My son started keeping a reading list in third grade, so I did too. This is the 18th year I’ve done this. He still reads quite a lot, but I don’t think he catalogs it the way I do anymore. It’s been another really busy year, but I still managed to read a LOT, and listened to a number of audiobooks as well.
I’m usually a completist when it comes to my reading — when I find an author I like I try to read everything they’ve ever written and have to really force myself to read other things in between each book so I can savor them a little longer. I did that with Anne Tyler’s early work many years ago, and I loved The Accidental Tourist, Celestial Navigation, Breathing Lessons, The Amateur Marriage, which are just a few of her many, many excellent titles. For some unexplainable reason she slipped off my radar in the past few years and I only recently picked up her 2022 title, French Braid. She’s 83 years old now but I’m happy to report that Anne Tyler hasn’t missed a beat.
The Winners
This novel — a multigenerational story set in Baltimore, which could describe every one of her books — is a beautifully written, slyly subversive character study in the hands of a master. It doesn’t really matter what happens. Plot is almost beside the point with characters so real and vivid. This was definitely one of my favorite books of the year.
I also really enjoyed two Fredrik Backman titles: The Winners, and Us Against You, which both are continuations of his excellent Beartown series. Set in rural Sweden in a hockey town with as much commitment to the sport as the Friday Night Lights of Texas, I thought this intensely gripping series was excellent. Fair warning it is pretty graphic and can be quite brutal at times (I gave it to my dad for Father’s Day and he hated it), but to me the violence was warranted and true to the characters. And the books are hard to put down.
The Rom-Commers
On the lighter side, also on my list for this year are three titles from Emily Henry: Happy Place, Book Lovers, and Funny Story all of which are romantic and funny.
A really good romantic comedy by Katherine Center was The Rom-Commers, about an aspiring screenwriter who is hired to help a big name writer write a romantic movie, even though he despises the genre. If you groan at that premise you might like the one for Alison Espach’s The Wedding People a
The Wedding People
little better: a newly divorced, suicidal woman decides to splurge on a ridiculously luxurious hotel as a place to commit suicide, only to find that she’s the only person there who’s not affiliated with a wedding party that’s bought out the place, and preventing her from ruining the picture perfect celebration becomes the bride’s mission.
Other favorites this year were Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason, about a woman who suffers from X (a non-specified mental illness), and how she learns to cope; an adult book called In the Unlikely Event, by my beloved Judy Blume of Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret fame; and Alice Sadie Celine by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright, a great story about a young woman who has an affair with her best friend’s mom.
Alice Sadie Celine
A few of my other most liked from this year’s list were books I read in order to prepare for speakers that came to town via UCSB Arts & Lectures. These included the wonderful The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese (read my story about the lecture here, Oprah liked this book too), and two books by Xochitl Gonzalez, Olga Dies of Dreamingand Anita De Monte Laughs Last (read my interview with her here and report on her lecture here).
I’d love to hear what everyone else enjoyed. Here’s my 2024 list:
Turn of the Key
Ruth
Ware
It Starts With Us
Colleen
Hoover
The Lying Game
Ruth
Ware
Lost and Found in Paris
Lian
Dolan
How to be Perfect
Michael
Schur
In a Dark, Dark Wood
Ruth
Ware
It Ends With Us
Colleen
Hoover
Bright Young Women
Jessica
Knoll
Bad Summer People
Emma
Rosenblum
A Long Petal of the Sea
Isabel
Allende
The Covenant of Water
Abraham
Verghese
Fellowship Point
Alice Elliott
Dark
November 9
Colleen
Hoover
First Lie Wins
Ashley
Elston
Maybe Not
Colleen
Hoover
Poor Ghost
David
Starkey
Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone
Benjamin
Stevenson
Maybe Someday
Colleen
Hoover
Maybe Now
Colleen
Hoover
Without Merit
Colleen
Hoover
All Your Perfects
Colleen
Hoover
Float
Neal
Rabin
Confess
Colleen
Hoover
This Bird Has Flown
Susannah
Hoffs
Losing Hope
Colleen
Hoover
Happy Place
Emily
Henry
The American Roomate Experiment
Elena
Armas
Ugly Love
Colleen
Hoover
Slammed
Colleen
Hoover
Finding Cinderella
Colleen
Hoover
Big Swiss
Jen
Beagin
Anita De Monte Laughs Last
Xochitl
Gonzalez
Olga Dies Dreaming
Xochitl
Gonzalez
Book Lovers
Emily
Henry
Blue Skies
T.C.
