moimoi
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Post by moimoi on Sept 7, 2021 11:10:06 GMT -5
Update 18: I have completed How Long 'Til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemison for "Year One, UFO"
This collection of short stories includes 2-3 that formed the basis of novels and many more spanning a variety of settings, time periods, and writing styles. My favorites were "Red Dirt Witch", "The Effluent Engine" (not a promising title, but I think this could inspire a cool steampunk series), "Brides of Heaven", "The Evaluators", "On the Banks of the River Lex" (entertaining, but I bit derivative of American Gods), "The Narcomancer", "Too Many Yesterdays, Not Enough Tomorrows" (could inspire a YA series), and "Sinners, Saints, Dragons, and Haints, in the City Beneath the Still Waters". I found the harder sci-fi stuff pretty skippable.
How Well Did It Fit the Theme of the Challenge/Why I Picked This: Very well. It has stories about aliens and stuff. I chose this because N.K. Jemison is frequently recommended as a POC genre author to check out. I figure if I must read sci-fi, might as well mix it up.
How likely would you have been to read the book without the challenge? Not at all. sci-fi is still not my jam.
What's Next? Delirious New York is heady stuff so I'm not exactly whipping through it. We'll see how I do with Grace Jones' autobiography as bedside reading.
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moimoi
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Post by moimoi on Sept 29, 2021 16:43:34 GMT -5
Update 19: I have completed Delirious New York by Rem Koolhaas for "Fountains"
I was expecting architectural theory/history; what I got was a po-mo mindfuck (a la Griel Marcus's Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of Punk) that descends into total surrealism. The prose in this book reads like the voiceover for a documentary, with stills and captions taking the place of the visual portion. It's certainly the only architecture book I've come across to feature male frontal nudity (although perhaps it shouldn't be...?)
How Well Did It Fit the Theme of the Challenge/Why I Picked This: The other architecture book I was going to read looks a little dry and I had already started this. I think the only Koolhaas building I've ever been in is the McCormick Center at IIT, which is pretty out-there.
How likely would you have been to read the book without the challenge? Yes, I started last year, after finishing my Louder Than Bombs challenge. Within a week I could tell I was in over my head, though.
What's Next? Grace Jones will be done tomorrow, so I'll be starting Old In Art School and The Lonely City simultaneously. Still aiming for Halloween to to complete this challenge!
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moimoi
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Post by moimoi on Sept 30, 2021 10:40:05 GMT -5
Update 20: I have completed I'll Never Write My Memoirs by Grace Jones for "Steve McQueen"
I'm not sure how much of this was ghost-written by Paul Morley, prominent British music critic, but overall, it's a good read. Jones has a colorful, fabulous, interesting life and she speaks about her experiences in a surprisingly down-to-earth...relatable? even?...way. Very 'cool auntie' energy.
How Well Did It Fit the Theme of the Challenge/Why I Picked This: Although I'll always associate Grace Jones with her 80s output and her role as Mayday in View to a Kill (a film I saw in the theater when I was very small because Duran Duran), a significant chunk of the book covers her Studio 54 disco diva days. She has lovely things to say about Keith Haring, Issey Miyake, and particularly Island Records founder Chris Blackwell. She's also very forthcoming about her drug use and excesses, which brings the period to life.
How likely would you have been to read the book without the challenge? I like music books, so this was on my list. I'm glad I finally had an excuse to take it on.
What's Next? Nell Painter's memoir Old in Art School will be an interesting compliment to what I just read, given Jones' artistic focus. The Lonely City is my waiting room reading, since it's physically lighter than Berlin Alexanderplatz.
