Style Lush

DIY Book Recommendation: Young House Love

By Jennie

Young House Love is a ridiculously big blog. So big their first book (of the same name) shot to the New York Times bestseller list and they support their entire family with the site. Big! 

Still, the blog-to-book path doesn't always lead to quality bookcase material, you know? A lot of the ones I've read just have blog content re-packaged in book form. I went ahead and bought this book anyway, and I've been so happy with it that I wanted to share it with any readers who may not have heard of it already. (Unlikely, but in case!) 

No matter what you think of the blog (or the bloggers behind the blog), the book is so great for DIY rookies (like me!) who want to spruce up their home with no idea where to start. Sifting through blog archives can be just as overwhelming, so I find it really great to have one book with a bunch of ideas in one place.

The book is organized by area (Doze = Bedroom; Hang = Art; Stow = Organization) and I liked that too. Some of my favorite ideas, that I've bookmarked for my own house:

1. Spraypaint an old chandelier. We have a few chandeliers in our house and I've now added "spraypaint them!" to our house to-do list.
2. Alter basic bathroom bulb covers with paint. This is dipping a standard bathroom fixture into a bowl of bright paint. 
3. Master a framing arrangement. They offer a handful of different frame layouts and I'm hoping to mimic one for the wall above our couch (you may remember it's big and empty and in need of frames)

I know that many of you probably don't need a book to inspire you for these, and similar, how-tos, but for someone like me, it's a great resource. I do wish the binding was a little better (feels like it might pull away from the book soon), but I'm still happy with the purchase.

I hope to share some of my Young House Love successes soon!

My Favorite Children's Christmas Book

by Lawyerish

Last December, when I was looking for Advent gifts for my daughter, I came upon this book:

The Christmas Magic, by Lauren Thompson

It is absolute perfection. Think of the Santa Claus that you have always imagined in your heart of hearts -- the one that, even now, as a fully grown person, you want to believe exists -- and this book captures him perfectly. It's simple and quiet and intimate, depicting Santa Claus in his little house in the North Pole, getting ready for his night journey on Christmas Eve. It portrays the love that Santa has for every child in the world, and the humanity that he represents (he trims his whiskers, mends his socks, and pads around his cozy home in bunny slippers). It's not silly and it doesn't talk down to the reader -- it's not the cartoonish Santa Claus that gets trotted out in so much of popular culture. Instead, it perfectly conjures the magic that I used to feel as Christmas approached, and that I will always try to create for my own child. 

The illustrations, by Jon Muth (a truly gifted artist), are done in watercolor, and they are nothing short of breathtaking. Again, they're understated and natural, just like the writing. 

Last year, I bought this for my daughter, my niece and nephew, and my mom. I bought it for my mom because she always made Christmas magical when I was growing up, and I knew this would speak to her, too. It's an ideal gift for anyone in your life who has given you unconditional love, and who has created wonder out of simplicity, which is so much of what childhood is about. 

Sometimes when I'm reading it to my daughter, I can't get through it without crying a little. But that's ok. The magic just gets to you sometimes.

{photo credit: bn.com}

Book Club Read: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

By Janet

My book club just finished reading a book that elicited more discussion than any of our previous book choices. 

The book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (which was on the 2010 Style Lush gift guide!), tells the true story of a poor Southern tobacco farmer whose cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. The book was interesting on so many levels: political, ethical, legal, medical, plus it is a fascinating human interest story.

We selected the book because it was one of the offerings from our local library's Book Club in a Box. It's an awesome program where library card holders can pick up a box that contains 10 books and a reader's guide. If you are intersted in starting a book club, I would highly recommend checking to see if your library has a similar program.  And, if you have a book club (or start one), I would highly recommend The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

Wool: A Book Review

By Beth

Are you in the market for six good books?  

Ok, that was a daunting question.  Are you in the market for a six-part series of stories that together total about the same number of pages as a perfectly reasonable book?  Well if you arent, you should be, and you should read Wool.

For one thing, the Wool Omnibus Edition, which is Books 1-5, is $5.99 on Kindle.  Book 6 is only $3.99.  The books are post-apocalyptic and I would also call them science fiction and dystopian, but if those things aren't your bag no problem as they are also strong character-driven stories.  They are absorbing and inspiring and heart-breaking all at once, and it is a good thing that the first five books are published together since I don't think it is possible to stop at just one or even at just four.

Admittedly Book 6 was not my favorite, but I still look forward to any further volumes with great anticipation.  

