How’s your summer reading going?
I’ve been on an unusually good roll this past month and have lucked into a string of excellent books. If you’re on the lookout for some ideas to round out your August picks, consider the following:
The Nature of Things – Essays of a Tapestry Weavery by Tommye McClure Scanlin
Always intrigued by the behind-the-scenes methods of any artist, I gravitate toward the compare and contrast game that surrounds learning how someone else approaches their work. Scanlin clearly and effectively writes about the not-so-straight line from inspiration to finished piece that is familiar to all of us. While this book shares many practical details particular to weaving, you don’t have to be a weaver or know anything about the discipline to enjoy these essays. Rather, this is a book for anyone interested in learning how an artist’s process unfolds.
Blue Rib Sweater ©2022 Elizabeth Fram, Watercolor and graphite on paper, 8.5 x 11 inches Somehow my needle and thread have taken a back seat this summer and I find myself practicing relatively quick portraits. My goal is to completely fill this sketchbook, hoping to see progress. I’m not flipping the page from textiles, rather I’m taking an intermission with the thought that everything is a potential deposit into the creative bank.
Paradise in Plain Sight – Lessons from a Zen Garden by Karen Maezen Miller
As a huge fan of Japanese gardens as an art form, this book taps into my love for the layers of complex beauty manifested through each garden’s deceptive simplicity. Meandering through her own adopted garden, Miller highlights ways that life is often reflected in the specific characteristics of a Japanese garden and what can be gleaned from that parity. Elements of this meditation/memoir reminded me of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden. Calm and wise, this is a great read for our tumultuous times; it’s one I expect to return to in the future.
Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult
Although Covid is still with us, unless one faithfully kept a journal throughout those early months, there are a lot of sharp details that have blurred, even in the relatively short time that has passed. This book is a crystal-clear fictional reminder of those fearful early days when the world changed so drastically almost overnight. While I would only give the story itself a B/B+, as an historical marker of the details surrounding our universal uncertainty, paired with the reality of what a tough climb recovery could be for those who survived being on a ventilator, I give this novel a solid A+.
Silver Mane ©2022 Elizabeth Fram, Watercolor and graphite on paper, 8.5 x 11 inches
Art & Fear – Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles and Ted Orland
A perennial favorite that should be on every artist’s shelf. Like many good books, it will strike you differently depending where you are in your life and practice at the time you pick it up. That is exactly the reason this one is worth reading again and again.
The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair
There’s a certain joy to a book that can be picked up, put down, and opened at any given page without losing steam. St Clair’s bite-size essays tell the stories of specific colors, their history and the impact they have had upon human civilization and culture. You won’t look at your palette in quite the same way after reading it.
Profile ©2022 Elizabeth Fram, Watercolor and graphite on paper, 12 x 18 inches At life drawing, we all gather around the model in a somewhat haphazard fashion, skootching a bit to the left or right to try to get a good vantage point. I can’t remember the last time I had a true profile to work from, but this lovely example was a real treat to try to capture.
Taste – My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci
After watching Tucci’s gastronomic romp “Searching for Italy” last year, I’ve been waiting for our library to get a copy of Taste. I recommend the audio version, read by Tucci himself. At times humorous, other times touching, and always rich with anecdotes and recipes, this book is a feast unto itself. It is the ideal of what I think of as a “summer read”.
I’d love to know what books you’ve been reading this summer. Please share any of your favorites in the comments below.
You may like This is going to hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor by Adam Kay. Funny, but also intense and fascinating.
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Gamus. fictional story about a female chemist in the 1960’s who finds herself hosting a cooking show. (It’s so much more than that though.)
You always have great recommendations – I’ll look forward to checking these out!
I always appreciate the thoughtful reflections of your blog. It’s a wonderful respite from my hectic workday. Thank you.
What a wonderful compliment Leonard – I’m so glad & thank you!
I would recommend “The Prague Sonata”, by Brad Morrow. I was intrigued from page 1. And every single page added to the intrigue. I could not put it down. But a warning: it’s a tome! One third of an unsigned sonata, likely from late 18th century, is given to an American musicologist, who is asked to find the 2 missing thirds. For its own protection from the Nazi’s in 1930’s Prague, the sonata had been split into 3 pieces. Who has the other 2 pieces and if they even still exist, is the mystery that the musicologist must solve…70 years after the fact. And the composer of this beautiful piece? Well, that’s another level of mystery that she attempts to solve. Woven against the beauty of Prague and its horrifying history, it’s a fabulous story.
I was hoping you’d weigh in with something Marya! This sounds awesome. I was thinking of you as I listened to Taste – give it a try if you haven’t already.
Betsy
Lovely seeing your sketchbook portraits. They are terrific. Please consider doing them on better paper for a later exhibit. I just love them.
I’m reading “Geode,” poems by Susan Barba about the earth. Wonderful poetry. A Harp in the Stars, an anthology of lyric essays, and Roberto Bolano’s tome “2666.” 3 volumes, I’m on the first. WOW.
Hope your summer is blossoming!
I so appreciate the encouragement. I am definitely planning to branch onto better paper. You are opening new doors for me with these suggestions – very exciting – thanks!
I join you in loving Japanese gardens. Studied it somewhat and built modified ones in front of my current house and our last house (even though that was a center hall colonial!).
I also have the Secret Lives of Color and haven’t picked it up yet. I will adopt your idea to occasionally read about one color. Good idea.
I have been reading “The Equivalents: A Story of Art, Female Friendship and Liberation in the 1960s.” Interesting story of how 23 artists/writers/sculptors–all women–were invited to be part of a group that got a stipend and a place to create to encourage them in their creative endeavors even though they had families. The book focuses on 5 of them who didn’t have Ph.Ds but were accepted anyway because they had the equivalency in their work.
I’m not familiar with that book, so thanks for the suggestion Deanna!
It brings to mind “Ninth Street Women” which I haven’t read yet, but a couple of people have mentioned it favorably to me in the past year.