Our Second Annual Summer Reading List

Les Diners De Gala  Salvador Dali
“I love the juxtaposition of food and Dali's surrealist style - so fun to look at!”

A Garden Eden  Hans Walter Lack
“A lot of my art is inspired by scientific drawings and leafing through this book gives me countless ideas for both art and textiles.” 

The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir   Griffin Dunne
“This isn’t actually an art book but a recent read that I so enjoyed. A look into a notorious Los Angeles family through several generations…”

The Red Book  C.G. Jung
“This is the most treasured book I own - a deeply personal record of Jung’s inner journey and his raw, fearless exploration of the unconscious. It’s a breathtaking fusion of visionary text and luminous, symbolic artwork, filled with mystical imagery that feels both ancient and timeless.”

Revelation  Leonora Carrington
“Leonora Carrington has long been one of the most spellbinding artists to me - a true visionary whose imagination and skill gave rise to surreal, mythic worlds woven with alchemy, feminism, and exile. This monograph offers a beautiful window into her universe.”  

Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne  Peter Marino & Reed Krakoff
“This book was a gift from a dear friend, and it’s one I return to often. It’s a beautiful presentation on the sculptural works and drawings of Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne, whose shared imagination gave rise to a world of endless wonder, beauty, and true originality.” 

The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir   Griffin Dunne
“This isn’t actually an art book but a recent read that I so enjoyed. A look into a notorious Los Angeles family through several generations…”

Double Vision: The Unerring Eye of Art World Avatars Dominique and John de Menil
William Middleton

“A biography about John and Dominique de Menil who were art collectors and founders of the Menil Collection in Houston. It begins with their early years in France and moves into their worldwide travels, eventually ending in Houston where they established a cultural and creative landscape that was groundbreaking and influential in the arts. Their travels throughout the world, learning about and acquiring art, take the reader on a journey that is totally inspiring. I rarely read a book twice!” 

The Well-Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature  Sue Stewart-Smith
“How gardening offers sustenance: health, well-being, and faith in the future.”

Pawpaw: America's Forgotten Fruit  Andrew Moore
“Learn about the original indie fruit: Pawpaw has a cult following, a flavor all its own, and a story to tell!”

The Heirloom Gardener: Traditional Plants and Skills for the Modern World
John Forti
“A meditation on the garden as the canvas for artistic expression and applied craft. The block print illustrations are the icing on the cake!”

The North Woods  Daniel Mason
“Magical realism in New England; imagine One Hundred Years of Solitude in the Berkshires!” 

A Tapestry Garden: The Art of Weaving Plants and Place  Ernie O'Byrne and Marietta O'Byrne
“I love a good garden "biography" and this one is full of gorgeous photographs of the authors' 70-acre garden in Oregon, transformed over the last 50 years into an absolute paradise of diverse landscapes, full of lush and unusual plants.”

New Wild Garden: Natural-Style Planting and Practicalities  Ian Hodgson
“This book is a pleasure to look through for the images alone but is also full of practical instructions for how to build a pond, turn your lawn into a wildflower meadow or create a habitat for wildlife in just a container. It inspired me to naturalize dozens of Camas lilies at the edges of my lawn, which now come up (and multiply) year after year.”

Tokachi Millennium Forest: Pioneering a New Way of Gardening with Nature
Dan Pearson with Midori Shintani
“The owner of a national newspaper purchased acreage with the goal of offsetting the carbon footprint of his business. He enlisted renowned English gardener Dan Pearson (masterclass here!) and Japanese horticulturist Midori Shintani to create gardens in true partnership with the land and wildlife. A beautiful and peaceful read.”

These Memories Do Not Belong To Us  Yiming Ma
“I always think about how our pasts shape who we are today, and if you do too, this one will hit home. It’s a gripping, thought-provoking dive into family secrets, memory, and self-discovery. Prepare for some unexpected twists as the characters unravel their stories and discover just how much the past still influences the present.”

The Wedding People  Alison Espach
“Relationships... can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em, right? The Wedding People takes a hilarious, sharp look at love, commitment, and the messiness of it all. It's full of witty, real, and full of those why-did-I-do-that moments. The perfect blend of humor and heart, with a little sprinkle of chaos.”  

Here One Moment Liliane Moriarty
“Moriarty does it again with her signature blend of humor, suspense, and those oh-wow moments. After a single tragic event, the lives of several characters are turned upside down, and you’ll be hooked on every twist. It’s funny, emotional, and a rollercoaster of what-ifs. You won’t be able to put it down!”

“I’ve always loved to read and am typically at the start, middle or end of multiple books at a time. It’s just one of those things, I like to jump around depending on who I want to catch up with that night. I love memoirs and although these books are fiction, they are so intimate and powerful, it really feels like they’re telling you their life story. Each is working through deeply human experiences and trying to make sense of their place in a world full of injustice and loss. Although the stories are brutal and heartbreaking at times, there is light and laughter as well, you see the true grit and determination of the human spirit and the refusal to be broken. Each story will keep you engaged and really invested in the journey. I highly suggest reading all three at once!” 

James  Percival Everett
“A reimagining of Huckleberry Finn told from Jim’s perspective.”

Demon Copperhead  Barbara Kingsolver
“A modern take on David Copperfield.” 

Martyr!  Kaveh Akbar
“A debut novel by an Iranian American poet.”

