Rachael King is the author of Pattern Pulse, which is a colorful and lively coffee table book of surface designs by 100 Australian designers. Ms King had come across other books on design that she’d really liked. These included included Print and Pattern, which came from a blog by Bowie Style. This features surface designs from artists around the world.

Pattern Euphoria by Shaoqiang Wang is another book of designs, inspired by botanic shapes, the animal kingdom and abstract designs.

Lotta Kuhlhorn’s handbook Designing Patterns was another favorite. It shows how to use everyday situations as inspiration for designing patterns.

Pattern was by Orla Kiely, an Irish designer, based in London. Pattern gives an insight into her creative process. She covers design elements like scale and proportion, rhythm, texture and color.

For fiction, Ms King liked Vanishing Falls by Poppy Gee, which is a psychological mystery about the disappearance of socialite Celia Lily in Vanishing Falls, a remote Tasmanian town.

Ms King also liked Boy Swallows Universe and All the Shimmering Stars by Trent Dalton.

Other favorites included The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton, and The Long Road Home by Fiona McCallum. Ms King was also a fan of Jane Harper, author of Survivors and The Lost Man.

Ms King also liked Becoming by Michelle Obama.

-see patternpulse.com.au for info on Pattern Pulse by Rachael King.

-copyright readersvoice.com.