It would have been cool if she had been, though.
Anyway, I’m still reading Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo, and I’ll probably give it 3 stars on Goodreads. That means I like it. I’d like it more if the author got out of the way of the story. I know there is such a thing as putting things in context. I appreciate context. I’ve just now read that Hayden Herrera is an art historian. This puts her over-long explanations of Frida’s paintings in context for me. My original thought was that since the paintings she describes are in the book, I can look at them and draw my own conclusions. There is context, but there is also personal interpretation and imagination.
I love Frida’s letters throughout the book. Reading them, I read her story.
I ended up buying my own copy of this book. I could have used Amazon, but Amazon and I are a dangerous partnership. I can’t actually see the money slipping off the edge of my card, so I somehow think I have more of it to spend. And three seconds later there are seven books winging their way to my flat.
I go to bookstores for lots of reasons:
- As stated in a previous post, browsing in bookstores is very high on the list of things that provide what I call Moments of Zen, or to use fewer words, Zen Moments.
- I love real books, and real bookstores. I want to do what I can to keep them alive.
- I must carry whatever I buy home with me. And bags are only so big. I end up spending less money, because I run out of room in my bag. Or Sarge’s bag. And there are only two handles on the chair to hang bags on. And so, I only buy what I can shove, sometimes creatively, into whatever I am using to carry them home. It’s a good thing that I already have most of the books being offered in any given 3 for 2 deal.
I was happy that Frida wasn’t part of any such offer. I left with only the book I went in for. But it was hard to find. First place didn’t have it, in the second place a book-seller asked if Frida Kahlo was a tattoo artist, because their (out-of-stock) copies of the book were listed under Art. At this point I tried not to laugh. (I’m not saying tattoos aren’t a kind of art, just not Frida’s kind.)
Third time lucky, I left the third place with one of the two copies that they had left. Yes, it would have been easier to order it from Amazon. But I don’t do things the easy way. And if I hadn’t gone out to find it, I wouldn’t have come back with this story to tell.
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3 Comments
“if the author got out of the way of the story” – brilliant
No, you are! Thank you for your continued support of my words!
You’re making it very easy to keep reading! I just want you to sign my copy of your first book 🙂