Country Houses of Sweden

With captions in English, Swedish, and French, this collection of handsome photographs will appeal to world travelers searching for the perfect resting place. Here a reader can get lost in placid lakes reflecting unthreatening clouds; a white sunlit room of peeling paint and alluring bookshelves; a dusky bedroom in which the walls are papered with botanical illustrations. Some of these Swedish country houses have been turned into museums, and some are private homes. Painter Anders Zorn's studio has been preserved exactly as he left it when he died in 1920--his "Zorngarden" is a marvel of gilt-framed mirrors and stunning, somber portraits.

No particular aesthetic prevails in this coffee-table book. Some homes have been modernized, replete with Martha Stewart-style amenities. And the images aren't only distant shots of interiors; a photograph from the Varpet estate near Stockholm shows jars of freshly made jam on a chipped white countertop. What's constant throughout Country Houses of Sweden is a sense of delicious luxury and relaxation. Like a Merchant-Ivory film, it's the kind of book that makes you want to get dressed up. --Emily White