It addition to my To Be Read (TBR) pile, I also have a stack of art books that I am neglecting. So I've also selected 14 of these books to go through in 2012 and I'll report on them here. I mentioned this idea to you in December and was not sure if I was going to be able to commit to it, but since I have succeeded in January, I'm in. (Although not reporting till February... but who's counting?)
I wasn't sure what to call this list, because most of them don't really require much "reading" and we already have a TBR list, so that seemed confusing.
I'm calling it the To Be Perused (TBP) List, even though "peruse" is one of those words (like "nonplussed") that's losing its original meaning -- not "browse," as commonly thought, but "to examine or consider with attention and in detail," and that's what I plan to do with these books: really go through them, cover to cover. The thesaurus didn't really give me any good alternatives (pore over, inspect, analyze -- blech.) so I'm taking back "peruse!" Heh. ;)
Two of these books I just received for Christmas (Helvetica from you and the Bechtle book from Bill) and I thought, "Don't let these get dusty! Look at 'em!" So I'm doing it!
Without further ado, here is my To Be Perused (TBP) list:
(click to see that bigger)
In alphabetical order, they are:
Alameda (Postcard History Series) by Greta Dutcher and Stephen Rowland(Completed 02.28.12)- Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty by Andrew Bolton (Author), Sølve Sundsbø (Photographer)
- Art for the People: The Rediscovery and Preservation of Progressive and WPA-Era Murals in the Chicago Public Schools, 1904-1943 by Heather Becker
- Art of Modern Rock by Paul Grushkin
- The Audrey Hepburn Treasures by Ellen Erwin
California Interiors by Diane Dorrans Saeks(Completed 1/28/12)- Decorate: 1,000 Design Ideas for Every Room in Your Home by Holly Becker
- Design*Sponge at Home by Grace Bonney
- East Bay Then and Now by Dennis Evanosky
- Helvetica and the New York City Subway System: The True (Maybe) Story by Paul Shaw
- Lost Detroit: Stories Behind the Motor City's Majestic Ruins by Dan Austin (Author), Sean M. Doerr (Photographer)
- Pictoplasma by Robert Klanten
- Punk House: Interiors in Anarchy by Abby Banks
- Robert Bechtle: A Retrospective by Janet Bishop
love,
kelly
K,
ReplyDeleteWow. That sounds like so much fun. I love that you have enough peruse-able books to make a list for. Excellent. This looks like a great list. The one about Chicago looks interesting to me, of course. I think I've actually heard of the one about Detroit, so I'll be quite interested to hear about that one, too.
I love art/coffee table books like this, but I don't have a whole lot of them. Partly because they are so much more expensive, I guess. They make great gifts to give, but it's hard to buy them for yourself. The few ones we do have I bought on sale. That being said, I love going to homes with lots of books like this. Do you display them in any special way, or do you shelve most of them? One problem is that we don't really have a lot of coffee tables and so I don't have anywhere to put them.
I love this. I am Looking forward to hearing your TBP reviews!
J
I don't really have a "special" way to display them... some of them live on that bookcase in the living room, others are just on the bookcases in the office with the other books. None on the actual coffee table -- big dogs (with big tails) kind of make that difficult to keep in line. But maybe I should figure out a better way to have them out for browsing... something to think about in our next house.
ReplyDeleteAs for the expense, I usually find them on sale or buy them online, which saves on cost. I tend to view them as "art" (rather than "books"), so that may help me reassign budget money (in my mind) for books like this.
As I said, I finished my first one last month and I am *so* happy I did it. Art/coffee table books are totally for me. As well you know, I am a visual person so pictures? In books? Yes, please!
The Chicago one may have the most text, so I figure that one will wait until after The Move (makes sense geographically, too... I'll read it when I'm closer to Chicago!)
I have a feeling this will go like that... CA books now, then "back East" (as the Californians say) books when I move back there + home decor books then too. This is a good year to do this!