Tower of Books

Posted by Laura McCulloch on December 2nd, 2010 at 08:31 AM | | Tweet

What's on YOUR nightstand?

As promised, I’m back with a report on my Tuesday field trips. LACMA was a treat. I tweeted my way through the exhibits using instagram, so you can check out the various and sundry at http://twitter.com/#!/BPC360. I call this one Rodin’s Baby Got Back. Eggleston’s Democratic Camera was an exhibit worth seeing, but I was most intrigued by a small exhibit Steve Wolfe on Paper. Wolfe’s art represents objects of cultural mass dissemination—books and records. His painted objects employ the tradition of trompe l’oeil, and often literally fool the eye on first inspection. I’m still trying to figure out how he does it. Amazing work.

After our spin at LACMA, I headed over to Vromans in Pasadena for the Sedarisfest. Mr. Sedaris read from his latest book Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk. He was fully engulfed in his Sedarisness, relaxed, funny and workin’ blue. He explained that the audio version of his book contained a story that was not included in the print version, on the advice of his editor. She suggested it was too disgusting for the book and would distract readers. So of course he read from it. The title? “The Shit and Vomit Eating Flies”. It was hysterical. After he read from his book and before the Q&A, Mr. Sedaris took a moment to read a few passages from his new favorite book by Wells Tower, Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned (note the Eggleston image in the NYT review. I did not plan that. Synchronicity.) He recommended that we all buy a copy, so I did and he’s right. Wells Tower is one to read and one to watch.

So Mr. Tower’s book is now added to my Tower of Books. What’s on YOUR nightstand?