Novel Interiors: Living in Enchanted Rooms Inspired by Literature, a review

The idea for this book is truly inspired.  Choosing rooms that are similar to those described by works of great literature.  I must admit, it intrigued me to see what the author would come up with.

I found this book a delightful read.  An excellent coffee table book that would create conversation if left out for guests to peruse.  But also containing enough decorating advice that one would enjoy picking it up on a snowy evening while sipping hot chocolate and losing oneself in the photos.

Imagine rooms inspire by L. M. Montgomery, or Elizabeth Gaskell, or Jane Austen, or F. Scott Fitzgerald, or Willa Cather... to name only a few authors of novels who inspired the rooms showcased in this book.

The title of the Introduction explains the contents a little bit more, "We Don't Just Read a Great Story, We Inhabit It".  The various section headings are as follows:

• Shall I Put the Kettle On?  (British books, of course)
• Remembrance of Things Past
• Living au Naturel
• Oh, the Glamour of It All
• Anything Goes
• Sometimes a Fantasy

I doubt few would use this book as a pure decorating source, rather it provides a look at what rooms describe in favorite novels would look like as shown in real life homes today.  Although it would also provide inspiration that one can pick and choose from the pages to try at home.

Now I do have one caveat about this book.  You most likely will look at some of the rooms representing a favorite novel and think it in no way is what you thought the home would look like.  For one of the joys of reading is to create our own backdrop mentally of what we think people, rooms, towns, etc. appear in our visualization. 

But the author creates rooms from the descriptions within the pages of the book, how she sees them represented.  Which may not completely agree with your ideas but are still authentic to the period.  I found it amusing that some of the rooms I definitely did not find attractive are associated with novels I didn't care for either.  Hmmm...

If you are looking for a unique Christmas gift this year for the Bibliophile in your life, this would be it.  I came away with not only an appreciation of the beautiful photography but a desire to read books listed within the pages I hadn't thought of adding to my list.

Further information about Novel Interiors at Amazon can be found... here.* 

This book was provided by the publisher for the purpose of review but the opinion is my own.

*Amazon Associate Link