As many of you might know from previous posts, I am nowadays a Kindle kind of girl - as it is a fabulous little things: small, sleek, the battery lasts forever, it comes with a light - and most importantly, it can be crammed full of all kinds of books. And did I mention that you can change your covers to match the other accessories...

So no more carrying around the holiday reads in paperback for me - well, except for this one. I think I picked it from some charity sale, but the reason why I picked the particular ones were the authors, as both James Patterson and Liza Marklund and crime writers whom I truly enjoy reading (pretty unusual pairing, don't you think?).

Postcard killers isn't a novelty item (2010 release), which means you can pick it up probably for a dollar or two, and this book is so worth the value of the book. As most of the study takes lpace. The main story settles in Sweden (surprisingly!) - oh, how I would love this to be maid into a movie so that one could enjoiy both the pretty scenery of Stockholm, but also travels around the Europe with the killers; a bit like the Euro-Hopper-summer some people might have enjoyed this year.

So the book itself is a god read - filled with some unexpected turns and Swedish tidbits - even the thrilling final moments are captured in the parking lot of the Swedish icon Ikea. Quite funny indeed. The plot is great and keeps the reader engaged and guessing almost to the end, just like any Patterson or Marklund book would. A great summer read indeed if one gets tired of the endless flow of light summer romance novels... 

Unfinished. A bit of vintage. Worn out and shabby chic - that is what Rought Luxe Design -book is made of. And what a fab book it is - inspiration from reusing the old and mixing it with some new: it's the ultimate shabby chic style, and even the book has that recycled rough wood finish.

Rooms that make you think of Classy Halloween spirit, industrial kitchen looking like last century's apothecary...so cool and relaxed. if only the price was a bit lower, but you gotta fork it out for what is in right now. Recommended? Oh yes, if this is the style you like!

I happened to pop in the local second-hand bookstore (where I should mention the prices are nothing of that kind unfortunately). I saw a couple of books I just had to had, and spent some relaxing year-end moments reading them. Bus as much as I like to support local businesses I was slightly miffed to realise that I could have saved nearly $50 by buying these books online from Amazon! With Amazon prices definitely recommended reads - especially the amazing homes made for people who love sports!

And of course the latest issues of California Home + Design that just arrived was as good read as always. Hope you all are finding some nice year-end reading to enjoy too!

What's more suitable reading for Christmas than seasonal sweet (and sometimes sad) stories. I have just gotten an upgrade to Kindle Touch (gave the old one to grandparents who certainly try to keep up with the new technologies) and have been filling up my ereading list from Amazon. I though I would start with the free stuff and see then if I still wanted some more. Here are my downloads by far, and once I have finished reading I'll update my list with my own reviews, and start looking into free kids Christmas books too. The other criteria I used besides being free was simply the reader feedback, so I have high hopes for these books as they have been recommended by many book enthusiasts!

And for those who do not have Kindle yet, the good news is that you can just either read on the iCloud on the web browser, or download a reader on your computer. Another free option is to have Google eBooks, where some of these books listed can also be found. I also checked Barnes and Noble for Nook, and Sony's eBookstore, and I found quite a few of of these stores for free in these stores also. So happy season's reading everyone!

A sweet short story similar to DIckens "A Christmas Carol".

The Christmas Angel by Abbie Farwell Brown. Amazon for $0.00

A sweet short story about a grandfather's last Christmas with his family.

Evergreen - A Christmas Story by Richard Taylor. Amazon for $0.00

This novelette is described as a heartwarming story of a poor single father and his little daughter in Canada and how he copes when the daughter falls ill and into coma as Christmas is approaching. I hope the ending is happier as the story seems rather sad for Christmas reading.

My Christmas Angel by Jason W. Chan. Amazon for $0.00

This book is described as a holiday classic where a reporter is trying to find out who distributes jars filled with coins and notes for those in need. Sounds sweet and interesting, justs perfect to be enjoyed with a cup of hot cocoa and a couple of butter biscuits!

Christmas Jars by Jason Wright. Amazon (Prime only) for $0.00

This promises to be a good, romantic read - just great for the long holidays when curled up by the fireplace with a box of chocolates...

