Shelf Life: Peter Som

Welcome to Shelf Life, ELLE.com’s books column, in which authors share their most memorable reads. Whether you’re on the hunt for a book to console you, move you profoundly, or make you laugh, consider a recommendation from the writers in our series, who, like you (since you’re here), love books. Perhaps one of their favorite titles will become one of yours, too.

Peter Som has put his own thoughtful spin on three basic needs: clothing (he’s a CFDA-nominated fashion designer who cut his teeth at Calvin Klein, Michael Kors, and Bill Blass and has dressed the likes of Michelle Obama and Beyoncé); shelter (he renovated his West Village apartment and designed a home collection for retailer the Inside); and food (with his lifestyle site and The Purist, where he’s a contributing food editor). Now, Som’s creative gifts for cooking, style, and entertaining can fit on a shelf as he releases his first book: Family Style.

The California-raised, New York-based lifestyle guru (and self-described homebody/beach bum/Francophile) knew he wanted to be a fashion designer in 5th grade; was at various points obsessed with Grease and My Fair Lady and Isaac Mizrahi; majored in art history at Connecticut College; and went to Parsons School of Design. In addition to designing for his namesake label, he has designed for Tommy Hilfiger and collaborated with Anthropologie, Brightland, and Rent the Runway. His Pinterest board, “Indigo, Girl!,” pays homage to his favorite color.

Likes: summer; tomatoes; Stan Smiths, Lancaster skincare; Rimowa luggage, champagne with St. Germain; Japanese cuisine; red Sharpies; Made In sauté pans; bodega flowers; old movies.

Covets: a La Cornue stove range; going on safari.

Culinary heroes: Julia Child and Jacques Pepin.

Coffee order: French press coffee with oat milk in the autumn and winter; cold brew with pistachio milk in the spring and summer.

Collects: Wooden cutting boards

Good at: Making turkey meatballs (among many, many other things); sleeping

Bad at: Gardening; math.

Below, peruse the designer’s favorite books to add to your personal library.

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

The Stranger by Albert Camus.

Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten.

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan.

Showmance by Chad Beguelin.

Ottolenghi Comfort: A Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi with Helen Goh.

The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe by Jane Wagner.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. “All this happened, more or less.”

Atonement by Ian McEwan.

Angels in America by Tony Kushner.

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin.

Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.

A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham.

My Kitchen Year by Ruth Reichl.

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris.

Cher: The Memoir, Part One by Cher.

Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez.

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner.

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.

Library: Bibliothèque Mazarine in Paris. Bookstore: Three Lives and Company in New York City.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

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