Books, Books and Books

I love books and lots of them. Books are definitely my most precious possessions despite the internet revolution. I am not about to give up my right to hold a beautifully bound hardcover book in my hand and curl up with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine on my couch in front of the fireplace. My evenings could not be more perfect. Nor am I ready to migrate my entire life to the web and do all my reading with my eyes peeled to the computer screen. I am old fashioned in that sense. I am convinced in a decade or so, real books are going to be in short supply and much sought after. I want to keep collecting these precious books and add to my library. In my utopia land, I am surrounded by books that span wall to wall and floor to ceiling and my wine cellar is just a stone's throw away (yes, wouldn't that be perfect).

Of my sea of books, I have many favorites. below are a few that I cherish:

1. A book I highly recommend if you are a student of photography or photojournalism is Dorothea Lange: Photographs of a Lifetime (Aperture Monograph) (Paperback)
by Robert Coles (Author), Therese Heyman (Afterword), Dorothea Lange (Photographer)


Dorothea Lange: Photographs of a Lifetime (Aperture Monograph)


Reprinted for the first time, this is the most comprehensive collection of the photographer's work ever published. It includes portraits from her early years as a fashionable studio photographer as well as classic images that established her as the preeminent documentary artist of her time. "Dorothea Lange: Photographs of a Lifetime captures--like all of her work--the extraordinary in the commonplace, with rare candor, compassion, and dignity."

Doorthea Lange's poignant work reminds me of what humanity is and what photography should really be. You have seen her works in exhibits, especially "The Migrant Woman". Numerous books have been written about her and her photographs shot during the last Great Depression. She is definitely the people's photographer extraordinaire holding those of us who aspire to be better photographer to a very high standard!!

2.Homestead (The World As Home) by Annick Smith.



Homesteadis a rivetting read and it is hard to put the book down. I had stumbled on the book in a little quaint bookstore on Third street Promenade in Santa Monica.

A very moving story of her life journey and the time she spent living in Montana's beautiful countrywide. It is as if you are taking the journey with her from the time she was in Seattle to her move to Montana during the cold winter. The book also chronicles her friendship with Norman Maclean of the Big Blackfoot in A River Runs Through It and Other Stories. Remember that wonderful movie starring Robert Redford and Brat Pitt in the story of two brothers growing up in Montana spending their summers trout fishing with their preacher father. Norman Maclean penned the original story.



3. My list would not be complete without a book on wine and country recipes. Check out Vintage Feastng by Joy Sterling.


Vintage Feastng

Vintage Feasting is a book of personal recipes in the wine country and stories of the author tending to vineyards and the winery business. How despite having graduated from Yale and a long journalism career, Joy Sterling answered the call and returned to the family vineyard outside Sebastopol in Sonoma county, California and lives the life of a vintner. It is a wonderful book of great recipes, stories, landscapes and nature's garden.