Wherever I travel, I love to see gardens and, typically, they provide the fondest memories and best photos of any trip. Needless to say, gardens figure largely in any travel plans I make, on a par with great buildings, galleries and museums.

At my coffee table for the past few weeks, I have been captivated by The Great Gardens of Spain, a new book by Anneli Bojstad. She leaves me yearning for a trip to Spain.

The author, a native of Sweden writes about the colours and scents of the Andalusian patios: “I was seduced by these marvelous spaces, created to exalt the senses, embodying the concept of a garden as a recreation of paradise…”

The gardens are presented in four regions of the country and reflect the climate and culture of the area. The Atlantic region includes a cloistered garden in the pilgrim city of Santiago de Compostela where dense box hedges are clipped into massive sculptures of religious symbols.

The Artigas Gardens in the Mediterranean region were designed by the great architect, Antonio Gaudi, which is easy to see in the quirky design of the hardscaping.

In Alfabia on Mallorca she shows a sensational pergola with sprays of water that shoot across a long channel from both sides.

I am charmed by the monastery garden covered with a dusting of snow. Indeed, there are many fall and winter gardens from Central Spain pictured in the book.

The reader tours the legendary Alhambra, “the incarnation of an exotic, enchanting scene from the tales of the Arabian Nights”. This magical place is perched on a hillside overlooking the city of Granada.

On these long winter nights, how lovely it is to take an armchair trip to sunny and beautiful Spain.

Jane

Today’s blog comes from Janet, Central Library staff, who explores exhilarating architecture at her coffee table:

One of the most memorable moments of my life was a rainy cold June day in Westminster Abbey. The exterior looked massive and very dark in the wet, but inside the stone arches just soared up and away from my eyes like nothing I had seen before.

At the time I felt awe and wonder. Now that I am older I feel even more awe and wonder at the master builders who raised these abbeys and cathedrals up from their paper plans. New and urgent problems had to be solved as the stone rose higher with the weight always pushing out and down. In fact many buildings did collapse often to be started again.

In Guided by a Stone-Mason: exploring the cathedrals, abbeys and churches of Britain, Thomas Maude tells the story. A stone mason by trade, he takes the reader on tour through British sites and reveals the intense medieval competition to build the finest and the tallest religious building in the land. It’s a fascinating account by a man who looks at the buildings as a builder and explains the extraordinary problems and solutions in plain language.

If you want to see beautiful colour images of these buildings, try books such as Cathedrals of the World by Graziella Leyla Ciaga, Churches and Cathedrals of London by Stephen Humphrey or High Gothic: the age of the great cathedrals by Gunther Binding.

Many of our fine art books are weighty and oversize as a result of the high standards in the publishing industry; so please handle with care. The images are crystal clear and the lighting and details are so perfect it makes me want to go see the world again.

Janet

Today’s blog comes from Candace Weir, Central Library staff:

The coffee table is a small surface that calls out for the clutter of life: a book, a tea or coffee mug and small things. Small things – either curious or beautiful – invite inspection and reflection.

The art of small things by John Mack considers the aesthetic of smallness and celebrates the art of the miniature. Among many fine things, he profiles two of the treasures that I keep on my coffee table.

I was given a plaster replica of the queen from the famed Lewis Chessmen. They are a collection of pieces from four different chess sets that were found in a bay in the Outer Hebrides.

My queen is great for ruminating on, although something a little stronger that tea may be called for. Based on her expression, being a medieval queen could not have been all pleasure. She is slightly larger than the figures of another obsession of mine: netsuke.

Netsukes are small sculptures about an inch tall, commonly carved from ivory or wood. Grace Gift Shop in the Dragon City Mall (second floor) in Chinatown carries some lovely Chinese netsuke. I have carved my own versions using taqua nut.

In the collection at Central Library, there is a splendid older book, The Art of Netsuke Carving, by Masatoshi. It shows traditional tools and techniques as well showcasing examples. Carving Japanese Netsuke for Beginners is another inspiring source that includes a gallery of beautiful pieces.

Finally, keep a place on the table for The Hare with the Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal. Winner of 2011 Ondaatje prize, it traces the history of a family and an era through the story of a delicate and exquisite collection of netsuke.

Candace

Over the last year, the main floor at the Central Library has undergone renovations. Among other changes to the Arts Department, our Special Collection was released from locked cabinets and installed on open shelving in an alcove with comfortable armchairs and a coffee table. The Special Collection books are large and lovely and often so heavy that no one wants to haul them home. Hence the cozy set up.

