Most checked out 2018 titles in the Art, Music & Recreation Center

The most popular 2018 books in the Art, Music & Recreation are an eclectic mix that show a diversity of subject matter and reading interests.

The top book of the year is a biography of the Bay Area's own Robin Williams.  A more surprising title is Why Art? by Eleanor Davis, an illustrated exploration of creativity and the creative process.  It's less of a surprise that actress Sally Field's memoir In Pieces has quite a readership, but All The Answers, a graphic memoir about the author, Michael Kupperman's father is not an obvious favorite.

The sheet music from film soundtracks is frequently popular and the songs from The Greatest Showman are currently in demand.  Our borrowers also find photographer Berenice Abbott's life story compelling. Astral Weeks commemorates the 50th anniversary of Van Morrison's legendary album, placing it within the context of its times.

Embroidery seems like the hot craft these days; Fashion Embroidery combines this art with the elegance of high fashion.  All The Pieces Matter is an oral history of The Wire, a powerful television drama from the early 2000s.  There is obviously local interest in Nathan Turner's I Love California, a book that mixes interior decoration, entertaining and recipes covering the length and breadth of the state.

Of course, there are more recent books that have not had time build up a large number of circulations.  (A couple of books from later in the year that are doing well include Mary Beard's new title How Do We Look and Ninth Street Women, a study of five important book overlooked New York artists of the Abstract Expressionism movement). This cross-section of titles is not exactly a best-seller list but it does reflect a range of our public's interests

1. Robin by Dave Itzkoff (Henry Holt and Company, 2018).

2. Why Art? by Eleanor Davis (Fantagraphics Books, 2018).

3. In Pieces: A Memoir by Sally Field (Grand Central Publishing, 2018).

4. All The Answers by Michael Kupperman (Gallery 13, 2018).

5. The Greatest Showman: Music from The Motion Picture Soundtrack / original songs by Benj Pasek & Justin Paul (Hal Leonard Corporation, 2018)

6. Berenice Abbott: A Life in Photography by Julia Van Haaften. (W.W. Norton & Company, 2018).

7. Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968 by Ryan H. Walsh (Penguin Press, 2018).

8. Fashion Embroidery: Embroidery Techniques and Inspiration for Haute-Couture Clothing by Jessica Jane Pile (Batsford, 2018).

9. All the Pieces Matter: The Inside Story of The Wire by Jonathan Abrams (Crown Archetype, 2018).

10. Nathan Turner's I Love California: Live, Eat, and Entertain the West Coast Way with Kerstin Czarra (Abrams, 2018).

Later titles:

How Do We Look?: The Body, the Divine, and the Question of Civilization by Mary Beard (Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2018).

Ninth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement that Changed Modern Art by Mary Gabriel (Little, Brown and Company, 2018).

Bob Marley: The Illustrated History - Presented by local music historian Richie Unterberger

Koret Auditorium, Main Library - 100 Larkin St, San Francisco, CA 94102

Thursday, March 29th 6:00pm-7:30pm

 
The Art, Music and Recreation Center of the San Francisco Public Library is pleased to host local music historian Richie Unterberger. Coinciding with the publication of his book, Bob Marley & the Wailers: The Ultimate Illustrated History, Richie Unterberger will show film clips, images from the book and host a presentation about Marley & the Wailers.

We would like to recommend the following titles from our book collection to learn more about Bob Marley & the Wailers.

Bob Marley: The Untold Story by Chris Salewicz (London: Harper Collins, c2009)

So Much Things to Say: The Oral history of Bob Marley by Roger Steffens (W.W. Norton & Company 2017)

Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley by Timothy White (St. Martin's Griffin c2006)

Marley Legend: An Illustrated Life of Bob Marley by James Henke (Chronicle Books c2006) 

Soul Rebel: An Intimate  Portrait of Bob Marley by David Burnett (Insight Editions, c2009)

Bob Marley and the Golden Age of Reggae, 1975-1976 by Kim, Gottlieb-Walker (Titan Books, c2010)


Search the catalog for subject Reggae Music -- Jamaica to find CD's, LP's and streaming audio.


 

The Most Requested Art, Music and Recreation Center books in January 2017

The top three titles on our current list match well with the nonfiction bestsellers listed in last Sunday's Chronicle.  In the Bay Area, Born a Crime ranks at number 6 and The Princess Diarist ranks at number 4.  Bruce Springsteen's memoir ranks number 3 nation-wide.

Books on hollywood, show business and entertainment in general often do well on the lists of holds.  Memoirs by Anna Kendrick, Lauren Graham, Megyn Kelly as well as the oral history of the Daily Show are all very popular.  In past lists rock and pop music memoirs have also faired well, but only Born to Run and Robbie Robertson's Testimony place on this list.

