simplepretty

If print is dead, someone forgot to tell the gift book industry — there are so many great new releases this fall. Perfect for holiday giving, and keeping, too:

• Minimalist Crafters will love Sally Shim’s book, Pretty Packages. I’ve followed Sally’s blog for years*, and have always marveled at her gift wrap and party favor skills. (Every year, like clockwork, I fall in love with her newest take on the advent calendar.) Pretty Packages is full of clever yet easy-to-accomplish projects that look super stylish. As the mother of a teenage boy, I’m especially happy that the Pretty Packages style isn’t too sweet — here’s to crafting projects I can use!
• Artful Home Cooks will appreciate Sunday Suppers. I’ve also been following Karen Mordechai and her blog for years, and was so excited when I learned of this book. The Sunday Suppers cookbook, organized by time of day, combines winning recipes with beautiful photography — it’s filled with ways to make family meals and gatherings a little more special. As I’m a morning person, I’m eyeing the granola recipe as well as looking forward to a breakfast beach picnic outing (when picnicking weather returns).
• Family Historians (and photo buffs) should enjoy Nicholas Nixon: The Brown Sisters / Forty Years, a collection of Nixon’s annual photo session with his wife and her sisters, that started on a whim. The series is compelling and you’ll find yourself lingering over the photos, observing the sisters’ dynamic change with time.
• Aesthetic Travelers will love to spend time poring through Cereal magazine’s first printed city guide. If you like Cereal’s meticulously edited Instagram feed, you’ll love this compilation of editor Rosa Park* and creative director Rich Stapleton’s London favorites,  presented simply and cleanly — the Cereal way — in a beautifully designed book. (At the moment, supplies of the London guide are sold out at Cereal, but I’ve seen it on newsstands: good news for those who are motivated to take up the search. More city guides are in the works.)
• Utilitarian Luxe® Living fans (like me) and interior design aficionados have been eagerly anticipating Ilse Crawford’s monograph, A Frame For Life, a veritable look-book of photos from a wide range of Crawford’s designs, including her home — on which she collaborated with architect Vincent Van Duysen, the Aesop store on London’s Mount Street, as well as an in-depth look at my favorite Crawford project to date, Stockholm hotel Ett Hem.
• Resident Mixologists (every home needs one) should pick up The Mixer’s Manual.  Because the holidays are coming and who doesn’t need a graphically illustrated guide to creating the perfect cocktail? Leave a copy at a well-stocked bar and enjoy your party!

photo credits: book covers from amazon.com, with the exception of cereal’s london guide from readcereal.com // layout and type by jane potrykus.

At my request, I received review copies of Pretty Packages and Sunday Suppers.

* full disclosure: I am friends with Sally Shim and Rosa Park — neither asked me to write about her book. Each was included solely at my discretion.