Book reviews and more!

Posts tagged with ‘Visual Arts’

THE STORM OF CREATIVITY by Kyna Leski

April 20, 2016

THE ELEMENTS OF CREATIVITY explored. Lovely, spare prose! Examples from nature, science, architecture, arts. A MINUS

THE STORM OF CREATIVITY
MIT Press
2015

Grade: A MINUS

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THE PINECONE, by Jenny Uglow

February 13, 2013

ENGAGING BIOGRAPHY OF architect, artist, antiquarian Sarah Losh, whose 1840s church in Wreay still delights.

Grade: B PLUS

THE PINECONE: THE STORY OF SARAH LOSH, FORGOTTEN ROMANTIC HEROINE---ANTIQUARIAN, ARCHITECT, AND VISIONARY
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
2013

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CAVEAT EMPTOR, by Ken Perenyi

December 31, 2012

WILD, ROUGH AND TUMBLE memoir by a high-end art forger of his checkered career and jet set life.  Unruly fun!

Grade: SOLID B

CAVEAT EMPTOR: THE SECRET LIFE OF AN AMERICAN ART FORGER
Pegasus
2012

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HOW SHOULD A PERSON BE? by Sheila Heti

November 24, 2012

UNFLINCHINGLY COMPLEX AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL novel follows a young writer’s search for friendship, love, and art.

Grade: B PLUS

HOW SHOULD A PERSON BE? A NOVEL FROM LIFE
Henry Holt
2012

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HOT ART, by Joshua Knelman

September 4, 2012

ART THEFT, LOOKED at from the perspectives of detectives, lawmakers, victims, and even thieves. Eye-opening!

Grade: SOLID B

HOT ART: CHASING THIEVES AND DETECTIVES THROUGH THE SECRET WORLD OF STOLEN ART
Tin House Books
2012

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SOME OF MY LIVES, by Rosamond Bernier

May 3, 2012

AN ELEGANT COLLAGE OF a memoir from writer, art historian Rosamond Bernier; fun and gossipy about the greats.

Grade: SOLID B

SOME OF MY LIVES: A SCRAPBOOK MEMOIR
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
2011

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JUST MY TYPE, by Simon Garfield

March 25, 2012

CHATTY, IRREVERENT HISTORY of typeface design is delightful fun for font nerds and neophytes alike.

Grade: SOLID B

JUST MY TYPE: A BOOK ABOUT FONTS
Penguin
2011

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THE MEMORY PALACE, by Mira Bartók

August 13, 2011

GORGEOUS, TERRIFYING, HEART-STOPPING memoir of an artist’s life in flight from a schizophrenic mother’s rages.

Grade: B PLUS

THE MEMORY PALACE
Simon and Schuster
2011

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THE ALICE BEHIND WONDERLAND, by Simon Winchester

March 31, 2011

POETIC, CHARMING LITTLE reverie on the most famous photograph by “Lewis Carroll” of his girl-muse Alice Liddell.

Grade: B PLUS

THE ALICE BEHIND WONDERLAND
Oxford University Press
2011

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