Boyle
Spoiler Alert
Olivia
Dade
You, Again
Kate
Goldbeck
Love, Theoretically
Ali
Hazelwood
Beware the Woman
Megan
Abbott
Us Against You
Frederik
Backman
What Happened to Ruthy Ramiriez
Claire
Jimenez
The Boyfriend Candidate
Ashley
Winstead
Nothing Special
Nicole
Flattery
Moonglow
Michael
Chabon
Come and Get It
Kiley
Reid
Never Ever Getting Back Together
Sophie
Gonzales
With a Kiss We Die
L.R.
Dorn
Hypnotized by Love
Sariah
Wilson
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers
Jesse Q.
Sutanto
How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water
Angie
Cruz
Everything Nothing Someone
Alice
Carriere
The True Love Experiment
Christina
Lauren
Mrs. Caliban
Rachel
Ingalls
Didn’t See That Coming
Jesse Q.
Sutanto
Dial A for Aunties
Jesse Q.
Sutanto
The Winners
Fredrik
Backman
Funny Story
Emily
Henry
The Graham Effect
Elle
Kennedy
The Rewind
Allison
Wiin Scotch
Pachinko
Min Jin
Lee
Point of Retreat
Colleen
Hoover
Practice Makes Perfect
Sarah
Adams
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
James
McBride
The Lonely Hearts Book Club
Lucy
Gilmore
The Magician
Rebecca
Searle
Slow Dance
Rainbow
Rowell
Demon Copperhead
Barbara
Kingsolver
Fourteen Days
Margaret
Atwood
Expiration Dates
Rebecca
Searle
Margo’s Got Money Troubles
Rufi
Thorpe
Cancer Moon
Jenna
Tico
This Time Tomorrow
Emma
Straud
Reunion Beach
Elin
Hilderbrand, Adriana Trigiani, Patti Callahan, Mary Alice Monroe
My son started keeping a reading list in third grade, so I did too. This is the 17th year we’ve done this.
Work and well, life in general kept me pretty busy, but I still managed to read a LOT, and listened to a number of audiobooks as well.
This is How it Always is by Laurie Frankel
My favorite books this year were Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett (a beautiful story about a mother telling her daughters the story of a long ago summer romance), Klara and the Sunby Kazuo Ishiguro (a futuristic novel that brings in elements of AI and its possible role in our futures), Hello Beautifulby Ann Napolitano (a moving story about the bonds of family), Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (a book club pick about a widow and an octopus that I was sure I’d hate, but ended up loving), Foreverland: On the Divine Tedium of Marriage by Heather Havilresky (the only nonfiction pick on my list of favorites, this is a series of essays about, you guessed, marriage),
Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson
Yellowface. by R.F. Kuang (a really compelling novel about the world of literature and who gets to tell what stories in the age of cultural appropriation), The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen (a page turner till the bitter end), Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson ( a very original story full of weirdly compelling characters, including a pair of twins who light on fire when they get angry), and This is How it Always is by Laurie Frankel ( a really well done and eye opening story about a family with a transgender child).
I’d love to hear what everyone else enjoyed. Here’s my 2023 list:
Love on the Brain
Ali
Hazelwood
Less
Andrew Sean
Greer
The Vibrant Years
Sonali
Dev
The Lincoln Highway
Amor
Towles
Rules of Civility
Amor
Towles
The Half Known Life
Pico
Iyer
Amanda Wakes Up
Alisyn
Camerota
When in Rome
Sarah
Adams
Like a Rolling Stone
Jann S.
