Coffee Table Books as an Expression of Your Personality

I sometimes worry about the impression the books in my family room make on visitors. In addition to a scatter of book-club fiction, there's my collection of children's poetry and picture books that fill two shelves. Even though the only children in my life are my three 20-something daughters, I plan never to never give up Eloise. Here's what I don't have: Proust.

On high shelves, I keep old favorites, like journalist Russel Baker's memoir, Growing Up. Beside it are a number of hardbacks I've bought at book parties, but plan never to read. I also have an entire shelf devoted to the personal essays writen or compiled by my mentor, Phillip Lopate.

Other friends' books command several feet of my shelf space, including reference books that I keep going back to, such as Body Signs and Big Green Purse. And there are a few titles in which, ahem, my own writing appears that range from Chicken Soup for the Soul, Like Mother, Like Daughter, 101 Best Stories to Women's Letters, where my letter about adopting a child independently in China resides only 82 pages away from a letter Marilyn Monroe wrote to her doctor and taped to her stomach before having her appendix out, pleading with him to "prevent large scars" and "No ovaries removed."

I try to make sure that books at eye level make a good impression on, say, a date who is surveying the room while I'm upstairs drying my hair and applying concealer under my eyes. These include a row of books about China whose copyrights date back to the Seventies. But books that generate the most comments are those on my coffee table. In addition to an album of family photos (remember hard copies of family photos?), I display books that express various facets of who I am. 

Glamour and Sophistication 

Well, I can't say I'm glamorous and sophisticated, so Audrey Hepburn serves as my surrogate. Audrey and I have a history, starting with the 16 times I've seen "Breakfast at Tiffany's." And her charm on the screen influenced the names of two of my daughters, Eliza and Sabrina. At the moment I can't find my Audrey book, but one that looks appealing is Audrey Hepburn, International Cover Girl, by Scott Brizell, which features some biographical text in addition to hundreds of magazine covers from all over the world that featured Audrey.

Art

Recently, I visited a Norman Rockwell exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. As the book with the same title, by Virginia M. Mecklenburg and Todd McCarthy, suggests, the paintings in the exhibit were from the collection of film directors George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Viewing this art through the directors' prisms, I can see how each painting is like a frame from a movie reel. Rockwell chose his setting, his characters and their expressions with great care to tell exactly the story he had in mind.

If you get to D.C. by January 2, 2011, don't miss this family-friendly exhibit. 

Political

Another favorite coffee table book is Madeleine Albright's, Read my Pins: Stories from a Diplomat's Jewel Box. Albright, who served as Secretary of State under President Clinton, writes, "I found that jewelry had become part of my personal diplomatic arsenal . . . I began urging colleagues and reporters to 'Read my pins.'"

When meeting with Nelson Mandela, Albright wore a zebra pin that sat on her shoulder. And in preparation for a conference with Hillary Clinton, she wore a designer pin made from shattered glass to represent the breaking of the glass ceiling.

The book includes text that tells Albright's story through her pins, which range from a heart made by her five-year-old daughter to family heirlooms. Kitschy dime-store creations include a red enamel, high-heeled, sling-back shoe with rhinestones that cost less than three dollars. I have seen an exhibit of these extraordinary pins at the Smithsonian Castle and I can tell you that the more than 200 color photographs in this book are a close second to seeing the real thing. For vital statistics on all the pins, check out the "pindex" in the back of the book. 

Worldliness 

Coffee table books make great gifts; one I received in appreciation for hosting a Chinese exchange student is a winner. China: Fifty Years Inside the People's Republic by Rae Yang takes the reader through China's many metamorphoses, including an era when everyone's dress was so similar you could barely tell the men from the women. The last photograph depicts nightlife on Shanghai's Bund, taken in 1998, after new China had begun to explode onto the global scene.

Kitsch 

Miss America: In Pursuit of the Crown by Ann-Marie Bivans always draws comments. As a little girl, who spent summers in Atlantic City and whose grandfather took her to the annual boardwalk parade of these beauties, I find Miss America kitsch irresistible.

Although this 1991 publication seems to be out of print, as with most books, you can probably find it on the secondhand market. Alternatively, search Amazon for "Miss America" on Amazon and you'll find a plethora of newer books about these hopefuls "in pursuit of the crown."

I have too many books to put out all at once, so I rotate them, the same way I rotate Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, spring and summer chotckes on my front hall table.

What books do you have on your coffee table and what do they say about you? I'd love to hear from you in the comments box below.