Important Books

I thought I knew a lot about art and Paris before I attempted to write a book on a grand-scale intersection of the two. Turns out, ha! I’m precious in my overestimation of my own knowledge. I can’t google-search this novel into existence; I’ve had to read book after book on a ton of appropriate topics (art dealing, gallery politics, art heists, Paris, etc), which has been the most fun kind of research possible. Reading for pleasure provides a break from all the writing/stressing about writing/not writing/stressing about not writing, and I’ve been learning things in the process to bring back to the task at hand. Did you know there’s literally a book on everything? Everything you could possibly want to know about, someone has written a book on. It’s helpful and daunting at the same time.

Herewith, several books that have proven indispensable as I navigate this whole “writing a book” thing, so far:

“An Object of Beauty” by Steve Martin (so good I bought a second copy in hardcover just to have) / “Haussmann, or The Distinction” by Paul LeFarge (undoubtedly one of the most gorgeously written books I’ve read in my life) / “The Vanished Smile” by R.A. Scotti / “Sotheby’s: The Inside Story” by Peter Watson / “Seven Days in the Art World” by Sarah Thornton / “The $12 Million Dollar Stuffed Shark” by Don Thompson (an absolute dearth of information about contemporary art economics)

And others of note: the Victor Legris Mysteries by Claude Izner (for providing levity while also tons of historical information), Paris: Reborn by Stephane Kirkland, Paris by Edward Rutherford,