I am moving this week and have not had time to read much of anything.  Moving is the pits. I mean, I’m really grateful I won’t have to go down into my scary half dirt, rodent-infested basement to do laundry anymore, and that I am gaining a screened-in porch, but the thought of where to begin with the packing is really driving me mad. I apologize for my absence lately. Anyway, I’ve had no time to read anything, as I’ve spent that free time vegging out to “Lost” and “Veronica Mars.” Instead of recommending reading this week I decided to recommend bookstores.

Urban Center Books has a great selection. They are the NYC Municipal Arts Society’s bookstore. And of course there is the mighty Prairie Avenue Bookshop in Chicago, which is high on my list if I ever make it to the Windy City again. MoMA Bookstore always has some fantastic titles and catalogs (as do most museum bookstores). Please drop a comment in if you have any favorite bookstores, design or otherwise. I remember going to a fantastic Architecture bookstore in Philly once but I have no idea what it was called or where I was – I just remember it was walkable from Gray’s Ferry.

OK, so the only thing I read this week was, well, more like a flip through Metropolitan Home, Cottage Living, and a portion of the Sunday NYTimes Design insert. I love the Met Home Design 100 Issue with the year’s best. Here at DP, we could not agree more with number 56 – “Modern Goes Mainstream – Mass Market Modern.” We are proud that we have helped bring strong modern design out from behind “closed showroom doors” and WAY down from “stratospheric prices.” Similarly, we were glad to bring you products from number 68 – “Kids’ Stuff Grows Up – Children’s Furniture That Cops and Attitude.” Thank goodness all those modern designers became parents and realized the selection was the pits and decided to design their own lines of kid’s furniture!

On a personal note, I so agreed with number 47, the Whitney Water Purification Facility in Hamden Connecticut, 46 – Maira Kalman’s illustrations, 51 – Icosa Village’s portable Pod structures ,  and hooray for #83 – replacing lawns with ground moss. Well, replacing them with ANYTHING that does not require chemicals and causes so much non-point source pollution is a good thing.

I’ll tell you about Cottage Living another time. I really like that magazine – it shows you how to live in small spaces. There is a great article about the Historic Chicago Bungalow Initiative. What a fantastic organization – Chicago still rules architecture in the USA in every way. We could use that kind of initiative in my neighborhood – the charming ’20s and ’30s bungalows are being torn down to make way for out-of-scale McMansions every day.