One slightly surprising title is Walking Through Walls by Marina Abramović.  While Abramović has achieved great renown in performance art circles, she seems out of place among the celebrities of this list.  But, I think the book's popularity reflects San Francisco's readers who have also shown favor towards two books about fine art - How To See by David Salle and a History of Pictures by David Hockney.

Sex sells - even sex from 80 years as Mary Astor's Purple Diary shows.  And anything with the Murakami touch will do well with our readers as can be seen with his book of conversations about music with Seiji Ozawa.

If these books excite you as well, you may have get in line to read them.  Thankfully, the majority of the titles are also available in eBook formats.

Happy reading.


1. Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah (Spiegel & Grau, 2016).

2. The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher (Blue Rider Press, 2016).

3. Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen (Simon & Schuster, 2016).

4. Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick (Touchstone, 2016).

5. Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, (And Everything In Between) by Lauren Graham (Ballantine Books, 2016).

6. Settle For More by Megyn Kelly (Harper, 2016)

7. The Daily Show (The Book): An Oral History As Told By Jon Stewart, The Correspondents, Staff and Guests by Chris Smith (Grand Central Publishing, 2016).

8. The Godfather Notebook by Francis Ford Coppola (Regan Arts, 2016).

9. Kathy Griffin's Celebrity Run-Ins: My A-Z Index by Kathy Griffin (Flatiron Books, 2016).

10. Mary Astor's Purple Diary: The Great American Sex Scandal of 1936 by Edward Sorel (Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2016).

11. Testimony by Robbie Robertson (Crown Archetype, 2016).

12. Superficial: More Adventures From the Andy Cohen Diaries by Andy Cohen (Henry Holt and Company, 2016).

13. The Magnolia Story by Chip & Joanna Gaines, with Mark Dagostino (W Publishing, , 2016).

14. Walk Through Walls: A Memoir by Marina Abramović, with James Kaplan (Crown Archetype, 2016).

15. How To See: Looking, Talking, and Thinking About Art by David Salle (W.W. Norton & Company, 2016)

16. Absolutely On Music: Conversations by Haruki Murakami with Seiji Ozawa, translated from the Japanese by Jay Rubin (Alfred A. Knopf, 2016).

17. Celebrate Everything!: Fun Ideas to Bring Your Parties To Life, written and illustrated by Darcy Miller (William Morrow, 2016).

18. Harry Potter: The Artifact Vault, written by Jody Revenson (Harper Design, 2016).

19. A History of Pictures: From the Cave to the Computer Screen by David Hockney & Martin Gayford (Abrams, 2016).

20. Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World by Steven Johnson (Riverhead Books, 2016).

The Most Requested Art, Music & Recreation Books - December 2015

 The year-end list of the titles with the most holds is topped by music memoirs, especially by women (Carrie Brownstein of Sleater / Kinney, Patti Smith, Carly Simon and Grace Jones).  Eight months earlier memoirs by Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth) and Viv Albertine (The Slits) were near the top.

One surprising title on this months list is The Arab of the Future, a graphic memoir of life in the Middle East.  There were two history books by noted rock historians - Peter Guralnick's biography of Sam Phillips, and the revised 6th edition of Greil Marcus' classic Mystery Train.

Works on architecture and interior design are popular.  Tiny House Living is a natural fit for 21st century San Francisco and is the only carry over from the April 2015 blog list of requested books.

Two of the more unusual books on the list are Ivory Vikings, an investigation of a set of walrus ivory chess pieces more than a millennia old, and The White Road, a history of porcelain penned by the author of The Hare with the Amber Eyes.

While there may be a queue of people awaiting their holds to be filled on these books, we frequently order extra copies to meet demand, so go ahead and place your holds on these popular new books.


1. Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl: A Memoir by Carrie Brownstein (Riverhead Books, 2015).

2. M Train by Patti Smith (Alfred A. Knopf, 2015).

3. The Arab of the Future: A Graphic Memoir: A Childhood in the Middle East (1978-1984) by Riad Sattouf, translated by Sam Taylor (Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 2015.

4. Boys in the Trees: A Memoir by Carly Simon (Flatiron Books, 2015).

5. I'll Never Write My Memoirs by Grace Jones as told to Paul Morley (Gallery Books, 2015).

6. Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink by Elvis Costello (Blue Rider Press, 2015)

7. Styled: Secrets for Arranging Rooms, From Tabletops to Bookshelves by Emily Henderson with Angelin Borsics (Potter Style, 2015).

8. Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' roll by Peter Guralnick (Little, Brown and Company, 2015).

9. Tiny House Living: Ideas for Building and Living Well in Less than 400 Square Feet by Ryan Mitchell. (Betterway Home, 2014).

