The Writing School · Miranda France

Yesterday I listened to the latest episode of the TLS podcast and one of the guests was Miranda France, talking about her new book, The Writing School, published this week by Corsair. I have never read anything by her but was intrigued and added the book to my wish list after reading these lines in the publisher's synopsis: 'A delightful and unusual blend of storytelling and memoir, ... The Writing School is a moving and often very funny book about why people write, as well as being a uniquely generous masterclass on the art of writing itself.'

The Writing School
By Miranda France
Hardcover, 224 pages
ISBN: 9781472157348
Corsair

Mothers, Fathers, and Others: Essays · Siri Hustvedt

A new collection of essays, Mothers, Fathers and Others, by Siri Hustvedt was recently published by Simon & Schuster. On Hustvedt's website it is thus described: 'Feminist philosophy meets family memoir in this new essay collection from an exploration of the shifting borders that define human experience, including boundaries we usually take for granted which turn out to be far less stable than we imagine.'

This morning I listened to editor Sam Leith of The Spectator Book Club in interesting conversations with Hustvedt about the book.

Cover image: Louise Bourgeois, Self Portrait, 1994
Photo: Christopher Burke

Mothers, Fathers, and Others: Essays
By Siri Hustvedt
Hardcover, 304 pages
ISBN: 9781982176396
Simon & Schuster

Life with Picasso · Françoise Gilot

The term has finished and I have a study break until January. This morning I watched two episodes of Kiljan, a weekly literary TV program in Iceland, read the first pages of Patti Smith's new book, Year of the Monkey, and caught up with books podcasts, which I haven't had time for since mid-October. In the coming weeks I intend to enjoy days like these to the fullest.

When I last signed in I had some ideas about how to keep my blog alive during my studies, for example with a new category about beautiful book covers, and nothing happened. This is the cover I wanted to feature first, a new edition of the memoir Life with Picasso (1964) by Françoise Gilot and Carlton Lake, which was published by New York Review Books last summer.

Cover image: Françoise Gilot, Self-Portrait, 1953
Cover design: Katy Homans

Françoise Gilot, So Far, So Near, 2016

In 1943, Gilot was just over twenty when she met Picasso, then 61 years old. They never married but their relationship lasted ten years and they had two children. The book will be on my next reading list, which I meant to share in October, and I can recommend it to anyone interested in art. The sections of the book containing her and Picasso's conversations about art are a joyful read.

Life with Picasso
By Françoise Gilot and Carlton Lake
Paperback, 384 pages, illustrated
ISBN: 9781681373195
New York Review Books

bottom image by me, appeared on Instagram 03/07/2019 | Françoise Gilot painting via The Elkon Gallery