Sunday Reads
To our book and magazine buyer, Nora, there’s nothing more romantic than being read to by a loved one. With that in mind, she’s gathered a collection of small somethings filled with big ideas – perfect for a friend, a loved one, or to be read together.
This cookbook from Apartamento offers 34 contemporary interpretations of ancient Roman recipes. With dishes like duck with turnips and cumin or honey-roasted root vegetables, you can put the idea that the way to the heart has always been through the stomach to the test. In this book, British food historian, chef, and experimental archaeologist Sally Grainger has combed through a trove of Latin texts to bring you the best eats of the Great Roman Empire!
From the small independent press Far West: a completely irreverent musical memoir worth your time. The book takes you from rural Illinois to the vibrant music scenes of Chicago, Japan, and the UK. It’s a journey through rock gods, folk legends, and underground underdogs. Sharing this read with a loved one can be a journey of its own.
Another new little gem from Far West while we’re at it. And books under 150 pages always come best in pairs! Peter Crowley was the music curator of Max’s Kansas City, a nightclub and restaurant at 213 Park Avenue South in New York City, which became a gathering place for musicians, poets, artists, and politicians in the 1960s and 1970s. In this first volume of stories, he tells it like it is: “Like a beer for breakfast, a reflection on what it was really like to be there (you know where). From someone who was.” Best read in company.
We all know Jon Rafman as one of the best artists of our time. This book, from 2016, documents an even earlier project of his, primarily the collection of Google Street View images. Like a digital flâneur, Jon Rafman has traveled the planet while sitting at his desk, capturing snapshot epiphanies from far-flung corners of the globe. Here, they are collected in a book. Some, like the one of a couple having sex on the beach, might even remind us of someone we love.
This book delves into Warhol’s exploration of the vanitas theme and was published by NAi010 Publishers in 2024. Featuring over 100 works from the Andy Warhol Museum, including paintings and drawings of skulls and self-portraits that echo the vanitas tradition, the book examines themes of impermanence and the passage of time. It offers insight into Warhol’s personal reflections, especially following his near-fatal shooting in 1968 and his mother’s death in 1972. For anyone wanting insight into the lesser-known Warhols. And it’s gold.
And finally, time for some good bedtime stories. This volume collects six fables by the artist Lin May Saeed, written in the early 2000s. Though less lighthearted than your typical bedtime stories, these tales explore fundamental issues of interspecies coexistence, blending scientific, ethical, and philosophical questions. But as all fables do, they teach us lessons and remind us of our relationships with the world around us – both human and nonhuman.
