Art Exodus

Vargas 20s-50s ISBN 3-89450-063-8
Nagel ISBN 0-912383-36-4
Essential History of Art ISBN 1-84084-952-5
New American Paintings Number 56 The Open Studios Press
The art of the X-Files ISBN 0-06-105113-6
European Photography 81 ISBN 0-8109-0855-7
The Photography Book ISBN 0714836346
Michelangelo ISBN 1405429844
Hopper ISBN 3-8228-05432
Renoir ISBN 3-8228-0568-8
Louvre ISBN 2.7118.0040.7
The Power of Feminist Art: The American Movement of the 1970s, History and Impact ISBN 0-8109-2659-8
The Watercolors of Winslow Homer ISBN 0-393-02047-9
The World of Leonardo 1452-1519 Time-Life Library of Art 1966
Postsecret ISBN 0-06-089919-0
The Art Institue of Chicago: Twentieth-Century Painting and Sculpture ISBN 0-86559-096-6
Van Gogh on Location ISBN 0-7858-0107-3
Masters of Art Card Catalog # 67-14758, 1967
The Holocaust Chronicle ISBN 0-7853-2963-3
Weight: 46.5 lbs
Method of Disposal: Offering them to Tracy and taking the ones she does not like do a donate your books drop in Edgewood.

This is a lot of very heavy books. 19 books weighing in at 46.5 lbs. I can almost imagine the disdain in Tracy’s eyes when she realizes, but I know she will want a couple of them and the rest can be donated. These books have been collected over the years and are special for many reasons, sometimes not obvious reasons.
The Holocaust Chronicle does not fit into the group of art books, but Tracy and I were at the Borders going out of business sale yesterday and when she glanced at it I informed her that I had it and would give it to her. I am not sure if she wants it or not, but I do know that she is deeply disturbed and moved by the Holocaust. That she has watched many movies and read many books about it.

Masters of Art is special because it is from 1967 and still has academic paperwork from the 70’s. One of the papers was apparently turned in late. The papers are handwritten, in cursive, by a C.K. Bell. The Watercolors of Winslow Homer has two long letters from my uncle and cousin to my grandfather. They are so nice and so loving, and yet I have somehow managed to end up with the book that no one wants back.

The book from the Art Institute of Chicago will be missed. I bought it the very first time I went to Chicago. I remember taking the taxi there, leaving the kids I was babysitting with their parents, and walking around, enthralled, for hours. I am not sure how I ever made myself leave. I bought this book hoping to carry a small piece of that feeling with me. For the record, after I left the museum I walked until I found a pizza place that served beer. It was the best pizza I have ever had. I could live in that day forever.

I always hate giving up my feminist books more than any of the others so I am sad to see the Feminist Art book go. I feel like I never got all I could from it, but I am still ready to release it.

On the cover of Van Gogh on Location, there is the famous Café Terrace painting, alongside of a photograph of the actual place. Intriguing, yes? Everyone has a Van Gogh book or two, but they are always beautiful and fun to look at.
The Louvre book came from the actual museum. It was printed in 1984 and is showing a lot of wear. It is a year older than I am. The Leonardo book was given to a Thomas at some point and was printed in 1966. Hopper, Renoir, and Michelangelo were handed over to me when someone else was disbanding their collection. Many of the art books came from my stepmother who graduated with an art major but does not like clutter.

Postsecret I bought full price my junior year of college. I was very intrigued and slightly let down by it. I know Tracy wants this one, and I am glad to hand it over, though also sad to see it go. I open it now to a Starbucks note that says, “I give decaf to customers who are rude to me!” and underneath it, “My sister and I explored each other sexually as children. As the older girl I feel guilty that I may have molested her.”

The giant book of photography is all in black and white. It is a Phaidon book so it is quite heavy and is packed full of pictures. The Essential History book is a bargain book. There are a lot of great paintings in it, but I think Tracy may already have it. I am fairly confident I have seen it on her shelves. The Nagel book is less than impressive. I kind of hate it, but we will see what she thinks. Vargas is full of beautiful women in all sorts of poses, in an array of undress. The text is written in French and in English. I added the X-files Art as a joke. I thought I had already rid myself of all my X-Files books, but I seem to find new ones every day. The art in this book is made by sculptors, painters, photographers, graphic artists, and others who were inspired by the television show. New American Paintings is an art journal. This one is from March of 2005. It was twenty dollars then and now it is free to a good home! The European Photography book is a full-color book of photographs from, you guessed it, 1981.
Goodbye books!

Ruined by Reading

Ruined by Reading: A Life in Books by Lynne Sharon Schwartz
1997
Weight: 6.4 oz
Method of Disposal: Do you want it? Otherwise, I am putting it in a book donation drop box.

