mission101 February_March_April_May Books

[gaeln9796]

Normally, I post once a month regarding my book consumption but my computer went bad, I lost tons of information, had to refigure out so much, and consequently, got disgusted. So, it's taken until now to catch-up.

I've also decided on a new format. I'm posting all the book covers to flickr with a short synopsis on each. If a book interests, click on its cover and you will be transported to flickr and my concise run-down. Otherwise, I just like how it looks...pretty colors.


         
February
Art
1.Research Abstract Expressionism_Irving Sandler’s The Triumph of American Painting: A History of Abstract Expressionism
2. Research Rauschenberg & Johns_Gavin Butt’s Between You and Me: Queer Disclosures in the New York Art World, 1948-1963
Reading
1. Read every book offered up at my book club_due in March
5. Read one additional fiction/ non-fiction book per month_Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit and Three Other Plays
6. Read one poetry book per month_J. D. McClatchy (editor) The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry
9. Read one book per month about writing or poetry_James Wood’s How Fiction Works

         
March_began my second year so, changes were made
Art_remained the same for this month only
1. Research Abstract Expression_Irving Sandler’s The New York School: the Painters & Sculptors of the Fifties
Remains the same forever
1. Research Rauschenberg & Johns_Barbara Hess’s Johns: Business of the Eye
Reading_remained the same
1. Bookclub_Kathryn Stockett’s The Help
5. Read one additional fiction/ non-fiction book per month_Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own
Reading_changed from -- 9. Read one book per month about writing or poetry to
9. How to: Daishin Buksbazen’s Zen Meditation
Deleted_6. Read one poetry book per month_Task Completed

     
April
Art_changed from research Abstract Expressionism to
1. Research POST Abstract Expressionism_Andy Warhol’s Popism
Art
1. Research Rauschenberg & Johns_Max Kazloff’s Jasper Johns
Reading
1. Bookclub_due in May
5. Read one additional fiction/ non-fiction book per month_John Cage’s Silence
9. How to: Annelian Hagon’s The Yoga Face

       
May
Art
1. Research post Abstract Expressionism_Irving Sandler’s American Art of the Sixties
2. Research Rauschenberg & Johns_Robert Saltonstall Mattison’s Masterworks in the Robert and Jane Meyerhaff Collection-
Jasper Johns_Roy Lichtenstein_Robert Rauschengerg_Ellsworth Kelley_Frank Stella
Reading
1. Bookclub_John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces
5. Read one additional fiction/ non-fiction book per month_Henry Blake Fuller’s Bertram Cope’s Year
9. How to: Susan Sontag's On Photograph

Comments

[corposant.livejournal.com]

I've been looking for some new reads. I would love some recommendations!

[gaeln.livejournal.com]

do any of these interest you? Otherwise, have you some vague idea of what you what to read fiction? nonfiction? As you can see, I mostly read nonfiction based on whatever interest I'm looking into. Right now, it's mostly photography and, obviously, art. On my flickr I have maybe 60 books each with a little synopsis. Let me know.

[corposant.livejournal.com]

I read just about anything, be it fiction or nonfiction. You have a great spread on your Flickr. Is there any particular novel you read that struck you?

[gaeln.livejournal.com]

John Kennedy Tool's Confederacy of Dunces (fiction) and not just because it was the last one I read. He speaks from so many different New Orleans voices and each sounds, to my ear, authentic. The story is simple yet complex, because of all the different characters and he really does bring it to a satisfying conclusion.

You said novel but not many are novels so...

Joe LeSueur's Digressions on Some Poems by Frank O'Hara (nonfiction) but you'd kind of need to have read and enjoy O'Hara's poetry and 1950's New York. I've read this book twice and will read it again. His style is breezing and he has all this inside understanding of the poems and the times.

Both of the above books were found in the authors' papers and published after they had died, Toole from suicide at 32 in the late 1970s I think and LeSueur in his 70's in 2001.

Richard E. Cytowic's The Man Who Tasted Shapes (nonfiction) which deals with the interesting ways certain people process information, seeing sounds, tasting shapes, and was written over a long period of time as the author learned more and more.

There are others, obviously, if nothing here interests you, let me know.

Have you one novel to recommend? I always need help with a book for my bookclub who tend to like novels more so than nonfiction.

[corposant.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the recommendation!

Currently I'm reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (non-fiction) about the creation of the first immortal human cell line and all the biopolitics and social injustice that came with it. It's really an amazing story. The HeLa line, as the cell line from Henrietta Lacks was called, is most used cell line in science but no one really knows her and her family's story.

In the fiction side, I'm reading Adverbs by Daniel Handler (better known as Lemony Snicket. It's a collection of vignettes about love, falling in love, falling out of love, etc. It's an interesting read and Handler has a very distinctive style.

[gaeln.livejournal.com]

and thank you
the first sounds especially interesting, I think the daughter would enjoy it as well.