Here are 100 books that Against the Wall fans have personally recommended if you like
Against the Wall.
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I'm sure you’ve heard of method acting. A technique by which an actor embodies the character they're portraying 24/7. I'm a method writer. I embody the world of the novels that I write. However, when the time came to write a novel inspired by graffiti, I faced a particular frustration. Graffiti is illegal. I felt a strong desire to grab a spray paint can to decorate public spaces. And yet the fear of a jail cell prevented me from acting on the impulse. I had to find a different outlet for that desire. I poured over every book and movie on the subject. I believe I became a bit of an expert.
A bombastic start that leads to a gentle beautiful ending. Nothing works how you expect it to in this novel. The graffiti is woven through the story like broad brush strokes of a Van Gogh painting. Abrupt and yet conveying of most delicate feelings. Open the first page, leave all your expectations to the side and let yourself be taken on the ride. The less I tell you the better.
A hostage-taker hides a shocking secret in “a breakneck literary thriller that combines the worlds of conspiracy theory [and] reality TV.”—National Post
Without warning, a man, armed with explosives, seizes a television studio taking over a hundred terrified hostages. He offers no motive. And he makes just a single curious demand. The only person he’ll speak to is Thom Pegg, a once honored investigative journalist turned disgraced tabloid reporter. As surprised as anyone, and pressured to comply by authorities, Pegg reluctantly enters the fray as the chosen confidante.
From outside, the enthralling drama is revealed through the eyes of two…
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
I'm sure you’ve heard of method acting. A technique by which an actor embodies the character they're portraying 24/7. I'm a method writer. I embody the world of the novels that I write. However, when the time came to write a novel inspired by graffiti, I faced a particular frustration. Graffiti is illegal. I felt a strong desire to grab a spray paint can to decorate public spaces. And yet the fear of a jail cell prevented me from acting on the impulse. I had to find a different outlet for that desire. I poured over every book and movie on the subject. I believe I became a bit of an expert.
There is no escaping that name when broaching the subject Graffiti. Banksy is the king. In Wall And Piece you get a broad study of his creations. You can leaf through and enjoy the pictures, but I highly recommend that you invest the time to read the witty and through-provoking text accompanying them. I am not saying that a comparison to Tolstoy immediately came to mind. All I am saying is that I continued to think about the book days and weeks after reading it.
Artistic genius, political activist, painter and decorator, mythic legend or notorious graffiti artist? The work of Banksy is unmistakable, except maybe when it's squatting in the Tate or New York's Metropolitan Museum. Banksy is responsible for decorating the streets, walls, bridges and zoos of towns and cities throughout the world. Witty and subversive, his street art depicts monkeys with weapons of mass destruction, policemen with smiley faces, rats with drills and the iconic young girl with the heart-shaped balloon. If you look hard enough you'll find your own. His statements, incitements, ironies and epigrams are by turns intelligent and cheeky…
I'm sure you’ve heard of method acting. A technique by which an actor embodies the character they're portraying 24/7. I'm a method writer. I embody the world of the novels that I write. However, when the time came to write a novel inspired by graffiti, I faced a particular frustration. Graffiti is illegal. I felt a strong desire to grab a spray paint can to decorate public spaces. And yet the fear of a jail cell prevented me from acting on the impulse. I had to find a different outlet for that desire. I poured over every book and movie on the subject. I believe I became a bit of an expert.
The World Atlas of Street Art is a treasure trove of Graffiti from all four corners of the earth. From hurried random scribbles on a wall to intricate creations worthy of Da Vinci, you can get lost inside this book only to emerge with a new appreciation of this puzzling art form. Some might insist on calling graffiti a form of vandalism. I am certain that none of them had the privilege of perusing this beautiful book.
Painted murals first appeared in Latin America in the early 20th century; in the 1950s, spray-can graffiti associated with Latino gangs followed, notably the "cholo" graffiti of Los Angeles. Today, street art has traveled to nearly every corner of the globe, evolving into a highly complex and ornate art form. The World Atlas of Street Art and Graffiti is the definitive survey of international street art, focusing on the world's most influential urban artists and artworks. Since the lives and works of urban artists are inextricably linked to specific streets and places, this beautifully illustrated volume features specially commissioned "city…
A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.
Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…
I'm sure you’ve heard of method acting. A technique by which an actor embodies the character they're portraying 24/7. I'm a method writer. I embody the world of the novels that I write. However, when the time came to write a novel inspired by graffiti, I faced a particular frustration. Graffiti is illegal. I felt a strong desire to grab a spray paint can to decorate public spaces. And yet the fear of a jail cell prevented me from acting on the impulse. I had to find a different outlet for that desire. I poured over every book and movie on the subject. I believe I became a bit of an expert.
