The Player


Faith Summers - 2020
    Must be into BDSM, adventurous and spontaneous.Personality Traits: highly promiscuous and sexually charged, always.Hobbies: F@%king.As a matchmaker, I’m not supposed to judge.I know what billionaires are like.Their special tastes are exactly what made my three best friends and I set up this dating agency. We exist to meet the demands of their wild fantasies.Players and playboys are nothing new to me.It’s just me who’s changed.I don’t know what I expected to happen when I first met Finn Cavenaugh.What I didn’t expect was for him to pick me when I tried to find him the perfect match.That was the day temptation made me crazy.So crazy it tempted me to see what would happen next with The Player…This is a Steamy, Sexy, Short Romance with scorching hot

The Craftsman's Handbook


Cennino Cennini
    Fifteenth-century handbook, written by a working artist of the day, reveals secrets and techniques of the masters in drawing, oil painting, frescoes, panel painting, gilding, casting, more. Direct link to artists of the Middle Ages. Translation and Introduction by D. V. Thompson. "Delightful flavor..." — N.Y. Herald Tribune.

Going South


Ella Yelich-O'Connor (Lorde) - 2021
    It documents her experience visiting the continent of Antarctica in January 2019 with photos taken by New Zealand photographer Harriet Were. Lorde expressed an interest in exploring the region of Antarctica since she was old enough to read. In January 2019, she visited Scott Base and McMurdo Station, Antarctica, travelling as an Antarctic Ambassador. During her visit, she observed microscopic species in environmental laboratories and spoke with scientists. Lorde described the book as "sort of a perfect precursor" to her upcoming third studio album. It will feature over 100 pages of images taken by New Zealand photographer Harriet Were and writings from Lorde. All proceeds will be used to fund a postgraduate scholarship created by Antarctica New Zealand, a government agency.

Fabritius and the Goldfinch


Deborah Davis - 2014
     Donna Tartt's Pulitzer Prize-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling novel, The Goldfinch, introduced millions of readers to a painting that becomes a lifelong obsession. Painted in 1654 by Carel Fabritius, the work is of a small bird, chained to its perch. This mysterious portrait, a masterpiece of the Dutch Golden Age, has been lost and found, adored and abandoned, for nearly four centuries. Now more famous than ever, this painting is the subject of its own book—a look behind the scenes at its creation and the tumultuous life of its creator. This gripping, true story of adventure, romance, and artistic fervor has never before been told and will enthrall readers of the now famous novel. Set against the vibrant backdrop of Holland in the seventeenth century, when it was the economic capital of the world, the book is populated by a glittering crowd of the wealthy and young, high society with appetites for success and excess. Holland was the center of the art world as well, boasting both Rembrandt, (Fabritius' mentor), and Vermeer (his rival). And there is Carel Fabritius himself—handsome, talented, hell-bent on greatness, but unable to escape tragedy. Yet through The Goldfinch, he achieves immortality. Deborah Davis is the author of the best-selling Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X, Party of the Century: The Fabulous Story of Truman Capote and His Black and White Ball, Gilded: How Newport Became the Richest Resort in America, and the prize-winning Guest of Honor: Booker T. Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, and the White House Dinner that Shocked a Nation. Cover design by Adil Dara

Theory of Film: The Redemption of Physical Reality


Siegfried Kracauer - 1960
    The book takes its place alongside works in classical film theory by such figures as Béla Balázs, Rudolf Arnheim, and André Bazin, among others, and has met with much critical dispute. In this new edition, Miriam Bratu Hansen, examining the book in the context of Kracauer's extensive film criticism from the 1920s, provides a framework for appreciating the significance of Theory of Film for contemporary film theory.

Exploring Art: A Global, Thematic Approach (with CourseMate Printed Access Card)


Margaret Lazzari - 2011
    EXPLORING ART uses art examples from around the world to discuss art in the context of religion, politics, family structure, sexuality, entertainment and visual culture.

A Year Without a Winter


Dehlia HannahGillen D’Arcy Wood - 2018
    Beyond news media, what are the cultural registers of this phenomenon? How can artistic and literary engagements with destabilizing natural patterns summon new planetary imaginaries--reorienting perspectives on humanity's position within the environment?A Year Without a Winter brings together science fiction, history, visual art, and exploration. Inspired by the literary 'dare' that would give birth to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein amidst the aftermath of a massive volcanic eruption, and today, by the utopian architecture of Paolo Soleri and the Arizona desert, expeditions to Antarctica and Indonesia, this collection reframes the relationship among climate, crisis, and creation.The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora, on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa, enveloped the globe in a cloud of ash, causing a climate crisis. By 1816, remembered as the 'year without a summer, ' the northern hemisphere was plunged into cold and darkness. Amidst unseasonal frosts, violent thunderstorms, and a general atmosphere of horror, Shelley began a work of science fiction that continues to shape attitudes to emerging science, technology, and environmental futures. Two hundred years later, in 2016, the hottest year on historical record, four renowned science fiction authors were invited to the experimental town of Arcosanti, Paolo Soleri's prototype for arcology, to respond to our present crisis. A Year Without a Winter presents their stories alongside critical essays, extracts from Shelley's masterpiece, and dispatches from expeditions to extreme geographies. Broad and ambitious in scope, this book is a collective thought experiment retracing an inverted path through narrative extremes.A Year Without a Winter is edited by Dehlia Hannah in collaboration with science fiction editors Brenda Cooper, Joey Eschrich, and Cynthia Selin. The book includes a suite of commissioned stories by Tobias Buckell, Nancy Kress, Nnedi Okorafor, and Vandana Singh; essays by Dehlia Hannah, Gillen D’Arcy Wood, James Graham, Hilairy Hartnett, David Higgins, Nadim Samman, and Pablo Suarez; artwork by Julian Charrière and Karolina Sobecka; and literary excerpts by Mary Shelley and Lord Byron.

