The joy of reading...bad books

In the May 6 New York Times Book Review, Joe Queenan has an essay on the joys of reading bad books http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/books/review/Queenan.t.html?ref=books

"Bad books are an essential part of life," he asserts."Most of us are familiar with people who make a fetish out of quality: They read only good books, they see only good movies, they listen only to good music, they discuss politics only with good people, and they're not shy about letting you know it. They think this makes them smarter and better than everybody else, but it doesn't. It makes them mean and overly judgmental...."

"I would rather read 'The Good, the Bad and the Undead' by Kim Harrison [about vampire hunters] than one more novel about an enigmatic woman in a famous painting...."

However, he issues a caution: "As with bad movies, a book that is merely bad but not exquisitely bad is a waste of time, while a genuinely terrible book is a sheer delight."

Queenan mentions several books that qualify as sheer delights, and offers guidelines for identifying others. This is a valuable resource to bear in mind when the MTPL Thursday Night Book group is drawing up its schedule.

--Charles

Artemisia - see the film Thursday 5/10 at 5:45 pm

If you've read the book, come to the library a little early to find out what went before Artemisia's marriage and career - at least as seen by French director Agnes Merlot in the film Artemisia. (R, 1997) The book begins where the film ends, with the ecclesiastical trial of the painter Agostino Tassi for the rape of Artemisia Gentileschi - a historic trial with a transcript available in the Vatican. Read Ebert's review here - http://tinyurl.com/p27ac

The book The Passion of Artemisia and the movie Artemisia have both been roundly criticized as historically inaccurate - read a little more about that controversy here: http://www.efn.org/%7Eacd/Artemisia.html

And for a version of the story more grounded in history, if less romantic, you could read Mary D. Garrard, Artemisia Gentileschi: The Image of the Female Hero in Italian Baroque Art (Princeton University Press, 1989). This book includes English translations of the artist's letters and testimony of the trial.

Kathleen

Artemisia

This week we will discuss The Passion of Artemisia, by Susan Vreeland - the story of Renaissance painter Artemisia Gentileschi, reputed to be the first woman to actually support herself through her artwork.

Several years ago the Metropolitan Museum had an exhibit of the work of Artemisia and her father, Orazio Gentileschi - the exhibit's website is available here: http://tinyurl.com/2gzlgj

In addition to two of the Judith paintings, and Susanna and the Elders, you will find this painting, titled Self Portrait as a Lute Player" and painted in about 1616, when Artemisia would have been in her early twenties. http://www.metmuseum.org/special/Orazio_and_Artemisia/images/57.L.jpg

Kathleen