#nancy wake autobiography

[girlactionfigure]

Resistance Fighter – Nancy Wake

She killed a Nazi with her bare hands.

Nancy Wake was a gutsy journalist from Australia who became a leader of the Allied resistance and killed a Nazi with her bare hands.

Born in New Zealand in 1912, Nancy was raised in Sydney. She ran away from home at age 16 and went to London, where she became a self-taught journalist.

As a young woman, Nancy described herself as someone who loved nothing more than a “good drink and handsome men, especially French men.” In 1930 she married Henri Edmond Fiocca, a wealthy French industrialist.

During the 1930’s Nancy worked for Hearst newspapers as a European correspondent. Stationed in Vienna, Nancy witnessed the rise of Nazism. She was shocked to see roving gangs of Nazis beating up Jews, and never forgot the sight of Jews chained to massive wheels and rolled through the streets. She later said, “I resolved there and then that if I ever had the chance I would do anything to make things more difficult for their rotten party.”

Nancy became a courier for the French resistance. Speaking perfect French, she worked with the “maquis” – guerrilla bands of resistance fighters. After Germany invaded France, she helped Allied POW’s and other personnel escape the country.

The Gestapo called Nancy the “White Mouse.” They tapped her phone and intercepted her mail. Nancy’s life was in constant danger.

Nancy described her method of avoiding detection by the Germans: “A little powder and a little drink on the way, and I’d pass their German posts and wink and say, ‘Do you want to search me?’ God, what a flirtatious little bastard I was.”

Nancy led repeated attacks on Gestapo headquarters. By 1943, she was the most wanted resistance fighter, with a 5 million franc price on her head.

After Nancy’s maquis network was betrayed, she fled France. Her husband stayed behind, and he was captured, tortured and killed by the Gestapo. Nancy, on her way across the Pyrenees to Spain, was unaware of her husband’s death until after the war.

In 1944, Nancy parachuted into France. Her assignment involved collecting and distributing arms and equipment that were sent in by parachute. Nancy was a highly successful recruiter, and is credited with bringing 7500 fighters into the resistance.

From April 1944 until the liberation of France in August 1944, Nancy’s band of maquisards fought 22,000 German soldiers, causing 1400 casualties while sustaining only 100 of their own.

At one point, Nancy killed an SS guard with her bare hands to stop him from raising the alarm during a raid. She later described how she did it, “They’d taught this judo-chop stuff with the flat of the hand at SOE [special operations training] and I practiced away at it. But this was the only time I used it – whack – and it killed him all right. I was really surprised.”

Another time, Nancy’s wireless operator was shut down in a German raid, and she rode her bicycle over 300 miles through German checkpoints to deliver the secret codes.

After the war, Nancy was awarded the United States Medal of Freedom, the Medaille de la Resistance, and the Croix de Guerre, among many other honors.

Nancy continued to work as an intelligence agent. She married a Royal Air Force officer in 1957 and for the next several decades they divided their time between London and Australia. Nancy’s autobiography, The White Mouse, was published in 1985 and became a bestseller.

Nancy’s husband died in 2001, and she returned to London permanently. She lived at the Stafford Hotel near Picadilly, her expenses largely paid for by the hotel’s owners, who were honored to host a renowned heroine. She could be found every morning at the hotel bar, drinking her first gin and tonic of the day.

Nancy died in 2011 at age 98. Her remarkable story has been the subject of multiple biographies and television mini-series.

For fighting the good fight against the Nazi war machine, we honor Nancy Wake as this week’s Thursday Hero.

[historical-babes]

Nancy Wake (1912-2011).

War heroine.

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She outwitted the German Gestapo for years and fought fiercely as a saboteur and spy for the French Resistance, ultimately becoming World War II’s most decorated servicewoman. Wake was born in New Zealand and grew up in Australia then later worked as a journalist in France, where, after the German invasion, she joined the Resistance. The official historian of the SOE, M.R.D. Foot, said that "her irrepressible, infectious, high spirits were a joy to everyone who worked with her."

She was called “the White Mouse” for her ability to escape traps, and at one time she topped the Gestapo’s most-wanted list with a 5-million-franc price on her head. Forced to flee when her network was betrayed, Wake was captured and interrogated for four days, but she escaped through Spain to Britain.

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Wake was living in Marseille with her French industrialist husband, Henry Fiocca, when the war broke out. After the fall of France to Nazi Germany in 1940, Wake became a courier for the Pat O'Leary escape network led by Ian Garrow and, later, Albert Guerisse. As a member of the escape network, she helped Allied airmen evade capture by the Germans and escape to neutral Spain. In 1943, when the Germans became aware of her, she escaped to Spain and continued on to the United Kingdom. Her husband was captured and executed.

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After reaching Britain, Wake, codenamed "Helene," joined the Special Operations Executive (SOE). On April 29-30, 1944 as a member of a three person SOE team codenamed "Freelance," Wake parachuted into Allier Department of occupied France to liaise between the SOE and several maquis groups in the Auvergne region which were loosely overseen by Emile Coulaudon (code name Gaspard). She was a participant in a battle between a large force of Germans and the maquis in June 1944. Although she was known as a ferocious hand-to-hand fighter, Wake claimed that her proudest moment came when she bicycled through several Nazi checkpoints over 500 km (about 310 mi) in less than 72 hours to reopen communications after Resistance radio codes were destroyed.

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Wake was a recipient of the George Medal from the United Kingdom, the Medal of Freedom from the United States, the Legion of Honor from France, and medals from Australia and New Zealand. After the war she served in the British Foreign Office (1946–48) and as an intelligence officer (1951–58). Thereafter she lived intermittently in Australia until she retired to England in 2001. In 1985, she published her autobiography, The White Mouse.

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Her second husband was John Forward.

She died from a chest infection.

[breakingnews365]

Nancy Wake: A story of a British spy

Nancy Wake: A story of a British spy

If a woman is beautiful, she should be cool. Wonderful combatant should also be a soldier, and if you are so fast in the work of espionage, what will you say about him? The name of this woman was Nancy Grace Augusta Wake. People called him Nancy Wake. She was among the famous women fighters of the second world war. In many ways, his personality was immense.

Born in Roseneath, Wellington, New…

[nonasuch]

well this was a wild ride from start to finish

I’ve wanted to read The White Mouse, Nancy Wake’s autobiography about her time in the French Resistance, for years, but it’s long out of print and there were no ebooks to be found. But apparently that is no longer the case: there is a Kindle version, and it is glorious.

Some highlights:

Yeah, this pretty much captures the spirit of the book.

The first two great loves of Nancy’s life were, apparently, her dog and a gorgeous Yugoslavian woman named Stephanie.

Nancy invites Stephanie to move in with her after witnessing Stephanie’s extremely dramatic breakup with her husband, and then proceeds to namedrop like crazy for several paragraphs, including a bit about the time a famous actor invited them to see him play the lead in The Trial of Oscar WIlde. None of this is subtle.

Nancy does eventually meet and marry a dude who she seems to love quite a bit, but not as much as she loves describing the elaborate meal they served at their wedding. This is like CS Lewis level food description.

Basically she goes into more detail about food than she does about most of the military operations she was involved in.

Later, after she jumps from a moving train and runs for it while being machine-gunned at, Nancy spends a paragraph describing the jewelry that had been in the handbag she dropped, in detail. She was still very upset about losing it at the time she wrote her autobiography, forty years later. Nancy’s determination to Look Her Best is genuinely impressive.

This bit takes place after she crossed the Pyrenees on foot and has been wearing the same clothes for like a month. She does this specifically because two of the women who crossed the Pyrenees with her have been pissing her off and she wants them to look extra worn and bedraggled by comparison. I love her.

