Here’s a list of books that have been recommended to me in the last six months from a variety of good sources. Most of them are on the subject of art and aesthetics, but there are a few novels and cookbooks tossed in the mix as well.
From A, an artist friend, in conversation:
Blasted Allegories: An Anthology of Writings by Contemporary Artists, Brian Wallis, editor
Robert Smithson: The Collected Writings
Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists’ Writings, Peter Howard Selz, editor
The Eye’s Mind, Bridget Riley
The Daily Practice of Painting: Writings 1962-1993, Gerhard Richter,
From Raphael Rubenstein, editor of Art in America, in a lecture:
What Happened to Art Criticism? James Elkins
From Dave Hickey, (who Jerry Saltz called “the Emerson of our generation”), in a lecture:
Any Graham Greene
Any Nabokov
Gravity’s Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon
From A, again (that avid reader), in another conversation:
Poetry and the Fate of the Senses, Susan Stewart
On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection
The Open Studio: Essays on Art and Aesthetics, Susan Stewart
Gilead: A Novel, Marilynne Robinson
Housekeeping: A Novel, Marilynne Robinson
the girl & the fig cookbook : More than 100 Recipes from the Acclaimed California Wine Country Restaurant
From my good friend H, who is a superb cook, in conversation:
The Supper of the Lamb: A Culinary Reflection, Robert Farrar Capon
Feel free to add your own recommendations…
the fortress of solitude, by jonathan lethem
speak fiction and poetry!, the collected interviews of BOMB magazine
life after god, by douglas coupland
mysteries of pittsburg, by michael chabon
that richter book is not that good. i’ll sell it to you if you want. you should read donald kuspit’s essay on richter on artnet.com called “Richter: DOA.” That should sure you of wanting to read 30 years worth of garble.
i meant “cure you.” not “sure you.” i don’t know what that would mean.
Thanks for the additional recommendations Andrew. I can always count on you and A for thought-provoking, relevent reading lists. I’m glad to hear that the Richter book isn’t worth the investment (for an already tight book budget). I have loved reading him in short bursts, though — my favorite theory/criticism anthology, Art in Theory, 1900-2000 has several of his essays, which are just wonderful; definitely worth a read.