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moimoi
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Post by moimoi on Oct 8, 2021 23:02:08 GMT -5
Update 21: I have completed The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone by Olivia Laing for "Outro" The New Yorker blurb on the cover says "a beautiful meander of a book" and meander is right. What starts as a meditation on urban alienation through the lens of visual art quickly becomes 'a few famous white male artists' adventures in midcentury NYC, with an inexplicable digression into outsider art and a half-assed nod toward black people at the end'. Laing is an engaging writer and I whipped through the first few chapters, where she seemed to be using different artists to contrast the different aspects of loneliness she herself was experiencing while living in New York, such as estrangement from one's partner (Hopper), apprehension over being known/understood (Warhol), and social ostracism (Wojnarowicz). Then for some reason, she focuses a rather long and disturbing chapter on the Chicago outsider artist (who probably never set foot in NYC) Henry Darger. I suppose this introduces poverty, mental illness, and extreme deprivation as elements of loneliness, but I'm not sure how this relates back to the experiences of a writer/audience who ostensibly haven't suffered from anything like Darger's backstory. The next chapter starts off about Klaus Nomi (who I love, but who was not a visual artist per se), but moves back to Warhol and Wojnarowicz and a whole lot about the AIDS epidemic. Of course, grief and illness can be aspects of loneliness, but if she's trying to tie that to NYC, there are a lot of different directions she could go (like...9/11?) instead of just sticking with gay white male artists active from the 60s-80s. Don't women get lonely? Or are male artists' experiences supposed to be universal? She talks a bit about Nan Goldin as a friend of Wojnarowicz and she acknowledges the existence of Vivian Maier out in Chicago, but the only other woman that gets any consideration is Billie Holliday for a few pages at the end (also not a visual artist). She tries to tie her in via the song "Strange Fruit" whose central metaphor about lynching escapes her notice (she seems to think it's just about black people being mistreated/neglected). She also throws in a few pages at the end about how close Warhol was to Basquiat, noting the latter's insatiable appetite for drugs (I wonder why...). It's just really unfocused. If you're going to focus on visual artists, maybe throw in some women or POC? If you're going to focus on NYC, maybe throw in some writers or filmmakers (about half a dozen come to mind)? How Well Did It Fit the Theme of the Challenge/Why I Picked This: My only requirement was that it have a bibliography or endnotes, and it certainly does that. I picked this up while browsing one of Chicago's many fine independent bookstores and I feel like this was a bit of a misfire. How likely would you have been to read the book without the challenge? Likely, if I were still commuting by train regularly. What's Next? Almost done with Old in Art School...watch this space. |
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moimoi
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Post by moimoi on Oct 11, 2021 11:45:43 GMT -5
Update 22: I have completed Old In Art School by Nell Painter for "Echoes of Mine"
Nell Irvin Painter is a super accomplished historian and the author of The History of White People. She is also a geeky and insecure artist without much capacity for introspection or self-reflection. That's what I took from her memoir, in which she seems oblivious to the huge chip on her shoulder that she carries as an older student, as a black woman navigating the world of western art, and as an academic approaching a non-academic discipline. I don't begrudge Painter her desire to seriously take up art after a successful academic career - that's why I wanted to read this in the first place. What I did have trouble with was her overachiever approach: deciding after her BFA that she needed an MFA (despite being advised against it by respected mentors) and complaining that she had to go settle for RISDA (which she trashes repeatedly) after failing to get into fucking Yale. During all this, her mother dies, her father descends into depression and ill health, and she publishes a NYT bestseller with barely any consideration of how this affected her mental state, let alone her artmaking plans. The amount of detail she goes into about what she learned in school and her process starts out interesting, but gets increasingly tedious even as the quality of her art improves. By the end, I did have a better understanding of what she was trying to accomplish and I respected her hard work, but I didn't find her story relatable.
How Well Did It Fit the Theme of the Challenge/Why I Picked This: As part of my effort to read more women and POC, I knew I wanted to read a female POC author. Painter seemed like a good choice, and based on the final chapters, I'll keep an eye on her work (including her history books).
How likely would you have been to read the book without the challenge? Not that likely.
What's Next? I'm on the final book of the challenge! The Weimar-lit classic Berlin Alexanderplatz.
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Oct 12, 2021 9:32:23 GMT -5
Update 22: I have completed Old In Art School by Nell Painter for "Echoes of Mine" Nell Irvin Painter is a super accomplished historian and the author of The History of White People. She is also a geeky and insecure artist without much capacity for introspection or self-reflection. That's what I took from her memoir, in which she seems oblivious to the huge chip on her shoulder that she carries as an older student, as a black woman navigating the world of western art, and as an academic approaching a non-academic discipline. I don't begrudge Painter her desire to seriously take up art after a successful academic career - that's why I wanted to read this in the first place. What I did have trouble with was her overachiever approach: deciding after her BFA that she needed an MFA (despite being advised against it by respected mentors) and complaining that she had to go settle for RISDA (which she trashes repeatedly) after failing to get into fucking Yale. During all this, her mother dies, her father descends into depression and ill health, and she publishes a NYT bestseller with barely any consideration of how this affected her mental state, let alone her artmaking plans. The amount of detail she goes into about what she learned in school and her process starts out interesting, but gets increasingly tedious even as the quality of her art improves. By the end, I did have a better understanding of what she was trying to accomplish and I respected her hard work, but I didn't find her story relatable. How Well Did It Fit the Theme of the Challenge/Why I Picked This: As part of my effort to read more women and POC, I knew I wanted to read a female POC author. Painter seemed like a good choice, and based on the final chapters, I'll keep an eye on her work (including her history books). How likely would you have been to read the book without the challenge? Not that likely. What's Next? I'm on the final book of the challenge! The Weimar-lit classic Berlin Alexanderplatz. Did you get to see any pictures of her art, and if so, what did you think of it? |