Eventually Nancy makes it to England, joins the SOE and starts training to be parachuted into France where she’ll join up with the Resistance. First, though, she has to embarrass the shit out of some dudes.

Nancy finds time to pull three separate pranks with those condoms before she’s done training. Nancy does not fuck around.

Nancy had more fun at SOE training than the entire cast of Animal House had in the entire runtime of Animal House. I LOVE HER.

Once Nancy gets to France she is briefly stranded without a radio operator, but he does turn up eventually. Every single story about this dude in the entire book is incredible.

I mean, there was a war on. You might die tomorrow. Nancy understands.

Nancy also brought two silk nightgowns (one pink and one blue) with her to Occupied France and made a point of changing out of her battledress every night before going to sleep. At one point Nancy risks capture because she needs a new set of clothes for a mission (ones that don’t look like they’ve had WWII fought in them) and a tailor in a nearby village has promised her a custom-made outfit so she needs to get to the fitting.

There is a real person named Donald Darling. I am so glad.

For the record, Nancy punched a waiter in Paris after the war because he was disparaging about the English in front of her friend. It was awesome.

Nancy’s spirits do get low for a while after the war, though, especially since her husband died in a prison camp while she was in England and she didn’t find out until after the liberation of Paris. It’s okay, though:

Nancy seems like the kind of person who makes other people even more awesome by her mere presence, like her Resistance commander buddy:

Basically, Nancy has lived a LIFE. This sums her up pretty well, I think:

[rejectedprincesses]

Are thinking of doing a graphoc novel about Nancy Wake? That would be so awesome!

I read her autobiography a while back, fully intending to cover her, and found there was just too much amazing stuff to put in there. I posted screenshots so frequently, my friends started asking, “what in the world are you reading?”

As an example, SOE agents had specific poems to identify themselves when making contact with London (Noor Inayat Khan wrote her own, IIRC). This is Nancy’s:

Normally I take like 5-10 pages of notes per book I read. With Nancy’s, it was like 30-40. She was just impossibly, insanely cool.

I could do a full graphic novel on her but I’d have to let the website go dark for like half a year.

[charlieism]

Heyo since it’s Anzac day today, I’m gonna take this opportunity to make a big post and tell you guys about Nancy Wake because she was badass and I love her.

So this was Nancy, she was born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1912. She died in 2011, at 98 years old. She served with the French in World War 2, and became one of the most important people in the war efforts.

Nancy first decided she needed to fight against Germany when saw Nazis beating Jewish people in the streets of Vienna, sometime in the 1930s, which horrified her so much she became determined to fight against them. In 1939 she married a wealthy Frenchman, and 6 months later Germany began to invade France, allowing Nancy to draw herself into the fight. 

She worked as a courier for the Resistance in 1940, smuggling food and messages to underground groups in Southern France. She also bought an ambulance and used it to help fleeing refugees. Nancy obtained false papers which allowed her to stay in the Vichy zone of occupied France, where she helped over a thousand prisoners of war and downed Allied fliers travel out of France and into Spain.

However her missions with the Resistance meant her life was always in danger, and she soon became suspect. The Gestapo (the official secret Nazi police) watched her, tapped her phone and opened her mail. But Nancy, knowing this, took many different identities and was so good at evading and running circles around the Gestapo that they nicknamed her the ‘White Mouse.’ By 1943 Nancy was the #1 on the Gestapo’s most wanted list, and had a 5 million franc price on her head. But German troops managed to take over the southern part of France area, giving the Gestapo unlimited access to all the papers held by the people in the Vichy regime. By that time the Resistance decided it was too risky for Nancy to stay in France, and they decided that she should go back to Britain. Her husband stayed behind in France (he was later captured, tortured and killed by the Gestapo because he would not betray her.) (She was unaware of his death until the war had ended.)

Leaving France was not easy for Nancy; she had to make 6 different attempts to escape by taking the Pyrenees into Spain. She was captured by the military once, where she was held captive and interrogated for four days. She refused to tell the Milice anything, and was released on the fourth day because Patrick O’Leary, also known as the famous ‘Scarlet Pimpernal of WWII,’ helped break her out by claiming that she was his mistress, and was trying to conceal her infidelity to her husband (which was untrue.) Nancy finally succeeded in escaping France on her seventh attempt to get into Spain.

When Nancy arrived back in Britain, she was trained at a British Ministry of Defence camp. She became one of 39 women and 430 men in the French Section of the British Special Operations Executive, which worked with local resistance groups to sabotage the Germans in the occupied territories. 

Now for some of the really badass stuff she did. 

She described her tactics for getting past Nazi military posts, in order to travel and smuggle the things she needed to, with ‘A little powder and a little drink on the way, and I'd pass their posts and wink and say, 'Do you want to search me?' She also described herself as a flirtatious bastard, and she was never searched!

Once she was parachuting into a camp and got tangled in a tree. The captain of the Maquis group found her, he greeted her by remarking “I hope all the trees in France bear such beautiful fruit this year,” to which Nancy replied with, “Don’t give me that French shit.” She then managed to make the Maquis group into one roughly 7,500 people strong, destroy the local Gestapo HQ and kill 38 German Nazis, and lead them to attacks on German installations.

She once found her men protected a girl who was a German spy. They admitted that they didn’t have the heart to kill her, so Nancy executed the spy herself.

Once, an SS soldier discovered her and a group of men while they were carrying out a raid. Nancy killed the man with a single blow to the neck to prevent him from raising the alarm. She literally judo-chopped somebody to death, in one hit. She claims she was really surprised when it actually worked.

On another occasion, to replace codes her wireless operator had been forced to destroy in a German raid, Wake rode a bicycle for more than 300 kilometres through several German checkpoints to get to another group’s wireless operator and send a message to London, telling them about the situation. Unfortunately the could not convince the radio operator that she was with the SOE (the British Special Operations Executive) so she had to find the local maquis, who did send her message. Nancy then had to ride all the way back to where she started. She did all this in under 72 hours. After the incredible bike ride, she quotes, “When I got off that damned bike I felt as if I had a fire between my legs. I couldn’t stand up. I couldn’t sit down, I couldn’t walk. I just cried.” Nancy said of all the things she’d done in the war, she was most proud of that bike ride.

She was said to have been able to drink more, and heavier, than any of the men she worked with.

After the war, she sold all her medals to fund herself, saying “There was no point keeping them, I’ll probably go to hell and they’ll all melt anyway.”

After the war she lived at the Stafford Hotel in Piccadilly. Her money ran out but the hotel was not prepared to evict her. It was revealed in February 2003 that Prince Charles had been helping pay the bills. She also had her own stool at the hotel's bar, where she drank at least six gin-and-tonics each day.

She wrote her own autobiography, titled ‘The White Mouse’.

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[lifements-blog]

Reto de Lectura Rory Gilmore

Sé que llego tarde a este reto de lectura pero nunca me había animado a tomarlo, lo descubrí hace años no recuerdo donde y ahora que me topé con el de nuevo en  BlackWhite Read Books y queria intentarlo.

Gilmore Girls fue una gran parte de mi adolescencia vi todos los capítulos más de una vez y me identificaba con Rory, su amor por la lectura y su vida cotidiana, es una serie que siempre vivirá en mi corazón y es más que una serie para mí, me enseño muchas cosas y me ayudo con muchas más.

