All posts by Team Booko

So you want to be an…..Interior Designer

July 14, 2015Blog#Design, #Interiordesign, #NonfictionTeam Booko

Feel you have a knack of creating beautiful spaces or just looking for some inspiration? Here is a collection of 5 beautiful books to scratch that itch:

An Eye for Design by Allegra Hicks

This work examines textile, interior, and fashion designer Hicks’ approach to design and luxury. The book retraces the genesis of her patterns over the past decades of her work.

The Language of Interior Design by Alexa Hampton

The daughter of a celebrated White House decorator draws on early memories of watching her father and studying art to counsel readers on how to understand design by observing four basic principles, sharing lavish photographs of 18 homes that represent a variety of styles.

A La Carte: The Elements of an elegant home by Sherrill Canet

Choose your style then let Canet guide you through the steps of decorating every room in the house – from the front hall to the master bedroom.

Island Style by India Hicks

India Hicks: Island Style invites readers into the charming world of Hibiscus Hill. Timeless and under-decorated, her designs combine carefree island culture with British colonial form and formality.

Things I love by Megan Morton

A fun, inspiring and practical guide to loveable interiors. In Things I Love, interiors stylist extraordinaire and author of Home Love Megan Morton inspires by example, sharing her infectious enthusiasm for the houses, people and design she loves.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

July 10, 2015Blog, Personal development#BookReview, #Nonfiction, #SelfhelpTeam Booko

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

by Maria Kondo

Book Review by Marie Delaney

This #1 New York Times best-selling guide to tidying your home is not only a game changer, it’s life changing!

Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo offers readers a step-by-step guide through the KonMari Method enabling an easy way to simplify, organise, and store.

In a nutshell, if an item doesn’t spark joy in your home, it shouldn’t be there – that goes for clothes, trinkets, photos, make up and old copies of bills (but who would want them anyway).

I was hooked from page one, and when I gave it a go at home, I felt lighter, happier and the house was brighter…and we didn’t even have much clutter to begin with! Nevertheless I ended up with 3 car loads of goodies for the charity store, copious bags filled for recycling and a few for the bin man.

Be warned – it’s not for the faint hearted, and once you start you will not want to stop.

I bought the e book – you’ll know why when you have finished it.

Enjoy

Segment Choice: Crime Fiction

July 6, 2015Blog#Crime, #Fiction, #SegmentchoiceTeam Booko

Whenever you look at any best-seller list, there is going to be at least a few crime novels. More often the crime is murder and the novel is based around the investigation and eventual resolution. Murder is something that fascinates us, you just need to turn on the TV after 8pm to realise that. I think it’s in part due to the mystery: who committed the crime? It’s also the psychological analysis: what drives someone to commit such a crime?

Here are 5 of the best:

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

Roger Ackroyd knew too much. He knew that the woman he loved had poisoned her brutal first husband. He suspected that she was being blackmailed. Then came the news that she had taken her own life. But, before he found all the clues, he was murdered.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

‘Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again . . .’ Working as a lady’s companion, our heroine’s outlook is bleak until, on a trip to the south of France, she meets a handsome widower whose proposal takes her by surprise. She accepts but, whisked from glamorous Monte Carlo to brooding Manderley, the new Mrs de Winter finds Max a changed man. And the forbidding housekeeper Mrs Danvers forever keeps the memory of his dead wife Rebecca alive.

Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg

One snowy day in Copenhagen, six-year-old Isaiah falls to his death from a city rooftop. The police pronounce it an accident. But Isaiah’s neighbour, Smilla, an expert in the ways of snow and ice, suspects murder. She embarks on a dangerous quest to find the truth, following a path of clues as clear to her as footsteps in the snow.

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood is both a masterpiece of journalism and a powerful crime thriller. Inspired by a 300-word article in The New York Times, Capote spent six years exploring and writing the story of Kansas farmer Herb Clutter, his family and the two young killers who brutally murdered them.

Misery by Stephen King

Paul Sheldon, author of a series of historical romances, wakes up in a secluded farmhouse in Colorado with broken legs and Annie Wilkes, a disappointed and deranged fan, hovering over him with drugs, an axe, a blowtorch and demanding he bring his fictional heroine back to life.

Holiday Reading Guide: Our road-tested reads

June 30, 2015Booko#Fiction, #HolidayreadingTeam Booko

When you’re busy packing for holidays, don’t forget to pop a few good reads into your suitcase — ones that you won’t want to put down. The Booko team have road-tested these reads poolside and think they will be the perfect companion to your relaxing break:

The Sunlit Night by Rebecca Dinerstein
Frances had read of a man who painted with only the colour yellow. He lived in the north of Norway. In the beautiful, barren landscape of the Far North, under the ever- present midnight sun, Frances and Yasha are surprised to find refuge in each other.

