My new southern friends – a book list

Between all the laundry and catching up on emails this post-holiday weekend, I let myself enjoy my new selection of southern books. The books have been my true companion while I sit by a fire with my husband watching football. 😉

Danielle is the cause of my eager desire to contact Leontine Linens to create my own monogrammed napkins and throw a dinner party. Charlotte made me consider how to create the “right atmosphere” in my home and evaluate whether my colorful tulips and Lafco chamomile lavendar candle work well together. Rebecca even helped me improve my scrambled eggs this morning (recipe page18).

Here is the scoop on each of the four books (click the book and buy on Amazon OR do what I did and pop over to your local bookshop):

Join ninth-generation Southerner Rebecca Lang as she serves up 150 fresh, from-scratch recipes and shares the beloved tables, serving pieces, and hospitality that make Southern meals such a pleasure. Personal essays put you at the table with notable Southerners-including HGTV Design Star judge Vern Yip, novelist Cassandra King, and Zac Brown, frontman of the two-time Grammy Award-winning Zac Brown Band.

The interior designer’s singular vision revealed through an extraordinary collection of her acclaimed rooms. With her inimitable flair for style, Charlotte Moss has led a celebrated career in the interior design world. Recently honored with Elle Decor’s Vision Award, Moss’s design philosophy of “couture living” describes her preference for gracefully curated spaces in which one is meant to live, enjoy, and entertain. Charlotte Moss Decorates affords the reader a glimpse into the methods behind her magic. For each of the rooms featured—from a sumptuous Directoire-style bedroom inspired by the incomparable Pauline de Rothschild to a gentlemen’s billiard room with rich details and a smart tailored feel—Moss breaks down the various stages of her design process, revealing her inspiration and storyboards, as well as sketches and notes she develops for every project. In each chapter, she offers the reader quick “doses” of decorating advice with her signature “Why Not?” decorating maxims. The book also includes Moss’s recommendations for her favorite flowers and fragrances for the final flourish in creating the perfect room. Her interiors, with a nod to both the historical elegance of the past and the modern necessities of today (comfort and livability), are truly sublime spaces. With over 200 sumptuous photographs, Moss graciously invites the reader to be engaged, inspired, and “ready to decorate.”

Take a fresh look at the magical and insightful compositions of artists living in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. Here, 100 living artists delineate their creative expression through their personal stories and inspirations, along with several examples of their works. In oil, pastels, sculpture, and wood, with a diversity of styles and influences, including pop surrealism, realism, and expressionism, these artists capture the rich traditions of the south and our world. Essential reading for all who appreciate or practice art today. Foreword by Paula Allen, a Southern painter, sculptor, and illustrator.

A preeminent hostess and tastemaker invites you to the most chic at-home parties, with detailed descriptions for invitations, flowers, table settings, linens, and more than eighty original recipes. Veranda calls Danielle Rollins a “genuine expert—a natural-born entertainer,” and in her first book Rollins invites readers into her world of elegant, accomplished entertaining. Featuring events both intimate (a New Year’s Eve dinner) and grand (a fund-raiser), all fifteen parties emphasize hosting guests with grace and ease at home. The reader will learn how to create a party timeline, how invitations set the tone, and how to plan a menu and gain dozens of ideas for setting festive tables.From signature cocktails (Blood Orange Old Fashioneds, Prosecco with Popsicles) to the imaginative linens, flowers, and menus, Rollins brilliantly executes every detail. From croquet in the garden at the Gatsby Lawn Party (St. Germain Lemonade Cocktails and Victorian Iced Sorbet, with guests in period attire) to a Fall Harvest Chef’s Dinner in the Kitchen, with guests seated cozily around the kitchen island, eating Pork Chops with Stone Ground Grits, the parties are cleverly conceived, flawlessly executed, and fun.Handsomely photographed and filled with the parties of tastemakers such as Oscar de la Renta and Lela Rose plus recipes by esteemed guest chefs, Soirée is an idea-filled resource for those who love to entertain.