White Wednesday #3: Books on White

The Color Garden (White), Text and Photography by Elvin McDonald

At Home With White; Atlanta Bartlett with words by Karena Callen; Photography by Polly Wreford.

White by Design by Bo Niles; Jacket Photograph by Keith Scott Morton.

White Rooms by Jordi Sarra Aran.

Here are some of my favorite books on all things white, from the garden to every interior room. What are your favorite books on the White theme?

Go to Faded Charm to participate in White Wednesday.

A Good Book and the Right Chair

At the Bunny Bungalow: a 1930's club chair, recovered in leather from Installations Antiques

A good book, the right chair and the time to indulge in idleness; what a luxury...or is it? For some of us reading is a necessity; a way to feed our imaginations; to expand our horizons; to connect with like minds that affirm our perspectives; or to discover minds that are startlingly strange to us, that give us different views of ourselves and of the world. In books, the writer opens up, revealing secrets that would not, could not be shared face-to-face over a cup of tea. Reading is such an intimate tête-à-tête. And the voyeur in us pushes us to turn the next page.

Inspired

The Diving Bell And The Butterfly, by Jean-Dominique Bauby; Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1997
Translated from the French by Jeremy Leggatt

By publishing standards, this is an old book. I bought the English version ten years ago after reading its review in Elle magazine. I've read this story numerous times, as have many of my friends who are also therapists. Jean-Dominique Bauby, the French Elle editor, wrote this after suffering from a rare brainstem stroke (rare because he survived for a time). The stroke left him immobile, without speech and only able to communicate by blinking his left eye. This is a poignant testament to his amazing mind. That Bauby wrote this magical book is of itself a wonder, as he composed his story by blinking his eye to utilize a communication system devised by his speech therapist. Who could guess that a person in Bauby's situation would make us all fall in love with life again?

Bauby died two days after the French publication of his book.

Bauby's story was made into a movie by director/painter Julian Schnabel. It is now on DVD.