Littman was “a honey-voiced Louisianian and literary muse who taught Hollywood to speak Southern, but [she] left her most enduring legacy as an early force in the fight against AIDS” – The New York Times
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Claire Messud On Observing The Heady Mixture Of Life, But Only Observing, As A Writer
Messud: “In some ways, to be a writer is to stand at the side, to be the observer, to be liminal. Wittgenstein said that all philosophy is neurosis. If you’re not neurotic then you don’t even have to write anything down, you’re just busy living.” – The Guardian (UK)
Back In Lockdown In Europe, What To Read?
For instance, take The Count of Monte Cristo. “At 1,200 pages, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas has the look of a book that might be boringly good for you. … I don’t think I’ve ever read anything with such adrenalin, awe and immersive enjoyment, aided by the zippy and vivid translation.” – Irish Times
The Woman Who Built Beethoven’s Pianos
Oops, Beethoven scholars: Nannette Streicher “owned her own company — employing her husband, Andreas Streicher, a pianist and teacher, to handle sales, bookkeeping and business correspondence. But many Beethoven scholars, perhaps finding it inconceivable that an 18th-century woman could build a piano, have turned Andreas into the manufacturer and Nannette into his shadowy helpmate.” – The New York Times
The New GBBO Is All About Flowers
In a time of pandemics, wildfires, long election seasons, Brexit, and more, little can reassure a tired viewing audience, one that has seen every episode of The Great British Bake-Off (or The Great British Baking Show, in Netflix terms) and perhaps is jaded about the handshake. But then Britain comes through again with Full Bloom. – Los Angeles Times
Sure, Yes, Why Not Open A New Indie Bookstore In The Fall Of 2020?
Well … there are a lot of reasons why not, but if you’re Anne Marie Kessler in Klamath Falls, Oregon, you’re doing it to give back to your community – who also helped renovate the 1906 hotel that had been vacant before she and her husband decided to move in. “We’ve had 106 people who have volunteered labor to renovate this building. … I (could) just put out a group text and say, ‘Hey, I could use as many people as could come down this weekend,’ and we’ve had 15 people here hammering away.”- The Oregonian
Portraits Of First-Wave NHS Workers Helped Both Artists And Frontline Medical Staff
Tom Croft, an artist who usually listens to the radio while he works, couldn’t continue to do it while the pandemic raged in the spring. One day, he “started to think about the portraits of the great and the good that line our art galleries, and the fact that the Covid-19 pandemic will be one of the defining events of the 21st century. Why not commemorate NHS workers in the same way?” – The Guardian (UK)
Will Paris’ Booksellers Along The Seine Survive?
The customers are gone, again (and the Americans never returned after quarantines began in March). “As lockdown restrictions to curb the coronavirus pandemic keep browsers at bay, the booksellers’ livelihood is rapidly being put in jeopardy. Many are bracing for what they fear may be the final chapter for a centuries-old métier that is as iconic to Paris as the Louvre and Notre Dame.” – The New York Times
How To Look (In Detail) At A Durer Self-Portrait
By the end of the 15th century, the self-portrait has become an act of self-fashioning: how I present myself to you. Dürer’s self-portraits were not the very first, but he made himself his subject with uncommon frequency. – The New York Times
Dutch Museums Launch Comprehensive Van Gogh Database
A new database called Van Gogh Worldwide allows users to access provenances, technical information, archival materials, and more related to 1,000 works on paper and paintings by the famed Post-Impressionist. Launched on Thursday, the database is a collaboration between the Kröller-Müller Museum, the Van Gogh Museum, and the RKD–Netherlands Institute for Art History, along with the Cultural Heritage Laboratory of the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. – ARTnews