Color Books

In the last few weeks, I've added two new books to my bookshelf. I honestly don't buy books that often, but I was super curious about both of these, purchased one and was reading through it when I went to work one day, my coworker had a copy of the second, and after perusing through it, I ordered it for myself.

Though obviously both are totally about color, they are quite different, and I don't feel having one excludes the other. The first is The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair, and in one way it is the most comprehensive, in that for each color it explores, there is an essay on the history of that color, overall telling 'the unusual stories of seventy-five fascinating shades, dyes, and hues.' It includes some very unique colors [such as Gamboge, Archil, Verdigris] that I find intriguing and enlightening. You'll get a good hint at its content in this post and interview with the author on 99% Invisible.

The Designer's Dictionary of Color by Sean Adams is similar in ways yet very different. It highlights nearly 30 colors, documenting each with brief histories, color range and palette variation charts, and cultural meanings. It's also beautifully illustrated for each color, more expansive in that way that Secret Lives. Here's a review from SFcrowsnest that will give you an inside look.

I'm not completely sure how these two volumes will inform my future creating, but they are both definitely interesting and lovely, and I figure inviting more color into my world is never a bad thing. If you have either book, do let us know in the comments what you think and how you use them.

Worth a Read

One of the regular features in my newsletter, The Scrap Basket, is 'Worth a Read.' Usually I share quite a variety of things I've found on the interwebs - techniques, photography, just stuff I find interesting and think you might too. Something I keep meaning to post about here and there are a couple of books I've read recently. Both by Austin Kleon, the first was a random gift from a friend, Steal Like An Artist. {Thanks Hillary!} Apparently I was the last crafty person to hear about this book as it made the rounds a while back, but I was intrigued from the get-go. First, the word 'steal' was in the title - not something I consider doing. But I really liked the subtitle: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative. Ok then.

Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered is the 2nd book, and I found it just as inspiring, if not more so. 

One of the great features of these little books is that the format keeps your attention. They are just plain fun to read. I spread it out, reading a chapter or so a day, highlighter in hand. The books are full of inspiring gems. One that stuck with me was the challenge to "do good work and share it with people." That I can do.

Another takeaway was "share something small every day", which I already try to do, whether it's on Instagram, facebook, or here on the blog. And there was a section about 'sharing your trade secrets' that I really appreciated . . . "Teaching people doesn't subtract value from what you do, it actually adds to it."

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed this pair and they gave me much food for thought about my own creativity and the ways I share it. I'm thinking you might like them too.

Tuesday at the Table

It kind of feels like the last 10 days or so vanished into thin air. The cold I told you about last week kept me down for a while, but there was at least one up-side. Though I didn't feel like doing much, reading felt pretty effortless, and I managed to make it clear through Delicious! which I really enjoyed. Now what?

Since my recent post about foodie books, your suggestions on what to read next have just kept on coming - thank you! I thought it might be helpful to have them listed in one place - for you and for me. So here they all are! I marked the ones I've read with an '*' . . . you can see I have plenty more to choose from!

1.  A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table by Molly Wizenberg*
2. Delancey: A Man, a Woman, a Restaurant, a Marriage by Molly Wizenberg*
3. Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table by Ruth Reichl*
4. Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table by Ruth Reichl*
5. Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl*
6. Delicious: A Novel by Ruth Reichl*
7. A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle
8. The Tuscan Year: Life and Food in an Italian Valley by Elizabeth Romer
9. Eating on the Wild Side: The Missing Link to Optimum Health by Jo Robinson 
10. The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears in Paris at the World's Most Famous Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn*
11. On Rue Tatin: Living and Cooking in a French Town by Susan Herrman Loomis
12. Peaches for Monsieur le Curé: A Novel (Chocolat) by Joanne Harris
13. My Life in France by Julia Child*
14. Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China by Fuchsia Dunlop
15. American Pie: Slices of a Life (and Pie) From America's Back Roads by Pascale La Draoulec
16. Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton
17. Fried Green Tomatoes at The Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flagg
18. Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen by Laurie Colwin*
19. More Home Cooking: A Writer Returns to the Kitchen by Laurie Colwin*
20. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
21. The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz
22. How to Cook a Wolf by M. F. K. Fisher 
23. Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love, and the Search for Home by Kim Sunée
24. Pig Candy: Taking My Father South, Taking My Father Home--A Memoir by Lise Funderburg
25. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, Camille Kingsolver and Steven L. Hopp
26. The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love by Kristin Kimball
27. The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food by Judith Jones*
28. anything by Anthony Bourdain...
29. ...Calvin Trillin
30. ...Michael Pollan
31. ...Elizabeth David
32. ...Claudia Roden 
33. ...Nigel Slater
34. ...Marcus Samuelsson

Tuesday at the Table

A couple of friends and I have been swapping books lately. Foodie books. It started with 2 that Sharon and I both wanted to read. She agreed to buy Delicious!: A Novel by Ruth Reichl, and I bought Delancey: A Man, a Woman, a Restaurant, a Marriage by Molly Wizenberg. We'd each read our own, and then swap. So when the time came, Kathy happened to be there. She's a foodie too, and we were surprised she'd never read anything by these authors before. I mean each of their first books are 2 of my very favorites.

So I righted that little wrong by loaning Kathy my copies of A Homemade Life and Tender at the Bone this week. I'm anxious to hear how she liked them.

So tell me. What should we read next?