Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #63419 in Books
• Published on: 1988-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 178 pages

Synopsis
Offers suggestions for enriching one's daily life, includes advice on organization, decorating, and dining, and discusses the importance of solitude, style, and elegance.

Customer Reviews

An island of serenity in a sea of chaos
This book, a recent discovery of mine, is a lifesaver. Everytime things get too stressful (at work or at home), I reach for this book. The thing I love most about it is that the suggestions run through all levels of practicality and expense. There are ideas for immediate stress relievers as well as endeavors that need planning. One point that Ms. Stoddard does stress, however, is that her ideas are starting points. Beauty and grace are subjective things, and need to be personalized. I recommend this book to anyone who needs to actualize more beauty in their life. This book, in combination with a little ingenuity and imagination, can inspire a wonderful new attitude towards daily life.

Beauty for all the senses
I really love this book; it appeals to the senses, with vividly described ideas for pleasures that anyone can treat themselves to - whether it be a painting, a daily journal, a soft blanket, a glass jar with flowers in it, a basket of fresh fruits and vegetables, a bubble bath... there are plenty of ideas. It's about gaining greater appreciation for the things around you, and taking conscious steps to surround yourself with beauty and things that please you. And no, many of these things don't require you to be wealthy to do them.

I want to loathe it but I can't.
I love nothing better than to scorn this type of book--the "the-whole-world-will-be-better-if-you-just-have-a-bubble-bath" world of Martha Stewart and Alexandra Stoddard. However, I have to confess, when I'm having a bad day, it IS soothing to read through this book and just believe that, were I to have a lemon squeezer placed just so on my kitchen counter with fresh lemons next to it, all would be right with the world. I can dream, can't I?