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moimoi
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Posts: 5,090
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Post by moimoi on Oct 12, 2021 10:42:41 GMT -5
Update 22: I have completed Old In Art School by Nell Painter for "Echoes of Mine" Nell Irvin Painter is a super accomplished historian and the author of The History of White People. She is also a geeky and insecure artist without much capacity for introspection or self-reflection. That's what I took from her memoir, in which she seems oblivious to the huge chip on her shoulder that she carries as an older student, as a black woman navigating the world of western art, and as an academic approaching a non-academic discipline. I don't begrudge Painter her desire to seriously take up art after a successful academic career - that's why I wanted to read this in the first place. What I did have trouble with was her overachiever approach: deciding after her BFA that she needed an MFA (despite being advised against it by respected mentors) and complaining that she had to go settle for RISDA (which she trashes repeatedly) after failing to get into fucking Yale. During all this, her mother dies, her father descends into depression and ill health, and she publishes a NYT bestseller with barely any consideration of how this affected her mental state, let alone her artmaking plans. The amount of detail she goes into about what she learned in school and her process starts out interesting, but gets increasingly tedious even as the quality of her art improves. By the end, I did have a better understanding of what she was trying to accomplish and I respected her hard work, but I didn't find her story relatable. How Well Did It Fit the Theme of the Challenge/Why I Picked This: As part of my effort to read more women and POC, I knew I wanted to read a female POC author. Painter seemed like a good choice, and based on the final chapters, I'll keep an eye on her work (including her history books). How likely would you have been to read the book without the challenge? Not that likely. What's Next? I'm on the final book of the challenge! The Weimar-lit classic Berlin Alexanderplatz. Did you get to see any pictures of her art, and if so, what did you think of it? The book has small pictures of her work, from her BFA studies onward. I thought her initial drawings were pretty mediocre and I still don't think she has a great sense of composition (for example, her imaginary maps concept is really interesting, but the execution is muddled). I think she improved when she moved away from figurative drawing started incorporating digital manipulation and mixed media, though I'm still not a fan of the text she often adds. These are the pieces that I enjoy the most: www.nellpainter.com/assets/images-art/swampy/swampy-land-8_360x449.jpgwww.nellpainter.com/assets/images-art/motherwell/2d-motherwell-in-dedham-8_601x433.jpgwww.nellpainter.com/assets/images-art/motherwell/3g-motherwell-in-the-adirondacks-17_432x432.jpgwww.nellpainter.com/assets/images-art/2010-selfportrait/selfportrait11_w334.jpgI also wonder how much of her drive to create art with a black historical perspective is motivated by the success of Kara Walker, who has a pretty similar background (daughter of west-coast academics, BFA from Mason Gross, MFA from RISDA) and who gets a lot of attention from the art establishment. Walker's work is, IMO, much more clever and confrontational, both in its historical allusions and its explicitness. Painter plays it pretty safe, and I don't think she understands that that's not what the art world is looking for. |
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moimoi
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Post by moimoi on Oct 28, 2021 10:54:21 GMT -5
Update 23: I have completed Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Doblin for "Klaus I Love You" The book's blurbs from Walter Benjamin and Rainer Werner Fassbinder should have clued me in to the challenging reading experience ahead, but alas, I went into 'the German Ulysses' without preparation for this "gruesome, farcical, appalling, word drunk, and pitch-dark" tale of a petty criminal trying to go straight after a stint in jail and failing miserably. I take some issue with the claim of farce, since I found very little amusement in a tale so frequently peppered with violence against women, slaughterhouse imagery, and the biblical Whore of Babylon. But that's probably as good a description as any of what this innovative work is like. In some places it's very good (at least, this new English translation from the NYRB), but a lot of it - particularly the first half of the book - is like a test. How Well Did It Fit the Theme of the Challenge/Why I Picked This: I probably should have just read more Kafka - he's actually quite funny. I took this one on because it's one of the 100 greatest fictional works of all time ( per the Guardian), I love a challenge, and the New York Review of Books translation is supposed to be quite good. How likely would you have been to read the book without the challenge? Not likely anytime soon. What's Next? Now that I have completed my Hurry Up We're Dreaming Challenge, I'm going to take it easy and knock out some stuff that's been piling up, like Mari Kondo's book about organizing at work, Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall, Crying at H Mart by Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast, Saki, Rebecca Solnit, Andre Leon Talley, Alice Munro, Momus, W. Kamau Bell, etc. Next year, I shall attempt TWO FULL reading challenges, J immy James's H ello Nasty Reading Challenge and an Imperial Bedroom 40th anniversary challenge of my own design. That's 45 books, which should be a proper challenge to finish in a year. |
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moimoi
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Post by moimoi on Oct 28, 2021 14:13:23 GMT -5
FINAL STATS (for the main challenge and French Revolutionary calendar mini-challenge):
# of pages completed: 10,676
# books crossed off my reading list: 16
# of owned books (prior to the challenge) finally read: 9
# of books purchased for the challenge: 25
# of books from this challenge I am keeping: 17 - this may become a problem
% of books that were purchased new from Amazon (online or in store): 6/35 = 17% down from 30% last year
Top 3 main challenge: The Man Who Was Thursday, Mad Love, How Long Till Black Future Month?
Top 3 mini challenge: A Fine Balance, Modern Nature, Salt, Fat Acid, Heat
# of women authors: 10/35 = 28.5%
# of POC authors: 9/35 = 26%
# of queer authors (to my knowledge): 7/35 = 20%
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