El reto de lectura consiste en leer todos los libros que Rory leyó a lo largo de la serie, los cuales son muchos, entre ellos existen muchos clásicos como Alicia en el País de las Maravillas y El Diario de Anna Frank, la mayoría de libros en esta lista no están siquiera en mi lista TBR la cual es otra de las razones por las que quiero intentarlo, la lista consiste de 339 libros por lo que no me pondré propósitos irreales como leerlos todos durante este año (2016), en dos años o en cinco, simplemente me propondré terminar esta lista algún día y divertirme con ella.

Marcare mi progreso en este post y quizá haga una reseña de ellos, los mencione en mis libros del mes o en GoodReads pero primordialmente será aquí.

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Inferno by Dante

The Divine Comedy by Dante

1984 by George Orwell

A Bolt from the Blue and Other Essays by Mary McCarthy

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

A Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

A Monetary History of the United States by Milton Friedman

A Month Of Sundays: Searching For The Spirit And My Sister by Julie Mars

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

A Quiet Storm by Rachel Howzell Hall

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

A Room with a View by E. M. Forster

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

A Streetcar Named Desiree by Tennessee Williams

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

Adventures of Huckleberry by Mark Twain

An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy

Babe by Dick King-Smith

Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney

Bitch in Praise of Difficult Women by Elizabeth Wurtzel

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Brick Lane by Monica Ali

Bridgadoon by Alan Jay Lerner

Candide by Voltaire

Carrie by Stephen King

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White

Christine by Stephen King

Complete Novels by Dawn Powell

Complete Stories by Dorothy Parker

Cousin Bette by Honore de Balzac

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Cujo by Stephen King

Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende

David and Lisa by Dr Theodore Issac Rubin M.D

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol

Demons by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

Deenie by Judy Blume

Don Quixote by Cervantes

Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhrv

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales & Poems by Edgar Allan Poe

Eleanor Roosevelt by Blanche Wiesen Cook

Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn

Eloise by Kay Thompson

Emily the Strange by Roger Reger

Emma by Jane Austen

Empire Falls by Richard Russo

Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective by Donald J. Sobol

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

Ethics by Spinoza

Europe through the Back Door, 2003 by Rick Steves

Eva Luna by Isabel Allende

Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

Extravagance by Gary Krist

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore

Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World by Greg Critser

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

Fiddler on the Roof by Joseph Stein

Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce

Fletch by Gregory McDonald

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger

Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers

Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut

Gender Trouble by Judith Butler

George W. Bushism: The Slate Book of the Accidental Wit and Wisdom of our 43rd President by Jacob Weisberg

Gidget by Fredrick Kohner

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Alvin Granowsky

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry

Henry IV, part I by William Shakespeare

Henry IV, part II by William Shakespeare

Henry V by William Shakespeare

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

Holidays on Ice: Stories by David Sedaris

House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III

How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer

How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss

How the Light Gets In by M. J. Hyland

Howl by Allen Ginsberg

I’m With the Band by Pamela des Barres

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee

Iron Weed by William J. Kennedy

It Takes a Village by Hillary Rodham Clinton

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

Just a Couple of Days by Tony Vigorito

Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain

Lady Chatterleys’ Lover by D. H. Lawrence

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis

Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Marathon Man by William Goldman

Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter by Simone de Beauvoir

Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman by William Tecumseh Sherman

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

Mencken’s Chrestomathy by H. R. Mencken

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Moliere: A Biography by Hobart Chatfield Taylor

Monsieur Proust by Celeste Albaret

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall

My Lai 4: A Report on the Massacre and It’s Aftermath by Seymour M. Hersh

My Life as Author and Editor by H. R. Mencken

My Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru by Tim Guest

Myra Waldo’s Travel and Motoring Guide to Europe, 1978 by Myra Waldo

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult

Nervous System: Or, Losing My Mind in Literature by Jan Lars Jensen

New Poems of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

Night by Elie Wiesel

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Novels 1930-1942: Dance Night/Come Back to Sorrento, Turn, Magic Wheel/Angels on Toast/A Time to be Born by Dawn Powell

Notes of a Dirty Old Man by Charles Bukowski

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Old School by Tobias Wolff

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Oracle Night by Paul Auster

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Othello by Shakespeare

Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

Out of Africa by Isac Dineson

Peyton Place by Grace Metalious

Pigs at the Trough by Arianna Huffington

Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi

Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Property by Valerie Martin

Pushkin: A Biography by T. J. Binyon

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

Quattrocento by James Mckean

Rapunzel by Grimm Brothers

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin

Rescuing Patty Hearst: Memories From a Decade Gone Mad by Virginia Holman

R Is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton

Rita Hayworth by Stephen King

Robert’s Rules of Order by Henry Robert

Roman Holiday by Edith Wharton

Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin

Sacred Time by Ursula Hegi

Sanctuary by William Faulkner

Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford

Say Goodbye to Daisy Miller by Henry James

Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand

Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman

Selected Hotels of Europe

Selected Letters of Dawn Powell: 1913-1965 by Dawn Powell

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Several Biographies of Winston Churchill

Sexus by Henry Miller

Shane by Jack Shaefer

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

S Is for Silence by Sue Grafton

Slaughter-house Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Small Island by Andrea Levy

Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway

Snow White and Rose Red by Grimm Brothers

Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World by Barrington Moore

Song of the Simple Truth: The Complete Poems of Julia de Burgos by Julia de Burgos

Songbook by Nick Hornby

Sonnets from the Portuegese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Sophie’s Choice by William Styron

Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

Stuart Little by E. B. White

Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust

Swimming with Giants: My Encounters with Whales, Dolphins and Seals by Anne Collett

Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber

Tender Is The Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Term of Endearment by Larry McMurtry

Time and Again by Jack Finney

To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Truth & Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

The Archidamian War by Donald Kagan

The Art of Fiction by Henry James

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

The Bhagava Gita

The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Built a Village in the Forest, and Saved 1,200 Jews by Peter Duffy

The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman

The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse

The Collected Stories by Eudora Welty

The Complete Poems by Anne Sexton

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber

The Crucible by Arthur Miller

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

The Da Vinci -Code by Dan Brown

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson

The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band by Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars and Nikki Sixx

The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe

The Fall of the Athenian Empire by Donald Kagan

The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels

The Godfather: Book 1 by Mario Puzo

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford

The Gospel According to Judy Bloom

The Graduate by Charles Webb

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Group by Mary McCarthy

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon

The Holy Barbarians by Lawrence Lipton

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

The Iliad by Homer

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

The Jumping Frog by Mark Twain

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

The Last Empire: Essays 1992-2000 by Gore Vidal

The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield

The Little Locksmith by Katharine Butler Hathaway

The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen

The Lottery: And Other Stories by Shirley Jackson

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

The Love Story by Erich Segal

The Manticore by Robertson Davies

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

The Meaning of Consuelo by Judith Ortiz Cofer

The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare

The Miracle Worker by William Gibson

The Mojo Collection: The Ultimate Music Companion by Jim Irvin

The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin

The New Way Things Work by David Macaulay

The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism by William E. Cain, Laurie A. Finke, Barbara E. Johnson, John P. McGowan

The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life by Amy Tan

The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition by Donald Kagan

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby

The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker

The Portable Nietzche by Fredrich Nietzche

The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O’Neill by Ron Suskind

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Rough Guide to Europe, 2003 Edition

The Scarecrow of Oz by Frank L. Baum

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The Shining by Stephen King

The Song of Names by Norman Lebrecht

The Song Reader by Lisa Tucker

The Sonnets by William Shakespeare

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

The Story of My Life by Helen Keller

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

The Tragedy of Richard III by William Shakespeare

The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath 1950-1962 by Sylvia Plath

The Trial by Franz Kafka

The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by Elisabeth Robinson

The Vanishing Newspaper by Philip Meyers

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum

The Year of Magical Thinkinf by Joan Didion

The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Ulysses by James Joyce

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Unless by Carol Shields

Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

Velvet Underground’s The Velvet Underground and Nico (Thirty Three and a Third series) by Joe Harvard

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

Walt Disney’s Bambi by Felix Salten

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

We Owe You Nothing – Punk Planet: The Collected Interviews edited by Daniel Sinker

What Colour is Your Parachute? 2005 by Richard Nelson Bolles

What Happened to Baby Jane by Henry Farrell

When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka

Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire

(Post original en: http://lifements.blogspot.com/2016/01/el-reto-de-lectura-rory-gilmore.html )

[a-bit-of-lit-blog]

i noticed y’all have been enjoying my novel masterposts. so im just going to keep posting because im obsessed with books like that T.T

for my study-like-rory studyblr friends who want to read all the books mentioned in gilmore girls (because hello?? who doesn’t??), here’s a list! pls let me know if i missed a book, but i think it’s quite a complete list! enjoy!!