Wenner
Incense and Sensibility
Sonali
Dev
Perfect Tunes
Emily
Gould
The Second Season
Emily
Adrian
The Matzah Ball
Jean
Meltzer
When Sparks Fly
Helena
Hunting
A Holly Jolly Diwali
Sonya
Lalli
Black Girls Must BE Magic
Jayne
Allen
Remarkably Bright Creatures
Shelby
Van Pelt
The Sound of Gravel
Ruth
Wariner
Look Alive Out There
Sloane
Crosley
The Unspeakable
Meghan
Daum
Have I Told You This Already?
Lauren
Graham
Keya Das’s Second Act
Sopan
Deb
Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors
Sonali
Dev
Yours Cheerfully
A.J.
Pearce
The Invitation
Lucy
Foley
The Candid Life of Meena Dave
Namrata
Patel
The Power
Naomi
Alderman
Dear Mrs. Bird
AJ
Pearce
The Flatshare
Beth
O’Leary
Klara and the Sun
Kazuo
Ishiguro
The People We Keep
Alison
Larkin
This is How it Always Is
Laurie
Frankel
What’s the Matter with Mary Jane?
Candas Jane
Dorsey
Cult Classic
Sloane
Crosley
Crying in H Mart
Michelle
Zaunder
Something She’s Not Telling Us
Darcey
Bell
Spare
Prince Harry
Forget Me Not
Ellie
Terry
Nothing to See Here
Kevin
Wilson
Big Magic
Elizabeth
Gilbert
Unmarriageable
Soniah
Kamal
The Four Winds
Kristin
Hannah
Serena Singh Flips the Script
Sonya
Lalli
The Last Bookshop in London
Madeline
Martin
Mika in Real Life
Emiko
Jean
The Ex Hex
Erin
Sterling
Little Lovely Things
Maureen Joyce
Connolly
The Younger Wife
Sally
Hepworth
The Good Girl Complex
Elle
Kennedy
Tokyo Ever After
Emiko
Jean
Commitment
Mona
Simpson
The Suite Spot
Trish
Doller
Dear Edward
Ann
Napolitano
I’ll Be You
Janelle
Brown
Romantic Comedy
Curtis
Sittenfeld
The Book of the Most Precious Substance
Sara
Gran
Really Good, Actually
Monica
Heisey
The Golden Couple
Greer Hendricks and Sarah
Pekkanen
Cassandra in Reverse
Holly
Smale
The Storyteller
Dave
Grohl
Yellowface
R.F.
Kuang
Fathers and Sons
Ivan
Turgenev
Where you See Yourself
Claire
Forrest
The Off Limits Rule
Sarah
Adams
For Her Consideration
Amy
Spalding
If He Had Been With Me
Laura
Nowlin
The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle
Matt
Cain
This Story Will Change
Elizabeth
Crane
The Birthday Girls
Pauline
Lawless
Hot to Trot
M.C.
Beaton
After I Do
Taylor
Jenkins Reid
Bookish People
Susan
Coll
On the Rooftop
Margaret
Wilkerson Sexton
The Swimmers
Julie
Otsuka
Wahala
Nikki
May
Foreverland: On the Divine Tedium of Marriage
Heather
Havilresky
More Than You’ll Ever Know
Katie
Gutierrez
Unfortunately Yours
Tessa
Bailey
For Girls Who Walk Through Fire
Kim
DeRose
The Diamond Eye
Kate
Quinn
Early Morning Riser
Katherine
Heiny
Tom Lake
Ann
Patchett
The Princess Trap
Talia
Hibbert
The Incendiaries
R.O.
Kwon
Hello Beautiful
Ann
Napolitano
Year of the Monkey
Patti
Smith
I Have Lost My Way
Gayle
Forman
The It Girl
Ruth
Ware
Lucy by the Sea
Elizabeth
Strout
The Death of Mrs. Westaway
Ruth
Ware
A Killer App
Linda
Lovely
The Littlest Library
Poppy
Alexander
Someone Else’s Shoes
JoJo
Moyes
Any Other Family
Eleanor
Brown
High Strung: A Humorous Cozy Mystery (Glass Bead Mystery Series Book 1)
My son started keeping a reading list in third grade, so I did too. This is the 16th year we’ve done this.
Even though I was pretty busy this year, I read a LOT and audiobooks are definitely a big part of my routine these days as well.
