msjamgochian'sinfinitebooklist

Need a little something-something to melt away the madness? If you unwittingly made it through the 90s without reading Griffin & Sabine, as I did, you'll find it's just the thing: a delightful anachronistic correspondence via painted carte-postale tucked into actual envelopes, a slow getting-to-know-you, a return to the possibility and pleasure of mystery between two near-strangers. It's a puzzle, it's a love story, it's an artful multi-media mezcla. Griffin, a painter living in London, receives a postcard from Sabine, an artist who designs stamps for a living on a small island in the South Pacific. They have never met, but Sabine can see Griffin's brushstrokes in her mind as he works. Unable to resist the allure of the unknown, Griffin replies with a postcard of his own, and the two of them embark upon their nonnormative relationship with intrigue and aplomb. My only frustration is not having access to the rest of the collection until June! Merci, magnifi...

When seventeen-year-old Eddie Reeves' once-famous photographer father jumps off of a building and commits suicide, he leaves behind little more than a two-sentence goodbye and a host of unanswered questions that are pushing Eddie towards her own jumping-off point. To make matters worse, her best friend, Milo, has taken back up with his Marilyn Monroe look-alike ex-girlfriend, her comatose Mom, who hasn't stopped wearing Dad's bathrobe, has completely checked out, and Mom's annoying best friend Beth has moved in to help them 'get on with their lives.' When one of her father's photography students, good-looking older guy Culler, shows up on the scene, he and Eddie pair up in an attempt to discover the why of her father's suicide, with surprising results. An honest and raw portrayal of suicide's particular strain of grief. Give it to fans of Nina LaCour's Hold Still . Click here for a full review and here for the book trailer. Grade 8+

Wow! Booklist loved this book: "Meno has constructed a snow-flake delicate inquiry into alienation and longing. Illustrated with drawings and photographs and shaped by tender empathy, buoyant imagination, and bittersweet wit, this wistful, provocative, off-kilter love story affirms the bonds forged by art and story." So did Flavorwire: "A lithe, winking take on the boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl cliché, Meno’s newest novel is like Perks of Being a Wallflower for the 20-something set — and just like that iconic novel of creatives-in-crisis, this one is quirky, clever, and full of bitten tongues and youthful dreaming. Add bicycles, fingerless gloves, and one of the most twee art projects we could have ever imagined, and you’ve got a charming and unpretentious hipster love story destined to be the next cult classic." I liked it, too. Give it to fans of Truffaut and Zoey Deschanel, or older teens who like John Green and are ready for something artier and meatier. Gra...

Are you still an artist if you don't have an audience? In spare prose reminiscent of Joan Didion, Dana Spiotta tells the story of Nik and Denise Worth, aging siblings who grew up during the 1970s-80s in Los Angeles and were involved in the art scene, Nik as a member of up-and-coming local band the Fakes and Denise as an actress. When singer-songwriter Nik's break-out deal with a big label turned sour in the 1980s, he turned inward, and began writing the "Chronicles," or the documented fantasy life of a successful musician complete with fabricated album reviews. Although she have up acting decades earlier, Denise's life isn't completely meaningless. She has a daughter she loves and a guy she gets together with every couple of weeks, but ultimately her existence is streaked with regret and painful self- awareness that she "had strayed from an acceptable course, that our lives were going in the wrong direction: I actually thought those words, how far we h...

A classic teen break-up book with a unique format. Arty Min and basketball King Ed meet at a party and fall in love as they play show and tell: Mina introduces Ed to her true love, foreign film, and Ed gives her a remedial course in basketball-captain's-girlfriend pageantry. Needless to say, things don't work out, and Min tells their story via a series of objects collected throughout their courtship that she puts in a box to return to Ed. Although the characters fit a bit too neatly into their stereotypical templates (Min comes complete with a boy who is 'just a friend,' aka Ducky), fans of teen relationship books will enjoy this young adult novel from the author of Lemony Snicket, and Maira Kalman's artwork turns the book into something special. The WWBU project provides readers with a chance to share their own break-up story. Grade 8+

An interesting look at looking at art. Berger's examination of oil painting as a proprietary catalog is especially intriguing.