#

1984 – George Orwell

A

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain

Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay – Michael Chabon

An American Tragedy – Theodore Dreiser

Angela’s Ashes – Frank McCourt

Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy

Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl – Anne Frank

Archidamian War – Donald Kagen

The Art of Fiction  – Henry James

The Art of War – Sun Tzu

As I Lay Dying – William Faulkner

Atonement – Ian McEwan

The Awakening – Kate Chopin

Autobiography of a Face – Lucy Grealy

B

Babe – Dick King-Smith

Backlash – Susan Faludi

Balzac & the Little Chinese Seamstress – Dai Sijie

The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath

Beloved – Toni Morrison

Beowulf – Seamus Heaney

The Bhagava Gita

The Bielski Brothers – Peter Duffy

Bitch in Praise of Difficult Women – Elizabeth Wurtzel

A Bolt From the Blue & other Essays – Mary McCarthy

Brave New World – Aldous Huxley

Brick Lane – Monica Ali

Brigadoon – Alan Jay Lerner

C

Candide – Voltaire

The Canterbury Tales – Chaucer

Carrie –Stephen King

Catch – 22 – Joseph Heller

The Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger

The Celebrated Jumping Frog – Mark Twain

Charlotte’s Web – EB White

The Children’s Hour – Lilian Hellman

Christine – Stephen King

A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens

A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess

The Code of the Woosters – PG Wodehouse

The Collected Short Stories – Eudora Welty

The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty

A Comedy of Errors – William Shakespeare

Complete Novels – Dawn Powell

The Complete Poems – Anne Sexton

Complete Stories – Dorothy Parker

A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole

The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas

Cousin Bette – Honore de Balzac

Crime & Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Crimson Petal & the White – Michael Faber

The Crucible – Arthur Miller

Cujo – Stephen King

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime – Mark Haddon

D

Daughter of Fortune – Isabel Allende

David and Lisa – Dr. Theodore Issac Rubin

David Coperfield – Charles Dickens

The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown

Deal Souls – Nikolai Gogol (Season 3, episode 3)

Demons – Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Death of a Salesman – Arthur Miller

Deenie – Judy Blume

The Devil in the White City – Erik Larson

The Dirt – Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mark, & Nikki Sixx

The Divine Comedy – Dante

The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood – Rebecca Wells

Don Quijote – Cervantes

Driving Miss Daisy – Alfred Uhrv

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde ­– Robert Louis Stevenson

E

Complete Tales & Poems – Edgar Allan Poe

Eleanor Roosevelt – Blanche Wiesen Cook

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test – Tom Wolfe

Ella Minnow Pea – Mark Dunn

Eloise – Kay Thompson

Emily the Strange – Roger Reger

Emma – Jane Austen

Empire Falls – Richard Russo

Encyclopedia Brown – Donald J. Sobol

Ethan Frome – Edith Wharton

Ethics – Spinoza

Eva Luna – Isabel Allende

Everything is Illuminated – Jonathon Safran Foer

Extravagance – Gary Kist

F

Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury

Fahrenheit 911 – Michael Moore

The Fall of the Athenian Empire – Donald Kagan

Fat Land:How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World – Greg Critser

Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas – Hunter S. Thompson

The Fellowship of the Ring – J R R Tolkien

Fiddler on the Roof – Joseph Stein

The Five People You Meet in Heaven – Mitch Albom

Finnegan’s Wake – James Joyce

Fletch – Gregory McDonald

Flowers of Algernon – Daniel Keyes

The Fortress of Solitude – Jonathon Lethem

The Fountainhead – Ayn Rand

Frankenstein – Mary Shelley

Franny and Zooey – JD Salinger

Freaky Friday – Mary Rodgers

G

Galapagos – Kurt Vonnegut

Gender Trouble – Judith Baker

George W. Bushism – Jacob Weisberg

Gidget – Fredrick Kohner

Girl, Interrupted – Susanna Kaysen

The Ghostic Gospels – Elaine Pagels

The Godfather – Mario Puzo

The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy

Goldilocks & the Three Bears – Alvin Granowsky

Gone with the Wind – Margaret Mitchell

The Good Soldier – Ford Maddox Ford

The Gospel According to Judy Bloom

The Graduate – Charles Webb

The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck

The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald

Great Expectations – Charles Dickens

The Group – Mary McCarthy

H

Hamlet – Shakespeare

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – JK Rowling

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – JK Rowling

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius – Dave Eggers

Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad

Helter Skelter – Vincent Bugliosi

Henry IV, Part 1 – Shakespeare

Henry IV, Part 2 – Shakespeare

Henry V – Shakespeare

High Fidelity – Nick Hornby

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire – Edward Gibbons

Holidays on Ice – David Sedaris

The Holy Barbarians – Lawrence Lipton

House of Sand and Fog – Andre Dubus III

The House of the Spirits – Isabel Allende

How to Breathe Underwater – Julie Orringer

How the Grinch Stole Christmas – Dr. Seuss

How the Light Gets In – MJ Hyland

Howl – Alan Ginsburg

The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Victor Hugo

I

The Illiad – Homer

I’m With the Band – Pamela des Barres

In Cold Blood – Truman Capote

Inferno – Dante

Inherit the Wind – Jerome Lawrence & Robert E Lee

Iron Weed – William J. Kennedy

It Takes a Village – Hilary Clinton

J

Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte

The Joy Luck Club – Amy Tan

Julius Caesar – Shakespeare

The Jungle – Upton Sinclair

Just a Couple of Days – Tony Vigorito

K

The Kitchen Boy – Robert Alexander

Kitchen Confidential – Anthony Bourdain

The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini

L

Lady Chatterley’s Lover – DH Lawrence

The Last Empire: Essays 1992-2000 – Gore Vidal

Leaves of Grass – Walt Whitman

The Legend of Bagger Vance – Steven Pressfield

Less Than Zero – Bret Easton Ellis

Letters to a Young Poet – Rainer Maria Rilke

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them – Al Franken

Life of Pi – Yann Martel

Little Dorrit – Charles Dickens

The Little Locksmith – Katharine Butler Hathaway

The Little Match Girl – Hans Christian Anderson

Little Woman – Louisa May Alcott

Living History – Hillary Clinton

Lord of the Flies – William Golding

The Lottery & Other Stories – Shirley Jackson

The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold

The Love Story – Eric Segal

M

Macbeth – Shakespeare

Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert

The Manticore – Robertson Davies (Season 3, episode 3)