Lessons in Chemistry
My favorite books this year were The Plotby Jean Hanff Korelitz (a twisty tale about the dark side of being a writer), Beartown by Fredrik Backman (one of those books that tons of people recommended to me for years, with sports parents as one of the scariest and realistic elements of a complex story), and Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (a funny, feminist tale that made me laugh out loud several times). I also really liked Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister, which is one of Reese Witherspoon’s recent picks; The Candy House by Jennifer Egan; Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin; Apeirogon by
Welcome to our annual Home & Garden special issue, the edition run each spring where we explore ideas and designs for indoors and out.
In this year’s collection, we feature a new book all about that most iconic of Montecito gardens, Lotusland, and explain how you can create your own sustainable garden in the backyard. Then we turn to a new Home & Design Collective in the downtown Arts District, head to the library to find free decor resources, and take a look at what it takes, and why, to electrify your house.
Santa Barbara Independent, May 19-25, 2002. ON THE COVER: Madame Ganna Walska, taken c. 1958. Photo by J.R. Eyerman/Lotusland Archives. Design by Ava Talehakimi.
Originally published in the May 19-25 issue issue of the Santa Barbara Independent. To see the story as it originally appeared click here.
Show business ran deep through the veins of Madame Ganna Walska, so when the time finally came to showcase her legendary garden in book form, the pressure was on.
And like the creation of Montecito’s extraordinary 37-acre public garden extravaganza, it took a whole cast of characters to bring the new, 288-page coffee table book Lotusland: Eccentric Garden Paradise (Rizzoli, 2022) — stunningly photographed by Lisa Romerein — to life.
Architect Marc Appleton, a longtime supporter and former trustee of Ganna Walska Lotusland, had unsuccessfully tried to drum up support for a book project for years, but the stars never quite aligned until 2019, when the “Book Committee” — comprised of Appleton, current trustee Dorothy Gardner and former trustees Suzanne Mathews and Alex Morse — was formed.
The county permit limits the number of visitors to the garden to just 15,000 people a year, so it’s always a challenge to share Lotusland with as many people as possible
“We raised independent funds from subscribers to establish a publication budget, and we were off and running,” said Appleton.
“Everyone said yes, which is kind of remarkable and a testament to their relationships. It really was volunteer driven and that’s important to appreciate and highlight,particularly in this town where so many volunteers do so much,” said Executive Director Rebecca Anderson.”
Curator Paul Mills, Historian Rose Thomas, Jeff Chemnick, Mike Furner, Corey Welles, Founding Trustee Arthur Gaudi, Eric Nagelmann (who designed the cactus garden) and Madame Walska’s niece Hania Tallmadge (who recently passed away) were but a few of the many people involved in this team effort.
The book has a lot of ground to cover — and it does. Anderson explained, “while it’s meant to focus on the garden today and our future, it’s meant to be a garden book. It’s not meant to be a retrospective of how the garden began. But I really appreciate that we were able to get in there the people who created this place because without a little bit of that it’s not a complete story.”
Indeed the dramatic flair and inimitable spirit of of Madame Walska is woven throughout the book and the world-renowned horticultural showplace, which is home to more than 3,400 types of plants, including at least 35,000 individual specimens,
Another important factor Anderson emphasized is “making sure that people not only have takeaways about inspiration and ideas for design or knowledge of particular plants in that index in the back but also that they understand that this is all done with
organic materials and sustainable practices.”
With such a large scope of the gardens to be documented, Curator Paul Mills worked with photographer Lisa Romerein and her assistant Dean Courtois to shoot over the span of a year, “to try to catch as many moods and happenings in the garden as possible.” Mills said, “Lotusland really is not a ‘flowery’ garden, it’s more about bold and dramatic presentation of plants. But each season does present different opportunities to capture and I would help guide them to these.”
