Nantucket Style

This lackluster valentine takes the reader on a tour of the architecture and interior design of Nantucket, Mass., homes, with 300 photographs, 200 of which are in color. The black-and-white pictures fail to illustrate the text adequately: they are captioned on occasion with descriptions of color, and their somber tone is at variance with Linsley's assertion that ``everything is light and airy.'' Often photographer and writer (a husband and wife who have produced 35 style books) seem to be at cross-purposes, as when a caption refers to a claw-footed bathtub not seen in the picture, or describes details barely visible. And the text reads like a provincial gossip column, seasoned with inane or inconsequential commentary: ``It's interesting that there's no shoemaker on Nantucket,'' or ``There's nothing more traditional in a Nantucket home than an arrangement of freshly cut flowers.'' Devotees of the island would do better to turn to Taylor Lewis and Virginia Heard's Nantucket (Nonfiction Forecasts, May 11). (July)