Marathon Man – William Goldman

The Master and Margarita – Mikhail Bulgakov

Memoirs of  Dutiful Daughter – Simone de Beauvoir

Memoirs of General WT Sherman – William Tecumseh Sherman

Me Talk Pretty One Day – David Sedaris

The Meaning of Consuelo – Judith Ortiz Cofer

Mencken’s Chrestomathy – HR Mencken

The Merry Wives of Windsor – Shakespeare

The Metamorphosis – Franz Kafka

Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides

The Miracle Worker – William Gibson

Moby Dick – Herman Melville

The Mojo Collection – Jim Irvin

Moliere – Hobart Chatfield Taylor

A Monetary History of the US – Milton Friedman

Monsieur Proust – Celeste Albaret

A Month of Sundays – Julie Mars

A Moveable Feast – Ernest Hemingway

Mrs. Dalloway – Virginia Woolf

Mutiny on the Bounty – Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall

My Lai 4 – Seymour M Hersh

My Life as Author and Editor – HR Mencken

My Life in Orange – Tim Guest

My Sister’s Keeper – Jodi Picoult

N

The Naked and the Dead – Norman Mailer

The Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco

The Namesake – Jhumpa Lahiri

The Nanny Diaries – Emma McLaughlin

Nervous System – Jan Lars Jensen

New Poems of Emily Dickinson

The New Way Things Work – David Macaulay

Nickel and Dimed – Barbara Ehrenreich

Night – Elie Wiesel

Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen

The Norton Anthology of Theory & Criticism – William E Cain

Novels 1930-1942: Dance Night/Come Back to Sorrento, Turn, Magic Wheel/Angels on Toast/A Time to be Born by Dawn Powell

Notes of a Dirty Old Man – Charles Bukowski

O

Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck

Old School – Tobias Wolff

Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens

On the Road – Jack Keruac

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch – Alexander Solzhenitsyn

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kesey

One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life – Amy Tan

Oracle Night – Paul Auster

Oryx and Crake – Margaret Atwood

Othello – Shakespeare

Our Mutual Friend – Charles Dickens

The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War – Donald Kagan

Out of Africa – Isac Dineson

The Outsiders – S. E. Hinton

P

A Passage to India – E.M. Forster

The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition – Donald Kagan

The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky

Peyton Place – Grace Metalious

The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde

Pigs at the Trough – Arianna Huffington

Pinocchio – Carlo Collodi

Please Kill Me – Legs McNeil & Gilliam McCain

The Polysyllabic Spree – Nick Hornby

The Portable Dorothy Parker

The Portable Nietzche

The Price of Loyalty – Ron Suskind

Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen

Property – Valerie Martin

Pushkin – TJ Binyon

Pygmalion – George Bernard Shaw

Q

Quattrocento – James McKean

A Quiet Storm – Rachel Howzell Hall

R

Rapunzel – Grimm Brothers

The Razor’s Edge – W Somerset Maugham

Reading Lolita in Tehran – Azar Nafisi

Rebecca – Daphne de Maurier

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm – Kate Douglas Wiggin

The Red Tent – Anita Diamant

Rescuing Patty Hearst – Virginia Holman

The Return of the King – JRR Tolkien

R is for Ricochet – Sue Grafton

Rita Hayworth – Stephen King

Robert’s Rules of Order – Henry Robert

Roman Fever – Edith Wharton

Romeo and Juliet – Shakespeare

A Room of One’s Own – Virginia Woolf

A Room with a View – EM Forster

Rosemary’s Baby – Ira Levin

The Rough Guide to Europe

S

Sacred Time – Ursula Hegi

Sanctuary – William Faulkner

Savage Beauty – Nancy Milford

Say Goodbye to Daisy Miller – Henry James

The Scarecrow of Oz – Frank L. Baum

The Scarlet Letter – Nathanial Hawthorne

Seabiscuit – Laura Hillenbrand

The Second Sex – Simone de Beauvior

The Secret Life of Bees – Sue Monk Kidd

Secrets of the Flesh – Judith Thurman

Selected Letters of Dawn Powell (1913-1965)

Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen

A Separate Place – John Knowles

Several Biographies of Winston Churchill

Sexus – Henry Miller

The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafron

Shane – Jack Shaefer

The Shining – Stephen King

Siddartha – Hermann Hesse

S is for Silence – Sue Grafton

Slaughter-House 5 – Kurt Vonnegut

Small Island – Andrea Levy

Snows of Kilamanjaro – Ernest Hemingway

Snow White and Red Rose – Grimm Brothers

Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy – Barrington Moore

The Song of Names – Norman Lebrecht

Song of the Simple Truth – Julia de Burgos

The Song Reader – Lisa Tucker

Songbook – Nick Hornby

The Sonnets – Shakespeare

Sonnets from the Portuegese – Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Sophie’s Choice – William Styron

The Sound and the Fury – William Faulkner

Speak, Memory – Vladimir Nabakov

Stiff, The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers – Mary Roach

The Story of my Life – Helen Keller

A Streetcar Named Desire – Tennessee Williams

Stuart Little – EB White

Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway

Swann’s Way – Marcel Proust

Swimming with Giants – Anne Collett

Sybil – Flora Rheta Schreiber

T

A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens

Tender is the Night – F Scott Fitzgerald

Term of Endearment – Larry McMurty

Time and Again – Jack Finney

The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffeneggar

To Have and to Have Not – Ernest Hemingway

To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee

The Tragedy of Richard III – Shakespeare

Travel and Motoring through Europe – Myra Waldo

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith

The Trial – Franz Kafka

The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters – Elisabeth Robinson

Truth & Beauty – Ann Patchett

Tuesdays with Morrie – Mitch Albom

U

Ulysses – James Joyce

The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath (1950-1962)

Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Harriet Beecher Stowe

Unless – Carol Shields

V

Valley of the Dolls – Jacqueline Susann

The Vanishing Newspaper – Philip Meyers

Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray

Velvet Underground – Joe Harvard

The Virgin Suicides – Jeffrey Eugenides

W

Waiting for Godot – Samuel Beckett

Walden – Henry David Thoreau

Walt Disney’s Bambi – Felix Salten

War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy

We Owe You Nothing – Daniel Sinker

What Colour is Your Parachute – Richard Nelson Bolles

What Happened to Baby Jane – Henry Farrell

When the Emperor Was Divine – Julie Otsuka

Who Moved My Cheese? Spencer Johnson

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Edward Albee

Wicked – Gregory Maguire

The Wizard of Oz – Frank L Baum

Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte

Y

The Yearling – Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

The Year of Magical Thinking – Joan Didion

OTHER RESOURCES:

19th Century Novels Masterpost

20th Century Novels Masterpost

21st Century Novels Masterpost

Rory Gilmore’s Reading List

Series Masterpost

[artbookclubdublin-blog]

This is the list of book suggestions that were gathered for our first book club. We then voted for the book that we wanted to read for our first meeting. 

Documents of Contemporary Art: Participation, edited by Claire Bishop 

The desire to move viewers out of the role of passive observers and into the role of producers is one of the hallmarks of twentieth-century art. This tendency can be found in practices and projects ranging from El Lissitzky's exhibition designs to Allan Kaprow's happenings, from minimalist objects to installation art. More recently, this kind of participatory art has gone so far as to encourage and produce new social relationships. Guy Debord's celebrated argument that capitalism fragments the social bond has become the premise for much relational art seeking to challenge and provide alternatives to the discontents of contemporary life. This publication collects texts that place this artistic development in historical and theoretical context.

