Aspen, the dry plains of Namibia, or the warm sun of Bora Bora, Malin’s sharp eye highlights the exuberant colors and striking forms that make each location so unique. Featuring more than 22 destinations across 11 countries, the book also includes highlights from Malin’s conceptual photography, offer­ing a comprehensive look at the photographer’s desire to showcase the beauty he sees in the world. From remote islands to major cities, Escape captures the spirit of dozens of unbelievable vacation spots—and will inspire every lover of travel and exploration to plan an escape of their own.

Gardenista: The Definitive Guide to Stylish Outdoor Spaces by Michelle Slatalla

Named a Best Gift Book for Gardeners by The New York Times Book Review, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle Times, Dominomagazine, and Goop.

The team behind the inspirational design sites Gardenista.com and Remodelista.com presents an all-in-one manual for making your outdoor space as welcoming as your living room. Tour personality-filled gardens around the world and re-create the looks with no-fail planting palettes. Find hundreds of design tips and easy DIYs, editors’ picks of 100 classic (and stylish) objects, a landscaping primer with tips from pros, over 200 resources, and so much more.

Salt: Coastal and Flats Fishing Photography by Andy Anderson

INDIEFAB Book of the Year Awards -- 2014 Finalist

Experience the world's greatest coastal fly-fishing destinations with this stunning volume, an ideal gift for any angler's library. As close to a first-hand experience as a reader can get without getting wet, Salt: Coastal and Flats Fishing is a visually stunning journey to America's most epic saltwater fishing hot spots. Featuring photography from the Atlantic Northeast, Pacific Northwest, Bahamas, Gulf Coast, and Florida Keys-and highlighting fish such as striped bass, tuna, bonefish, permit, and tarpon-this is a life's compilation of saltwater fly-fishing photography by one of the most acclaimed outdoors photographers. Each section has an accompanying essay by Tom Rosenbauer that takes the reader along on a memorable trip to the world's greatest fishing destinations. For the serious fly fisherman, it is an album of shared experiences.

West: The American Cowboy by Anouk Krantz

The ranching communities in the heartland of the great American West may be a long way from New York City, but renowned photographer Anouk Masson Krantz has been drawn back time and time again to explore this largely unfamiliar and overlooked part of the world. In West: The American Cowboy, Anouk revisits this enduring iconic symbol of America's pioneering spirit. Set out in a stunning large-format book, and with heartfelt contributions from Jon Pardi, Red Steagall and others, the pages within inspire with a fresh and contemporary perspective of the American West. Along with the cowboy's ranching traditions comes a life built around the core values and faith that are central to their integrity. Long admired for their strength, relentless work ethic, and humble values, the forgotten American cowboy is alive and well, and has never stood in such stark contrast to the rapidly changing nation that surrounds them.

Accidentally Wes Anderson by Wally Koval

A visual adventure of Wes Anderson proportions, authorized by the legendary filmmaker himself: stunning photographs of real-life places that seem plucked from the just-so world of his films, presented with fascinating human stories behind each façade.

Accidentally Wes Anderson began as a personal travel bucket list, a catalog of visually striking and historically unique destinations that capture the imagined worlds of Wes Anderson.

Now, inspired by a community of more than one million Adventurers, Accidentally Wes Anderson tells the stories behind more than 200 of the most beautiful, idiosyncratic, and interesting places on Earth. This book, authorized by Wes Anderson himself, travels to every continent and into your own backyard to identify quirky landmarks and undiscovered gems: places you may have passed by, some you always wanted to explore, and many you never knew existed.

Fueled by a vision for distinctive design, stunning photography, and unexpected narratives, Accidentally Wes Anderson is a passport to inspiration and adventure. Perfect for modern travelers and fans of Wes Anderson's distinctive aesthetic, this is an invitation to look at your world through a different lens.

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As a note: I couldn't refer you to books of any kind without also sharing a few of the most special books I’ve read. These were written by my grandmother, Ann Cobb. She has always encouraged her grandchildren to follow our dreams. Being a published author was one of hers… Here are 4 of her books. 🖤

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