Madame Ganna Walska picks fruit from the lemon arbor, c. 1958 | Credit: J. R. Eyerman, Ganna Walska. Lotusland Archives
He continued, “Every plant on the property has a story, but I would try to lead them to the ones that are more intriguing for one reason or another – a cycad that is now extinct in the wild and only exists in gardens like Lotusland, a dragon tree that dates back to the 1880’s when Kinton Stevens had his nursery on the property, a cactus that is endemic to the Galapagos Islands and rarely seen in botanical collections. The first shoot was in summer, so the main goal was to catch our namesake plant, the sacred lotus, in all its glory. Winter had to focus on the Aloe garden because that is when those plants light up with their torch-like inflorescences and also on the Japanese garden which really shows that season with the golden carpet of Ginkgo leaves and shapely, dormant maples. I would scout the garden before their arrival but so many times we would just happen across things – a flowering bromeliad, a fern leaf unfurling or the perfect lighting for an overall shot.”
With 19 distinct gardens to spotlight, choosing a favorite is like choosing a favorite child, but when asked which section of the book he’s most proud of, Mills confided, “I would have to say the chapter on the Dunlap cactus garden. It’s my favorite garden on the property, not only because I was so involved in moving the collection to Lotusland and helping to oversee its installation, but because of the story behind it. Lisa was also very drawn to this garden so it got a lot of attention and amazing photos in the book.”
He continued, “We’d often be on the cart heading to a different garden, passing by the Dunlap garden, and Lisa would shout, ‘Stop!’ because she saw something looking just right. This garden was installed after Madame Ganna Walska had passed away, but the project actually started in 1966, when Merritt ‘Sigs’ Dunlap wrote to her wanting to bequeath his cactus collection to Lotusland. She saw this as something great and accepted. Luckily Sigs turned it into a donation and we moved the collection in 2001 and built the garden in 2003 where he celebrated his 97th birthday. We know Madame Ganna Walska would approve of this garden – she loved cacti and dramatic landscapes and its completion signified the fulfillment of her and Sigs’ wish.”
“Making the book happen in the right way was challenging, and there were ultimately a lot of interests to entertain along the way, ” said Appleton, who worked on a somewhat similar project with Rizzoli for Casa Del Herrero in 2009, and wrote the introduction to Lotusland. “But I think the book will have a long life as a fairly comprehensive presentation of Lotusland and why it is such a special garden. Lisa’s photos are amazing, and capture its magic.”
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Limited spots are available for a Luncheon on the Lawn to celebrate Lotusland: Eccentric Garden Paradise on Saturday, May 21 at 11:30 a.m.
In addition,Lotusland’s 2022 season is now open to reservations through August. Admission is $50 for adults and $25 for children ages 3 to 17. For more information and reservations, visit lotusland.org.
Lotusland: Eccentric Garden Paradise is available at local retailers as well as through the onsite gift shop and online at lotuslandshop.org.
Santa Barbara Independent, May 19-25, 2002. ON THE COVER: Madame Ganna Walska, taken c. 1958. Photo by J.R. Eyerman/Lotus- land Archives. Design by Ava Talehakimi.
Originally published in the May 19-25 issue issue of the Santa Barbara Independent. To see the story as it originally appeared click here.
Looking for some inspiration for your next home improvement project? For when Pinterest isn’t quite cutting it, our Santa Barbara Public Library librarians Lisa Neubert and Kimberly Crail (have curated this list of books to check out.
Small Spaces
Small Space Style: Because You Don’t Have to Live Large to Live Beautifully by Whitney Leigh Morris: Interior design maven Morris shares her ideas and practices for making any tiny space efficient and stylish — whether it’s a rustic A-frame in the woods or a chic micro apartment in the city.
150 Best Tiny Interior Ideasby Francesc Zamora Mola: A smaller living space doesn’t have to mean sacrificing sophistication or comfort. Here are loads of ideas for maximizing space while creating warm and inviting homes.
Interior Design
Design a Healthy Home: 100 Ways to Transform Your Space for Physical and Mental Wellbeing by Oliver Heath: Simple, practical advice on how to design your home for health and happiness through modifications in lighting, air quality, acoustics, temperature, color, and more.
Design the Home You Love: Practical Styling Advice to Make the Most of Your Space by Lee Mayer: A fresh and accessible guidebook to the complicated world of interior design.
