AROUND HOME : English Countryside Needlepoint

STAFFORD WHITEAKER (Ballantine Books; 1988)

WHITEAKER WAXES eloquent, with plenty of pastoral illustrations, about the joys of life and flora in rural England. The needlepoint designs have only the most cursory instructions; for needle-pointers who know how to set up a canvas and aren’t intimidated by choosing their own colors, this could be a cherished book: lovely florals, neat repeats, bright borders. More photographs of finished work would have been welcomed in the place of those bucolic scenes and Whiteaker’s rather unnecessary gardening information. ($24.95)