Book Fair

I went on an online book buying binge last week. The tomes have been arriving every couple of days, giving me just enough time to read and review them. The first arrival was A Big Important Art Book Now With Women! by Danielle Krysa (aka The Jealous Curator).

I have long followed The Jealous Curator and have appreciated the way she brings attention to fantastic artists. And I love this book because it’s something you can pick and read back to front to get a narrative about contemporary art, or just open up randomly for inspiration.

Selling Dead People’s Things is a title that appealed to me because it’s all about pickers, dealers and the mechanics of the secondary market. But it’s also a fun read! Author Duane Scott Cerny somehow manages to tie his personal experiences into a socio-historical context. Plus, Cerny has a delightful writing  voice.

And finally, a novel. I read an excerpt of Claudia Dey’s Heartbreaker online and I had to buy it to find out more about the protagonist’s predicament. It just came in the mail today, so I haven’t read it yet.

I will say that spending more time with books this last week has had a calming effect. While I would not have been aware of any of these titles without the internet, taking time away from screens and the 24-hour news cycle seems to have reduced my anxiety levels. I also feel that being inspired by good storytelling and art has also fuelled my own creative impulses,

Hooray for books!