SPY’s Annual Coffee Table Book Awards
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To have a fully functional apartment, you gotta have books. Tons of them. The more the better. Even when your shelves are teeming with tomes, not all books are built the same though. For every dogeared Steinbeck novel or paperback copy of Normal People your girlfriend left at your place, there are tons of art books that deserve more than the exposure of a 1-inch spine on a shelf.
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The right coffee table book is a subtle way to speak to your character. Think of them as horizontal paintings you lay out on the table. The difference between a great book and a great coffee table book though is that its rarely about actually reading them thoroughly, and more about the vibe they offer. A good coffee table book isn’t meant to be studied, but perused, and does as much to tell guests what to expect.
Hundreds of coffee table books are printed every year—from arthouses, university presses, major imprints, and indie publishers. Finding the right ones to suit your home’s needs is a daunting task. Luckily, we did the heavy lifting for you and assembled a list of this year’s best new releases.
The Winners Are…
BEST FOR DESIGN INSPIRATION
Casa Dali
Buy Now $49.00
There are plenty of monographs (read: designer-made mega-pamphlets) that capture various idylls. The crown molding is perfectly cut and the kitchen has a few freshly baked loaves of bread, apples, and little else in it. This is not one of those books. Salvador Dalí’s home on Spain’s Costa Brava was where he did most of his painting in the summer months. Everything was covered in trinkets, mementos, and reminders. Some of the design choices were bizarre, but they were also compelling – more so than anything on the Magnolia Network. The book is a celebration of a world-class weirdo that serves as a reminder that there are no rules, just some ignorable guidelines.
BEST FOR TRAVEL INSPIRATION
Selling Polaroids in the Bars of Amsterdam 1980
Buy Now $49.95
Pick up any issue of Travel+Leisure or AFAR, and you’ll see an article about the verdant hills of Tuscany. It’s some sort of legal requirement. But travel isn’t just about sweeping vistas and cingale done right, it’s about humans, nightlife, grunge, and getting immersed in the seediness of new cities. Selling Polaroids is a book of wonky photographs taken in weird places. These are the sort of photographs that you might find in a parents closet and think: “Mom lived a life, man.” And there’s a lot to be said for that. Excess is great in moderation.
BEST FOR EXTREMELY ARTSY BULLSHIT
Picasso: The Blue and Rose Periods
Buy Now $50.00
People think they know Picasso. They think it’s all Guernica and squiggly lines and cubism and, “That’s definitely meant to be a boob.” And, sure, but also there’s more. So much more. It wasn’t uncommon for Picasso to go to a bar, drink, not have money for the tab, and draw or paint something as payment. It’s why everything from the Centre Pompidou’s permanent collection all the way to an inn off the highway in rural France has an original Picasso. In this book, documenting 80 works from his blue and rose periods, respectively, there’s a deeper look into the craftsmanship of Picasso’s painting that isn’t seen as often as his abstract works. It’s well worth it to leave the book out and wax poetic about the sheer mass of work produced by one artist.
BEST FOR COOKING
The Cookie That Changed My Life: And More Than 100 Other Classic Cakes, Cookies, Muffins, and Pies That Will Change Yours
Buy Now On Amazon
Everyone, including non-cooks, should have a few cookbooks. In this baking epic, Nancy Silverton has gathered 100 recipes from lattice-topped apple cookies to lemon bars and more. Use it or don’t. Either way it’s a beautiful ode to indulgence.
BEST FOR MODERATELY TASTEFUL SEX STUFF
The History of Sketch Comedy
Buy Now On Amazon
For the real comedy nerds out there—and believe me, there are tons—Keegan Michael Key’s book on sketch comedy, produced with his partner in life and jokes, Elle Key, is the bible for sketch. Great sketch duos are rare, and Key & Peele was one of them. The book chronicles some of the best sketches ranging from Marx Brothers and Sid Caesar to Saturday Night Live. For anyone who’s parents told them film school and comedy writing degrees were a waste of money, they may be right, because this book is only $25.
BEST FOR ACTUAL READING
Twentieth Century Man: Peter Beard
Buy Now On Amazon
If this book wasn’t filed under biographies, it would be hard to tell if Peter Beard was a real person or a preposterous fiction. Beard was a debonair photographer, combing through the jungles in search of wildlife to photograph one day, and then partying with Jackie Onassis and Andy Warhol another. There are lots of interesting men who lean hard into one part of an exciting life, be it partying or heroic acts or womanizing or cookery. Peter Beard did them all. If anyone’s life is to emulate, it’s Peter Beard. We strongly suggest reading the book cover to cover, but even just having it around exudes a certain manly ephemera into the atmosphere that one can absorb by osmosis.
BEST FOR DOUBLING AS A COFFEE TABLE
David Hockney: A Bigger Book
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There’s an episode of Seinfeld where Kramer makes a coffee table book about coffee tables that has legs that fold out to make it a coffee table. In real life, there’s this mighty tome of David Hockney’s work, for sale at the National Portrait Gallery in London. A Bigger Book is aptly named, the 20” by 27” book comes with its own colorful stand, where it can be displayed fanned out to your favorite work by the preppy painter. Oh, it’s also about $5000.
BEST FOR LEAVING OUT BECAUSE IT'S DOPE
Heads Together: Weed and the Underground Press Syndicate
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The Sixties were crazy for lots of reasons, but perhaps none more than the concept that print media was a thriving business. Everyone launched a magazine and at least six of them were good. This book looks back at the printed underground with a specific focus on weed-focused pubs, which got super popular super fast for…some reason. The cultural stuff doesn’t age well, but the visuals are awesome.
BEST FOR BOOMERS
Country Life
Buy Now On Amazon
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that any Boomer in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a country home. Boomers just fucking love country houses. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because they are the last generation that will ever be able to afford them. The homes depicted in this book are scattered across the Catskill Mountains and the Hudson Valley. They belong to local artists, to museum curators, to barbeque chefs, and to social workers. They are so charming it’s disgusting. Mom will love it.
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