Emma Charleston: Library Love... Fourth floor.

So this is the last of my library love blogs.
For the previous two, you can see here and here
The fourth floor is one I know quite well, although very few of the books are within my area of study. The fourth floor is the home of literature, geography (from a historical perspective), history, and general world and people studies. It's also the home of the artists monologues (Books about individual artists).

So here we go!

I absolutely love the cover of this book. The picture doesn't do it justice, the green is so vivid and beautiful, and that lino cut... well, I know very little about the subject matter of the book, but it's about as moving a cover image as I've ever seen.

These books are amazing. There's a whole little section in the library about Brighton and Hove. What I really like about these is the adverts printed on the edges of the pages.

Walter Benjamin. I put away his books a lot. I like this cover.

Woaaah. This is a scary and disturbing book. It's referenced in the Of Montreal song 'The past is a grotesque animal' (2.25): 'I fell in love with the first cute girl that I met / Who could appreciate Georges Bataille / Standing at Swedish festival / discussing "Story of the Eye" '
So I thought I'd give it a look. Yeeeeah. :s

So, uh, another song reference... Tim Minchin mentions Voltaire in his song 'Dark Side' (6.07) :'You could be clever as Voltaire / But it won't get you nowhere if you wanna sell discs...'
So I got out this book, and read it. I enjoyed it, but probably on quite a superficial level, as the Minchin says... he was a clever man, and I probably didn't fully appreciate that. A good read though.

We have to put this book away a lot. It's brain achingly dull (to me), and quite big and heavy. Whenever I put it away, I hum the ridiculously jaunty Patrick Wolf song 'Magic Position' in my head, except I replace the words 'Magic Position' with 'Western Tradition'.

This is a strange and intriguing book, full of various scenarios and discussion points. I can't really explain it any more than that. You need to have a look at it. Is it literature? Poetry? Autobiography? Self help? (Gorgeous ampersand...)

'Loving' intrigued me. There's no blurb whatsoever, and it has a small, blood like stain on the spine. So I got it out, and read it, and HONESTLY? Next to nothing happens. I wonder what happens in his other book 'Nothing'...

This is my least favourite book of all time ever. a) Because it is intensely depressing, and b) because it contains one of the most graphic vomit scenes I've ever read, and being an emetophobe I am still traumatized by it.

This book is AMAZING. It's full of some brilliant photos of people in flares doing synchronised rollerskate tricks. And I really like the page layouts too.

Whenever I've got a couple of minutes spare time I often have a browse through one of David Shrigley's books. LOLs every time.

Matthew Ritchie's work is pretty nice, but what I really like about this book is the cover. You can't fully appreciate it here, but that yellowish section is all holographic, and really eye catching.

Gotta love a bit of Jeff Koons.

One of my favourite painters, Lucien Freud.

Yup, so this is probably the most disturbing book in the entire library (The colour atlas of gynecology comes pretty close though...) That cover image doesn't even cover half of what goes on inside. Seriously urrrghhhhh freaked out.

I also love Francis Bacon's work.

Sophie Calle is an artist who I have only really become aware of since working at the library. Her books are often beautifully bound, and intriguingly laid out. She is a photographer, but her books are rightly also in the artists monologue section. All of her books tell a story, or stories, and I personally find them compelling, intriguing, and beautifully presented.

So this is another one of my favourite books in the library. Women's world, by Graham Rawle. Not only is it an amazingly written novel, but the WHOLE THING is constructed from pieces of old women's magazines from the 1950's and 60's. It's a mindblowing achievement, technically and artistically, and if you ever get the chance, read it. It's incredible, and so so visually pleasing throughout. I've never seen anything else like it.