Breakfast with Lucian: A Portrait of the Artist, by Geordie Greig – review

Frances Spalding on one of the most revealing accounts of Lucian Freud ever writtenGeordie Greig's book is an unapologetic mixture of intelligent perception and high gossip. It deepens the reader's understanding of Lucian Freud, as both man and artist, but it also connives with the kind of mythology that stultifies inquiry. It is both fascinating and appalling. Freud had a reputation for being a man with no boundaries. This book likewise heeds no conventional restraints, mixes genres, seeps into questionable places, and fills gaps with cumulatively repetitive and often mawkish interviews with Freud's models, or connective passages that might have come straight out of Who's Who – were they not entirely concerned with sexual history. And yet no person interested in Freud will ignore this book. It is, overall, more revealing than anything about him yet written.It begins benignly, in Clarke's, a light-filled upmarket restaurant, with starched white tablecloths, in Kensington Church Street. Here, for at least the last decade of his life, Freud breakfasted most days of the week. He would enter via the delicatessen next door, as breakfast is not normally served, and was usually accompanied by David Dawson, his assistant, who brought all the broadsheets and the Daily Mail, which they spread over the large circular table at the back of the room. Guests, too, might be invited, especially on Saturday mornings, when the gathering sometimes swelled to a small salon. One regular was... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2013-12-18 00:00:00 UTC ]

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Society of Authors calls use of bad reviews for book blurbs ‘morally questionable’

After several critics complained of being quoted out of context on the covers of Jordan Peterson’s new book, the industry body has spoken out against the practiceThe Society of Authors (SoA) has spoken out against publishers misrepresenting negative reviews on book covers and the UK publisher... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-09-01 06:02:22 UTC ]
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Asus Zenbook 14 Pro OLED review: Big power in a small package

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[ PC World | 2023-08-31 10:30:00 UTC ]
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Read the first reviews of Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea.

In 1966, after more than a quarter century in obscurity, the Dominica-born British author Jean Rhys published what is now considered to be her masterpiece. Wide Sargasso Sea is an astonishing, hallucinatory fantasy about the early life, and eventual psychological disintegration, of the first... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-08-24 12:59:00 UTC ]
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Naomi Duguid 'The Miracle of Salt' Cookbook Review: A Vital Reference for Pickling, Preserving, and Flavoring

Naomi Duguid’s The Miracle of Salt is a magnificent single-ingredient trip around the world. Continue reading at Wired

[ Wired | 2023-08-22 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Can You Guess the Fantasy Book Based on Its 1-Star Reviews?

Are you a fantasy mega-fan? Well, let's put it to the test: Can you guess these fantasy books based only on their 1-star reviews? Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2023-08-21 10:35:00 UTC ]
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Audiobook Review: ‘The Ghost Club,’ by Kate Winkler Dawson

Kate Winkler Dawson’s audiobook original reveals the origins of a society of occult-obsessed supernaturalists that included Dickens, Doyle, Yeats and more. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-08-18 09:00:23 UTC ]
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Read the very first reviews of Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club.

Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk’s era-defining debut novel about a load of disaffected men beating the bejesus out of each other in order to feel alive, was first published twenty-seven years ago today. The book rapidly gained a cult following, was adapted into one of the most iconic movies of the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-08-17 15:30:58 UTC ]
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Galaxy Z Fold 5 review: Five years in, Samsung is treading water

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[ Engadget | 2023-08-09 14:00:02 UTC ]
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[ PC World | 2023-08-04 16:46:51 UTC ]
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In an Open Loft in Gowanus, Six Authors and Artists Collaborate and Commune

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[ The New York Times | 2023-08-03 09:01:00 UTC ]
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The Gutenberg Parenthesis by Jeff Jarvis review – why print culture is key to the future

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[ The Guardian | 2023-08-02 11:00:02 UTC ]
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Book Review: ‘A Pocketful of Happiness,’ by Richard E. Grant

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[ The New York Times | 2023-08-01 09:01:10 UTC ]
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Video and Audio Downloader Pro 2 review: Save YouTube videos and more

[ PC World | 2023-07-31 17:44:06 UTC ]
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Read W. H. Auden’s 1954 review of The Fellowship of the Ring.

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[ Literrary Hub | 2023-07-28 16:55:39 UTC ]
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[ Literrary Hub | 2023-07-28 09:07:50 UTC ]
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July’s Best Reviewed Nonfiction

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[ Literrary Hub | 2023-07-28 09:00:49 UTC ]
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Read an 1890 review of The Picture of Dorian Gray.

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[ Literrary Hub | 2023-07-24 18:10:37 UTC ]
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[ The New York Times | 2023-07-20 09:00:24 UTC ]
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IPG Lays Off Nine, Including Key Editors at Chicago Review Press

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-07-18 04:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The New York Times | 2023-07-14 09:00:33 UTC ]
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