Credit: Courtesy
Made for Living: Collected Interiors for All Sorts of Stylesby Amber Lewis: Tricks of the trade from a trendsetting designer known for creating effortlessly layered looks and modern eclectic styles.
Home Stories: Design Ideas for Making a House a Homeby Kim Leggett: Everyone has a story worth telling, and every room can become part of that story. Learn how to create rooms filled with warmth, meaning, and your own unique story of home.
Feels Like Home: Relaxed Interiors for a Meaningful Lifeby Lauren Liess: Explore the emotional connection between home decoration and one’s daily life through the lens of a popular social media and TV star.
House to Home: Designing Your Space for the Way You Liveby Devi Dutta-Choudhury: A modern guide to home improvement that will help you create a dynamic, comfortable space that supports your life and the way you want to live.
Hygge & West Home: Design for a Cozy Lifeby Christiana Coop and Aimee Lagos: These notable tastemakers have curated a look into 20 covetable homes designed to promote feelings of coziness, companionship, and comfort.
Bringing the Outdoors In
Credit: Courtesy
Home Sweet Houseplant: A Room-by-Room Guide to Plant Decor by Baylor Chapman: Houseplants have the ability to instantly elevate the look of your home and add your own special flourishes. This book shows you where — and how — to begin.
Wild Interiors: Beautiful Plants in Beautiful Spaces by Hilton Carter: A journey in greenery led by the bestselling author’s unique eye and love of plants to show you how to create luscious interiors that not only look amazing but are good for your well-being, too.
Decorating with Plants: What to Choose, Ways to Style, and How to Make Them Thrive by Baylor Chapman: Nothing can add energy, style, and that essential “lived-in-ness” to home spaces better than a little bit of green. Chapman shows us where to begin.
Houseplants for All: How to Fill Any Home with Happy Plants by Danae Horst: A useful guide to selecting and growing plants for your home, including a plant profile quiz.
Handpicked: Simple, Sustainable, and Seasonal Flower Arrangements by Ingrid Carozzi: Organized by season, Carozzi’s book reveals her secrets for creating flower arrangements that are modern, original, and organic in style.
Mindfulness and Minimalism
The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter by Margareta Magnusson: In Sweden, there is a kind of decluttering called döstädning (dö =“death” and städning = “cleaning”). Magnusson gives instructions for this surprising and invigorating process of clearing out unnecessary belongings sooner, rather than later.
Minimalista: Your Step-by-Step Guide to a Better Home, Wardrobe, and Life by Shira Gill: Help to find your own style with this fresh and accessible guidebook to the world of interior design.
The New Mindful Home: And How to Make it Yours by Joanna Thornhill: Our spaces can play a big part in our emotional well-being. This book explains how to harness the power of mindfulness to help your home support a more considered lifestyle.
The Home Edit Life: The No-Guilt Guide to Owning What You Want and Organizing Everything by Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin: The New York Times best-selling authors of The Home Edit show you how to contain the chaos and organize every aspect of your life.
Living Simply: A Teen Guide to Minimalism by Sally McGraw: A discussion of minimalism as a way of living for teens, this book provides a number of suggestions and resources for young people who want to scale down their carbon footprints.
Color and Creativity
Credit: Courtesy
A Colorful Life: Gere Kavanaugh, Designer by Louise Sandhaus and Kat Catmur: The designer Gere Kavanaugh is an irrepressible force of nature who epitomized the craft and folk vibe of the ’60s and ’70s California design scene and remains a larger-than-life personality today.
My Creative Space: How to Design Your Home to Stimulate Ideas and Spark Innovationby Donald M. Rattner: Written by a noted architect, My Creative Space turns the rich trove of psychological research on workplace productivity and innovation into practical techniques for shaping a home.
Jungalow: Decorate Wild by Justina Blakeney: A guide to designing creative and personal interiors with bold choices in color and patterns, cues from nature, and inspiration from personal heritage and travels.
Wonder Walls: How to Transform Your Space with Colorful Geometrics, Graphic Lettering, and Other Fabulous Paint Techniquesby Phoebe Cornog and Roxy Prima: Learn DIY wall-painting techniques to help discover the possibilities of paint and see walls as a canvas. This book covers wall preparation and paint selection, as well as step-by-step instructions.
