Book cover of Caravaggio

Book description

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) lived the darkest and most dangerous life of any of the great painters. This commanding biography explores Caravaggio's staggering artistic achievements, his volatile personal trajectory, and his tragic and mysterious death at age thirty-eight. Featuring more than eighty full-color reproductions of the artist's best paintings,…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Caravaggio as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

A gifted artist, a man who could have had it all, Caravaggio's ego (and more than likely more than a little alcohol) took ahold of his life far too often and led him into a world of debauchery and violence.

His use of darkness and light to exemplify specific scenes, his use of common folk to represent historical and mythological figures, all of it I appreciate. But he died too young in mysterious circumstances, most likely due to a wound he had received during a fight. He could have done so much more if he had lived, and he could…

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Book cover of December on 5C4

December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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