Emmerling and Arndt team up for their fifth book celebrating the art of things people love to collect. Here they bring us fabulous belt buckles from vintage collectibles; trophy buckles; beaded and bejeweled varieties; ranger sets; and classy contemporary designs; all celebrating the fascination with beautiful buckle art. Cowboys and Indians; arrows; horses and longhorns aplenty; sweet hearts; and plenty of other icons decorate these fashionable pieces. And it wouldnrsquo;t be complete without a nod to the artists who created them.Jim Arndt is the author of How to Be a Cowboy and coauthor with Mary Emmerling of Art of the Cross; Art of Turquoise; Art of the Skull and Art of the Heart. He coauthored several Cowboy Boot books. He lives in Santa Fe.Mary Emmerling is the best-selling author of more than 25 books. She was the creative director of Country Home Magazine for ten years. She hosted HGTVrsquo;s Country At Home show; worked as the decorating editor for House Beautiful; and was editor-in-chief of her own Mary Emmerling Country Magazine for the New York Times. She now lives in Santa Fe. She coauthored Art of the Heart; Art of the Skull; Art of the Cross and Art of Turquoise with Jim Arndt.
#2424192 in eBooks 2005-05-03 2016-02-25File Name: B00EUV6Y14
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Facts; without opinions.By Jill MeyerAlison Lurie has written a book; "The Language of Houses"; on a subject that nearly everyone has an opinion - the way we see both "personal" architecture (our homes) and "public" architecture (the other buildings we encounter in our lives). It is an interesting; if not a bit bland; look at architecture.I really think we all have reactions to the spaces were in - either temporarily (a public building or another persons home) or more lengthy (our own homes). Mostly these feelings are transient - we either like and feel comfortable in the space were in...or we dont. And if we dont; we often try to leave as soon as possible. This was an important "jumping off point" for me when I began this book; and I read the entire book without receiving much in the way of that; despite the books subtitle: "How Buildings Speak to Us".Ms Lurie does an excellent job at looking at the history of buildings and how theyre constructed. She covers home styles as theyve evolved from one room domains to modern homes with a room for everybody in the family. But she doesnt say much about how these homes affect the families that live within. Im a compulsive viewer of house plans and love to consider how I could use the house as a home; while also thinking about how others could use it. Lurie writes a bit on how the modern home has moved from being filled with smallish rooms into designs with a lot of open spaces - the country kitchen; the second floor that opens up over the first floor; etc. She also examines how public buildings have evolved.Okay; one thing a decent reviewer of a book should NOT do is to bemoan what the author does NOT include in her book. And thats what Im doing here. I would have loved for more opinions from Ms Lurie; I wanted some "spice". Id have liked to see her flay those architects (and the committees who approved their designs) for buildings like Daniel Libeskinds Jewish Museum in Berlin which is a completely unusable home for a museum. Now; again; thats MY - violent - opinion. Many people love that building.So Alison Lurie has written a very good book about this history of our buildings. Its interesting reading and can heartily recommend it to the reader who wants the facts without the opinions.5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. A fascinating; eye-opening read.By Peter AgrafiotisI found The Language of Houses fascinating. I’d never realized how many powerful or subtle messages can be conveyed by varieties of rooms; arrangements within them; and by the surrounding whole of the structure. I was especially taken with Ms. Lurie’s repeated invoking of sociological and psychological issues relating to status; a factor of life we don’t often talk of directly today in our supposed classless society. Ms. Lurie shows us that the environments we create speak truths we hesitate to admit in words. I have read all of Alison Lurie’s novels and I find her clear and direct non-fiction style – enlivened further with satisfyingly humorous asides to the reader – presents her font of ideas and well-researched facts in as stimulating (or else soothing) a manner as descriptions of atmospheres; characters and characters’ motives in her novels. The Language of Houses well met my standard of a good read in non-fiction: encouraging me to look at things around me in a new way; to think of things I hadn’t before.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. good readBy CustomerMuch like Luries "Language of Clothes." Interesting ideas and fun to read. But not one of the best Lurie books.