Some favourite coffee table books

part 1 (maybe)

It’s the most beautiful day here and a balmy 14 degrees as I write (spring equinox tomorrow!). Unfortunately the gorgeous light is showing up every last mote of dust. I actually did a yelp of horror passing a glass coffee table on the way to my desk earlier. I don’t dust it as often as I should - it’s covered in books and objects, so it’s a faff - but my God, it was revolting. (That table is brilliant and I am forever grateful to Kate Watson-Smyth for writing about it).

I’ve just spent a highly satisfying and weirdly enjoyable hour cleaning and polishing it all (with this - super effective product, doesn’t smear and smells nice). It shouldn’t have taken that long but I dipped into the books on it after I’d dusted them. They’re such good books, so I thought I’d share.

I am very against “coffee table books” that are mindless nonsense - generic pictures and inane captions. I need books that I properly love, with timeless content that I want to revisit often and words that are useful and teach me things. Here are some of my faves. They’re all interspersed with paperbacks and novels and candles and paper flowers, at the moment. On clean and shiny glass 🎉.