TIOLI - October 2011 - Read a book by or about an artist for National Arts & Humanities Month

My Take It Or Leave It challenge for October is to Read a book by or about an artist for National Arts & Humanities Month. The artist can be alive or dead, the subject and/or the author of the work, and in any genre you choose. I would highly encourage participants to read a book about or by an artist who you have seen in person, or one whose works you have seen in an exhibition or are familiar with (e.g., musicians), and tell us a bit about the artist you choose (I'll create a thread for this challenge shortly). For example, I saw an exhibition of the works of the surrealist artist Joan Miró at the Tate Modern in London earlier this month, and I will read the museum catalog from the exhibition, Joan Miró: The Ladder of Escape. I have also attended several performances of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, and I'll read his book Last Night on Earth.

Some recent notable books that would qualify for this challenge include:
Just Kids by Patti Smith
Life by Keith Richards
Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original by Robin Kelley
Bossypants by Tina Fey

Feel free to post portraits, YouTube videos of your artist's songs, or anything else that would teach us more about your artist of choice.

The main thread for the October TIOLI challenge may be found here.

Do authors count as artists for your challenge? Actors?

>2 Morphidae: Yes.

Possibles for me:

How Reading Changed my Life by Anna Quindlen
Me: Stories of My Life by Katherine Hepburn

>4 Morphidae: Those books definitely fit. I might also read Speak, Memory by Nabokov.

I nearly kicked myself when I saw this challenge posted. I have just read all the art related memoirs/biographies on my shelves (Just Kids and Alfred Stieglitz New York) Plus, I had walked over the bridge to The Noguchi Sculpture Garden and Museum last week, and while there passed up the opportunity to buy The Life of Isamu Noguchi: Journey Without Borders. But then I realized books about musicians are allowed for the challenge so I'm planning to read : Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison and possibly, if time allows; George Harrison: Living in the Material World.

I'm going to read The Fry Chronicles by Stephen Fry, whom probably requires no introduction. But as a librarian, I particularly enjoy this sketch from A Bit of Fry and Laurie. Stephen Fry (literally) pops up about a minute in.

I have listed Chinaberry Sidewalks by Rodney Crowell for this challenge. I have long been a fan of his music and I had the pleasure of seeing him at the Vancouver Island Music Festival in July of 2009.

I would love to read Rodney Crowell's memoir, but I can't afford it in hardback and it's not out here in paperback until January.

#9 - I was able to order it from the library and lucky for me - no wait lists!

I added Mozart by Peter Gay. This is part of the Penguin Lives series.

Dickens by Jane Smiley if I get chance.

I added Iris Murdoch for Beginners by Bran Nicol. It is from the "Writers and Readers Beginners Documentary Comic Book" series. I think it has some lameness potential, but we'll see...

Might also get round to Lust for Life by Irving Stone depending how I get on with my Nobel reads this month.

I've started reading Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone by Nadine Cohodas. So far it's very good.

Would In the Casa Azul fit your challenge, Darryl? The book is about Leon Trotsky(obviously not an artist), but both Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera (both artists, as you know) are characters in this novel.

>16 SqueakyChu: Yes, In the Casa Azul would fit my challenge, as it features two real life artists. Likewise, The Lacuna and Frida's Bed also fit, as Frida Kahlo is a central character in both books.

> 17

Thanks, Darryl.

I started In the Casa Azul and see that Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera are going to be minor characters, but the book is so interesting! It has ratings all over the place. I think that's because casual readers of this book need to have more of a background in the historical/political/geographical setting of this novel.

I think this will turn out to be a very rich novel (and one that you'd like!), although coming into it cold might be a bit overwhelming for others. I know you are familiar with the biography of Frida Kahlo. I still get confused by all of the political movements of Spain, the USSR, Mexico, and even the US from back in the late 1930's. I'll need to take some time to do some extra reading to get as much out of this novel as I can. Oh, if I only paid more attention in my modern history classes! :)

Phew! I can't believe I'm trying to read this novel and Jane Austen's Emma at the same time. :/

I read the Meaghan Delahunt book a few years ago and really liked it. I think here it had the title In the Blue House. It was on the Orange Prize longlist. Is your copy a recent reprint? - maybe they thought it would get more readers following the success of The Lacuna.

I imagine a lot of modern history classes don't say that much about Leon Trotsky - I don't know if there's more about Mexico and about Kahlo/Rivera in the US than here.

> 19

Is your copy a recent reprint?

It's a reprint, but not recent. My copy of In the Caza Azul was published by St. Martin's Press (under the name of Picador) in the US in 2001. I got my trade paperback copy of this book through Bookmooch in 2009. I haven't seen this book elsewhere.

I have been fascinated by other (*really* good) novels written by about the life of Frida Kahlo. That's what first brought this book to my attention. I highly recommend:
Frida by Barbara Mujica
Frida's Bed by Slavenka Drakulic

I see that the first edition of this book was published by Bloomsbury in London in 2001 under the name of In the Blue House. Here in the US, most people who are familiar with Frida Kahlo know that the casa azul (Spanish: casa=house, azul=blue) refers to the blue house in Mexico in which she lived with Diego Rivera.

I really need to read more about Leon Trotsky and his political leanings. The aversion to Communism in the United States at that time is pretty easy to understand politically (although not personally).

#20 - Do you know the book Tinisima? It's about Tina Modotti, a photographer/actress/Soviet agent in the 20's and 30's. I read it a while ago and I know Diego Rivera is a main character, but I can't remember if Frida Kahlo is (You would think, right?). Anyway, you might like it.

