By Zora Neale Hurston
This autobiography may not reflect all the facts about the author's life, but it reveals a most lively and fierce woman, one that I would love to have the chance to chat with sometime. The book also includes essays and thoughts regarding issues that were present at the time it was published (1942) and are still pressing today, and is laced with humor throughout. [308 pp.]
By Naguib Mahfouz
A man was just released from prison, after being "played on" by people he considered his friends. He is rejected by his young daughter who didn't get to interact with him at all while he was in prison, and did no recognize him as her father. His best friend, who presumably "set him up," is now married to the woman who used to be his wife. Against all reason, but also quite naturally, he seeks revenge. [fiction, 158pp.]
By Naguib Mahfouz
This little novella looks at the life in Egypt in the mid 1960s, the time when secret police started to crack down on civil rights with the excuse of national emergency. The story is told by a narrator who frequents a quaint cafe in Cairo, where two groups of locals, older and younger, attend regularly. During that time, members of the young group disappear and come back changed, one of them never comes back. The author later discusses his interactions with different members of the group, and thus we learn about the horrors of the secret police/deep state that occupied Egypt at the time. Considering I grew up in a neighboring country, I am amazed how little I know about it and its history. This book is a good start to learning more. [110 pp.]
By Laura Hoptman
One of the MoMA series on single paintings in their collections, this tells the story of the Wyeth's famous painting in the context of his work, his influences, life, pinions, and his contemporaries' work. [Non fiction, 48 pp.]
16 Principles to Clarify and Deepen Your Artistic Vision
By Ian Roberts
I have read this book before, very quickly, the day before I submitted my MFA applications. It was so helpful in clarifying how I saw my art and felt about the process of making art. At the time I was very confused, having taken in all sorts of opinions and advice from others who've applied to MFA programs. This little book made me feel better about where I was at the time, and realize that this process of applying to these programs, even if I didn't get accepted, was still valuable to my understanding of myself and where I wanted to go. Roberts has a way to calm you down while immersing yourself in deep thoughts.
Reading it again, less stressfully, with taking time to look at the works of some of the painters mentioned, was really nice. There are a couple of quotes he cites that I really liked, and would like to save them here:
Whistler's definition of Talent: "The ability to do hard work in a consistently constructive direction over a long period of time."
"To see is to forget the name of the thing one sees," Paul Valéry, French poet
An Unreliable Memoir
By Marina Warner
A beautifully-written collection of memories and research-based understandings that tell the story of the author's parents. They met in Italy, where her mother was born, and where her father served during WWII. They lived in England, Egypt, and other countries in between, but the story mostly focuses on the early years of their marriage and the authors early childhood, the latter was mostly in Egypt. It uses little objects from the time that bring up memories, words that describe relevant objects but also serve as allegories to states of mind, personal changes, and more. [non-fiction, 417pp.]
By Sheila Barker
This book provided so much insight into the life of this 17th century artist, I was simply blown away. Some of the things I learned about her that I really liked are:
In short, this book provides a lot of information even while being image-rich. Definitely seems like a lot of deep research went into it. [non-fiction, 144pp.]