Living in Color: Color in Contemporary Interior Designby Stella Paul and India Mahdavi: An inspirational visual journey along the color spectrum, brought to life via the best contemporary residential interior design.
A Sense of Place
At Home in Joshua Tree: A Field Guide to Desert Livingby Sara Combs and Rich Combs: This beautifully illustrated lifestyle guide from the creators of The Joshua Tree House shows you how to infuse your life with desert vibes, from home designs and entertaining plans to wellness rituals.
Home Sweet Maison: The French Art of Making a Homeby Danielle Postel-Vinay: A lively, sophisticated, and practical illustrated lifestyle guide that shows how to live like the French every day, transforming your house into a home defined by beauty, family, and accessible elegance.
The California Casaby Douglas Woods: A sumptuous and comprehensive look at Spanish Colonial Revival design, presenting a lavish portrait of the style through more than 300 color photographs.
Credit: Courtesy
Living in Mexicoby Barbara & René Stoeltie: A breathtaking look at some of Mexico’s most remarkable abodes. The authors have traveled far and wide, from Costa Careyes to the Yucatán Peninsula, seeking out homes to surprise, delight, and inspire.
Red Tile Style: America’s Spanish Revival Architecture by Arrol Gellner: A comprehensive survey of one of the most widespread and popular forms of American architecture. From bungalows and mansions to gas stations and government buildings, Gellner explores this diverse category of design.
Santa Barbara Style by Kathryn Masson: Explore the work of such architectural luminaries as Addison Mizner, Bertram Goodhue, Reginald D. Johnson, and George Washington Smith, among others.
Santa Barbara Living by Diane Dorrans Saeks: A beautifully photographed book that takes readers inside the mansions and estates of contemporary Santa Barbara.
Historical Influences
Making Midcentury Modernby Christopher Kennedy: This book features 100 tips for bringing the principles of midcentury modern style to any home, from the acclaimed interior designer.
American Bungalow Style by Robert Winter: Showcasing two dozen American houses that capture the bungalow spirit that enticed thousands of buyers during the form’s heyday from 1880 to 1930.
Spanish Colonial Style: Santa Barbara and the Architecture of James Osborne Craig and Mary McLaughlin Craigby Pamela Skewes-Cox and Robert Sweeney: An ode to these influential architects, whose designs included the historic Casa de la Guerra and the Plaza Rubio complex across from the Mission Rose Garden.
Outdoor Living
Credit: Courtesy
Private Gardens of Santa Barbara: The Art of Outdoor Living by Margie Grace: A peek into 21 distinctive private gardens: large estates, modest homes, and surf retreats that run the gamut from sublime and naturalistic to bold and urban.
Organization Tips and Tricks
Martha Stewart’s Organizing: The Manual for Bringing Order to Your Life, Home & Routines by Martha Stewart:Tips, projects and ideas on how to organize everything from America’s most trusted lifestyle authority.
In addition to a wide selection of books, the Santa Barbara Public Library’s Databases & Resources page has information on how people can get signed up for free with LinkedIn Learning, which offers a number of courses on interior design and related skills. It also has information about accessing Skillshare (provided courtesy of the California State Library’s Career Pathways initiative), which has a great offering of interior design courses as well.
Santa Barbara Independent, May 19-25, 2002. ON THE COVER: Madame Ganna Walska, taken c. 1958. Photo by J.R. Eyerman/Lotus- land Archives. Design by Ava Talehakimi.
Originally published in the May 19-25 issue issue of the Santa Barbara Independent. To see the story as it originally appeared click here.
The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante was one of my favorite books I read in 2021.
So many books, so little time—part 15.
My son started keeping a reading list in third grade, so I did too. This is the 15th year we’ve done this.
2021 was another weird year (with f-ing COVID still raging) but I finally got my reading mojo back. Between long walks with audio books and nights that were once spent socializing with friends and colleagues now spent curling up with books, I definitely read even more than in previous years.