Cooking For Artists  Mina Stone
“This is hands down my most beloved and frequently used Cookbook over the past decade. All of Mina Stone’s recipes in this book are inspired by her Greek heritage and her love of simple, fresh, seasonal food – the recipes are unprecious (i.e. not hard), delicious, and beautiful to behold. A favorite veggie side dish is her simple & scrumptious roasted carrots and avocado.”

What Can I Bring?  Ian Hodgson
“I just got a copy of Casey Elsass’s just-out cookbook and it’s one million percent inspiring, fun and doable. This cookbook provides 75 answers to the very-stressful question every guest has to ask (“what can I bring?”). Dips, drinks, salads, desserts galore, and all of them things you’d be proud to show off! His pickle potato salad is SO good.

Good Things  Samin Nosrat
“You heard it here first! Friend of Block Shop, Samin Nosrat (of Salt Fat Acid Heat fame) has a stunning new cookbook coming out this Sept. We were very lucky to get our hands on some of these recipes, and let me tell you they are DIVINE! The book is exactly as the title suggests…a collection of Samin’s most beloved and useful recipes. Yummmm / pre-order immediately.”

Monets’ Table  Claire Joyes
“A family favorite that I treasure. I loved looking at the dessert pages as a kid.”

Artists’ Cookbook  Madeleine Conway; Nancy Kirk
“Fun mix from Artists. Some recipes are serious and some more subversive.”

“My kids are 12 and 13 now, but I am so nostalgic for their picture book days.” 

Babar  Jean De Brunhoff
“All of the Babar books were favorites, in fact I once picked up a great haul of vintage Babar books at a garage sale. They were all in French, but we loved looking at the pictures.”

Miss Rumphius  Barbara Cooney
The Oxcart Man  Donald Hall, Illustrated by Barbara Cooney
“We also loved anything illustrated by Barbara Cooney, especially The Oxcart Man and Miss Rumphius, which has a great message - do something to make the world more beautiful. The illustrations are reminiscent of folk art.”

Sujean Rim is one of my favorite illustrators and her books were always favorites, as well as anything by Leo Lionni, especially Swimmy.

“Hot tip! If you live in or near New York, each year the Society of Illustrators puts on a great show called The Original Art. They showcase original illustrations from the best children's books of the previous year. I love to see the illustrations up close with pencil lines and brush strokes, and they have all of the books on hand so that you can flip through them or read them to the kids in your life.”

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?  
Bill Martin Jr., Illustrated by Eric Carle
“This is such a classic. The illustrations are beautiful, and it's a wonderful way to introduce little ones to different animals.”

Peekaboo Sun  Camilla Reid
“This interactive flap book is a huge hit with my son – definitely his favorite at the moment!”

Elephants Can't Fly  Kate Rhodes
“This book has a whimsical story and gorgeous illustrations.”

The Girls   Emma Cline
“This book is a very exciting and engrossing account of the Manson murders told from a different perspective.”

Raven The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People  Tim Reiterman
“This book is incredible. It was fascinating to learn how Reverend Jim Jones not only built a society of followers but ultimately got this society to follow him to Mexico and to their deaths. It is one of my all time faves.”

Into Thin Air  Jon Krakauer
“As an avid hiker this book haunts me and is most likely why I refuse to hike in snowy conditions!"

An Inspector Montalbano Series   Andrea Camilleri
“The perfect summer reads. Inspector Montalbano is a police detective in Sicily, who deals with grim murders and mafia dealings and other dark characters, giving you real intrigue and mystery... but on the other hand, Montalbano is also a total gourmand-meets-glutton, and every day requires deep dives into exquisite Sicilian cuisine as Montalbano thinks over his cases while he eats. These books will leave you starving and booking an immediate trip to Sicily, while also being great crime thrillers. As a bonus, there is a beloved, long-running Italian TV series (and a spin-off) on streaming. Buon appetito!”

The Tailor of Panama  John le Carré
“The master of the spy thriller meets a charismatic tailor with a past. In the run-up to the canal being returned to Panamanian control, world and local powers jockey, stories are spun, and things unravel. Bonus points for charming discussions of cutting, basting, tailoring, and suiting fabrics. (There's also a movie. Apparently.)”

Never Let Me Go  Kazuo Ishiguro
“Gorgeous first...er, person? narrative about three friends coming to terms with how they were raised to be so close to human it almost hurts. I'm not a sci-fi person. But. Neither is Ishiguro. This book is a slowburn sci-fi thrill, with heartbreaking philosophical resonance for all earth's creatures, and a fascinating read as we try to catch up with the facts of the story.”

The Road  Cormac McCarthy
“In this summer season of “28 Years Later,” The Road takes your cute zombie movie and ups the stakes about a thousand million percent. It's the post-apocalypse, but everyone is dead, well, except the few, desperate survivors ekeing out an existence in a shattered and brutal world. Turns out the living are even more terrifying than the living dead. This book kept me up at night. Ultimately about the ceaseless love of a father for his son, every second of every last minute they have together. Devastating.”

Light in August  William Faulker
“I read this book almost every year, usually in, you guessed it, August. Each reading, something different hits me completely sidewise. A Southern Gothic masterpiece, with a woman on a quest for a man who is perhaps not who he says he is, a preacher living deep in shame, and a dangerous man with a shadowy past and nothing to lose. A murder, a fire, mixed identities, desperate measures, and so much running from the past, you're bound to run smack into it at some point! What's not to love!”