Saturday, April 27, 2013

Five top books on artists who have captivated our culture

One title on the Barnes & Noble Review's list of five top books on artists who have captivated our culture:
Theft: A Love Story
by Peter Carey

Michael "Butcher" Boone -- heir to a successful Australian slaughterhouse and a criminal whose weapon of choice is brash art -- has just emerged from a short stay in prison. Eager to go relatively straight and begin a painting career, he's thrown marvelously off course by his mentally challenged brother, Hugh -- the book's co-narrator -- and Marlene, a sexual dynamo with mysterious connections to Picassoesque legend Jacques Leibovitz. Marlene enlists Boone for a wild-goose chase through Japan, forgery of Leibovitz's paintings, and a war of words with the "art police" whose detectives would be their downfall. Carey's exhilarating, profane, and highly experimental novel is a master class in the joy of painting, the pitfalls of fame, and life-as-performance art.
Read about another novel on the list.

Also see: "Cultural cringe" and Peter Carey's "Theft".

--Marshal Zeringue