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marginaliant's reviews
1055 reviews
Creepy-Ass Dolls by Stacey Brooks
1.0
Pictures of creepy looking dolls with "funny" captions of how they're all serial killers. Silly fun for a while, but nothing special.
Heresy and Authority in Medieval Europe by
4.0
A really great source book if you're interested in Medieval history, and especially the pre-protestant religious beliefs. It's mostly primary sources, but the little introduction at the beginning of each chapter are great for contextualization and are pretty easy to understand. Would definitely recommend.
Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society by Lila Abu-Lughod
2.0
I can't deny that this book is well written, and I would call it a must-read for anyone who wants a female perspective on the Bedouin people, but I really couldn't get into it. I don't want to be one of those White Western Feminists who looks down on other societies, but page after page on female subservience to men does get a little exhausting after a while. It wasn't my cup of tea, and I read it for a class, but if you're interested in the subject matter definitely pick up a copy.
The Black and White Book by R.P. Moore
1.0
This book is cute until it gets super meta and then its so far stuck up its own butt you might as well not even bother.
Weegee and Naked City by Anthony W. Lee, Richard W. Meyer
3.0
I was supposed to read this for my History of Photography class last semester but got too busy, but I'm glad I went back and read through it. Two really great essays, and Weegee is such a good character and well worth studying if you're interested in early 20th century new york.
Fantastic Illustrations of Grandville: 266 Illustrations from Un Autre Monde and Les Animax by Stanley Appelbaum
2.0
The book is largely just reproductions of the illustrations of Grandville, but for a book that is mostly pictures it is very poorly laid out. You have to continuously turn the book to look at the pictures properly, and the explanatory text is pages away. While Grandville's illustrations themselves are charming and surreal, they can also be extremely sexist and some of them very obscure. Maybe if you're *really* into caricatures you might enjoy them, but lacking context it wasn't very good in my opinion.
Making the Mummies Dance: Inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art by Thomas Hoving
5.0
Hoving is slimy as a man can get but his writing is solid and the book itself has the right amount of sex appeal and charm to hold it over the sleaze. I'd definitely recommend it if you're interested in the 60's and 70's in the art market, or if you love (or hate!) the Met.