Holidays

The Best of Martha Stewart Living

by Martha Stewart

Here are hundreds of the best ideas for the holiday season, from Thanksgiving to New Year's, collected from the pages of Martha Stewart Living, one of America's hottest and fastest growing magazines. Includes party recipes, entertainment ideas, table settings, decorations, gifts, wrappings, and much more.

Genres: Cookbooks, Christmas, Nonfiction, Holiday, Cooking, Reference

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Martha Helen Stewart is an American retail businesswoman, writer, and television personality. As the founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, focusing on home and hospitality, she gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing publishing, broadcasting, merchandising and e-commerce. She has written numerous bestselling books, was the publisher of Martha Stewart Living magazine and hosted two syndicated television programs: Martha Stewart Living, which ran from 1993 to 2004, and The Martha Stewart Show, which ran from 2005 to 2012.
In 2004, Stewart was convicted of felony charges related to the ImClone stock trading case; she served five months in federal prison for fraud and was released in March 2005. There was speculation that the incident would effectively end her media empire, but in 2005 Stewart began a comeback campaign and her company returned to profitability in 2006. Stewart rejoined the board of directors of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia in 2011 and became chairwoman of her namesake company again in 2012. The company was acquired by Sequential Brands in 2015. Sequential Brands Group agreed in April 2019 to sell Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, including the Emeril brand, to Marquee Brands for $175 million with benchmarked additional payments.

Reviews

[Jules | Friday Night Readers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book because it's nonfiction from Gilmore Girls (Season 6, Episode 10 “He’s Slippin ‘Em Bread, Dig?”) for our Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge (https://fridaynightreaders.com/rory-g...) this month.

This book is like an elevated version of the magazine. It guides you from Thanksgiving through New Year’s with lots of recipes and other high-level seasonal inspiration along the way.

It was just what I needed at this moment. We are living in a world of more content, faster, and lower quality. This 1990s-era holiday guide forces us, instead, to take a step back and pay attention to seasonal content of the most thoughtful and detailed kind. I so miss the days of magazines and catalogs when every little thing mattered and the end product was more important than getting attention. The cookie recipes are abundant and unique, and I want to make and eat every single one. There were also elements that felt aspirational, and I liked that eye candy, even if I won’t actually do it.

It’s for anyone who misses magazine culture and anyone who loves Martha. It’s a lovely way to spend an hour with a warm beverage and decide what inspiration you want to try yourself.

[Meg Onthemove Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little old fashioned these days but it has a lot of up market recipes.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I copied two recipes to try, otherwise I've seen better from MSL.

[Stefanie Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

""