Sometimes coffee table books lack respect, accused of being long on gloss and short on substance. However, if a picture is worth a thousand words, there is a lot to be gleaned even from decorative page turners with little text. When I explored the idea online, I found consensus that a coffee table book should be interesting enough to stimulate conversation with guests who browse it.

At home, the coffee table is an intimate little space that often includes favourite objects. Pottery Barn offers a demo about organizing an attractive tablescape. House & Home will help you choose the table.

I found lists of favourite books on sites like Style at Home and Van Houte coffee (how appropriate). In fact, our department alone holds so many beautiful and intriguing books that creating a list of favourites would be daunting.

Over the next few blogs my colleagues and I are sharing a few favourites. We hope you will check them out for awhile to your own coffee table world.

When you visit us next, make some time to peruse the tomes that are too large to carry. Or bring a cart or car and take a few home.

Jane

Have you ever had the problem of too many books? Here are the clues: overflowing shelves, truly dusty tomes and piles that make you trip.

You look over and wonder what else you can do with all these dust collectors. Not every title is worth a second reading. To borrow a phrase from Monty Python, some are not for reading, but for laying down and avoiding.

I believe that much of what we condemn to the landfill has potential (check out my end table); so I was happy to discover a new book that shares this philosophy.

Lisa Occhipinti has come up with a collection of crafty and witty solutions in The Repurposed Library: 33 craft projects that give old books new life.

Need a new (and unusual) lamp? How about a shelf to surprise and delight your friends or maybe a whimsical wall decoration? There are plans for all of these.

Some use only the pages, or covers, and still others the whole book. In any case, you’ll always recognize the original form. A number have clever titles, such as the Book Mobile which is an Alexander-Calder-style creation, rather than a vehicle delivering library service.

With all these interesting ideas for your old books, your overcrowded shelves will soon be looking neater.

Valentine’s Day is sneaking up on us and ready to ambush the unprepared. “And the lonely and vulnerable,” added a crusty colleague who happened to read what I was writing.

Perhaps you need to know that I am a cynical woman of a certain age who tends to think of it as a Hallmark holiday. In other words, an event promoted by those with a commercial interest in it.

Now that I have that out in the open, here are three books from the collection that might appeal to your romantic nature.

Simply Romantic Decorating: Creating Elegance and Intimacy Throughout Your Home promotes a romantic style based on ruffles and floral fabrics. If you have a gilded white grand piano, the author will show you how to stage it. Hint: you will need a hand-blown Murano glass chandelier and a fabulous bay window.

You know, sometimes you just can’t take the cynic out of the woman.

Beautiful Bedrooms, a book from the Better Homes and Gardens franchise, offers decorating ideas for the room most often associated with romance. Happily, it’s not all ruffles and flowers.

There is a glamorous room with lilac walls and drapes and a chic rose velvet chaise. Another inviting space offers an understated palette of pale greens, blues and cream. It features fine artwork and a towering tester bed.

Romantic English Homes, a new book by Robert O’Byrne shows the romance that comes to a home with age and a storied past. You get to travel through Austen and Bronte landscapes.

The book offers a layered approach to decorating by people who love to collect things - a style that creates the impression that successive generations have occupied a home. The author notes that this is often an illusion.

But hey, isn’t that what romance is all about?

Today's blog comes from Candace Weir, Central Library staff:

Sometimes a material gets invented that makes it easy and fun to get creative. Polymer clay builds on our kindergarten experience with Plasticine, only there are many more colours and possibilities. The creation gets baked into something permanent. Results can be breathtaking.

As art materials go, it is relatively safe and certainly easy to use and the tools are inexpensive. The material is extremely versatile. It can be used to create stunning jewelry or make decorative objects for your home – anything from sculptures to vases. I recently saw an exquisite little cane-work bowl in the Rubiyat, a shop that specializes in fine handicraft.

We have more than 60 titles in the collection to help you master the craft and inspire new projects. You can learn techniques from books like Polymer Clay 101 by Angela Mabray. Have a look at Amazing Clay Flowers to learn how to make realistic blossoms of incredible delicacy and grace.

A recent article in American Craft (October/November, p. 54 – 61) reveals “How Polymer Hit the Big Time”. It shows the art of Elise Winters, who has worked to establish respect for the art form and the first permanent museum collection of polymer art at the Racine Art Museum in Wisconsin.

Winters creates large luscious jewelry that coils about the wrist and neck in vibrant waves. Works by other artists shown here include an ash credenza with a mosaic-like decoration in polymer clay applied to the surface.

To see more work by the pros, check out the online polymer art archive. Or gaze and drool at the lovely handiwork of Kathleen Dustin.

Candace