Frida Kahlo: Life and Work


Helga Prignitz-Poda - 2004
    It consists of 143 paintings of small size, rarely larger than 20 x 30 inches, many of them now considered icons of 20th century art, most of them seIf-portraits. The reasons for this ostensible narcissism were closely bound up with Kahlo's biography, with the country and epoch in which she grew up, and with her decidedly eccentric character. It was no coincidence that the major enigmatic minds of the 16th century, namely Hieronymous Bosch and Pieter Bruegel the Elder, were among her favorite painters. For Frida Kahlo never displayed her wounds directly--be it the physical wounds caused by accidents and illness, or the psychological inner wounds. Hers is a subtly enciphered symbolic language, rich in metaphors drawn from almost all the world's cultures. Aztec myths of creation. Far Eastern and Classical Greek mythology, and popular Catholic beliefs all mingle in Kahlo's pictures with Mexican folklore and the stuff of quotidian life, with Marx and Freud. Andre Breton, one of her many admirers among the European avant-garde, once described Kahlo's art as a "colored ribbon round a bomb." Exotic and explosive, sensuous and fascinatingly vital in terms of artistic statement. Kahlo's paintings shed a complex and often frightening light on her soul, her "inner reality." as she called it. If the incessant commercial marketing of Kahlo's paintings over the past decade had obscured a clear view of her extraordinary oeuvre, this present monograph attempts to make amends "Frida Kahlo: The Painter and Her Work returns to the heart, to 42 select masterpieces, reproduced in full and in detail. The painterly quality, the beauty, and theimmense wealth of details in Kahlo's paintings is laid out before the reader's eyes, as is the abyss in which the artist found herself.

Living with Tigers


Valmik Thapar - 2016
    He was a city boy, unsure of what lay ahead. When he entered the forest, which would go on to become one of the last strongholds of wild tigers, it had a profound effect on him, changing his life forever.For the next forty years, he studied nearly 200 Ranthambhore tigers, spending every waking moment in close proximity to these magnificent animals. Of the various tigers he observed a handful became extra special, and it is these which come to glorious life in this book. They include Padmini, the Queen Mother, the first tiger the author got to know well; Genghis, the master predator, who invented a way of killing prey in water, the first time this had been observed anywhere in the world; Noon, one of his all-time favourites, who received her name because she was most active in the middle of the day; Broken Tooth, an exceptionally gentle male; Laxmi, a devoted mother, whose methods of raising her cubs revolutionized tiger studies; Machli, the most famous tigress in Ranthambhore, and several more.

Imperial Spoils: The Curious Case of the Elgin Marbles


Christopher Hitchens - 1987
    

A Basic History of Art


H.W. Janson - 1981
    Focusing on art before 1520, this edition organizes the material chronologically. It now incorporates considerable new material on the history of music and theatre, and updates scholarship on ancient art.

The Bad Boy Reformed Series: Complete Boxed Set


Alyssa Rae Taylor - 2016
    The kind of guy a girl should avoid at all costs. When he's hired to privately train me, avoiding him isn't an option. Most girls would love to drop their panties, even if it is just to catch a glimpse of his dimpled smile. I won't fall victim to his charm. That's what I tell myself at least, though it's torture when my mind's at war with my body. Something about the tattooed bad boy draws me in. It isn't just the broad shoulders, piercing eyes, and muscular frame that has me entranced. Luke Ryann has a secret. And I plan to find out what it is. Twenty-year-old Reese Johnson can finally leave her troublesome past behind. She enters college with her best friend, Gia, and spends her time doing what she loves—working as a self-defense instructor at a local gym. Then Luke Ryann enters the picture. He’s the tall, dark, and tattooed MMA fighter her boss hires to privately train her. One minute, he captivates her with his piercing brown eyes and boyish dimples. The next, he infuriates her with his relentless banter and cocky bad boy behavior. He’s the last thing she wants or needs, and she never expects to fall in love with him. Luke’s jaded past has him keeping a safe distance. Despite what he feels, some things are better left alone. He has a dangerous secret—one that has the potential to risk their lives. As he fights the attraction between them, can he resist the growing tension and protect the woman he’ll never be able to have? Included in the set- Raising Ryann Resisting Ryann Breaking Ryann

Manhunter


Chris Ryan - 2021
    In a world where the Russian government is the real mob, it is the job of the Cell to take the fight to the enemy. But when a notorious British fixer to the Kremlin goes on the run, Bowman soon finds himself drawn into a deadly conspiracy, and a race against time to find his target - before the Russians get to him first.

The History of Western Art


Peter Whitfield - 2011
    What is art? Why do we value images of saints, kings, goddesses, battles, landscapes or cities from eras of history utterly remote from ourselves? This history of art shows how painters, sculptors and architects have expressed the belief-systems of their age; religious, political and aesthetic.

A Short Book About Art


Dana Arnold - 2015
    Introducing art in its international context, this accessible book explores core issues about how art is made, interpreted, and displayed, without any of the unnecessary terminology. Divided into themes, A Short Book About Art presents new ways of thinking about the relationship between artists and their work, as well as fresh comparisons between works of art from different periods and places. Thought-provoking and stimulating, it is the ideal companion for anyone who wants to learn about art without a dictionary in their hands.