This book got off to a slow start. The author was writing about how she will no longer keep reading a book if she does not like it, and I kept thinking it was a nod in my direction that I could put this one down. I started it on a lunch break from work, and I did not feel like I had relaxed at all when I was done. The only thing I could relate to was on page 4 and I did not feel that the sentiment described in a particularly beautiful way. Schwartz wrote, “Despite all this mental pirouetting, or maybe because of it, I don’t remember much of what I’ve read. My lifelong capacity for forgetting distresses me….while I struggle for the details, all I recall is the excitement of reading.” I have been thinking about this a lot lately, and I was happy to stumble across someone struggling with the same thing.

Then, all of the sudden, I was on page 47, and I started to get into it. Schwartz got me going when she wrote about A Little Princess, a book I also loved as a child. I remember when I parents bought it for me I was furious. I hated princesses. Were they denying my tomboy identity? I was being a brat, but they kept asking me to give it a shot. I did, finally, and it was wonderful. After reading this section of the book, I went straight to my shelves to find my own copy of A Little Princess. I found it, and I am really looking forward to reading it again.

Later, she writes about McCullers, whom I love but also have not read since I was a teenager. Schwartz writes, “I’m afraid I’d feel certain dismay, like coming upon a photo of a great love of one’s youth with the eyes of middle age. Imagine pinning over that! Not that I’d find her books untrustworthy, just so oppressively young, so weighted by youth’s Gothic glooms, manias, and succulent indulgences” (90). How many times have I avoided a book for this reason?
Towards the end, on page 115, she questions, “So what has been the point? Not to amass knowledge, since I forget the contents of books. Certainly not to pass time, or ‘kill’ it, as some say. (Time will kill us).” I have been asking myself this for at least three years.

This book brushes up against interesting topics. How can you not when you are talking about books? I still found it to be mediocre. If you are looking for a good book about reading and books, I recommend looking into Anne Fadiman’s Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader.

Huck Finn

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Unknown year of publication—I didn’t write it down before I passed it on
Weight: 10 oz
Method of Disposal: Gave to my manager, Tara

Since starting this project, I have been getting more and more special requests for books, and I love it. In some cases, I can just hand the book over right then and there. Other times, I read it real fast and then hand it over. It is a fun challenge to try to find the book if I have it, and I often do have it. Tara happened to see something about Huckleberry Finn on 60 minutes and asked me if I had it. Of course! I grew up with Mark Twain. My mother and my school made sure I read Twain. It was not yet banned for any potential racism.

I can still find endless amounts of value in Mark Twain and know I will always be able to. He was a funny and intelligent man with a lot to offer.

1984

1984: 60th Anniversary Edition
1983
Weight: 9.6 oz
Method of Disposal: Gave to my friend, Tracy

I can no longer imagine living in this world without having read 1984. Its language has become community language. Its themes are embedded in a collective memory. We always hear talk of “Big Brother.” In other books, movies, conversations, interviews, everywhere. It is hard to block it out of your mind when you walk into a store with an automated voice that greets you by saying, “You are on camera. Do not steal anything.” Upon looking up, you see several monitors with your image from various angles. The word “Orwellian” occur to you? It has survived for decades and has been passed down and down. It warned/scared people then, and it still does now. The constant war, the censorship, the surveillance, the national identity, the propaganda always seems eerily familiar.

If you have not read this book yet, you should. You will hear it referred to throughout your life no matter what, but if you read it you will understand why.
"Your worst enemy, he reflected, was your nervous system. At any moment the tension inside you was liable to translate itself into some visible symptom."

2 X Siddhartha

2 X Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
1981
Weight: 1 lb
Method of Disposal: “Stolen” by Vallan and one will be left somewhere--unless you want it

Painting on wall at Steinbeck's in Oakhurst

I met Vallan for a coffee and a beer a couple weeks ago. I walked into the café and saw her deep in a book. I thought nothing of it and ordered a mocha. Later, I sat down and she explained to me that she had stolen the book when she dog sat for me in the past. She didn’t think it would matter since I was getting rid of my books anyway. She was right. It had to go at some point. I also have multiple copies of Siddhartha. She really liked it, and she confessed with no pressure. What are you going to do? There was a moment where I thought it was Steppenwolf and that the cover had fallen off, and I was not handling it quite so well, haha, oh well. Goodbye Siddhartha #1.

It was a library book, though paperback and overused. The first time it was checked out was in 96, and it was retired in 97. It came home with me. I have no idea where the other one came from, but it is the exact same edition as the library book. The cover is stripped off.

I believe my mother was the first person to have me read Siddhartha. In my senior year of high school we read it and had to put on a production. I was excited to be a “prostitute” in the “play.” In college, I would be required to read it again. Each time I was unable to find the copy I had read before and had to buy a new one. Now, I find them all over the place. It is a good book though. I imagine I will have many people to give it to when it is time for the others to go.