Have you read Wool?  Did you like it?

(Image credit Wikipedia.org)

Book Review: Happier at Home

by Lawyerish

Two years ago, I read Gretchen Rubin's book The Happiness Project and loved it enough to buy it in both Kindle and paperback editions, both of which I annotated heavily with underlining and notes. What spoke to me the most about The Happiness Project is that it's not about completely altering your life to achieve some constant state of glee; she doesn't tell you to chase unrealistic dreams or suggest that living a simple life of work, home, family, friends, and quiet hobbies is somehow not enough -- quite the opposite. Rubin shows ways to find happiness through small, highly personalized steps and non-indulgent self-reflection. I am so worn out by the whole "Don't settle for less than TOTAL BLISS!" message from many sources that this pragmatic, attainable approach thrills me to no end.

I have already re-read The Happiness Project once (it's a good one to keep by the bedside and refer to every now and then), and I wrote a full review of it on my personal site here.

When I saw this summer that Gretchen Rubin was coming out with a second book, Happier at Home, I knew I had to buy it as soon as it became available. 

Happier at Home isn't a retread of The Happiness Project, but it draws on many of the same ideas and resources. As the title suggests, in this volume Rubin focuses on ways to make life at home easier, more pleasant, and just...happier, whatever that may mean for you. Perhaps necessarily given the subject matter, this book felt more personal than the first. This gave the book a cozy feel and also brought the author's voice and persona more to life. (Personally, I kept marveling at how Gretchen Rubin and I seem awfully alike and would probably have loads to talk about if we ever met.) On the other hand, some readers may find that the advice in Happier at Home seems a bit less universally applicable than in The Happiness Project. 

On the whole, I heartily recommend both of Gretchen Rubin's books on happiness. I would say that, if you had to pick one of the two, you should read The Happiness Project, because it's so wide-ranging. However, if you have the time and inclination to read both, you definitely should, and read them in the order they were released -- to me, it worked nicely to start with the larger topic and winnow down to the at-home specifics, especially because Happier at Home references concepts and methods from the first book quite a lot. 

Either or both of these books would make great gifts -- for the usual family and friend recipients, of course, but also for teachers and hostesses, or for a house-warming present. As a bonus, the cover art is colorful and cheery, so they make a pretty pair. 

(photo credit: happiness-project.com)

Late to the party: I'm finally reading The Harry Potter books

By Manda

Well, I'm about to show my cards here but ... I watched all the Harry Potter movies without reading the books first. I KNOW! I'm awful! The first Harry Potter book came out in 1999, and back then I was a too-cool-for-everything college student who was up to her eyeballs in Chaucer (that she only read MOST of, let's face it). What I mean is, it was after my time. Harry Potter wasn't on my radar until the first movie came out in 2001, and even then I didn't see the movie until way, way later ... was it 2004? I have no idea. But when I saw it? I LOVED IT. And even though my husband was teaching a young adult literature class at the time that featured the first novel, and even though I have had books 1-5 sitting on my book shelf for nearly 7 years ... I never read them. What a shame!

I finally read book one when I found out the entire Harry Potter series was featured on the Amazon Prime Kindle free lending library (because let's face it, until I got my Kindle just over a year ago I was not reading enough!). I do not hesitate to say that I have not enjoyed a book that much in a long time! And since I couldn't borrow another book for another month on my Kindle? I got up and walked to my bookshelf and plucked out the second one. And then the third. And now? I'm on book four!

I read a few chapters here and there when I have time, and I really look forward to my reading time. In my opinion as an English major (hey! They hand out diplomas to people who MOSTLY read their Chaucer! Woo!), they are very well-written and very entertaining. And you know what else? Even though I imagine the actors' faces when I think about Harry, Ron, Hermione, Hagrid and Dumbledore, the rest has been easy for my imagination to paint. I don't feel trapped by the fact that I saw the movies, you know (which is probably also a credit to how the movies were made for people who loved the books first!)?

There is something just comforting to me about these stories. Maybe it's that we always break the movies out when the weather turns colder, usually with a cup of hot tea and the Scrabble board. Maybe it's that Harry is so much fun to root for. Maybe it's the holidays at Hogwarts or the butterbeer ... whatever it is, it's magical. Yep. I said it.

What are you enjoying revisiting this fall? Are you a muggle who loves Harry Potter?