Participation begins with writings that provide a theoretical framework for relational art, with essays by Umberto Eco, Bertolt Brecht, Roland Barthes, Peter Bürger, Jen-Luc Nancy, Edoaurd Glissant, and Félix Guattari, as well as the first translation into English of Jacques Rancière's influential "Problems and Transformations in Critical Art." The book also includes central writings by such artists as Lygia Clark and Hélio Oiticica, Joseph Beuys, Augusto Boal, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Thomas Hirschhorn, and Rirkrit Tiravanija. And it features recent critical and curatorial debates, with discussions by Lars Bang Larsen, Nicolas Bourriaud, Hal Foster, and Hans-Ulrich Obrist.

Ways of Seeing, by John Berger

John Berger’s now classic article "Ways of Seeing" (1972) revolutionarily, for his time, analyses the manner in which men and women are culturally represented, and the subsequent results these representations have on their conduct and self as well and mutual perception.

The Sublime, edited by Simon Morley 

In a world where technology, spectacle and excess seem to eclipse former concepts of nature, the individual and society, what might be the characteristics of a contemporary sublime? If there is any consensus it is in the notion that the sublime represents a taking to the limits, to the point at which fixities begin to fragment. This anthology examines how ideas of the sublime are explored in the work of contemporary artists and theorists, in relation to the unpresentable, transcendence, terror, nature, technology, the uncanny and altered states.

Book of Mutter, by Kate Zambreno

Composed over thirteen years, Kate Zambreno's Book of Mutter is a tender and disquieting meditation on the ability of writing, photography, and memory to embrace shadows while in the throes -- and dead calm -- of grief. Book of Mutter is both primal and sculpted, shaped by the author's searching, indexical impulse to inventory family apocrypha in the wake of her mother's death. The text spirals out into a kind of fractured anatomy of melancholy that comes to contain critical reflections on the likes of Roland Barthes, Louise Bourgeois, Henry Darger, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha , Peter Handke, and others. Zambreno has modeled the book's formless form on Bourgeois's Cells sculptures -- at once channeling the volatility of autobiography, pain, and childhood, yet hemmed by a solemn sense of entering ritualistic or sacred space.

Neither memoir, essay, nor poetry, Book of Mutter is an uncategorizable text that draws upon a repertoire of genres to write into and against silence. It is a haunted text, an accumulative archive of myth and memory that seeks its own undoing, driven by crossed desires to resurrect and exorcise the past. Zambreno weaves a complex web of associations, relics, and references, elevating the prosaic scrapbook into a strange and intimate postmortem/postmodern theater.

Aliens and Anorexia, by Chris Kraus  

First published in 2000, Chris Kraus’s second novel, Aliens & Anorexia, defined a female form of chance that is both emotional and radical. Unfolding like a set of Chinese boxes, with storytelling and philosophy informing each other, the novel weaves together the lives of earnest visionaries and failed artists. Its characters include Simone Weil, the first radical philosopher of sadness; the artist Paul Thek; Kraus herself; and “Africa,” Kraus’s virtual S&M partner, who is shooting a big-budget Hollywood film in Namibia while Kraus holes up in the Northwest woods to chronicle the failure of Gravity & Grace, her own low-budget independent film.

In Aliens & Anorexia, Kraus makes a case for empathy as the ultimate perceptive tool, and reclaims anorexia from the psychoanalytic girl-ghetto of poor “self-esteem.” Anorexia, Kraus writes, could be an attempt to leave the body altogether: a rejection of the cynicism that this culture hands us through its food.

In Free Fall: A Thought Experiment on Vertical Perspective, by Hito Steyerl  

Available on the e-flux website: http://www.e-flux.com/journal/24/67860/in-free-fall-a-thought-experiment-on-vertical-perspective/

The Temporality of the Landscape, by Tim Ingold

“In Tim Ingold's article, there are two themes present; that "...human life is a process that involves the passage of time," and that "...this life-process is also the process of information of the landscapes in which people have lived". Through the use of these themes and his methodological structure, Ingold argues that the landscape can be read as a text. First, he defines the terms landscape and temporality, and second, he introduces a new word, "taskscape", and considers how this relates to landscape. Finally, to further prove his point, the author attempts to "read" the landscape of a well-known painting, The Harvesters, by Bruegel, in which he interprets the temporality of this landscape. This article is useful in understanding cultural landscapes in that it encourages the researcher to think about an often missing, yet integral part of the interpretation of landscapes: time. The researcher is also made to question the relationship of the dimension of time to a particular landscape.” [E. Martin]

The Indiscipline of Painting, by Daniel Sturgis  

Essay and catalogue texts to exhibition.

 High Rise, by JG Ballard

High-Rise is a 1975 novel by British writer J. G. Ballard. The story describes the disintegration of a luxury high-rise building as its affluent residents gradually descend into violent chaos.

Two Hito Steyrl essays, to be read in combination: 

Politics of the archive, Translations in film: http://eipcp.net/transversal/0608/steyerl/en  and In Defense of the Poor Image:

http://www.e-flux.com/journal/10/61362/in-defense-of-the-poor-image/

The Secret History, by Donna Tartt

Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality they slip gradually from obsession to corruption and betrayal, and at last - inexorably - into evil.

Curating Research, edited by Paul O'Neill and Mick Wilson. Specifically the text called ‘The Complete Curator’

This anthology of newly commissioned texts presents a series of detailed examples of the different kinds of knowledge production that have recently emerged within the field of curatorial practice. The first volume of its kind to provide an overview of the theme of research within contemporary curating, Curating Research marks a new phase in developments of the profession globally. Consisting of case studies and contextual analyses by curators, artists, critics and academics, including Hyunjoo Byeon, Carson Chan and Joanna Warsza, Chris Fite-Wassilak, Olga Fernandez Lopez, Kate Fowle, Maja and Reuben Fowkes, Liam Gillick, Georgina Jackson, Sidsel Nelund, Simon Sheikh, Henk Slager, tranzit.hu, Jelena Vestic, Marion von Osten and Vivian Ziherl, and edited by curators Paul O'Neill and Mick Wilson, the book is an indispensible resource for all those interested in the current state of art and in the intersection between research and curating that underlies exhibition-making today.

The Argonauts, Maggie Nelson

A brave, fascinating memoir about love, gender, gender theory, having children, death, writing, and the modern family. Maggie Nelson, an established poet and prose writer, details her love for and relationship with Harry Dodge, a charismatic, gender-fluid artist ('are you a man or a woman?' the narrator wonders, but it just doesn't matter). In a brilliantly-written account that is moving as well as fascinating, Nelson charts her thoughts and feelings about becoming a step-parent, her pregnancy, Harry's operation and testosterone injections, and the couple's complex joys in queer-family creation.

Staying with the Trouble, by Donna Haraway

In the midst of spiraling ecological devastation, multispecies feminist theorist Donna J. Haraway offers provocative new ways to reconfigure our relations to the earth and all its inhabitants. She eschews referring to our current epoch as the Anthropocene, preferring to conceptualize it as what she calls the Chthulucene, as it more aptly and fully describes our epoch as one in which the human and nonhuman are inextricably linked in tentacular practices. The Chthulucene, Haraway explains, requires sym-poiesis, or making-with, rather than auto-poiesis, or self-making. Learning to stay with the trouble of living and dying together on a damaged earth will prove more conducive to the kind of thinking that would provide the means to building more livable futures. Theoretically and methodologically driven by the signifier SF—string figures, science fact, science fiction, speculative feminism, speculative fabulation, so far—Staying with the Trouble further cements Haraway's reputation as one of the most daring and original thinkers of our time.

