Alice Wordsworth’s Top 5 Coffee Table Books for World Book Day

Whether you always have the latest crime thriller on the go, you only manage to get through a full book on holiday or you love having something to flick through when you can spare a few minutes to yourself, books are one of the most enjoyable parts of life. If you love books as much as we do, don’t hide them away on a shelf, use them as part of your home styling to show them off.

Coffee table books are one of the best book types to display in the home. So, in celebration of World Book Day we’ve asked Alice Wordsworth (William Wordsworth’s five time great granddaughter) to choose the best coffee table books to get your collection started.

With its gorgeous silk cover, the Rajasthan Style book encapsulates the beauty of this state in all its vibrancy. Having visited Jaipur, I love dipping into this book as it instantly conjures the smells, sights and delights of the pink city.

My favorite cuisine and the best dinner party theme. Mexico: The Cookbook includes fajitas that pack a punch and be sure to rustle up there Sangrita to sip and savor.

The variety of work and artists in the Great Women Artists book make it a brilliant one to flick with a coffee. Seeing how practices have developed over 500 years is fascinating and be sure to get to the end, because that’s where some of the best works are displayed.

I love the way the Stone Book jumps through time to bring us some of the best architectural structures ever designed. The creativity that one building material can give us is extraordinary and the shapes and spaces it creates are revealed beautifully here.

30,000 Years of Art is an amazing book for giving you an awe-inspiring understanding of how art forms have developed. Although it spans centuries, it’s an easy read, that gives you a detailed and approachable understanding to a variety of art forms.

Be Selective

Go for styled rather than cluttered, so select one or two books which can be rotated if you’ve built up a bit of a collection and pair them with a select few decorative accessories for a chicly styled surface.

Keep it Neat

Everyday essentials like TV remotes and coasters often kept on coffee tables along with more decorative accessories like candles and vases. To keep your coffee table completely decluttered store what you want out of sight in baskets nearby, or if you want them more close to hand keep them neat and tidy on a tray.

Swap it Up

Along with rotating your coffee table books you can also switch up its styling by swapping the decorative pieces too. Fresh or faux flowers are a great way to achieve this by adding blooms that mirror the seasons. The same can be said for swapping candles regularly to fill your living room with the scents of the season.

Alice Wordsworth is a freelance theater director. Alice is Resident Assistant Director at the Unicorn Theater and Co-Artistic Director of Rumble Theater. She was recipient of the JMK Assistant Director bursary at Salisbury Playhouse and a Young Vic outreach bursary. She makes work on the London Fringe and is currently developing a new show 'How to Train the Perfect Women' with Bric a Brac. Alice is the five times great grand-daughter of William Wordsworth. She is also currently adapting some of his lesser known poems into a promenade, headphones show, that will take place in the Lake District late 2021.

Twitter: @AliceWordsworth