Inspired Summer Reading

Not for me, lying on the beach with a kink-lit paperback. In fact, I'm happiest staying out of the sun altogether, and soaking up good ideas instead of some rays. Here's a few treats I've recently sampled:
Make Good Art by Neil Gaiman, and designed by Chip Kidd, is a inspiring, motivating and delightful kick in the pants. Stop making excuses and make good art. World got you down? Make good art. It's even better revenge than living well. I can't say it enough: Make Good Art. (But Gaiman says it better.)

Feeling more in the mood for scary, uplifting, dystopian fiction? I read Timothy Taylor's The Blue Light Project three days ago and am still vibrating.  What an intense, authentic, juicy read! And so smart. packed with ideas. Best of all, Taylor manages to pull off a written description of a visual art experience that felt real! So often visual art as depicted in other media comes off as lame. I'm recommending this book to everyone I know.

I would also be raving about The Last Nude, but I read it before The Blue Light Project and I'm afraid it seems a bit light and chick-lit-ty in comparison. (But then, most books would.) But it too, portrays the creative process and act of making great art in a completely believable way. The story blends fact and fiction as it follows the Art Deco-era painter Tamara de Lempicka and her relationship with her model and muse, Raphaela. Very sexy and good fun, probably best read with an absinthe martini in hand.