[ramajmedia]

10 Music Biopics You've Probably Forgotten About (That Aren't Rocketman)

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) and Rocketman (2019) released to thunderous media and audience buzz. The last year has been a landmark one in the music biopic circuit. Despite the controversy surrounding director Bryan Singer and rampant questions concerning the film's accuracy, Bohemian Rhapsody managed to demolish box office records and procure four Oscars (including the highly coveted Oscar for best actor). While it didn't quite measure up to Bohemian Rhapsody's lush box office success, Rocketman held its own, enjoying seemingly boundless praise for its production quality and for Taron Egerton's performance as the force of nature that is Elton John.

RELATED: Rocketman: 5 Things It Does Better Than Bohemian Rhapsody (& 5 Things It Does Worse)

With the lofty popularity of both Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman evident in the enormous demand for similar stories, let's take a look back at a few existing biopics that may have been forgotten in the wake of two such tremendous narratives.

10 The Runaways (2010)

Floria Sigismondi's directorial debut The Runaways chronicles the brief gritty success of the iconic 1970s all-female titular rock group. The film stars Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie, and Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett, in performances widely heralded as the most redeeming quality of the feature.

Though the film vastly underperformed at the box office (grossing less than $3.6 million nationwide for the film's $10 million budget), it examines the impact such a lifestyle had on these teens during a decade in which rock and roll was at its glamorous, dangerous best.

9 Control (2007)

Anton Corbijn's feature film debut Control recounts the fleeting life of 1970's post-punk band Joy Division, and the bleak existence led by frontman Ian Curtis. Curtis (Sam Riley) lived a notoriously short and desolate life punctuated by his troubled marriage. Despite Joy Division's current widespread popularity, the band was on the brink of stardom (mere days from a tour in the United States) at the time of Curtis's untimely passing at the age of 23.

The film was shot on color stock and then printed to black and white, a relatively uncommon practice in contemporary cinema. Though the film never received a wide release in the United States, director Anton Corbijn had the unique privilege of being personally acquainted with all of the members of Joy Division in their active years, and thus was able to bring an intimately personal touch to the narrative.

8 Straight Outta Compton (2015)

From director F. Gary Gray, Straight Outta Compton depicts the emergence, notoriety, and subsequent crumbling of the legendary hip hop group N.W.A., offering a glimpse into the early lives of its founding members. Universally observed as pioneers of gangsta rap, Ice Cube (O'Shea Jackson Jr.), Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins), and Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell) distil their experiences with racism and violence into their music, launching their controversial careers.

RELATED: 5 Musical Biopics Done Right (And 5 Done Wrong)

The film broke the box-office record and became the highest-grossing music biopic of all time, clearing over $60.2 million in its first weekend (a record not even Bohemian Rhapsody could rival). It was produced by two of the founding members of N.W.A. (Ice Cube and Dr. Dre) and scored an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay.

7 Nowhere Boy (2009)

Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, Nowhere Boy chronicles the adolescence of John Lennon and the formation of the band that evolved into The Beatles. Beginning in the year 1955, the film details Lennon's (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) first encounters with Paul McCartney and George Harrison and the dawn of their wildly successful music careers.

Written by Matt Greenhalgh (the same screenwriter who brought Control to the screen), the film offers a more intimate telling of Lennon's family background. It illustrates his tumultuous relationship with his mother and presents a glimpse of his childhood and teenage years, being brought up by his aunt in a suburb of Liverpool.

6 I'm Not There (2007)

Directed by Todd Haynes, I'm Not There is the semi-fictionalized and rather unorthodox telling of the life of Bob Dylan. The film is split into the narratives of six characters: Jude (Cate Blanchett), Arthur (Ben Whishaw), Pastor John (Christian Bale), Billy (Richard Gere), Woody (Marcus Carl Franklin), and Robbie (Heath Ledger). Each is intended to reflect a different facet of Dylan's colorful life.

The result is a braided narrative that lends a vibrancy to the saga of Bob Dylan and brings a unique texture to the more standard form of storytelling typical to music biopics. Though the film was not commercially successful, it scored a best supporting actress Oscar nomination for Cate Blanchett's portrayal of Jude.

5 Amadeus (1984)

Directed by Milos Forman, Amadeus is the fictionalized biographical account of renowned composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Told from the perspective of rival composer Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham), the film illustrates Mozart (Tom Hulce) as obnoxious and foolish but an unprecedented fountain of musical prowess. 

RELATED: 10 Biopics About Celebrities That Are Worth Watching

A tale wrought with jealousy, betrayal, and absurdity, Amadeus was a creative gamble that yielded eight academy awards (including the Oscars for best picture and best actor), four Golden Globes, and four BAFTAs.

4 Sid and Nancy (1986)

Directed by Alex Cox, Sid and Nancy divulges a partially-fictionalized account of the romance between Sex Pistols star Sid Vicious (Gary Oldman) and  Nancy Spungen. The film chronicles the turbulent final days of the Sex Pistols, a demise largely credited to Vicious's spiraling relationship with Nancy.

Though the film was not commercially successful and only gained its cult following years later, it illuminated the profound effects of addiction, which ultimately led to Vicious's death at the age of just 21.

3 Walk the Line (2005)

Directed by James Mangold, Walk the Line explores the life of famed singer-songwriter Johnny Cash. The film straddles memories of Cash's (Joaquin Phoenix) early childhood, his rise to fame, and his struggles. The film also highlights his relationship with first wife Vivian and his romance with second wife June Carter.

Based upon two of Cash's own autobiographies, the film earned five Oscar nominations (with Reese Witherspoon winning for best actress) and was the highest-grossing music biopic of all time before being eclipsed a decade later by Straight Outta Compton. 

2 Selena (1997)

Directed by Gregory Nava, Selena is an introspective look at the short life of the titular Mexican-American singer/songwriter. The film spotlights the early childhood of Selena (Jennifer Lopez), her meteoric rise to fame, and her death at the hands of her business partner, Yolanda Saldivar (Lupe Ontiveros). 

Selena's living family were integral to the creation of the film, including her father, Abraham Quintanilla Jr., who took on the role of producer out of a desire to provide the most accurate narrative of Selena's life. Despite backlash due to her casting, Jennifer Lopez lended a vivacity that was crucial to the role of Selena and helped spotlight the life of the designated "Queen of Tejano." 

1  Love & Mercy (2014)

Directed by Bill Pohlad, Love & Mercy reveals the profound genius of Beach Boys founding member Brian Wilson (Paul Dano/John Cusack). Straddling two different decades, the film examines Wilson's mental state during the recording of The Beach Boys's album Pet Sounds, his treatment by psychotherapist Dr. Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti), and his relationship with Melinda Ledbetter (Elizabeth Banks).

Though the film was only moderately commercially successful, it was the intention of Pohlad to ensure that the film was as historically accurate as possible, a fact that is evident in Dano's depiction of Wilson (which earned him a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actor).