Learning new things and maintaining a vibrant social life are two of the key pillars that experts say will keep our brains sharp and healthy. This is exactly what the nonprofit Vistas Lifelong Learning (vistaslifelonglearning.org) offers to the community.
This volunteer-run organization, which started in 1999, is dedicated to keeping aging brains nimble with ongoing educational programs on a wide variety of topics. Recent
courses included Foods That Changed the World (exploring foods that have changed the world in profound and delicious social, political, and economic ways); Unpacking
the Dementia Epidemic (current thinking about the causes of dementias, dementia management, and how to stay on top of new developments); and Politics and
Religion in Verdi’s Operas (with audio and video extracts from modern performances of the operas).
The depth and variety of the programming is impressive, but the social component of Vistas is equally important to its success. “I think of all the connections that people find through Vistas,” said President Jim Hemmer. “There are two book clubs; there’s a short story class; there are memoir writing classes. And in our in-person programs — which moved to Zoom during the pandemic and will resume in the fall — there’s always a 20-minute coffee break in the middle so people can socialize and see old friends and meet other similarly situated people.”
For Hemmer, who retired from a career as an attorney in Chicago and moved to Santa Barbara with his wife, Francine, in January 2017, becoming part of Vistas has been a great way to engage his brain and find a community. Though it’s not a requirement, many of the Vistas presenters are members as well.
A longtime history buff, Hemmer found his way to the organization through a presentation on the Silk Road that he made to a luncheon group called The Cosmopolitan Club (sbcosmo.com). A Vistas member suggested he present to that group, and the response was so positive that Hemmer ended up teaching three different courses on the journey of the historical Silk Roads through China’s current efforts to reinvigorate them today.
“Vistas really attempts to satisfy this desire to learn things, and being a presenter is a wonderful way of doing that,” said Hemmer. “Taking other people’s classes is also great. I find that because I’m busy preparing presentations, I don’t have time to take all the classes I’d like to. I’ve been very busy during the pandemic, and it’s just great.”
Vistas is a small group, explained Hemmer, fluctuating between 300 and 400 members, and is not affiliated with any college or other institution. Programs are open to the public for a small fee, and the fees are less for members. (Annual membership fees are $40 per person for email-only communications and $50 for snail mail, with individual classes averaging $9 per session for members and $14 for nonmembers.)
“It’s a really varied and interesting group of people,” Hemmer says. The mostly retired members come from very diverse careers, ranging from former judges, teachers, and
docents to social workers, librarians, and secretaries, just to name a few.
Upcoming programs in the fall include a reprise of the Silk Road series; the short history of cryptography; the writer James Baldwin; climate change and the impact on the Great American Waterways; criminal procedure; economic issues; and the social safety net in the U.S., with additional courses and details still being finalized.
“We have a very, very wide palette. There’s somebody for everybody,” said Hemmer. “It’s a wide variety of programs on science, history, current events, music and fine arts, and so on.” Research suggests that humans learn better in social environments. “The brain is triggered more through discussion and questions than from solitary activities such as
independent reading,” said Hemmer.
“So it turns out that Vistas’ cooperative spirit that we’re all in it together and we get our ideas from other members is particularly beneficial in the case of seniors.”
Originally published in The Santa Barbara Independent on August 12, 2021. Cover photo by Erick Madrid. To read this special section as it originally appeared in print, click here.
Book face photos by Erik Mendez, Santa Barbara Public Library.
Bringing book covers to life scores volumes on social media via #BookfaceFridays on the Santa Barbara Public Library Instagram account (@sbplibrary). A popular meme in the
book-loving community for quite some time, Bookface photos—images in which a person
is strategically lined up with a book cover so that life and art appear to meld—are a great
way to showcase literature from the library’s collections, according to library marketing
specialist Erick Mendez.
“We get a lot of positive feedback and a lot of reposts,” says Mendez. “It’s great to see the
community of books and libraries sharing and getting inspiration from one another. It’s
never about competing to see who can do the best one, it’s always about showcasing books we love and finding a way to promote literature through covers.”
Originally published in the Summer 2021 issue of 805 Living Magazine. Cover photo by Gary Moss. To see the story as it originally appeared click here.
