Mag Love

We've all been oohing and aahing over Lonny and Rue magazines lately, and with good reason in the absence of Domino and other favorites.  While I will always love sitting down with a good glossy, I am loving all of the (free!) online mags available right now.  Today I thought I'd share some of my favorite images from other online mags that aren't as getting as much blog love (yet).

  "Created for and by young Southerners, the magazine highlights the best of the Southern lifestyle, while providing readers with enjoyable content that helps improve and enrich their lives."

I like the mix of home decor, recipes, city guides, and "day in the life" coverage...all with a Southern focus! I'm looking forward to the next issue of Southern Flourish; I think it shows a lot of promise.

 I want this giant Connect Four game!

(Can you spot the typo in the green box? It's bothering me.)

 I'm liking the color palette of Beth Keim's Charlotte home

"We have all worked really hard to bring you a magazine that is filled with great ideas, tasty recipes and fun people."

I love Sweet Paul's tagline: chasing the sweet things in life. I think they are definitely on the right track.

 

This photography is delicious. Yum.

Is anyone else craving apple butter right now?

Just me? Okay, more for me then!

Goats! I looove goat cheese! (Oh, and I'm a Capricorn.)

Brought to us by our Canadian friends, Covet Garden is an interiors mag with a twist - they're not styled by decorators! Here's what they have to say about their magazine:

 "There are a lot of magazines and blogs that show cool interiors. But they always leave us feeling that we’re standing behind a rope, looking at the space like it’s a museum diorama. We started Covet Garden because we wanted to see a magazine that made us feel as though we were invited into someone’s home. And then, once they let us in, we started snooping around and got to know them a bit better."

Looks like each (short) issue is all about one home and the people who live in it.  I can't wait to see more!

 Dear Santa, I want a large framed print of a Penguin Books cover. I think I'm on your good list this year, so let's see what you can do.

xo, Laura

I know maps as decor is trendy, but if loving maps is wrong, I don't want to be right. (Especially if they're old school style.)

And now for the pièce de résistance from our friends Down Under, Adore Home! I'm liking that we're getting opposite seasons - since it takes me a long time to implement ideas, it gives me six months in advance!

 I adore everyhing about this office.

Good mix of sweet and chic.

This room of Summer Thornton has been in my favorites for a while, but I don't think I've seen the view of the rest of the room. 

How fun would it be to curl up in this window seat?

  

What are you reading these days?  Anything I should check out?

Read in June

Our cable has been out for the past two weeks, and we were at the beach this past week, so I did a fair amount of reading last month.  Here is what I read (incidentally, the order I read them in is the same order I would rank them, from lowest to highest):

 

Best Friends Forever, by Jennifer Weiner

This is a quick read, probably best saved for the pool or beach. I did cry at some of the things the main character Addie went through in her life; however, I didn't like the character of Valerie, the ex-friend-coming-back-into-her-life-when-she-needs-help. The plot is somewhat predictable, but it has its moments. Like I said, a good one for when you're out by the pool or at the beach!

American Wife, by Curtis Sittenfield

I really enjoyed the first two-thirds of this one. It is loosely based on the life of Laura Bush, which I tried to ignore because it's not meant to actually portray here, just similar life events. I cried at the very beginning (only this time sitting on a plane in first class with only my cocktail napkin to hide the evidence - I am sure all of the businessmen around me thought I was crazy). Once Alice becomes the First Lady, I liked her character and her husband's character less. It's such a long book, that I think by the time Sittenfield got to that point, she struggled with the end and it ended up being weak. Another good one saved for the pool / beach.

Little Bee, by Chris Cleave

If you read the over-hyped book jacket, I'm not supposed to tell you anything about this "magical" story, but it is about a young refugee from Nigeria named Little Bee who experienced some horrifying things with a British couple on a Nigerian beach. She made her way to England, and after getting out of a UK immigration detention center after two years, she goes to look for them. I wish the book had been written entirely from Little Bee's perspective, whose character is a great mixture of wise and humorous, instead of trading off with the woman from the beach, Sarah, who I thought came off as selfish. (Although as a man, I don't think Cleave gets the voice of an African refugee and a modern British woman quite right.) This one is definitely worth a read for the issues it tries to address.

The History of Love, by Nicole Krauss

Another book with more than one narrator, I very much enjoyed the characters. Leo Gursky is an elderly man and writer from Poland who is separated by the love of his life, Alma, during World War II. He wrote a book called The History of Love, which he believed was lost when it was sent overseas while he remained in Poland. Alma (#2) is a young girl who was named after Leo's Alma from his book, a copy of which made it to her now-deceased father, who gave it to her mother as newlyweds. When her still-grieving mother receives a request to translate it, young Alma sets out to uncover more about this mysterious book in an effort to help her family. Things slowly come together, but not in ways I expected. Funny and sad, I'm still thinking about this one, so it has gone on my list to read again someday.

The Help, by Kathryn Stockett

This is definitely one of the best books I have ever read.  The day I started I couldn't put it down, and at 2 am, I finally had to make myself go to sleep because I had work the next day. The next morning, I woke up with the voices of Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter in my head.  I was sad last night as I neared the end, because I didn't want it to be over, so I am eagerly awaiting the next book Stockett puts out. (Hard to believe this is her first novel!) That's all I'm going to say about The Help, because if you haven't already, I really want you to read it and come back here and let me know what you thought. (And if you have read it, did you just love it like I did?

What have you been reading lately?  Any good recommendations for me for July?  I think next on my list is The Art of Racing in the Rain, which I've heard is going to make me cry buckets.

What Are You Reading?

I am about to load up my library queue ("the Netflix for books!"*) with some new reads. I have over 140 books in my "to read" list on Goodreads, where I store all the books I want to read, so I certainly have no shortage from which to choose!

What are you, dear readers, reading right now? Any recommendations for me?

Also, aren't these newly designed hardcovers from Coralie Bickford-Smith for these Penguin classics beautiful? My bookshelves would love to display these!

Found on Amazon for $13.60 (sold elsewhere for $20)

Christmas gift for my book-loving husband?

* Trying once to encourage a friend to use the library, where reserving books online makes it oh-so-easy, I told her to think of it as the Netflix for books. She thought this was hilarious, as the library is The Original for checking out materials instead of buying.