December 10–17, 1998

book quarterly

Picture This

Books that are easy on the eyes.

NFO

100 Allegories to Represent the World

by Peter Greenaway

Merrell Holberton/ d.a.p., $29.95

Feast Your Eyes: 100 computer-generated images that collage nude models with classical symbols and text; created by director Peter Greenaway to represent the major mythological, historical and literary archetypes.

Anything Here Worth Reading: Maybe, but it's all obscured by the ungepotchket layout.

Representative Quote: "Helen of Troy is the divorcee with the ship-launching face."

What Would Grandma Say: "Bullfinch's Mythology is a better read and not a smut show like this thing."

Perfect For: Your cousin who just moved to SoHo and is "so over" everything.

 

 

The Anime Companion

by Gilles Poitras

Stone Bridge Press, $16.95

Feast Your Eyes: Slick, black-and-white drawings, shots of Japanese girls with button noses and great bods, often eating, throwing or being covered by food.

Anything Here Worth Reading: An encyclopedia of Japanimation references that will come in handy if you happen to find yourself at a comic book convention in Osaka.

Representative Quote: "While the Japanese don't consider the fart polite, they are not uncomfortable depicting it in their art and literature."

What Would Grandma Say: "What the hell's a hataki?"

Perfect For: The geek in the family who needs something to read when he isn't downloading naked pictures of Jewel.

 

 

Beauty Queens: A Playful History

by Candace Savage

Abbeville Press, $17.95

Feast Your Eyes:A thorough history of beauty queens and pageants, from the early part of this century to the present. Great old photos, including one of women lined up like cattle waiting to be weighed.

Anything Here Worth Reading: Savage dissects this strange American phenomenon objectively, providing pros and cons to allow the reader to decide.

Representative Quote: "The first duty of a woman is to attract.… It does not matter how clever or independent you may be…"

What Would Grandma Say: "Objectification? All you feminists complain too much."

Perfect For: Grandma and pop-culture freaks.

 

 

Damn! The Aberrant Art of Barry Kite

by Barry Kite

Pomegranate, $17.95

Feast Your Eyes: Images from Barry Kite's anti-Christmas greeting cards, featuring collages of Santa being shot by hunters and Santa selling a reindeer to a butcher for $20.

Anything Here Worth Reading: The author says it himself on the front cover: "All pictures! Very little reading."

Representative Quote: "You couldn't have Rudolph being eaten alive or even sliced up, much less get him laid."

What Would Grandma Say: "Barry Kite is going to hell. Hey don't take it away; I'm looking at it."

Perfect For: That cheap-ass ex who complains about Christmas capitalism but has no problem receiving gifts.

 

 

The Dominant Wives and Other Stories

by Eric Stanton

Introduction by Dian Hanson, Editor of Leg Show magazine

Taschen, $29.99

Feast Your Eyes: 768 pages of cartoons depicting stories of spineless, sniveling men at the mercy of busty amazon women with a yen for paddling.

Anything Here Worth Reading: Stanton's dialogue is at times titillating, at others repetitive, serving merely to advance Stanton's wild visual plotlines.

Representative Quote: "I'll rip your damned ears off.… I'm going to give you a lesson in how to please!"

What Would Grandma Say: "That's not how we did it in the old days. The evil eye was plenty effective to get your grandfather to do my bidding."

Perfect For: The man who already owns the entire Russ Meyer catalogue.

 

 

The End Is Near: Visions of Apocalypse, Millennium and Utopia

by Roger Manley

Dilettante Press, $34.95

Feast Your Eyes: A colorful, graphic-heavy collection of self-taught artists' views of what the near future holds; originally included in an exhibition of the same name at Baltimore's American Visionary Art Museum.

Anything Here Worth Reading: Though no doubt we will be sick of Y2K crap by Jan. 2, 1999, this catalogue takes a truly unique look at the millennium scare.

Representative Quote: "How can you run the devil off when you like everything he does?"—a quote from a work by Georgia artist Howard Finster

What Would Grandma Say: "See. I knew it was coming. Thank God I won't have to deal with those damn Social Security people anymore."

Perfect For: Art lovers, militia members, computer geeks and Bible salesmen.

The New York Public Library Desk Reference Third Edition

Macmillan, $34.95

Feast Your Eyes: Decimal and percent equivalents of common fractions, seating arrangements for rehearsal dinners and instrument positions in a classic orchestra

Anything Here Worth Reading: Oh yeah: Tips on storing coffee, a brief history of space exploration and how to perform a breast self-examination.

Represetative Quote: On Silence of the Lambs: "… it is significant for the light it throws upon the degree of organization that modern police authorities have evolved…" Still awake?

What Would Grandma Say: "Any moron could learn something from this, even you."

Perfect For: People who think they know everything.

 

 

The Overlook Film Encyclopedia: The Gangster Film

edited by Phil Hardy

Overlook, $45

Feast Your Eyes: Stills from classic gangster films such as The Damned Don't Cry, Kiss Me Deadly and The Ladykillers.

Anything Here Worth Reading: Encyclopedic entries that summarize those seedy thrillers, their swarthy stars and stalwart directors.

Representative Quote: "The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher."

What Would Grandma Say: "Forty-five bucks for a book about two-bit gangster movies?"

Perfect For: Um, the gangster movie fan? Clarification: the obsessive, gangster movie fan.

 

 

The Penn State Football Encyclopedia

by Louis Prato,

Sports Publishing Inc., $39.95

Feast Your Eyes: Hunky action shots from all of those winning seasons! Plus, up close and personal with Joe Paterno. Hot! Hot! Hot!

Anything Here Worth Reading: The encyclopedia contains every bit of PSU football history and trivia—scores, rosters and Joe Paterno's favorite flavor of Penn State Creamery ice cream. Hot! Hot! Hot!

Representative Quote: "Back came Syracuse, driving to State's 21 with a fourth-and-two before a desperation pass off a failed option play was intercepted by Schoderbeck."

What Would Grandma Say: "This big book will be great for pressing flowers."

Perfect For: Fathers who often say: "If God is not a Penn State fan, then why is the sky blue and white?"

 

 

Street Posters and Ballads

by Eric Drooker

Afterword by Allen Ginsberg

Seven Stories Press, $18

Feast Your Eyes: Striking three-color posters, drawings and comic art chronicling the Lower East Side's activist and protest history.

Anything Here Worth Reading: Drooker's neo-beat/socialist poetry and updated protest hymns.

Representative Quote: "Listen, it's your right to know/ Fuck the goddamn status quo/ City O down below, underground will overflow/ Folks uptown will never know/ the sound of Pirate Radio."

What Would Grandma Say: "Back in my day, we didn't publish books by Commies; we rounded 'em up for espionage—evidence or no evidence. And they liked it!"

Perfect For: The little brother or sister who's just realizing how The Man is thoroughly screwing up society for the rest of us, man.

-compiled by Brett Burton, Jen Darr, Margit Detweiler, Neil Gladstone and Brian Howard