10. Love Style Life by Garance Doré (Spiegel & Grau, 2015).

11. Peggy Guggenheim: The Shock of the Modern by Francine Prose (Yale University Press, 2015).

12. The Kinfolk Home: Interiors for Slow Living by Nathan Williams (Ouur/Artisan, 2015).

13. Becoming by Cindy Crawford (Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 2015).

14. Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock 'n' roll Music by Greil Marcus (Plume, 2015).

15. Keeping an Eye Open: Essays on Art by Julian Barnes (Alfred A. Knopf, 2015).

16. Ivory Vikings: The Mystery of the Most Famous Chessmen in the World and the Woman who Made Them by Nancy Marie Brown (St. Martin's Press, 2015).

17. Cabin Porn: Inspiration for Your Quiet Place Somewhere, collected by Beaver Brook, edited by Zach Klein (Little, Brown and Company, 20150.

18. The White Road: Journey into an Obsession by Edmund de Waal (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015).

Light Walk: Bob Miller and the Exploratorium

In celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the Exploratorium’s Artist-in-Residence (AIR) program the museum presents an investigation of the work of Bob Miller (1935-2007), a self-titled “natural philosopher” and author of many of the museum's most iconic exhibits about light, color, and shadow.

Drawn from Exploratorium archives and first-person accounts of Miller's life and work, Light Walk will include papers, letters, photographs, and objects, as well as public programs such as performances and film experiences.

The Exhibit will be available for viewing from Saturday, 10/25/14 - Thursday, 2/05/15 on the 4th floor of the San Francisco Public Library in the Art, Music and Recreation Center.

The Exhibit opening will be celebrated with a very special film program Radiant Cinema: Reflections on Light and Shadow. The film program shows on Wednesday, October 29, 2014 from 6:30-7:30 and will be preceded by an opening reception.

Bob Miller was a natural philosopher and poet of light. His unlimited imagination, playful insights, and questioning nature combined in powerful ways to influence the way those around him saw the world. His investigations into light and shadow acted as a physical and philosophical matrix on which to muse and discover, both at the Exploratorium and far beyond the museum walls.

Miller's wondrous methods of inquiry are the inspiration for Radiant Cinema, a program that incorporates light not only as a medium, but as a tool to weave abstractions and coherence. Some films take direct inspiration from Miller while others simply embody the type of radiance and mystery he saw in everyday reflections. The cinematic environment gives us the chance to consider the light coming from the projector as a wonder in itself; a portal to discovery.

Films that will be shown include:
Looking at the Light (2014, 3 min, video, color, sound) by David Barker.   This work-in-progress captures the light artist Bob Miller at home philosophizing and at play toward the later part of his life.

Lightwalk (1993, 3 min, 16mm, B&W, sound) by Michael Walsh.  Lightwalk is a cinematic ode to Bob Miller shot one summer afternoon at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco and the Marin Headlands. "Amazing effects stream past our retinas while we are busily distracted by our lives. Using in-camera effects, this film attempts to capture everyday images we might overlook."  —Michael Walsh

Stately Mansions Did Decree (1999, 6 min, 16mm, color, silent) by Stan Brakhage.  Stan Brakhage’s spectacular hand-painted Stately Mansions Did Decree fills the screen with flickering shards of red and orange that present a universe ablaze with energy.

Glistening Thrills (2013, 8m, 16mm, color, sound) by Jodie Mack.  A shiny otherworld of holographic reverie pairs dollar store gift-bags and a haunting vibraphone soundtrack to create an effervescent melancholy in three parts. Featuring compositions by Elliot Cole.

http://www.exploratorium.edu/arts/cinema-arts

Selected Bibliography compiled by San Francisco Public Library librarians:

The Fire within the Eye: A Historical Essay on the Nature and Meaning of Light (1999)

Park, David

Call Number: 535 P219f 1999

Catching the Light: The Entwined History of Light and Mind (1993)

Zajonc, Arthur

Call Number: 535.02 Z13c

A History of Light and Colour Measurement: Science in the Shadows (2001)

Johnston, Sean F.

Call Number: Ref 535.22 J647h (in library use only)

 

Light and Life (2002)

Gross, Michael

Call Number: 571.455 G9143L

The Optics of Life: A Biologist’s Guide to Light in Nature (2012)

Johnsen, Sonke

Call Number: 571.455 J629o

The Secret Language of Color: Science, Nature, History, Culture, Beauty of Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, & Violet

Eckstut, Joann and Eckstut, Arielle

Call Number: 535.6 Ec59s

Sound and Light :La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela / edited by William Duckworth and Richard Fleming.

Edited by William Duckworth and Richard Fleming.

Call Number: 780.973 So841

Thomas Wilfred : Lumia, a Retrospective Exhibition

Donna M. Stein..

Call Number: 709.04 W648s 

The Exploratorium : the Museum as Laboratory

Hilde Hein ; foreword by Philip Morrison.

Call Number: 069.95 H364e