Nonfiction
English decoration : timeless inspiration for the contemporary home
Ben Pentreath
747.0942 /Pentreath
Nonfiction, Home
In English Decoration, London-based architectural and interior designer Ben Pentreath presents a major new survey of the best of the English style. Eighteen homes, many of which have never been previously photographed, provide the source material for his wide-ranging investigation of this classic look. The houses include Ben's own homes in London and West Dorset, alongside those of Earls and artists, writers and architects, book designers and gardeners. The book is arranged room by room and Entrance Halls, Living Rooms, Kitchens and Dining Rooms, Bedrooms and Bathrooms are considered in turn, together with simple Rooms of Utility and spectacular Rooms of Display. The book begins with an essay on the English style in decoration and ends with a style directory, helping you to achieve the look wherever you live.
Perhaps you would prefer to go traditional? For this, check out Ben Pentreath’s English Decoration, inspired by British manor houses and country cottages. Some of Pentreath’s work isn’t practical for us Iowans; there is an entire chapter on “Rooms of Display.” Nonetheless, there are some beautiful color combinations and intriguing room arrangements -Anne M
Novel interiors : living in enchanted rooms inspired by literature
Lisa Borgnes Giramonti
747 /Giramonti
Nonfiction, Home
The key to a stylish life is in the details, and the details are found in books! Giramonti presents a book-lover's guide to decorating, referencing sixty beloved works of literature. She shows how even the smallest elements, such as the blue china flowerpots perched on bright yellow stands depicted in The Age of Innocence, can bring life and personality to any room.
We are a UNESCO City of Literature and your style may be influenced by your favorite books. Novel Interiors by Lisa Borgnes Giramonti showcases rooms inspired by sixty different novels, including those by Jane Austen, Evelyn Waugh, L. M. Montgomery, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Borgnes Giramonti finds passages describing chairs, plates, and linens and builds the rooms from there. For booklovers and design aficionados alike. -Anne M
Being mortal : medicine and what matters in the end
Atul Gawande
362.175 /Gawande
Nonfiction, Health
Gawande, a practicing surgeon, addresses his profession's ultimate limitation, arguing that quality of life is the desired goal for patients and families of the terminally ill.
Added by Jason
The Black Count : glory, revolution, betrayal, and the real Count of Monte Cristo
Tom Reiss
BIOGRAPHY Dumas, Thomas Alexandre
Nonfiction, History
Explores the life and career of Thomas Alexandre Dumas, a man almost unknown today, but whose swashbuckling exploits appear in The three musketeers and whose trials and triumphs inspired The count of Monte Cristo.
Added by Jason
The telling room : a tale of love, betrayal, revenge, and the world's greatest piece of cheese
Michael Paterniti
641.373 /Paterniti
Nonfiction, Travel
In the picturesque village of Guzmán, Spain, in a cave on the edge of town, there is a cramped limestone chamber known as "the telling room." This is where villagers have gathered for centuries to share their stories and secrets--usually accompanied by copious amounts of wine. It was here, in the summer of 2000, that Michael Paterniti found himself listening to a Spanish cheesemaker as he spun an odd and compelling tale about a piece of cheese. Made from an old family recipe, Ambrosio's cheese was reputed to be among the finest in the world, and was said to hold mystical qualities. But then, Ambrosio said, things had gone horribly wrong. Paterniti was hooked. Soon he was fully embroiled, relocating his young family to Guzmán in order to chase the truth about this fairy tale-like place. What he ultimately discovers is nothing like the idyllic fable he first imagined. Instead, he's sucked into the heart of an unfolding mystery, a blood feud that includes accusations of betrayal and theft, death threats, and a murder plot.--From publisher description.
Added by Jason
The millionaire and the bard : Henry Folger's obsessive hunt for Shakespeare's first folio
Andrea E. Mays
822.33 /Z/Mays
Nonfiction, History
"Today it is the most valuable book in the world. Recently one sold for over five million dollars. It is the book that rescued the name of William Shakespeare and half of his plays from oblivion. The Millionaire and the Bard tells the miraculous and romantic story of the making of the First Folio, and of the American industrialist whose thrilling pursuit of the book became a lifelong obsession." --
Added by Jason
Musicophilia : tales of music and the brain
Oliver W Sacks
781.11 /Sacks
Nonfiction, Health
Oliver Sacks explores the place music occupies in the brain and how it affects the human condition. In Musicophilia, he shows us a variety of what he calls "musical misalignments." Among them: a man struck by lightning who suddenly desires to become a pianist at the age of forty-two; an entire group of children with Williams syndrome, who are hypermusical from birth; people with "amusia," to whom a symphony sounds like the clattering of pots and pans; and a man whose memory spans only seven seconds - for everything but music. Dr. Sacks describes how music can animate people with Parkinson's disease who cannot otherwise move, give words to stroke patients who cannot otherwise speak, and calm and organize people who are deeply disoriented by Alzheimer's or schizophrenia.
Added by Jason
The psychopath test : a journey through the madness industry
Jon Ronson
616.8582 /Ronson
Nonfiction
"In this madcap journey, a bestselling journalist investigates psychopaths and the industry of doctors, scientists, and journalists who study them"--Provided by publisher.
Added by Jason
Can't we talk about something more pleasant?
Roz Chast
BIOGRAPHY Chast, Roz
Graphic Novels, Nonfiction
A graphic memoir by a long-time New Yorker cartoonist celebrates the final years of her aging parents' lives through four-color cartoons, family photos and documents that reflect the artist's struggles with caregiver challenges.
Added by Jason
Lauren Liess’ Habitat uses nature as inspiration in home design. Her rooms are sophisticated, but also simple, comfortable, and achievable. Habitat works through explaining the basics of interior design, offering advice on lighting, color combinations, and accessories. -Anne M