I have to warn you: there’s only one fiction title on this month’s Must Reads list. Not that there isn’t wonderful fiction to be found – my shelves are groaning with books I’ve yet to read – but this time of year is when the really wonderful eye candy books start to appear. The best cookbooks, design books, cheery gift books – all things you’d want to give someone for, say, a holiday that’s coming up on you faster than a freight train. I’m holding a few back for the holidays, but some are just too good to keep from you for one more moment.
An Invitation to Chateau du Grand-Lucé, Timothy Corrigan (Rizzoli): This is not a design book. That is to say, it’s not one of those stuffy design books you put on your coffee table, glance through occasionally, and never deal with again. Timothy Corrigan went to France, bought a Neoclassical chateau, and went through the process of restoring it to its former glory (while bringing it into the 21st century). The photos are amazing, but it’s the history and the journey Corrigan undertook that will have you reading this surprisingly well-written beauty from cover to cover.