Ascending Peculiarity - Karen Wilken

"But my least favorite author in all the world--how could I have forgotten? Henry James. I hate Henry James more than tongue can tell. I have read everything he wrote, sometimes more than once. I think he's the worst writer in the English language. Those endless sentences. I always pick up Henry James and I think, Oooh! This is wonderful! And then I will hear a little sound. And it's the plug being pulled. And the whole thing is going down the drain like the bathwater."

You don't want to be rich and famous?

"I think it would be worse. More of the same and worse."

Somewhat an auto/biography, this book consists of articles about and interviews with Edward Gorey spanning a twenty-five year period. The title comes from a description by Gorey of his process of organizing one of his books, it aptly applies to him personally. Most peculiar and also most wonderful is he. His drawings, of which many are shown in this book, are odd and delightful to view.

The book reveals much about a man who chose to remain quite private during his life. He seems to have always been unique even among artists. A voracious reader, he would often read books, even ones he disliked, several times. He was also voracious in his viewing of movies and the ballet. As opposed to a biography, the articles and interviews are an interesting way to learn about Gorey. If you enjoy Gorey's work, you will most likely very much enjoy this book.

American Photobooth - Nakki Goranin

How did all of these orphaned photos come into my life? For twenty-five years, I have been collecting all types of historical photos, which have influenced my time and vision in the darkroom. The past ten years or so I have focused on searching for photobooth pictures. These tiny time fragments can be found in garage sales and auctions and on the Internet. Like the forgotten images they are, it has been impossible to track down the original owners or their families. Traded, packed in old scrapbooks, outliving the smiling faces, all these photographs have finally found a home in this book.

I never thought about collecting photobooth pictures, but after reading this book, I am tempted. The collection of photo strips in this book take you back in time and into candid moments in people's lives. It seems everyone is having a good time in a photobooth and the photos are fun to view. Now, the photobooth with the advent of digital cameras and phones with cameras, is going the way of pinball machines. I loved looking at the photos in this book with such an innocence portrayed in the privacy of the booth. I also smiled at the silliness that the booth and camera can bring out in people.

The first part of this book is a history of the photobooth. It documents the original idea of a camera, studio, and photolab all in one compact unit. It is a story of inventiveness and entrepreneurship. Photobooths produced nice incomes for many people throughout much of the twentieth century. From Woolworth department stores to County Fairs and Boardwalks, the photobooth produced inexpensive memories for the average person.

Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling - Ross King

Fresco painting called for numerous preparatory stages, but among the most vital and indispensable were the drawings by which designs were worked out and then transferred to the wall. Before a single stroke of paint could be applied to the vault of the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo needed to produce hundreds of sketches to establish both the intricate body language of the characters and the overall composition of the various scenes. The poses for many of his figures, including the dispositions of their hands and expressions on their faces, were composed through six or seven separate studies, which means he may have executed over 1,000 drawings in the course of his work on the fresco. These ranged from tiny scribbles--thumbnail sketches called primo pensieri, or "first thoughts"--to dozens of highly detailed, larger-than-life cartoons.

This book details more than one of history's greatest artistic accomplishments, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, it also encompasses the historical times, the politics of the day, the state of the church, the art of fresco painting, and, of course, Michelangelo's life and artistic challenges. It is a fascinating tale which reads like a novel. The book often reads more like a history book than one about art, however, the historical events of the day are both intriguing and intertwined with Michelangelo's work.

While filled with details, I still found the writing kept me glued to the story. The times and events surrounding the period of this painting are remarkable. If you love history and art, this will be a very enjoyable book for you. From an art lover's perspective, I would have liked to have seen more space dedicated to how dazzling Michelangelo's achievement must have been to the people who first saw it and how it continues to be a pinnacle of art today.

Bicycle Diaries - David Byrne

This point of view--faster than a walk, slower than a train, often slightly higher than a person--became my panoramic window on much of the world over the last thirty years--and it still is. It's a big window and it looks out on a mainly urban landscape. (I'm not a racer or sports cyclist.) Through this window I catch glimpses of the mind of my fellow man, as expressed in the cities he lives in. Cities, it occurred to me, are physical manifestations of our deepest beliefs and our unconscious thoughts, not so much as individuals, but as the social animals we are. A cognitive scientist need only look at what we have made--the hives we have created--to know what we think and what we believe to be important, as well as how we structure those thoughts and beliefs. It's all there, in plain view, right out in the open; you don't need CAT scans and cultural anthropologists to show you what's going on inside the human mind; its inner workings are manifested in three dimensions, all around us. Our values an hopes are sometimes embarrassingly easy to read. They're right there--in the storefronts, museums, temples, shops, and office buildings and in how these structures interrelate, or sometimes don't. They say, in their unique visual language, "This is what we think matters, this is how we live and how we play."

David Byrne, made famous by his group the Talking Heads, has been riding a bicycle in cities around the world since the 1970s. He travels with a folding bike as part of his luggage. This book is based on his observations and thoughts derived from his bicycling experiences.

The book begins with a description of the pleasures and advantages of bike riding as opposed to other forms of transportation. Byrne is a keen observer of cities, especially their infastructure. The writing often diverges into art, politics, and other interests of Byrne. Much of this is thoughtful and insightful, although a long way from bicycle observations. I had expected the book to be much more focused on bicycle experiences. It is largely a diary with the bicycle providing an entre into thoughts and people in particular cities. Still, this is an enjoyable read which I recommend. If you already like David Byrne, you should definitely read this book.

Angel's World - Michael Lesy

By photographing himself, Rizzuto affirmed his own presence; by photographing the suffering of others as well as by recording the awesome shape of a man-made world, Rizzuto used his camera to lessen the pain of loneliness and to transcend his fear and anger. He used his camera to confirm himself, to enter and discover the world, and then to rise above it. His loneliness, his persistent vision, and his transcendence are what he shares with all photographers who have embarked on solitary quests that have transformed and restored them to themselves.

Subtitled "The New York Photographs of Angelo Rizzuto", this photography book is a strange look into an unusual photographer. The first forty pages are a fascinating tale of the author uncovering the bizarre life of Rizzuto. Filling the majority of this book are the photographs which perfectly fit the tortured mind of a man who happens to love photography.

Angel died in 1967, leaving $50,000 and 60,000 photographs to the Library of Congress on the condition they publish a book of his photographs. A small printing satisfied the Library's obligation and Rizzuto remained essentially anonymous. Michael Lesy found and became fascinated with Rizzuto's work, publishing this wonderful book in 2006. The photographs document life in New York from the demented mind of Rizzuto. This is not your typical photography book of lovely pictures or a documentary tale. Some of the New York photos are reminiscent of Atget's documentation of ordinary life in Paris. Much of the work presented, however, shows an unusual fascination with women and self-portraiture. A good book if you can enjoy understanding an unusual mind through photos. I did.