All I Want for Christmas is You - by Lisa Mondello

Typical holiday romance short story - always welcome in small doses!

Holiday Rush by Lisa Scott. Amazon for $0.00

A novel of life at Christmas time in a typical little town by musician Don Reid from Statler Brothers.

 O Little Town by Don Reid. Amazon for $0.00

Black and white decor. It can look really warm or rather cold. Celerie Kemble's book Black & White (and a bit in between) certainly shows the warmer and also cute(r) side of black and white decor, and a bit more sometimes. These rooms below certainly have the element that makes them pop out - be it the bold patterned area rug, or the dotted wallpaper. The looks are a bit more traditional, but certainly not too formal.

This book is definitely worth a second look, and despite it being almost brand new in the market, Amazon now has it on offer with a great price of around $30 and throws even in free shipping: link to Amazon: Black and White (and a Bit in Between): Timeless Interiors, Dramatic Accents, and Stylish Collections. If you get a peek of the book I'd love to hear how you liked it...

images House & Home, Kemble Interiors

The October issue of AD is out, and as always there are some little gems to read. However, I must have gotten used to the special features in the past issues as I was expecting to see yet another fabulous celebrity house - but there were none this time.

As expected, AD serves a lovely mix of Mediterranean glamour, artsy and eclectic, modern and traditional. AD also serves as a great source for suppliers - at least I spotted some great new ads that got me surfing around for a good hour or so. A good read this month also!

October issue of AD is out now

Madly eclectic photographers pad in the big city - great for some unusual inspiration ideas

Room ideas outside the standard kitchen-living room-bedroom set. How would my girls love to have a playroom kitted with cupcake-shaped poufs and these funky little sofas...

After such a long vacation the reading pile waiting for me was sky-high and I haven't had time to pick up and report what's good in which magazine. But the arrival of today's CA Home+Design I just had to write about it. I loved the cover, I loved the ads and there was a great story about this modern wine country retreat also. Definitely a good issue this month and so recommended!

What I love about summertime especially are those magazine freebies - at least here in Spain. Forgot your sunglasses at home? Or your flip-flips? Don't have that little canvas bag for the beach? Or sandals, pack of multi-vitamins, funky bikinis, sandals, skin buffing and massaging things...the list just goes on. And on top of that the magazines itself are filled with shampoo, perfume and body lotion samples.

Plus of course the magazine itself. Of course if you buy a magazine here it will be in Spanish but not to worry if you didn't learn it at school. There are always the pictures to look at and the universal language of beauty and exercise tips is that hard to master. If you buy the interior magazine the text won't matter that much anyway as long as you catch those stunning images and www-addresses to get some info on those must have items....

So I packed up on those cute magazine as I was in need (sort of) that beach bag, little sun hat, the massage set was nice (didn't really need the sandals but someone else might need them in the foreseeable future), loved the flip=flops (real brasilenos) and vitamins are always good too. Magazines are just one of those fun things of the summer and holidays!

I heart Virgin Airlines. Normally flying with them is a great experience with no extra payments for everything. There is the state-of-the-art entertainment system, good (for airlines that is) food and drinks and all lovely magazines. This time I could not get my hands on a Tatler, but luckily I found the latest Wallpaper magazine.

It seems that it's been way too long since I last read Wallpaper as the content was absolutely delightful. Maybe it was just this issue, or maybe it is this great every time - I am definitely going to find out! Architecture, interiors, modern furniture and cool gadgets - great reading and July issue is definitely on my "recommended" list.

I am known for normally not ordering more than one magazine at a time since I am not very good at changing addresses and this family likes to move quite so often. I kept to that rule until recently, when I got hooked on another magazine. I have been an avid subscriber for Architectural Digest, and the decided to take on Elle Decor for a white as they had that $7.99 special offer. I mean it costs almost more than that on gasoline to go to the store to buy a mag, plus the cover prices comes on top too...

