RECENT NON FICTION PURCHASES

When I was last at the University Bookshop in Christchurch I succumbed to temptation and bought three most interesting
books.

INTERNATIONAL LONELY GUY – HARLAND MILLER
RIZZOLI NZ$85

The title refers to the text in one of Miller's paintings in a series of works incorporating the iconic penguin logo of Penguin Books. I wonder what Penguin Books make of this? Miller is an internationally acclaimed painter and has had a novel published, Slow Down Arthur, Stick to Thirty.
His visual works, are represented in this book in full-page plates, and they are both witty and original.
Here is about him from The Guardian, May 2007.


BUILDING WITH LIGHT
The International History of Architectural Photography
Robert Elwall – Merrell – NZ$60

The author is the Photographs Curator at the British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects, London. He has pulled together a collection of mainly black & white photos that I found endlessly fascinating. I can spend hours happily browsing this book.

GOTHIC
ARCHITECTURE-SCULPTURE-PAINTING
Edited by Rolf Toman, Photography by Achim Bednorz
Ullman & Konemann NZ$45

What a book, the size of the Auckland telephone directory, and with hundreds and hundreds of colour photographs this is another tome into which one can disappear for hours. It provides us the history of Gothic architecture from its origins and blossoming in 12th-century France through its dissemination in all of Europe; and an in-depth discussion of the most diverse art forms, including painting, sculpture, metalwork and book illumination.
Awesome is a greatly overused word these days but it is the correct word to describe this absolutely gorgeous book.