Bibliostyle is a book by decorator Nina Freudenberger, journalist Sadie Stein and photographer Shade Degges. As the name suggests, all book lovers will read this with pleasure and want to revisit time to time. I read it very fondly because it contains much more than photos and encourages me to dream.
Bibliostyle contains 35 houses and their libraries from 8 different countries. It also describes how the owners of the house created their libraries and their relationship with the books. So it is not just a book full of pretty photos. There are beautiful stories as well.
The book, which consists of 5 different chapters, is sure to contain a house that will appeal to everyone. I was very impressed by the first chapter, titled The Sentimentalists. I was fascinated by Athena McAlpine’s home in Puglia, Italy, and Pierre Le-Tan’s apartment in Paris, France, and hence their libraries. Both houses have their unique style and books occupy both.
Another name I remember from the book is Karl Ove Knausgaard. Although the famous writer’s library and his office do not appeal to the eyes like others, they reflect the author very much. It is possible to see cigarette butts in coffee mugs in the author’s office, and he says:
I think the way people treat books is a bit of an indicator of their character, and in many ways, I’m a very careless person.
Karl Ove Knausgaard
If you want to visit the houses of people who put the books in the centre of their lives and listen to their stories, I think you will love this book. Enjoy!
A room without books is like a body without soul.
Cicero
Bibliostyle
Bilbiostyle is inspiration for every bibliophile with a growing home library: this dream-and-drool design book features some of the most jaw-dropping book collections of homeowners around the world.
Bibliostyle gives readers a peek at the private libraries and bookshelves of passionate readers all over the world, including Norwegian author Karle Ove Knausgaard, American illustrator Art Spiegelman, Silvia Whitman (the founder of famous Parisian bookstore Shakespeare & Company, designer Phillip Lim, London book designer Coralie Bickford-Smith, Lady Athena McAlpine in her sixteenth-century home in Puglia, and illustrator Pierre LeTan in his Parisian home.
The book covers thirty-five homes in the United States, UK, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, and so Sweden. In every home featured, the library is the undisputed heart of the home, a place that holds the homeowner’s passions, values and stories in its books.
Throughout Bibliostyle, gorgeous photographs of rooms with rare collections, floor-to-ceiling shelves, and so stacks upon stacks of books inspire readers to live better with their own book collections.
Nina Freudenberger
Interior designer and founder of Haus Interior, Nina Freudenberger so is the author of the bestselling design book. Surf Shack: Laid-Back Living by the Water, which was featured in Architectural Digest, Vanity Fair. O: The Oprah Magazine, Vogue, and so Martha Stewart Living. She lives with her husband and so two young boys in Los Angeles, California.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
