Arguably the finest architect and designer to hail from the banks of the Clyde, Scotland's Charles Rennie Mackintosh is known worldwide. His unique style combined straight geometrical lines with the sinuous curves of Art Nouveau and the organic symbolism of the English Arts and Crafts movement. A for

Art nouveau furniture, Arts & crafts furniture, Decorative, Eclectic, Elegant, Geometric, Organic, Surface

Constantly surprising and consistently visionary, composer and bandleader Duke Ellington was the rare performer who was both a consummate entertainer and a musical genius respected by his peers. Ellington's orchestra, which he led for 50 years, was a showcase for his vision and a springboard for a lo

Cool, Elegant, Moody, Overflowing, Swing/big band

It might seem as if she lived an entire lifetime during the writing of "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek." Her voice is that of a wizened old woman with boundless patience and an endless amount of time to observe the smallest sublime moments in nature. But in fact, Annie Dillard wrote the book while she was s

Clever, Contemplative, Elegant, Intense, Literary fiction, Witty

The popular media has adopted the name Lolita to describe any sexually precocious young woman with a penchant for twisting older men around her finger. The original Lolita, however, was a more mythical creature, a "nymphet" (Nabokov coined the word especially for her), who at a mere 12 years of age c

Charming, Dense, Elegant, Erotic, Lush, Post-war literature, Witty