An eclectic, exciting collection of photos infused with a wandering curiosity.
In this book of photographs taken in various states and countries, a man embraces the “flâneur” spirit and presents the vivid subjects encountered on his aimless explorations.
In a brief but effective artist statement, Labry reveals how he got his start: as photography manager for the Texas House of Representatives, where part of his job was “to unobtrusively chronicle the members’ interactions in the House Chamber.” The instrument responsible, a Leica M series film camera, also took the pictures that make up this collection. Years ago, the author dubbed his trusted camera “Nola” in honor of his beloved hometown. While many places are represented in these photos—Berlin, Paris, Texas, Ireland—none is more lovingly and vibrantly captured than New Orleans. “Some of my earliest childhood memories are of natural light,” Labry writes, and his description of the city’s particular glow suggests that there’s no better birthplace for an aspiring photographer. In these 89 photos, he returns again and again to art as a subject. Photos capture murals, paintings, and graffiti, but images of statuary persist throughout the collection. “Statue of Andrew Jackson,” “Statue of Professor Longhair,” “Statue of Slave Girl,” “Statue of Ignatius J. Reilly” are just some Labry has included. Seeing as the artist has already produced a book of photos of Joan of Arc statuary, this is clearly an abiding interest for him. But the images of people are the true standouts. “Fast Food” and “Jackson Square” both capture folks slumped on benches; “French Quarter” shows a man playing a guitar on a stoop. “Mardi Gras” depicts an older man and a young boy intimately conferring in what looks like the bed of a truck. These beautiful images are evidence of Labry’s excellent eye for human figures and how they occupy space and frame. In this volume, the living are more exciting subjects than the inanimate. The author writes: “All photographs are as much or more about their creator than the thing photographed.” These works tell readers their creator is a keen and compassionate observer of a city’s human denizens.
An eclectic, exciting collection of photos infused with a wandering curiosity.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 99
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: Aug. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Sedaris at his darkest—and his best.
In which the veteran humorist enters middle age with fine snark but some trepidation as well.
Mortality is weighing on Sedaris (Theft by Finding: Diaries 1977-2002, 2017, etc.), much of it his own, professional narcissist that he is. Watching an elderly man have a bowel accident on a plane, he dreaded the day when he would be the target of teenagers’ jokes “as they raise their phones to take my picture from behind.” A skin tumor troubled him, but so did the doctor who told him he couldn’t keep it once it was removed. “But it’s my tumor,” he insisted. “I made it.” (Eventually, he found a semitrained doctor to remove and give him the lipoma, which he proceeded to feed to a turtle.) The deaths of others are much on the author’s mind as well: He contemplates the suicide of his sister Tiffany, his alcoholic mother’s death, and his cantankerous father’s erratic behavior. His contemplation of his mother’s drinking—and his family’s denial of it—makes for some of the most poignant writing in the book: The sound of her putting ice in a rocks glass increasingly sounded “like a trigger being cocked.” Despite the gloom, however, frivolity still abides in the Sedaris clan. His summer home on the Carolina coast, which he dubbed the Sea Section, overspills with irreverent bantering between him and his siblings as his long-suffering partner, Hugh, looks on. Sedaris hasn’t lost his capacity for bemused observations of the people he encounters. For example, cashiers who say “have a blessed day” make him feel “like you’ve been sprayed against your will with God cologne.” But bad news has sharpened the author’s humor, and this book is defined by a persistent, engaging bafflement over how seriously or unseriously to take life when it’s increasingly filled with Trump and funerals.
Sedaris at his darkest—and his best.Pub Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-39238-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018
PROFILES
Gibbins combines historical knowledge with a sense of adventure, making this book a highly enjoyable package.
A popular novelist turns his hand to historical writing, focusing on what shipwrecks can tell us.
There’s something inherently romantic about shipwrecks: the mystery, the drama of disaster, the prospect of lost treasure. Gibbins, who’s found acclaim as an author of historical fiction, has long been fascinated with them, and his expertise in both archaeology and diving provides a tone of solid authority to his latest book. The author has personally dived on more than half the wrecks discussed in the book; for the other cases, he draws on historical records and accounts. “Wrecks offer special access to history at all…levels,” he writes. “Unlike many archaeological sites, a wreck represents a single event in which most of the objects were in use at that time and can often be closely dated. What might seem hazy in other evidence can be sharply defined, pointing the way to fresh insights.” Gibbins covers a wide variety of cases, including wrecks dating from classical times; a ship torpedoed during World War II; a Viking longship; a ship of Arab origin that foundered in Indonesian waters in the ninth century; the Mary Rose, the flagship of the navy of Henry VIII; and an Arctic exploring vessel, the Terror (for more on that ship, read Paul Watson’s Ice Ghost). Underwater excavation often produces valuable artifacts, but Gibbins is equally interested in the material that reveals the society of the time. He does an excellent job of placing each wreck within a broader context, as well as examining the human elements of the story. The result is a book that will appeal to readers with an interest in maritime history and who would enjoy a different, and enlightening, perspective.
Gibbins combines historical knowledge with a sense of adventure, making this book a highly enjoyable package.Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781250325372
Page Count: 304
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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