May Randomkit Art & Architecture

May’s RandomKit is Art and Architecture. This read can be non-fiction: biographies or memoirs of painters, sculptors, architects, or fiction about the same. Possible topics might be one of the wonders of the world: Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal, Petra, The Roman Coliseum, Machu Pichu, or The Great Pyramid of Giza. How about a famous building: St. Basil’s Cathedral, the Hagia Sophia, Sydney Opera House, The Leaning Tower of Pisa, or Fallingwater. How about a famous painting: The Mona Lisa, The Girl with the Pearl Earring, The Last Supper, Scream, Starry Night, and Guernica. Again, both fiction and non-fiction will satisfy this month's Randomkit. What will you be reading?



Here is the wiki: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2024_RandomKIT

Great topic! I have several choices for this, but I am most likely to read Vincent Van Gogh - Leben und Werk by Christoph Wetzel, a short introduction to the painter that I have owned for ages.

If anyone is looking for a fantasy option for this months challenge, I find that several of Martha Wells stories has strong architectural elements; Wheel of the infinite, City of Bones, most of the The Books of the Raksura and several of the books in the Ile-Rien series.

Likewise, Malka Olders The Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti has a great deal of descriptions of the infrastructure and architecture of the colonies on Jupiter and Io.

I have the novel Headlong on my shelf. It has very mixed reviews. It has been billed as a Brugel art mystery, a tour de farce, and a novel of British art history. We'll see!

>4 Tess_W: I've got Headlong on my virtual TBR list as well. I've had it in my reading plans several times but it's never made the final cut. Maybe this is it's chance to shine.

Failing that, I've got The Portrait by Iain Pears.

I've had The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez-Reverte on my TBR for way too long. Maybe this will be the push to get it read.

This may be a good month to tackle Die dritte Frau which is a kind of sequel to Die Purpurlinie, about a picture of Gabrielle d'Estrées hanging in the Louvre...

I have had Errol Flynn Slept Here on my shelf for quite some time and this is the perfect opportunity to read about the house that both Flynn, Ricky Nelson and other celebrities lived in.

I have several that would work:
--Leonardo da Vinci by Sherwin B. Nuland, a short bio that I've been meaning to read for years
--The Pinecone by Jenny Uglow. A biography of Jenny Losh, a 19th century self-taught architect, which I have requested from the library.
--Mr Mac and Me by Esther Freud. Historical fiction set during WWI featuring Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh

I have choices in both fiction and nonfiction. Awhile back I started The Art Thief by Michael Finkle but couldn't get into it so I may pick it up and try again. If that doesn't work I'll probably choose something by Laura Morelli.

>9 kac522: I am a fan of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh. Naturally, I loved Mr Mac and Me. I hope you enjoy it when you get to it.

>11 VivienneR: Thanks for helping me push it up the pile of possibilities! It's been on my TBR shelves forever and I really need to get to it.

I'm going to read Gloria Luca's Dan Perjovschi: The Horizontal Newspaper. Perjovschi is a Romanian artist, and The Horizontal Newspaper is an evolving work of art 50m x 4m on a wall in Sibiu, Romania (which is where I spent several months doing my PhD research, although this work wasn't there then sadly - I'll have to go back to see it!).

>9 kac522: I loved Mr Mac and Me as well.
Great topic - I have many, many possibilities for this one as I love historical fiction based on art or artists.

Oh, I've meant to read Mr Mac and Me a long time but didn't think of it, I may read it too.

The first title that came into my mind for this challenge is The Bat by Jo Nesbo. The title refers to the Sydney opera house.

I think I'll probably read Schultz and Peanuts / David Michaelis

I'm not sure what I have that might fit.
I know I have The Man who walked through Walls on the shelf. A wall being an integral part of any architecture. >;-)

>18 Helenliz: funny;-)
My most recent library haul includes ingrid fetell lees Joyful, which I think might fit this theme, although perhaps at a slant.

I'm planning on reading Labyrinth for the SFFKit; I don't know that much about it, but I'm wondering for anyone who has read it, do you think it would fit for architecture (or art)?

I'm sure I can find lots of other books to read for this theme - just wondering if I would get a twofer on this one?

I'm sure I could find some fiction on my shelf to fit, but since I really am trying to read more nonfiction this year, I'd say this challenge is a good push in that direction! The two books I've got that look to be clear fits are Leonardo's Nephew: Essays on Art and Artists by James Fenton and Faces, Forms, Films: The Artistry of Lon Chaney by Robert Gordon Anderson. I'll choose one or the other as we get closer to May!