General

[Heather]

I see that there is this thread in a lot of other groups. Since this is a book site, let's discuss our books!

I know we are about to start our January book read and we can discuss that particular book, but for those of us who are reading something else, or reading other books in addition to our chosen book, let's hear your reviews and thoughts also!

(And this thread doesn't have to be limited to art books. Share whatever you are in to!)

[Heather]

I am one of those who have a hard time actually finishing a book (as you have probably noticed). I believe the reason is that I have started so many of them!

I plan on participating in the next group read, but for Christmas I specifically requested the Diaries of Virginia Woolf. I got the first two volumes and am dying to delve into them!

I will keep you posted.

[Lobstergirl]

I just started Rackstraw Downes. Three essays and lots of color plates. Downes, a Brit, trained at the Yale school of art in the 1960s along with Richard Serra, Chuck Close, and others. He quickly turned away from abstraction to realism. He's a plein air painter (unless doing interior scenes), painting finely detailed vistas which are natural, or urban, or industrial, or suburban. (He might carry 50 lbs. of equipment in a backpack to the site, arriving at 6:30 a.m. and staying all day.) Many times his paintings are extremely long but not very tall - panoramic.


New Plantings in Millenium Park After Labor Day Rains of 2002

[Heather]

Well, last night I started reading All Rain, No Mud: Simple Secrets for Happiness ... Even on Rainy Days
by Sharon G. Larsen

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13...

By the description, it seemed that it could apply to all aspects of life to "reframe and revitalize our lives". I read the first four chapters, which are not long at all (either is the book, for that matter). I was disappointed. I felt that her personal stories were interesting and brought up some good ideas. But they seemed to be more focused on life within the family and how it has affected her own happiness. As far as I have read, I guess to me, it was four chapters of short stories. Her situations are so drastically different than mine, I couldn't relate. I have never had a perfect daughter or a wayward son. See them grow up, and how to deal with it by creating memories and learning experiences. I haven't even had a child of my own. How can I compare?

Maybe I'm not giving it a chance. I might pick it up again in the next day or two. At most, it will be one book I actually finish! (80 pages, gotta start somewhere!)

[Carol]

While flying 7 hrs today, I finished reading - Seven Days in the Art World by Sarah Thornton. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34...

It's a book about 7 different environments of the art world:
* an auction (at Christie's in NYC)
* a MFA crit session (at CalArt)
* a visit to the Basel art fair (Switzerland)
* the Turner prize in London
* a visit to Artforum (magazine)
* a visit to the studio of Japanese artist Takashi Murakami
* a trip to the Venice Biennale

Overall it was an easy read, but as an artist it bothered me.
I have been to an art auction at Sothebys and have personally, gone through many critiques, so I could relate. What bothered me in this book was that after an artist creates their "work of art", it becomes a "commodity" of the self-centered, big money collectors. It's not really about the art but about money and being in the elitist clique.

[Heather]

I just started Smart Women/Foolish Choices: Finding the Right Men Avoiding the Wrong Ones. I got to page 6 and noticed that it had been highlighted once before...by me! Apparently, I've read it, or some of it, previously. I guess I don't learn the first time...

Here is a quote I liked (the one I had underlined):

"[As psychologists]we find, so often, that the more intelligent and sophisticated the woman, the more self-defeating and foolish her choices and her patterns of behavior with romantic partners".

Interesting.

[Lobstergirl]

It pays to be a dumb rube!

[Ed]

Heather wrote: "I just started Smart Women/Foolish Choices: Finding the Right Men Avoiding the Wrong Ones. I got to page 6 and noticed that it had been highlighted once before...by me! Apparently, I'..."

I think as a general rule, and this goes for guys too, the smarter you are the more clever you an be at self-rationalization.

[Ed]

I'm reading
Unseen Warhol , by John O'Connor

Here's the books I have been reading in January.
Freedom from the Known , by Jiddu Krishnamurti

Rabbit Run
John, Updike

van Gogh
Naifeh, Steven

The Freemasons: A History of the World's Most Powerful Secret Society
Ridley, Jasper

de Kooning: An American Master
Stevens, Mark

That Old Ace In The Hole
Proulx, Annie

Joan Mitchell, Lady Painter: A Life

[Heather]

wow, Ed. Quite ambitious! The Freemasons book looks interesting. Well, they all do!

[Ed]

Heather wrote: "wow, Ed. Quite ambitious! The Freemasons book looks interesting. Well, they all do!"
I had the advantage of asking for three of the books for Christmas, and coming down with a bad cold just before New Years. I'd gotten some books from the library and all I could do was sleep and read!

Writing the Freemasons book was an interesting challenge for the author in that a lot of it totally interleaved with history, so he had to very quickly get a lot of background in. Mostly the societies, which already accepted some honorary members that were not masons, as far back as the middle ages accepted members regardless of religious beliefs. I don't think there were any other societies that accepted Jewish as well as Christian members that early. (Not sure on that one.) Politically, they tended to echo whatever beliefs their societies had, but they tended towards two very positive tendencies, one accepting of other faiths, and two, tending towards a belief in individual freedom and toleration. They tended to become very political and revolutionary in repressive theocratic societies. (Generalissimo Franco, wrote a number of hysterical screeds against the Masons.) They did not--except for the French--accept female members.

[Rachel]

So I just read (here is my review:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...).

It was okay, but I was much more interested in the history of how art has been taught than with the discussion of critiques. Has anyone read any good books about the history of how art is/was taught?

[Heather]

May 24, 2019

Hello everyone! Since this folder was created 8 years ago, it has since been forgotten until Deborah brought up the point that it would be great if we could share our readings with each other.

I am enjoying her comments on the book she is reading now, and the comment she posted in the February Picture of the Day thread about the shoes was really interesting (side note: That was an appropriate place to post that comment).
But little things like that which we are discovering in our reading can be fun to share! I like to learn about different books and I'm always adding to my 'to-read' shelf.

Also, if you are going to discuss one particular book, feel free, rather please do, create a thread for your book so we can follow along with the one topic and know where to comment. Thank you!

[Geoffrey]

Ed wrote: "Heather wrote: "I just started Smart Women/Foolish Choices: Finding the Right Men Avoiding the Wrong Ones. I got to page 6 and noticed that it had been highlighted once before...by me..."

My ex sister-in-law published a book SMART MAN HUNTING abut 20 years ago, Ed. It probably goes along the same lines as your book.

[Heather]

Geoffrey, that was the book I was reading, so should i check out your sister in laws book, too? I can’t seem to be learning from what I’ve read so far.... lol

[Geoffrey]

She had appeared on several talk shows at local stations but couldn't get sales up high enough to have Borders carry it on their shelves. You had to order it through them and the book would arrive in 4 to 8 weeks. I never bothered particularly because she didn't have nice things to say about my brother.

[Heather]

I understand. I don’t blame you.

[Geoffrey]

Heather wrote: "I am one of those who have a hard time actually finishing a book (as you have probably noticed). I believe the reason is that I have started so many of them!

I plan on participating in the next gr..."

I sometimes have read as many as 5 books at the same time and go back and forth according to mood. I just finished Graham greene's The Quiet American and was suitably impressed. I prefer novels with complex characters and complex moral dilemmas. No Johnathan Livingston Seagulls for me.