I love writing books that feature buildings and construction as a backdrop to life. I’ve worked as an interior designer for over 30 years, and now I teach design at a university in Sydney. Our homes offer so much more than four walls and a roof. They provide us with comfort and shelter. They offer security and stability. They help us stay sane and grounded in a sometimes confusing and turbulent world. I don’t think the importance of our homes can be underestimated.
I teach interior design, so the importance of personal spaces is something I could talk about all day. To me, homes reflect our identity. They reveal our inner world and contain our treasures and precious belongings. They protect us and help us to make sense of our crazy lives.
Erica Bauermeister shows the work of renovating a house and building a life. I loved every detailed description.
From New York Times Bestselling Author Erica Bauermeister comes a memoir about the power of home and the transformative act of restoring one house in particular.
"I think anyone who saves an old house has to be a caretaker at heart, a believer in underdogs, someone whose imagination is inspired by limitations, not endless options."
In this mesmerizing memoir-in-essays, Erica Bauermeister renovates a trash-filled house in eccentric Port Townsend, Washington, and in the process takes readers on a journey to discover the ways our spaces subliminally affect us. A personal, accessible, and literary exploration of the psychology of architecture, as…
If you’re in the middle of renovating and feel like you’ve lost your way, you might need a new perspective. This book will get you back on track.
Easy for laypeople to understand—the writing is simple and elegant—it’s philosophical and wise. It might even change how you look at the world, or at least the way you look at architecture. Hopefully, you’ll remember why you’re renovating in the first place.
What makes a house beautiful? Is it serious to spend your time thinking about home decoration? Why do people disagree about taste? Can buildings make us happy? In The Architecture of Happiness Alain de Botton tackles a relationship central to our lives. Our buildings - and the objects we fill them with - affect us more profoundly than we might think. To take architecture seriously is to accept that we are, for better and for worse, different people in different places. De Botton suggests that it is architecture's task to render vivid to us who we might ideally be. Turning…
This book is set in Montauk, under looming threat from a warming climate and overdevelopment. Now outsider Clancy, a thirty-six-year-old claims adjuster scarred by his orphan childhood, has inherited an unexpected legacy: the power to decide the fate of Montauk’s last parcel of undeveloped land. Everyone in town has a…
There’s a lot to love about this book. An alpha heroine who knows what she wants. A large extended family. An angry ghost. An old house with hidden passages and a long-established, much-loved bar/restaurant renovation.
There’s also a very spicy love affair. Curl up with this after a long day renovating.
"A sexy, emotional, and pitch-perfect romance." —NPR on Lush Money
Opposites attract in this rivals-to-lovers romance from Lush Money author Angelina M. Lopez
Guapo pobrecito her grandmother calls him. The “poor handsome man.”
Professor Jeremiah Post, the poor handsome man, is in fact standing in the way of Alejandra “Alex” Torres turning Loretta’s, her grandmother’s bar, into a viable business. The hot brainiac who sleeps in one of the upstairs tenant rooms already has all of her Mexican American family’s admiration; she won’t let him have the bar and building she needs to resurrect her career, too.
Most romance readers know that this story is about a run-down villa in Tuscany and a heartbroken heroine (Frances Mayes) struggling to build a life after her divorce. But read the book for the beautiful descriptions of the countryside, the delicious food and wine, and the gorgeous accounts of village life—the markets, the frescos, the fading sunlight!
This memoir is not just a restoration journey; it’s a book about finding yourself.
Discover the New York Times bestseller that inspired the film. The perfect read for anyone seeking an escape to the Italian countryside.
When Frances Mayes - poet, gourmet cook and travel writer - buys an abandoned villa in Tuscany, she has no idea of the scale of the project she is embarking on.
In this enchanting memoir she takes the reader on a journey to restore a crumbling villa and build a new life in the Italian countryside, navigating hilarious cultural misunderstandings, legal frustrations and the challenges of renovating a house that seems determined to remain a ruin.
A Sumerian tale of irrigation, floods, and the creation of man
By
Ken Goudsward,
Contrary to popular belief, the Atrahasis Epic is not merely a flood myth. In some ways it can be called a creation myth. However, it does not concern itself with the creation of the universe or even of the earth. Rather, the created work in question is one of culture…
I love a good contemporary romance with a renovating premise. This one delivers all the tropes—an off-limits best friend, forced proximity, and a man with power tools.
Sometimes, you need an easy, joyful read, and I finished this in one day. It’s charming. The dialogue is witty and sparkling. Both main characters are so likeable. This is a funny, entertaining, and quirky novel.
Readers and critics alike raved over USA Today bestselling author Sally Thorne's smash hit debut novel, The Hating Game-which sold in over 20 countries. Now she's back with an unforgettable romantic comedy about a twin sister and brother struggling over an inheritance-and the sexy best friend who comes between them.
Crush (n.): a strong and often short-lived infatuation, particularly for someone beyond your reach...
Darcy Barrett has undertaken a global survey of men. She's travelled the world, and can categorically say that no one measures up to Tom Valeska, whose only flaw is that Darcy's twin brother Jamie saw him…
After Kat and Liam meet in a bar, he does her a life-changing favor that alters her future. Months later, they’re reunited on a building site. He is the property developer, and she is the heritage consultant—sparks fly as their conflicting roles collide… but she owes him a favor.
Loud and opinionated, Liam is used to getting his way, but underneath his gruff exterior, he is surprisingly generous and protective. Attraction simmers beneath the surface, and soon their professional relationship becomes personal. When Liam decides it’s time to settle down and get married, he sets his sights on Kat. But twice divorced, Kat will never marry again. She might break his heart, but it might be worth it.
The constellation we know as Taurus goes all the way back to cave paintings of aurochs at Lascaux. This book traces the story of the bull in the sky, a journey through the history of what has become known as the sacred bull.
After Dr. Shawn Jennings, a busy family physician, suffered a brainstem stroke on May 13, 1999, he woke from a coma locked inside his body, aware and alert but unable to communicate or move. Once he regained limited movement in his left…