The Novel Habits of Happiness (An Isabel Dalhousie novel) by Alexander McCall Smith

Isabel Dalhousie is one of Edinburgh’s most generous (but discreet) philanthropists – but should she be more charitable? She wonders, sometimes, if she is too judgmental about her niece’s amorous exploits, too sharp about her housekeeper’s spiritual beliefs, too ready to bristle in battle against her enemies.

The Insider Threat by Brad Taylor
In the eighth action-packed thriller in the New York Times bestselling Pike Logan series, ISIS, the most maniacal terrorist organization the modern world has ever seen, is poised to make their most audacious strike yet. The United States has anticipated and averted countless attacks from terrorist groups–thanks in large part to the extralegal counterterrorist unit known as the Taskforce. But in The Insider Threat, a much more insidious evil is about to unfold…

Go Set a Watchman by Nellie Harper Lee
Scout (Jean Louise Finch) has returned to Maycomb from New York to visit her father Atticus. She is forced to grapple with issues both personal and political as she tries to understand both her father’s attitude toward society, and her own feelings about the place where she was born and spent her childhood.

The Long Utopia (#4, The Long Earth) by Terry Pratchett
2045-2059. After the cataclysmic upheavals of Step Day and the Yellowstone eruption, humanity is spreading further into the Long Earth, and society, on a battered Datum Earth and beyond, continues to evolve. Now an elderly and cantankerous AI, Lobsang lives in disguise with Agnes in an exotic, far-distant world. He’s convinced they’re leading a normal life in New Springfield – they even adopt a child – but it seems they have been guided there for a reason.

Top 5 books released this month

June 25, 2015Blog#Fiction, #JimmyFallon, #NonfictionTeam Booko

Team Booko are always excited about new releases. The upcoming release schedule for June looks really good. Whether it’s a physical copy or an E book, have a look at what’s on offer this month. Happy reading!

How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success by Julie Lythcott-Haims

Your baby’s first word will be Dada by Jimmy Fallon

Tom Clancy Under Fire (Jack Ryan) by Grant Blackwood

Grey (Fifty shades of Grey) as told by Christian by E. L. James

The English Spy by Daniel Silva

New York: Books to inspire

June 23, 2015Blog, Travel#Fiction, #Food, #NewYork, #Nonfiction, #Photography, #TravelTeam Booko

Some people feel that they can only truly understand the essence of a city if they walk its streets themselves. This may be true, but you can also get a fantastic insight from books that feature design, history, the food and the people that belong to a particular city. Here is a selection of books that bring on wanderlust for New York (sigh).

Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton

New York Sleeps by Christopher Thomas

Gastropolis: Food & New York City by Annie Hauck-Lawson & Jonathon Deutsch

Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney

New York In Style: A Guide to the City’s Fashion, Design and Style by Janelle McCulloch

Favourites for Father’s Day

June 18, 2015Blog#Fathersday, #Fiction, #Nonfiction, #PoetryTeam Booko

With Father’s Day just around the corner for customers in the US and UK, here are some gift ideas that are a lot more exciting than slippers and socks (we think so, anyway).

Here are Team Booko’s top 5 Father’s day reads:

No Limits: My Autobiography by Ian Poulter

As one of golf’s charismatic figures, Ian Poulter reflects on his drive and determination in this honest and reflective book on his life and passion.

365 Reasons to be Proud to be a Dad: The Greatest Dad Moments in History

Ian Allen

Being a dad is a full time job. This quirky little book offers an interesting ‘dad fact’ for every day of the year! Full to the brim with interesting stories, this book is a great book for the dad that has everything.

The New Dad’s Survival Guide

Scott Mactavish

Fatherhood demystified! Finally – a manual for new dads that deciphers the immensely confusing world of fatherhood and gives crucial tips and advice from a man’s point of view.

Strong Fathers: Strong Daughters

Dr Meg Meeker

Drawing on her thirty years’ experience practicing paediatric and adolescent medicine, teen health expert Dr Meg Meeker explains why an active father figure is maybe the single most important factor in a young woman’s development.

Poems that Make Grown Men Cry: 100 Men on the Words that Move Them

Anthony Holden, Ben Holden

This is an anthology of over 100 men from vastly different but equally impressive backgrounds on the poems that have made an impact on their lives.

Books for Dad

June 15, 2015Blog#Fathersday, #Fiction, #NonfictionTeam Booko

With Father’s day approaching for our customers in the US and UK, now is the time to find the perfect gift for for the dad in your life. He might be your dad, he might be your children’s father, or maybe he’s your partner’s dad. Last year you opted for a new wallet but this year you’re thinking a book, because he’s a reader. Finding the right book can be tricky, so we’ve looked into it for you.

Here are 8 different books for 8 different types of dads:

The Biography Lover:

Reagan – A Life by H. W. Brands