While we wish we could time travel to when this whole global pandemic is over, it’s simply not possible. So, this has forced us to come up with a new plan entirely: reading. Specifically, reading books to transport us out of the current world and into one far, far away. Come with us on a journey to far away from home–while staying inside your home, of course.

KITCHEN GARDEN REVIVAL: a modern guide to creating a stylish small-scale, low-maintenance edible garden. Elevate your backyard veggie patch into a work of sophisticated and stylish art. KITCHEN GARDEN REVIVAL guides you through every aspect of kitchen gardening, from design to harvesting—with expert advice from author Nicole Johnsey Burke, founder of Rooted Garden, one of the leading U.S. culinary landscape companies, and Gardenary, an online kitchen gardening education and resource company. Participating in the grow-your-own movement is important to both reduce your food miles and control what makes it onto your family’s table. If you’ve hesitated to take part because installing and caring for a traditional vegetable garden doesn’t seem to suit your life or your sense of style, KITCHEN GARDEN REVIVAL is here to show you there’s a better, more beautiful way to grow food.

Instead of row after row of cabbage and pepper plants plunked into a patch of dirt in the middle of the yard, kitchen gardens are attractive, highly tailored food gardens consisting of easy-to-maintain raised planting beds laid out in an organized geometric pattern. Offering both four seasons of ornamental interest and plenty of fresh, homegrown fruits, vegetables, and herbs, kitchen gardens are the way to grow your own food in a fashionable, modern, and practical way. Kitchen gardens were once popular features of the European and early American landscape, but they fell out of favor when our agrarian roots were displaced by industrialization. With this accessible and inspirational guide, Nicole aims to return the kitchen garden to its rightful place just outside of every backdoor.

Learn the art of kitchen gardening as you discover:

What characteristics all kitchen gardens have in common
How to design and install gorgeous kitchen garden beds using metal, wood, or stone
Why raised beds mean reduced maintenance
What crops are best for your kitchen garden
A planting, tending, and harvesting plan developed by a pro
Season-by-season growing guides

It’s time to join the Kitchen Garden Revival and start growing your own delicious, organic food.

Monseigneur le Vin: THE ART OF DRINKING WINE (Like The French Do) published by Rizzoli. Monseigneur le Vin is a distinctly cheeky but highly informative French introduction to the art of drinking wine. Originally published in French in 1927 as part of a set of promotional books for French wine distributor Nicolas, Monseigneur le Vin is a lovely illustrated jewel of a wine primer brought back into print. The book is perfectly relevant to today’s wine lovers, charmingly presented: wine information like bouquet, color, and taste profile is essentially the same today, and Montorgueil’s reverence for wine is delivered with an élan and is oh-so-very French, with observations like “A full-bodied red wine wants to be laid on its side and made cozy.” Delightful and informative, Monseigneur le Vin is sure to appeal to new and experienced wine lovers alike.