The publishers are quite smart, and they keep sending you these special offers once you subscribe to one. So soon I realised I was also getting California Home and Design, Fast Company, Inc, Fitness, Dwell and Coastal Living. Some of them I am not going to renew, for there are so many others to try...So the latest deal I just took was 14 issues of Elle for $5.99. Who can say no that sort of offer?

What I love about these magazines are that they tend to arrive on Fridays - perfect read for a little outside lunch. And anyway, it's nice to get mail that is not bills!

So what do you think about these Friday delights?

I must admit that I like all of these new sites that keep popping up offering discounted lots of luxury (and not so luxury) goods. Sometimes the deals are not so great, so you need to do your groundwork, but at least one gets to know a lot of new and interesting brands. One Kings Lane has a sale on cool coffee table books by Phaidon Books and I found some that I liked - such as The Modernist House, Los Angeles Houses and The American House.

If you happen to miss the sale you can still find the books on Amazon also, and the prices are almost the same and you might get the free shipping too so not to worry.

The Modernist House

Los Angeles Architecture

The American House

This seems to have become a tradition now as I have received again three fantastic magazines in the mail. Add there the great magazines I got to borrow from the friend who came back from a trip to England, and there is tons of nice stuff to read.

Today the mailman dropped in the box the June issues of Coastal Living, Dwell & Dwell on Design Insert and the Fast Company. My first pick will be to enjoy the lovely Thai chicken soup with the latest modern wonders from Dwell. The covers are just great in every magazine - how funny is Conan O'Brien on the cover of FC and how inviting is that hammock next to the turquoise sea?

I hope you all have a lovely Friday too and some time to relax and read nice magazines and books - and recommendations are always welcome on good reads!

Coastal Living Beach House style - book is published by the Coastal Living magazine. As I haven't been that impressed by the magazine, the book certainly gave me a positive surprise. The visuals in the book are stunning and I love the colour guide for different coastal styles in the end - very useful indeed.

I added here the things I liked the best - first would be children's rooms. The book had a number of really innovative ones with very a variety of colour scales. What was particularly great about these rooms was that there were mainly designed to be space-savers and multi-occupancy - exactly what you want with all the friends and family visiting you if you are lucky enough to own a beach house.

The other thing that really caught my eye was this green kitchen with unusually narrow and tall cabinets. A modern look with these olive green units, and the detail that makes it so special is the frosting look on the doors with random letters. That somehow reminds me of an old pharmacy unit and givse that instant "X-factor" to the room.

All in all this book is a great read and I recommend at least borrowing it if you know someone who has it already.

If you think that I am reading a lot this week I would say that it is definitely true - a great way to pass some time in sunny outdoors besides doing gardening and sports.

In addition to my lovely magazines and the Sherlock Holmes on iPod I have found some old books of mine (yes, Sherlock is one of the top 100 must read books on the BBC list and yes iPod - little screen - but I am hoping that family will get me the iPad for my upcoming birthday. iPod is my trusted friend when watching (waiting) Anaïs play tennis and swim in her weekly classes)

My spring-cleaning unearthed some old-ish books and we have been eagerly reading the Art of Display with miss Anaïs this week. Great tips even for aspiring little ones - this book has inspired Anaïs to clean and organise her room a bit more!

The book is rather basic, but offers some nice tips and a lot of nice ideas in their photos. Doesn't seem that easy to find though (Amazon is a good place to start) but I would say it's worth it!

I like the idea here although this just looks a bit too store-like and symmetrical.

This is made for our family as the kids will keep bringing stones, shells, sticks and pine cones home!

Lovely coastal theme, if only I had tables and other display areas here at home and kids that didn't take everything down. Maybe next year...

The mail has brought a bunch of magazines again - it is so nice to get mail that is not bills! The May issues of California Home + Design, Elle Decor and Coastal Living are here. These are the features that I really liked - and if you were planning to get one of these, I would certainly recommend this time Elle Decor.

Elle Decor May issue was filled with great features - my favourite was this house in California Wine Country build to resemble old colonial homes, yet it had a contemporary twist. It was both quirky and cute at the same time and gave me lots of nice ideas!

