Alexander McCall Smith’s Art Book Bag
Alexander McCall Smith, the prolific author of the ‘No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency’ series, picks his favourite reads about the richness and secrets of the art world.
Besides being the creator of the “No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” series, an author of more than 50 books (his novel The Importance of Being Seven from his “44 Scotland Street” series is out on paperback), an expert on bioethics and a professor of medical law at the University of Edinburgh, Alexander McCall Smith is also a big art fan. He picks his favourite reads that capture the excitement of that world.
David Hockney: the Biography
By Christopher Simon Sykes
Splash! Artists have colourful lives, and this fascinating biography reveals the interesting times of this most amusing painter.
The Lost Painting
By Jonathan Harr
Not all of us have lost paintings by Caravaggio in our parlour. But some do.
Han van Meegeren was a skilled painter who was fed up with being derided by the critics for being old-fashioned. His solution was to paint the occasional Vermeer.
The Nature of Order: Book One: The Phenomenon of Life
By Christopher Alexander
Christopher Alexander is an architectural visionary. This fascinating book explores the role that shape and order play in art and in our lives.
The Rape of the Masters: How Political Correctness Sabotages Art
By Roger Kimball
Kimball tackles the pretentious nonsense that has been spouted by critics who import their political agenda into art history. Very funny stuff: ouch!
About Book Bag
Need a book recommendation? We get asked all the time. But look no further, because here's our answer. We've left the task to the experts: every week, great writers pick their favorite books and tell you why they are must-reads. What are you waiting for?
Latest From
Book Beast
The Week’s Best Reads
The Daily Beast picks the best journalism from around the web this week. By David Sessions.
BASEBALL
The Girl Who Struck Out Babe Ruth
Battlefield Earth
Happy End of the World
Experiments
My Year Of Not Looking In A Mirror
Mystery of the Labyrinth
Cracking the Knossos Code
T.J. English on Whitey Bulger
The author of Whitey’s Payback: and Other Stories on what you need to know about the downfall of the notorious Boston gangster. From Open Road Media.
Latest
Hot Reads
-
This Week’s Hot Reads
This week, from a childhood interrupted by war in Sri Lanka to the glory days of food... More
-
This Week’s Hot Reads
This week, stories of human endurance and persistence, whether in the courtroom or behind... More
-
This Week’s Hot Reads
From a young girl’s real-life diary of her time in a concentration camp, to John le... More
Latest
Book Bag
-
Paul Theroux’s Inner Journey
The best travel writing is about the voyage into the space within.... More
-
10 Advice Books for Graduates
As students leave school and enter their next stage in life, what books can they turn to... More
-
Nathaniel Philbrick’s Book Bag
The National Book Award-winning chronicler of maritime and American stories picks his... More
Latest
How I Write
-
Burt Bacharach: How I Write
The great American songwriter, responsible for 73 Top 40 hits on the U.S.... More
-
Susan Cain: How I Write
Introverts of the world unite!... More
-
Patrick Flanery: How I Write
Why is the author of the novel ‘Absolution,’ set in a contemporary South Africa dealing... More
Latest
Longreads
-
The Week’s Best Reads
From the epic fraud behind the popular drug Lipitor to higher education’s new internet... More
-
The Week’s Best Reads
From the White House’s intense internal debate on Syria to a Spanish village that won the... More
-
The Week’s Best Reads
From the harrowing memoirs of a Guantánamo detainee to a year without the Internet, The... More
Latest
The Big Idea
-
Big Idea: Our Global Cost
How do we measure and predict the human cost of climate change? Andrew T.... More
-
Paul Farmer: The Big Idea
The charismatic doctor and social activist, known for his work in Haiti and co-founding... More
-
Temple Grandin: My Big Idea
The animal-science pioneer and autistic activist looks inside her own brain to learn... More
Latest
American Dreams
-
Lonelyhearts Be Free Tonight
In the midst of the Great Depression, Nathanael West took real letters from desperate... More
-
Dead on the Dance Floor
As the Jazz Age entered full swing in 1923, the bestselling novel in America was by... More
-
Insane in the Plains
In the early 1900s people in the prairie states started going insane, literally.... More
Latest
The City
-
Bristol, Bridge to the Wide World
Travel writer Sara Wheeler, famous for her stories of polar expeditions, returns home to... More
-
Australia's Outpost at the Edge
Writer Barry Lopez has had a long affection for Australia's lone west-coast city, which... More
-
Please Call It Bombay
The city might have a new name, but King George's colonial legacy is still everywhere.... More




Comments