> 21

I don't know the book, but it sure looks interesting.

*adds book to wishlist*

I just finished Chinaberry Sidewalks by Rodney Crowell, a excellent read about his early years and the dysfunctional upbringing that helped to shape the man he became.

#15 - looking forward to hearing your views on the Nina Simone book, Darryl. My options for this challenge are I Put A Spell On You (Nina Simone) and Haruki Murakami And The Music Of Words.

Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone by Nadine Cohodas



My rating:

Nina Simone (1933-2003), the "High Priestess of Soul", is undoubtedly one of the greatest 20th century musicians in American history, and an immensely talented artist who was impossible to place in a single category. She was demanding of herself, her sidemen and audiences who failed to give her sufficient attention and praise, and unforgiving of anyone who took advantage of her work, or did not love her unconditionally. She was plagued throughout her adult life by mental illness, her race and gender in a country that viewed African American women with hostility and disrespect, and vulnerability due to failures early in life that superseded her successful career.

Nina Simone was born Eunice Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina, a small town that was segregated yet more tolerant than most others in the Jim Crow South. Recognized as a musical genius at an early age, she was influenced and nurtured by her family, the black church and local communities, and a white British piano teacher, who gave her classical music training on the piano with the support of two white women who respected the Waymon family and Eunice's musical gift. After high school she spent the better part of a year at Juillard, in order to hone her skills as a classical pianist and to prepare her for admittance to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Unfortunately, she was not accepted to the prestigious conservatory, a decision that may have been based on her unfavorable race. This failure, and the loss of her first and truest love, haunted her throughout the rest of her life.

Simone gave classic music lessons in Philadelphia, added popular music to her repertoire, and gained local attention when she spent a summer performing at a club in Atlantic City as a pianist, where she first began to sing. She began to perform in Philadelphia, playing popular tunes and songs she wrote, and then moved to New York to gain wider attention. Her career peaked in the mid 1960s, with standing room only performances at Carnegie Hall, and other venues throughout the United States, the Caribbean, Europe and Africa. She made several critically acclaimed albums on the Philips label, which garnered only modest commercial success. Inspired by close friendships with Lorraine Hansberry, Miriam Makeba, James Baldwin and Langston Hughes, she became an active participant in the civil rights movement, performing at numerous concerts to benefit local and national organizations including Stokely Carmichael's Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Mississippi Freedom Summer volunteers.

After she divorced her second husband, who served as her business manager, confidant and stabilizing force, Simone's career began a slow decline, as mental illness, the stress of performing and traveling, and financial difficulties took their toll. She became progressively more hostile towards her audiences, berating them for not being engaged with her increasingly erratic and tardy performances, and shouting at those who interrupted her attention. She became estranged from her family, including her parents and her only child, and sought escape in Switzerland and France toward the end of her career and life. Mood stabilizing medications and the support of those closest to her permitted Simone to make a brief comeback, but she died in 2003 at the age of 70, after suffering two major strokes.

Nadine Cohodas provides the reader with an extensively researched biography of Nina Simone, which shines in its analysis of her early life and influences, the slow rise and more rapid decline of her career, details about her involvement in the civil rights movement, and descriptions of her performances through quotes from her husband, sidemen, audience members, and promoters. The book's major weaknesses are its seemingly interminable descriptions of Simone's erratic behaviors at concerts and in various settings, and its lack of personal analysis of Eunice Waymon, the complex and troubled woman within the performer. As a result, I was unable to connect with, understand and appreciate Nina Simone as much as I would have liked, leaving me with a sense of dissatisfaction at the end, which ended abruptly with her death, as if the author wanted to be done with Simone and the book.

I would recommend Princess Noire to fellow fans of Nina Simone, but only reservedly to casual readers or those who are unfamiliar with her work.

I added On Writing by Stephen King to this challenge. It's at least half memoir, with the other half being writing advice. Hopefully it fits the challenge.

I couldn't find my copy of the Nina Simone autobiography, so instead I picked up a book I could find, Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday, Café Society, and an early cry for civil rights by David Margolick.

This book is about the history of the song Strange Fruit, and especially how people reacted to the song. The reactions seem to have been complex and often contradictory, not least from Holiday herself: according to different reports in the book, she insisted on singing it, she hated to sing it but it was always requested, or she sang it when she was angry with her audience. Hearing the song was a life-changing experience for some: for others, it was 'a marketing device' for Holiday, it was a song with too much of an agenda, it was a song that appealed only to bleeding-heart white liberals, or it was a song which they feared would stir up racial hatred and lead to more lynchings, not action to end them. One person said that Holiday's version 'lacked conviction because, as someone who'd spent most of her time in Northern cities, she couldn't possibly identify with the trauma of lynching.' There is even the allegation, but repeated by more than one source, that Holiday didn't understand what she was singing about. I don't believe this - I suspect that some of the more extreme negative comments are driven by envy of the song's success, or a sense that the speaker had just heard the song too many times.

There's clearly some very interesting material here. Unfortunately, there was little discernible structure to the book, which read like a cuttings job.

Sample: People still marvel at the performance and how understated and elegant it is. The Anglo-Irish jazz writer and composer Spike Hughes once lamented over how Bessie Smith had never sung "Strange Fruit", because "it is a song that neds to burn with the fierce fire of anger, as well as the flames of pathos." In fact, Holiday's subtlety makes it all the more powerful. "It is Billie's pure, un-self-pitying, distilled-emotion approach to the material that haunts our memories," Schuller writes.