The Coastal Living May issue was a great improvement from the previous month, and there were more good feature stories too. Not surprisingly, I adored this Nantucket summer house feature - a light house filled with seashells, nice accessories and rattan furniture. All in the proper New England colour palette.

California Home + Design always has lovely local homes and this issue was no disappointment - this 1920s Mediterranean remodel was fantastic - I loved both the house and interior with its art deco styling.

And one more winner - the ad of the month from Plantation. How cute is this bedroom corner - lovely sheets, love the fuchsia and gold pillows and the accessories, especially the gilded mirror. This ad immediately made me check their website!!

I have been subscribing to Architectural Digest for quite a while and only recently I was lured to order few more magazines as the offers were really good. As the Coastal Living, Elle Decor and AD happened to arrive within a week, I have been reading them all and sort of comparing which was the most interesting this month. So here goes my recommendation.

Of the covers I found the Coastal Living most appealing - the colourful cushions and turquoise sea view giving a promise of something great to come. However, the contents of the magazine were quite light and I did not find too much to read there. I liked the best this feature of a colourful house project in Florida - the design was base don their visits to Caribbean boutique hotels and emphasised large entertainment and common areas. I thought the green tones in the kitchen pictures were so fresh.

The most appealing Elle Decor feature was this Brasilian beach home in Bahia by designer Sig Bergamin - their view of a casual home is an eclectic mix of styles, colours and materials, which has produced some very interesting spaces.

Architectural Digest, once again, did not let me down. More than twice the pages of Coastal Living there were plenty of house features, and I just loved this weekend retreat in the Catskills by architect Joel Sanders. Simplicity, open spaces and contrast coupled with amazing river views.

I would choose the "winner" of the month to be AD as it gave me twice as much reading and had lot of great features. We'll see if I differently next month when my Dwell subscription should also start. Happy reading to everyone!

Taschen, that great "coffee-table publishing company" has come up with some new interesting books on design and architecture and here is one of them: the Architecture Now! Houses 2 - edition.

The book was compiled by Philip Jodidio who studied art history and economics at Harvard, and edited Connaissance des Arts for over 20 years. What I like about it is that it is featuring a number of architects and designers that are rather new to me. If you liked the previous Architecture Now! -books, I suspect this one will be in your shopping cart soon too. Enjoy the reading!

images Taschen

The April issue of Architectural Digest is just fantastic. It was really hard to pick my favourite feature house, but I ended up choosing the modern Chicago waterfront home created by Peter Gluck and partners. Oh that glass-enclosed stairway, the biomorphic ceiling light in the playroom and the lake views from the indoor pool.

The California Home + Design March/April issue features this Jay Jeffers interior for a family in Pacific Heights in San Francisco. I enjoyed especially the colourful boy's room with the gigantic map. Nice to see something else than the standard red, dark blue and brown colours for a boy's room.

Getting ready to indulge in reading these fabulous magazines

AD April features a modern Chicago lakehouse

California Home + Design March/April feature on Pacific Heights SF interior

When we lived in the UK one of my favourite programmes used to be Grand Designs hosted by Kevin McCloud. They would feature ordinary people embarking on extraordinary renovations of old crumbling castles in Scotland or France, building modern architectural statements or carbon-neutral eco-homes buried under tonnes of soil and grass growing on roofs.

Every project always seemed to face impossible obstacles, run out of money and have the owners working both on the house and two to three jobs round the clock. In the end, however, they always seemed to pull it together and have a fantastic home to showcase. Luckily the show has also been turned into a magazine, which reaches also those living abroad.

The latest issue had a fabulous curvy house (that somehow reminds me of the revived children's series Barbapapas' house) with all those round windows and curvy walls.

images by Grand Designs Magazine UK

The fabulous house of Barbapapas

The first issue of High Gloss Magazine is out and it is full of ideas and inspiring images. My favourite features were the Napa Valley for lifestyle - it certainly gave me good ideas for the next Napa Valley trip. The other favourite would be Modern Makeover featuring Sally Wheat's Houston family home transformation. It’s always great to learn about someone’s design philosophy and so much fun seeing the finished house once the makeover is complete.