Picture Books for Adults

Ok, technically these aren't picture books for adults. They're just books with amazing photographs. Remember being a little kid at the library? Sometimes you would just snag a book because the pictures were so amazing. You didn't know (or care) what it was about - you just wanted to savor those photos. Well, I did the same things with this week's selections for Nonfiction November.

Plants and chocolate - they were like a siren call to me. I did actually read the books (OK, not all the words. I skipped fertilizers in the plant book and some of the technical parts on the science of chocolate). But I lingered over the photos. And now I want a prayer plant and bouchons. Who am I kidding? I want all the plants (except the snake plant) and all the chocolate (except the cake with sauerkraut).

More About For the Love of Houseplants

Caring for plants can be a meditative practice, even a form of self-care.

Tanner Mitchell knows this firsthand. As the owner of a beloved plant store he opened with his wife in 2020, Tanner has seen how house plants bring so much comfort and joy to people, regardless of what else is going on in their lives or in the larger world. With his kids’ encouragement, Tanner began posting plant care tips on TikTok and soon, he found his calling.

For the Love of Houseplants covers everything from selecting plants suited to your space’s natural conditions to step-by-step guides for watering, repotting, fertilizing, and more. Tanner offers troubleshooting advice for common plant problems, like yellow leaves, brown tips, pests, overwatering, and mushy stems. The book also includes in-depth profiles of thirty of the most popular houseplants—aglaonema, anthurium, fiddle-leaf fig, orchid, peace lily, philodendron, snake plant, succulents, and many more.

Most importantly, Tanner reminds us to appreciate the small joys in life and embrace the challenges and setbacks of plant care as part of the journey.

More about Tanner Mitchell

Tanner Mitchell is a small business owner and influencer based in Texas. With a strong background in the houseplant industry and an obsession for teaching, his work bridges the gap between professional horticulture and at-home hobbyists who want to find joy by caring for plants in their spaces. When he's not writing, educating, watering or repotting his plants, Tanner is growing community with his wife, Erika, through their plant shop, Famous In Oregon.

Instagram: @TannerthePlanter

Website: https://tannertheplanter.com/

Thoughts About For the Love of Houseplants

I've had houseplants forever but Tanner the Planter taught me a few things, especially about determining the best lighting for a plant. He also has a great "this isn't brain surgery" attitude because (I didn't know this) some people get really stressed out and play the blame game when their plant dies. (I just buy another plant.) And the section on 30 plants - the photos!!!!

More about The Great Book of Chocolate

In this fully updated edition of The Great Book of Chocolate, David Lebovitz discusses the history of chocolate, bean-to-bar producers, chocolate shops in Paris (and his time working in a Belgian chocolate shop!), while also sharing invaluable tips for baking with, sourcing, storing, and using everybody's favorite ingredient. Fifteen new recipes join Lebovitz's classics, for a total of more than fifty recipes, including Melting Chocolate Cakes, Chocolate Cherry Buttermilk Scones, Chocolate Espresso Cookies, Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie, Vegan Chocolate Marshmallows, and even a Chocolate Negroni.

More about David Lebovitz

Pastry chef and professional baker David Lebovitz is a master of perfectly pitched desserts

and irreverent humor—a combination that has won him and his books hundreds of thousands of fans.

Author of The Perfect Scoop, the complete guide to making the best ice cream and frozen desserts at home, Ready for Dessert, a compilation of baking favorites, from an extra-moist Fresh Ginger Cake, to crunchy Double-Chocolate Biscotti, My Paris Kitchen, stories and recipes from the glorious foods markets and shops in Paris, and Drinking French, recipes and stories inspired by the iconic café drinks, apéritifs, and cocktails of France.

Thoughts about The Great Book of Chocolate

This book will make you want chocolate, but even more, it will make you want David Lebovitz's life. To walk in his footsteps from working in a Belgian chocolate shop to giving chocolate tours in Paris to befriending a Who's Who of the chocolate world. If you want to raise your chocolate treats to the next level this book gives you both recipes and insider information about how chocolate works.

And the photographs! You should be supervised while reading this book. If not you will start testing recipes even though it's 2 am, order irresistible chocolate from around the globe or even worse (or is it better?) book a plane ticket to France so you can enjoy freshly made chocolate treats.

So celebrate Nonfiction November by picking out a book about something you love. You don't even have to commit to reading the book. Just page through it and enjoy any illustrations or photos you find. Great for cooks and bakers, DIY handypeople, crafters, collectors, hobbyists, gardeners.