NEXT: 10 Iconic Singers Who Need A Biopic Like Freddy Mercury In Bohemian Rhapsody

source https://screenrant.com/forgotten-underrated-music-biopics-rocketman/

[fluffysluffisluv]

From 1985 to 1990, Steven Adler played drums for Guns 'n' Roses. These days he performs with his own group, Adler's Appetite. Steven Adler has just written his autobiography titled My Appetite For Destruction. Sex, Drugs And Guns 'n' Roses. (It Books, Harper - Collins Books) and what a story it is! Steven Adler talked with us about his autobiography, his time with Guns 'n' Roses and his new band, Adler's Appetite. Q - Steven, I've been reading this autobiography of yours. If I was a kid thinking of being a Rock musician, I might have second thoughts. I'd probably run in the opposite direction. A - Yeah. (laughs) It's definitely something you gotta watch what you wish for. Q - Does everyone more or less go through the same experience you've gone through? A - Well, I would say more or less, yes. And not just musicians or entertainers. Everyday people. I'm just a guy who had a dream of being a drummer in a Rock band and so many things come along with it. Just like life, the sexual abuse part, the drug abuse part, I'm just learning why I was doing all those things to myself. Doing this book has been very mentally and emotionally healing for me. To be able to get all these things that I had stuffed inside my body and soul, to be able to get them out and say it, it's very healing for me. Q - I would guess that because you were sexually abused, it set the stage for everything else that followed. A - I'm sure that's what happened unconsciously. I got into the drugs just like pretty much every other person does. I was young. I smoked pot for the first time and I liked it. Of all the things I've experienced in my life, unconsciously I was doing the drugs mainly not just because; hey, that's what people in Rock 'n' Roll do, they didn't have Behind The Music when I was growing up. You had magazines - Hit Parader, Circus, Rolling Stone. When you read these interviews, it seemed like the band, the guys you got to read about, we're having a party. It was exciting. There's girls. There's money. You didn't read about the part where the guys are throwing up blood and shitting blood and not being able to get onstage, passing out onstage. So much craziness involved. Q - So, when Nancy Reagan came along in the mid-1980s and was asked about the drug problem, she said "Just say no." That didn't make much of an impression on you. A - (laughs) Of course. We're a generation of people that you tell us not to do something, we're gonna do it! You know? (laughs) The rebellious youth in you. Q - What's strange is, if you really wanted to be a rebel and everybody around you is taking drugs and drinking, you shouldn't take drugs and drink. Then you're a real rebel, right? A - Yes, of course. That makes so much sense. Yeah, do the opposite. It's just like everybody was getting tattoos. So to be a rebel, don't get a tattoo. Be original. Q - Right. A - By not doing anything, you're original. Q - You have so many stories in this book of yours about sex. This isn't an exaggeration is it? This is true? A - Yeah, of course it's true. Q - So, how did you remember all these details? Were you keeping some kind of journal? A - Believe it or not, it came from memories and from the girls and people themselves. I would go to them and say "I know something crazy happened." Basically the people who the stories are about, I would go to them and say "Tell me what happened." Q - How different do you think your life would have been if your mother had not moved from Ohio to California? A - I'm sure I would never have met Slash and meeting Slash was one of the best things that ever happened to me. One of the best things that ever happened to me. I don't think my life would have been as fulfilling and as interesting if I didn't move from Cleveland to Hollywood when I was younger. Q - Do you think you still would've played drums but in a local band? A - Probably. I'm sure I would've done something. I wanted to be a professional football player and then I wanted to be a stuntman. But because I had an injury to my foot, I couldn't do those things. Then I went to a KISS concert. That was it. I want to be a part of this. Q - KISS was and is a very exciting group to watch and listen to. A - When I saw them, there was only 2,000 people (in the audience) and I'll never forget it. They looked like they were 20 feet tall. It was such a huge show and they just seemed so huge. So much excitement. Q - Your book has been out how long now? A couple of weeks? A - It hits the stores July 27th (2010). I'll be doing Howard Stern the same day. The band has a new single called "Alive". It's good to be alive, so we'll be playing that on Howard Stern too. I guess the first few weeks, you buy the book you get a free single or a download to get the single. Q - I was going to ask you what people are saying about your book, but if it hasn't been released yet, I can't ask that question. A - You know what? One of the news ladies at Fox News, I guess she read the book. She got a copy of it. Every morning on the Fox News she's been talking how wonderful it is. She says how intriguing and interesting it is. So, some people got it and I've gotten great response from it. And as I said in the beginning of this interview, it's been so healing for me. It's helped me to be able to move on and it's helped me from relapsing back on drugs. I'll get a few months going I'll relapse and I never understood why. I wouldn't enjoy it, but I would do it. Now I realize I kept everything stuffed inside me and now getting it out is so wonderful to me, for me. Q - I can see a mini-movie or a movie of the week being made from your book. A - That would be wonderful. That would be great if people like it that much. I think people will like it because even though I've had the success that I've had, I'm still an everyday person. I'm just a guy who wakes up every morning and goes to the bathroom and does everything that anybody else does. The underdogs are going to relate to this book. I'm definitely a part of the underdogs. Q - You had an older brother, Kenny. A - Well, I still do. (laughs) Q - What does he do for a living? A - He's a security guard at The Venetian in Las Vegas. Q - So, I take it he wants no part of the Rock 'n' Roll business. A - No, not at all. Now my little brother has become a well known agent for bands. He's doing really well. Q - What agency does he work for? A - Adler Entertainment. He's got his own company now, So my little brother's doing real good. Q - Have you ever seen a Guns 'n' Roses tribute band? I interviewed a guy in a band like that called Appetite For Destruction. A - Really? Yeah. You know, I did in Las Vegas. I saw a band and went up and played with them. The singer was a girl and she looked just like Axl and sounded like him, but it was a girl. It was amazing. I've seen a couple good tribute bands. Q - I see that when Guns 'n' Roses signed with Geffen Records, each guy got an advance of $7,500. Were the guys expected to buy your equipment from that advance? A - The money was for equipment. We got an apartment. It was for anything. We spent most of it on drugs. (laughs) But it was money to get into a decent house and get some decent equipment, and none of us got anything. I think I bought one snare drum. (laughs) That was it. None of us had that much money before. Q - I'm also reading the autobiography of Joey Kramer, the drummer for Aerosmith. Drummers are wild and crazy guys! A - Our job is to beat on things. (laughs) We get to hit things for a living. It's wonderful. Q - Then when you go offstage, you beat yourself up! That's the problem. A - Oh, I beat myself up like I owed myself money. (laughs) Q - So, this tour of yours takes you across the U.S.? A - Oh, yeah. We've still got 45 shows to go. Q - How many dates were you booked? A - I think 55 shows. Go to my website, www.AdlersAppetiteOnLine.com and everybody can check out the shows, the dates, pictures, everything that's been going on, on this tour. Q - How long do you play onstage with your band? A - Maybe 90 minutes. It's a great set. It's a strong set. It's been really great on this tour. We finally have our own single and our own music to play. I love playing the GNR stuff. It's such great music and it's so strong and it goes over so well. Finally now that we have our own single, we're becoming our own band in our own right. That part is very exciting. Q - It is so great to see you onstage doing your own thing, and alive! A - That's the name of the song - "Alive". (laughs)

Gary James' Interview With Steven Adler Of Guns 'n' Roses (2010)

[jelletinny]

I'm finally reading The White Mouse, the autobiography by Nancy Wake (seen here)! I am so happy! This is one of the best books I have ever read, it has gone so far past my expectations! She is hilarious, and her humor is much appreciated to balance out the horrors of Nazi occupied France. Her exploits make me feel both like I can do anything and like I should be out there doing something more. Truly inspiring in every sense of the word. No matter who you are, you would enjoy reading this book! That's not to say it's easy to do so without a library card. It's a very rare book, there aren't many copies, and the going price is insane to buy it secondhand(the only way to own it). As it is, I got it as interlibrary loan. I live near Chicago, I waited only a month before I got it! Guess where it's loaned from? The closest place? California State University.

[joshbales]

THE WHITE MOUSE

The story goes that in 1944, after being dropped by parachute into Nazi-occupied France, Nancy Wake’s parachute became caught in a tree. A member of the local French maquis that greeted her said he wished all trees could bear such beautiful fruit. “Don’t give me that French shit,” was Wake’s reply. This story isn’t recounted in Wake’s autobiography, THE WHITE MOUSE, but it’s one she liked to tell…