(image via Amazon.com)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

By Beth

A couple of weeks ago, my little family was sitting around the dinner table talking about the books we liked, and my husband and I were running through the books we had read as kids when I suddenly remembered Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and bolted from the table to order it from Amazon that very second.  No, it couldn't wait, and no, I couldn't get it from the library because we needed to own it and no, I don't know how I forgot about it for seven entire years of parenting.

Oh Charlie.  Oh Roald Dahl.  James and the Giant Peach!  The BFG!  Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator!  But Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is the one, the classic, the book that had my seven-year-old standing on her bed cheering.

I used this as a read aloud for the above mentioned seven-year-old, although I think she could have read if herself without too much difficulty.  I think there are enough illustrations and humor that I can make a good attempt at reading it to my four-year-old as well.  At least, I plan to force the four-year-old to sit through it just so I can read it again for the upteenth time after an hiatus of too many years.

If you have allowed this delightful children's classic to slip your mind, I recommend you find a copy as fast as you can and giggle through it with the kids in your life.

(Image credit: amazon.com)

Posters for Bookworms

By Tara C.

There are few things I enjoy more than curling up with a good book. My almost 9-year-old son also loves to read. He will disappear for hours at a time with a good book. He is a huge fan of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. When I saw this poster hanging in our local library, I immediately thought it was something he would like:

It turns out that anyone can buy this poster, and many others, from the American Library Association.

For younger children, I like this Ladybug Girl poster:

And, of course, this Where the Wild Things Are poster:

Something about this odd, steampunk-style Take Time to Read poster really appeals to me, too:

I also learned from a friend about Doedemee's amazing collection of re-imagined book covers. A European graphic design studio gather 100 artists from 28 countries and had them re-design classic book covers. A portion of each poster of these images that is sold goes to fighting illiteracy. I chose a couple of my favorites to share here, but you really should go take a look at the whole collection if you are at all interested in literature and/or design. Some of them are just gorgeous. But then, I do have an English degree around here somewhere, so it's possible I get more excited about this sort of thing than a normal person.

Here's Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights:

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott:

The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster:

While I am not familiar with this book, I love this design for An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro:

If you are interested in any of these posters, you should know that the design company is in Belguim and all the the prices are listed in euros. Alas, for those of us in the U.S., this could be a pricey endeavor with international shipping costs and all.

Book Recommendation: The Sandwich Swap

by Megan

Yesterday, fueled by a truckload of parental guilt for forgetting to send money with my son on his assigned book fair day, I spent far more than I planned to in the one hour this week designated for parents to shop the book fair. I kept mentally making excuses, like "One can never have too many books," and "You're fueling their love of reading!" All of these things are true, of course, and it's not like I was overspending on cupcakes (although I've been known to do that, too,) so I'm going to let myself off the hook.

One of the books I chose for my daughter was The Sandwich Swap, by Queen Rania.

I was initially drawn to the cover art, selfishly happy to see a redheaded girl on the cover. The story is about two girls who think the other's lunch is gross because it's different, which eventually leads to the school hosting an international food fair. The story, inspired by Queen Rania's own childhood, is an age-appropriate way to talk to children about differences, but is also fun to read and beautifully illustrated.

Score one for the book fair!

{Photo credit: amazon.com}

Amazon Prime: Worth the Money?

By Tara

My husband signed us up for an Amazon Prime trial subscription awhile back, then conveniently forgot to cancel it before the trial subscription ran out, THEN went ahead and ordered something using that Prime membership that we never meant to have. So, now we're stuck with it, I think. And for $80 a year, it's probably not the worse mistake we've ever made, as we order off of Amazon, a lot.

Since we're stuck with it, I spent the weekend looking into what else we get with the membership, in addition to the free shipping on Prime eligible items, and now I'm kind of jealous that this is assigned to my husband's account, and not mine. Did you know you could borrow books for free for your Kindle? It's only one per month, but still, I am all about as many free books as I can get. However, that only works for Kindles attached to the Prime account, which would be my husband's Kindle, not mine.

(So, I fully intend to switch the membership to my account when this first year is up, of course, if we decide to keep it.)

Also, we spent the weekend testing out the Prime Instant Videos library, and it isn't as bad as I thought it would be, when it comes to choices. There are a ton of kids shows to choose from, and since we are WAY behind on movie viewing, anyway, quite a few movies that we haven't seen, yet. (We watched Iron Man 2, if that's any indication of where we stand on the movie front...)

And with all seasons of The West Wing and Dawson's Creek available for free, I absolutely know what I will be doing with my upcoming maternity leave. I have lofty goals, I do...

(logo from Amazon.com)