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Advantages: A Good introduction to 20th Century Modernism
Disadvantages: Rambles a bit in places

...as far as covering all the main movements/schools of the 20th century. I thought it would be interesting to review this book because though it was written over 25 years ago to accompany the television series, Robert Hughes recently came back to present a new programme of the tv show to examine more recent work to examine whether the things that made art in the 20th century shocking are still relevant today. I would suggest that this was not so, as ...
...last 25 years than was the case then or even over the last century. In a film which featured interviews with David Hockney, Paula Rego, Jeff Koons and Sean Scully, Robert Hughes made the case that painting, drawing, and the search for beauty matter more than ever before. I read this book recently after having first read it 25 years ago when the show first came out. The original series was repeated on bbc4, Thursday 8th July, Thursday29th July, in ... Read review

Advantages: the most comprehensive church guide
Disadvantages: a weighty tome

Churches to most people are a place where you used to have to go as a child as part of school or cub scout activities or occasionally attend a wedding or a funeral, all of which seems just a necessary evil to be endured. This book tries to show you that there are more to churches than the ceremonies of hatching, matching and despatching. It is a massive work of over eight hundred pages and acts mainly as a work of reference, and tries to present ...
...The book starts with an overview of the development of church building, the styles and techniques, then lists his proposed 100 favourite churches from the following text and rounds off with a glossary of architectual terms. The bulk of the book is then a county by county list of his favourite churhes, each listing being about 500 words. Considering the book covers 1000 listings there is enough information regarding the history and character of each. ... Read review

Advantages: Addictive reading, intelligent observations and new information on Matisse.
Disadvantages: Asolutely none.

Matisse the Master: A Life of Henri Matisse: 1909-1954 v.2 by Hilary Spurling. This biography of the 20th centuary painter and artist Henri Matisse is simply the best I've come across. The writing style is easy to get on with. Art books are often bogged down with art style writting full of incomprehensible language and theory. Not the case here! This book is clear cut and very informative. The author really wants you to understand what Matisse is ...
...lies and the myth that Matisse was inferior to Picasso and was somehow just a decorative arist not seriously contributing to Modern art. Hilary Spurling achieves this by her honest writing style, adherence to the truth and avoiding the cliche of being overly dramatic about the artist's life. She lets Matisse's life speak for it's self. There is plenty to learn here that you won't find in other biographies or art books on Matisse. I learnt new things ... Read review

Advantages: Full of great 'crafty' ideas for children of different ages.
Disadvantages: None

...books relating to arts and crafts for children, here are some of them: * Gift Wrapping and Greeting Cards * The Only Kid's Party Book You'll Ever Need * Creative Gift Wrapping * Mask Making: Get started in a new craft with easy-to-follow instructions * Fancy Dress ~ Price ~ My hardcover ISBN: 0-600-61240-6 was £14.99 but cheaper paperbacks are available from amazon.co.uk ... Read review

Advantages: See op
Disadvantages: See op

...no harm in trying. Anyhow, Zines! Volume 2 is more up-to-date, and has a few more interviews to it. And a yellow cover. ***NEARLY FINISHED*** This A4-sized tome has 180 pages, and is surprisingly good value for about £16 ($18.99 from the US), which was the going rate at my local book outlet. You may well be able to get a copy from Tower or larger Virgin Megastores, but I’d urge you to seek out a small bookstore and support them instead. Alternatively, ...
...the stranger things in life, this has them in spades. There’s an indication of the average circumference of a vagina, diagrams on how to remove a foreskin, a Santa flipping you the bird and even a photo of a purse that’s a telephone. The text is broken up with nice photography, awful scribbly pictures and the odd pull quote. Oh, and some anecdotes, tips and excerpts from the zines, which range from “hmmm” to “aaah” ... Read review