Top of the Pile : Wanderlust

It's summer and I have some more time to read, these offer a good escape in anticipation of my holiday.

Openhouse (n°1): The first kickstarter project I ever funded and it felt good! The magazine is a project of our Kinfolk co-hosts in Barcelona. In Openhouse you can read about the life of creative personalities and experience their tips in different European cities.

Another Escape (volume 3): Stories of crafters, promising projects and nice photography, the perfect inspiration.

GRANTA (127): Granta is a literary magazine, each issue has a theme and is filled with short stories of young writers. The next issue (128) looks interesting as well, American Wild!

Top of the Pile : The Kinfolk Table

I finally laid my hands on this beautiful book The Kinfolk Table. Last October, together with Joy of Little Things' Annemarie, we hosted the corresponding dinner in Antwerp. I had a quick look back then, but now I'm giving it the attention it deserves.

The Kinfolk Table is more than an ordinary cookbook, Nathan Williams (co-founder of Kinfolk) gives an insight in the kitchens and lives of the community which Kinfolk became over the years. He tells their stories and shares their favourite recipes. It's definitely a book to lay on your coffee table and let it fill your quiet moments with homely coziness.

And also some new, the Kinfolk story in Belgium goes on as well. Our next dinner is planned on the 17th of May in Antwerp, but it's already sold out (that went really quick). The dinner will take place in 21 places in several different countries, all at the same day with the theme L'Esprit de la Mer. Check if your home country is participating and book your ticket here.

(Milan-report is coming up...)

I was eating some almonds with acacia honey, mmmmh :)

Top of the Pile : Books as souvenirs

I wanted to show these treasures for a long time now, meanwhile they are already an established part of my shelves but I brought them back from some summer trips I did and I think books probably are the best souvenirs! For instance they give you a good memory of the city or shop you bought it, you can read/enjoy it during your holiday or when you are required to wait  and then the memory of carrying too much books with you (in my case, this happens) can give some good stories afterwards. There are tons of reasons I could think off..they last longer than clothes (yep, said it :)), they fill your home with some extra wisdom and the best reason of all what's more lovely than spending time, discovering and picking your favourite in a (second hand) book shops?

Here are my discoveries
Papillon d'Europe et du Monde : I found this one in Agen (FR), just passing by a magazine shop, (more like a newsagent plus upgrade) and they had this gorgeous butterflybook with copper sides and  drawings from the 19th century on sale. The vendor sold it with a bit of sadness but I think he was happy to have such an enthousiastic buyer.

The other 2 books I bought in a second hand book shop in Maastricht (NL), which is very close to my hometown and a perfect city to visit in one day. They really have nice shops and  this books 'De Bovenste Plank' (it means top shelf) was really overwhelming, top to bottom, it was literally covered in books..we spent some time there during one of the rare showers this past Summer.

My finds: this succulents book (from 1932!) and a book about Cactii and the care of it (very handy).

Top of the Pile : No Bees, No Life

I'm completely into bees and honey since the Kinfolk workshop and this seems like a nice book which tells the story of second generation beekeeper Andrew Wyszynski in Poland and his Maya Sunny Honey (a 100% raw honey).

No Bees, No Life by Zé Studio
via thisispaper

Top of the Pile : Wild Animals

I'm not spending much time online lately. The summer in Belgium (and France) was super until now, warm weather all the time, so that explains why. But I'm actually really busy with eating frozen yoghurt (my favourite : natural sweetened with stevia in combination with oreo's and strawberries) and drinking rosé wine (this years drink of my summer :)).

Back to the books. This one is more or less a recent 'classic' and a favourite of mine since very long. I was in the Netherlands and found it a good opportunity to buy it in it's country of origin : Wilde Dieren by Rop van Mierlo. The drawings are just sooo good and it looks very easy, but I think it's very difficult to achieve this result in watercolouring and characterize the animal that well. I find it one of the best illustrated books of the last couple of years.

There are more typical 'Rop van Mierlo' drawings featured on his website. (check it out)

Top of the Pile : Una Tigre!? Su un Albero?

I found this book by accident in the wel equipped & worth-a-visit eco-bookshop at Valcucine's showroom in Milan.

Una Tigre!? Su un Albero? by Paul Biswas & Anushka Ravishankar published by Corraini. The title means (as translated by the googlers) 'A Tiger!? On a Tree?'. Good to know, but not that important for me, I don't speak much italian (except for dishes) and mainly buy these children books for the illustrations. And this one also has some very thick nice paper, it seems handmade, but it's probably just really nice paper.

It's a good addition to my bookshelves.. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Top of the Pile : Gerhard Richter

Oh gosh! What a beautiful book about accidents : November - Gerhard Richter 

 

(via It's Nice That)

The Cinematic Life of Pi

Movies from books, they can be good just don't compare them with the book...
I have to say I'm curious about this one : Life of Pi.

Encyclopedia of Flowers

I think I want this book really really bad.. wonderful flower art by Makoto Azuma and his website is one giant stream of greatness too! I think I know it for sure...

Dancing on Salt

I just finished this book The Principles of Uncertainty by Maria Kalman, loved the jumping thoughts of everyday happenings linked to historical person/events, definitely something to read more than once.
(Published in 2009 by Penguin)

To read and to enjoy

To make my trip in Frisco last longer...