My Top 3: Coffee Table Books

They're so pretty

My Top 3 is a weekly post where I count down three things I love in a random category. This week, we’re looking my top three coffee table books.

Coffee table books - beloved by home decorators and discount book sellers everywhere. These tomes are known for their large size and pages filled mostly with photographs and illustrations. The bindings tend to be thick and the focus is more on design than writing. Coffee table books are more for biblio-vibes than they are for reading. That’s why they’re called coffee table books. They are meant to sit out on a table, under vases, or placed “just so” on a bookcase and look nice.

But they are still books! If you’ve ever sat down with one, you know that they are great conversation starters. By being beautiful, these books call you to open the cover and flip through the pages. Their design means there’s always something interesting to see, learn, and discuss. These books invite you to slowly peruse, rather than speed read. If regular books are jogging, coffee table books are a slow amble down a quaint town street.

*Note: The book titles below are affiliate links for Bookshop.org