Anonymouse is a charming illustrated picture book for children that grownups will appreciate. It tells the story of a mysterious graffiti artist that creates art specifically for animals. What I love most about it, is that it illustrates the transformative power of art. As the different animals are surprised and delighted with the graffiti, their lives, how they see themselves and relate to each other are enhanced in surprising ways.
Animal-friendly street art is popping up all over the city, but who is creating these masterpieces? There is no explanation, only a name: Anonymouse. For fans of Sidewalk Flowers and Art & Max.
Art for the birds. Art for the ants. Art for the dogs, cats and raccoons. Art to make them laugh, make them think, make them feel at home. But who is creating it? Only Anonymouse knows for sure . . .
This clever tale mixes street art, animals and gorgeous illustrations to create a meditation on how art can uplift any creature's spirit -- human or animal…
Graffiti makes me see the city differently. In fact, graffiti makes me see art and society differently, too. Yet, while an incredibly potent visual form, graffiti is still—over fifty years since its first appearance—commonly misunderstood and maligned. Books are for me a key space through which these often cliched critiques can be countered—let alone a key medium for such an ephemeral art. Each of the books on my list reappraises graffiti as a visual and cultural medium alike. They show the complexity of the image as much as the subculture and together position these iconoclastic images as one of the key art movements of the 20th century.
Norman Mailer is a legend of American literature and, without a doubt, the most famous writer to have ever written seriously about graffiti. Alongside the equally legendary British photographer Jon Naar, whose stunning images grace their joint work, this book is up there as one of the most influential books on graffiti ever written.
Celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of its publishing in 2024, Mailer and Naar’s book was the first to take graffiti seriously as both a public act and public art alike. Whilst much of Mailer’s essay is colored by his own personal tribulations and enmities, and whilst Naar’s photos are in some ways more ethnographic rather than focussing on the “best” works of the era, the book’s unmistakable positioning of graffiti as art was critical in reframing the possibilities of the practice. In this way, The Faith is not only critical as a document of its time but…
The Faith of Graffiti is the classic, definitive look at the birth of graffiti as an art form, pairing the fascinating 1974 essay by Norman Mailer—National Book Award and two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Naked and the Dead and The Executioner’s Song—with the stunning, iconic photography of internationally acclaimed photographer Jon Naar. Back in print for the first time in three decades and expanded with 32 pages of additional photos, The Faith of Graffiti is a landmark in the history of street art: an essential, contemporary, and still-relevant meditation, in words and pictures, on the meaning of identity, property,…
Graffiti makes me see the city differently. In fact, graffiti makes me see art and society differently, too. Yet, while an incredibly potent visual form, graffiti is still—over fifty years since its first appearance—commonly misunderstood and maligned. Books are for me a key space through which these often cliched critiques can be countered—let alone a key medium for such an ephemeral art. Each of the books on my list reappraises graffiti as a visual and cultural medium alike. They show the complexity of the image as much as the subculture and together position these iconoclastic images as one of the key art movements of the 20th century.
I learned so much from reading anthropologist Susan Phillips’ fantastic account of Los Angeles over the last 100 years. Exploring the history of the city from the ground up, she combines a microscopic analysis of the city’s diverse graffiti cultures–from the graffiti of hobos to that of surfers, prisoners, and punks–with a macroscopic account of the changing nature of this most famous megalopolis.
I loved the beautiful, intimate images Philips included, as well as her refreshing, first-person appearance throughout the book. More than anything, though, I really enjoyed the way that Phillip's approach extends the understanding of 20th-century graffiti beyond the traditional East Cost (and hip-hop-centric) focus, seeing an entire world within the traces the most marginalized leave behind and showing how graffiti reveals as much about the changing nature of a city as of society itself.
A sweeping history of Los Angeles told through the lens of the many marginalized groups-from hobos to taggers-that have used the city's walls as a channel for communication
Graffiti written in storm drain tunnels, on neighborhood walls, and under bridges tells an underground and, until now, untold history of Los Angeles. Drawing on extensive research within the city's urban landscape, Susan A. Phillips traces the hidden language of marginalized groups over the past century-from the early twentieth-century markings of hobos, soldiers, and Japanese internees to the later inscriptions of surfers, cholos, and punks. Whether describing daredevil kids, bored workers, or…
The Duke's Christmas Redemption
by
Arietta Richmond,
A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.
Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…
Graffiti makes me see the city differently. In fact, graffiti makes me see art and society differently, too. Yet, while an incredibly potent visual form, graffiti is still—over fifty years since its first appearance—commonly misunderstood and maligned. Books are for me a key space through which these often cliched critiques can be countered—let alone a key medium for such an ephemeral art. Each of the books on my list reappraises graffiti as a visual and cultural medium alike. They show the complexity of the image as much as the subculture and together position these iconoclastic images as one of the key art movements of the 20th century.
This book blew my mind when I first read it. In fact, it continues to do so today, over 20 years since it was first written. Perverse, contradictory, offensive, effervescent, and totally un-put-downable, Brown (aka Nov, aka Nov York, aka Dumaar Freemaninov) takes us on an extraordinary journey into the life of a 1990s New York graffiti writer, into the underbelly and dirt of the city and into its drugged out, demented dramas.
How autobiographical is it? How much is truth? How much fiction? Whichever the answer, Brown’s anarchic, unique book took me on a trip that I will never forget, and in doing so, gives an insight into a world far beyond the graffiti image itself. A must-read (and to be read aloud whilst travelling on the subway as per the author’s instructions)!
Having lived in the countryside for more than two decades and fallen for its charms, I find myself fascinated by its heritage. Rural history is often overlooked for the grand stories of royalty, urban life, and warfare. For me, the archaeology and history that speaks of daily life, practical struggles, and the humanity of people–that’s what really switches me on. I constantly yearn to get inside the minds of our ancestors to try and understand how they saw the world. Whether that’s strange superstitions or ingenious inventions, it’s all part of what it means to be human.
When we first moved to our farm, we discovered witches’ marks carved into the walls of our granary. Hundreds of years old, these ancient scribblings are absolutely everywhere–churches, grand homes, cottages, and farm buildings. These are not mindless doodles, however, but prayers for a good harvest or desperate protections against harm.
Matthew Champion’s well-researched book is a highly readable summary of this secretive and surprisingly common practice.
For centuries carved writings and artworks in churches lay largely unnoticed. So archaeologist Matthew Champion started a nationwide survey to gather the best examples. In this book he shines a spotlight on a forgotten world of ships, prayers for good fortune, satirical cartoons, charms, curses, windmills, word puzzles, architectural plans and heraldic designs. Drawing on examples from surviving medieval churches in England, the author gives a voice to the secret graffiti artists: from the lord of the manor and the parish priest to the people who built the church itself.
Here are strange medieval beasts, knights battling unseen dragons, ships…
I’ve had a passion for weirdness in mundane settings since my childhood days watchingThe Addams Family in a boring suburb. I grew up with the Apollo program, but as I realized I’d never be an astronaut, I increasingly turned to writing science fiction and fantasy set on Earth. I discovered role-playing games shortly after D&D came out, but when I became bored with characters who were only after money and mayhem, I found other RPGs and began writing for them. FGU’s Bushidointroduced me to Japanese mythology, which inspired my first urban fantasy novel, The Art of Arrow Cutting, which led me to being invited to write Shadowrunnovels.
Wizard is one of Seattle’s homeless magicians, a seer who tells the truth to those who need it, haunted by a nebulous menace and hiding from his past. Apart from its (often ambiguous) fantasy elements, it’s a beautifully-written guide to urban survival and to downtown Seattle (as well as the setting for my latest novels).
The fifth book in the Megan Lindholm (Robin Hobb) backlist.
Seattle: a place as magical as the Emerald City.
Subtle magic seeps through the cracks in the paving stones of the sprawling metropolis. But only the inhabitants who possess special gifts are open to the city's consciousness; finding portents in the graffiti, reading messages in the rubbish or listening to warnings in the skipping-rope chants of children.
Wizard is bound to Seattle and her magic. His gift is the Knowing - a powerful enchantment allowing him to know the truth of things; to hear the life-stories of ancient mummies locked…
This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the world’s most famous heart surgeon.
In these and other intimate conversations, the book…
Graffiti makes me see the city differently. In fact, graffiti makes me see art and society differently, too. Yet, while an incredibly potent visual form, graffiti is still—over fifty years since its first appearance—commonly misunderstood and maligned. Books are for me a key space through which these often cliched critiques can be countered—let alone a key medium for such an ephemeral art. Each of the books on my list reappraises graffiti as a visual and cultural medium alike. They show the complexity of the image as much as the subculture and together position these iconoclastic images as one of the key art movements of the 20th century.
Gordon Matta-Clark is one of my favorite ever artists. An innovator who crossed the fields of architecture and art, Matta-Clark found new modes of expression by simultaneously deconstructing his urban surroundings and destabilizing the canonical regulations of art. What’s more, and unlike many of his contemporaries, Matta-Clark had a keen eye for graffiti, using it within his own practice (such as in the work “Graffiti Truck”) as well as archiving the images that surrounded him in 1970s New York.
Whilst some of these images have previously been seen in exhibitions of Matta-Clark's work (his hand-colored, stunning “Photoglyphs” most famously), the majority of the 2000 photos Matta-Clark took during the early ‘70s have never been seen until the publication of this stunning book. At over 400 pages and with over 400 beautiful color images, as well as containing interviews and essays by some key practitioners and writers of the era, this…
