Secure A Copy My Favorite Things Brought To You By Maira Kalman Presented In Softcover

student gave me this book as a gift, and I am so grateful he did, not only because I loved it but also because Kalman's rhapsodic quirkiness will now forever be married in my mind with this student's wit, aestheticism, and eclectic memory and imagination.
The student and Kalman share the feeling that objects are luminous beyond themselves, not only because they attest to the lives of people who came before us and thus in some way both memorialize and undercut their loss but also because they attest to the wonderful in the original sense of filledwithwonder wackiness of the human condition, the strangeness of a world that would invent flamboyant hats.
Flamboyancy becomes both a way of resisting mortality she collects photographs of dandies and of angels walking away from the camera and also a way of acknowledging its power by throwing

the gauntletusually a ruffled, brightly colored gauntlet.
Kalman interweaves her family history, ornate Sabbat dinners and the fleetingness of beauty and body, with these items that came from a design collection to remind us that we crave things, not merely in a capitalist frame, but also to render the quotidian luminous and to aspire to the borrowed luster Benjaminian aura! of historical figures.
Kalman's colors are lush and bold, her faces in flat planes, her collected objects sometimes more mimetic than her scenesetting, which tends to emphasize color and light in an impressionistic way.
As Kalman says I'm paraphrasing, sometimes we remember light and mood more than we do solid truths, and they shape us "there's a certain slant of light".
Throughout this book is the heartbreak of loss, the inevitability of mortality and decay, the uncanniness of objects that will outlive us, objects rendered even more uncanny through their lack of greatness and their excess of ornamentation.
Kalman alludes to historical trauma the Holocaust and personal tragedy her mother's death, The whole of the volume counterposes its own lushness, color, and humor with the intimations of mortality on every page, In the face of inevitable erasure of ourselves and those we love, we wear fancy hats and ridiculous shoes, We collect buttons and photographs of angels, We decorate our tombs. My first Kalman book with a second one ordered and on the way, I know nothing about her at all, Initially, this felt very slight and sweet but reading other reviews is helping me to see the value of it, I read it in thirty minutes or so, It is gorgeously done. I suppose the truth is it left me wanting more and to know more about her, So, it is a good thing that second book is on its way, Meanwhile, I'm going to visit a friend who is stuck in hospital and finds herself unable to concentrate on novels, This might be perfect for her or, at least, it might get her back on track regarding books, Strange and delightful. This is an illustrated memoir about family history Part, a collection of objects from the CooperHewitt Museum chosen just because she liked them Part, and an illustrated memoir about what the author collects Part.
Her painting and handwriting are quirkily distinctive, Beautiful art and writing as always, but I found the subject matter to be a little hollow compared to her other work, This beautifully illustrated book of simple objects and simple words somehow made me cry like three times, Maira Kalyan is so good at cutting right to the core of what is so touching about items we see and use every day.


“This is the same village where my mother almost drowned in the River Sluch, In that village there were dogs, And bread baked by the women, And shoes. And rooms that had to be swept, And the singing of songs, The lighting of candles. People lived. People died. Everything is part of everything, ” A friend sent me this book for my birthday because she knows me so well, I couldn't put it down, It's beautiful and compellinga true delight, I read it twice, and now my husband is reading it twice, From Maira Kalman, the author of the bestsellers The Principles of Uncertainty and The Elements of Style, comes this beautiful pictorial and narrative exploration of the significance of objects in our lives, drawn from her personal artifacts, recollections, and selections from the collection of the CooperHewitt, National Design Museum

With more than fifty original paintings and featuring bestselling author and illustrator Maira Kalmans signature handwritten prose, My Favorite Things is a poignant and witty meditation on the importance of both quotidian and unusual objects in our culture and private worlds.


Created in the same colorful, engaging, and insightful style as her previous works, which have won her fans around the world, My Favorite Things features more than fifty objects from both the CooperHewitt and Kalmans personal collections: the pocket watch Abraham Lincoln was carrying when he was shot, original editions of WinniethePooh and Alice in Wonderland, a handkerchief in memoriam of Queen Victoria, an Ingo Maurer lamp, Rietvelds Z chair, a pair of Toscaninis pants, and photographs Kalman has taken of people walking towards and away from her.
A pictorial index provides photographs of the actual objects and a short description of them, enhancing the reading experience,

As it speaks to the universal experience and importance of beloved objects in our livesbig and small, famous and privatethis unique work is a fresh way of examining and understanding our society, history, culture, and ourselves.
Love love love this little book, The author's favorite things are not necessarily my favorite things, but her depictions and descriptions make me consider them more closely ah, now I see.
Her artwork is slapdash yet detailed, and more than anything it shows you the essence and essentials of the thing, I cried a little when I saw her needlework pieces that she made when her mother died, Maira Kalman is one of my most favorite authors, Friends, I love this woman, Her way with words and the things she loves make me to quote Helene Hanff want to shout out, "Comrade!" Loved this book, Not my very favorite of her books, but I loved it, Still need to buy it, In this little book is a little world of transcribed images, A curation of memories, still objects, musings and people captured midmoment, And some good advice.

"The ability to take a walk from one point to the next point, that is half the battle won, Go out and walk. That is the glory of life, After taking a walk you will probably be hungry, You will want to eat something" The Cooper Hewitt Museum in NYC once asked Maira Kalman to do an exhibit based their collection My Favorite Things is the book based on that exhibit.
The first part is a brief autobiography of Kalman, followed by illustrations of her favorite items from the Cooper Hewitt, followed by illustrations of Kalman's other favorite things, all accompanied by brief bits of text and excerpts from other books.
This is like a picture book for adults it's a bit hard to review because it's so short, But the illustrations are beautiful and the text is lovely, like poetry, Kalman always has a remarkable ability to fit a lot of meaning into a small space, Quirky. Beautiful drawings, paintings, photos matched with quirky words, A fast read. I enjoyed the authors illustrations in Pollans Food Rules book, This was equally engaging. Here, ordinary inanimate objects come to life as they become imbued with personal memories, Gorgeous illustrations and her hand written text is just as lovely, The first part of the book about her family history is charming and is followed by interesting museum objects in a museum as well as her own collection.
A good read for anyone drawn to a collection of objects and the meanings we put upon them, Took me on a tour of a design/decor gallery, . . very simple, yet thoughtful

Loved the juxtaposition of real images, drawings, and paintings, as well as cursive, handwritten print,
The book has a great personality, When I was oh hhm maybe five my Grandpa and I made a chair together I'm sure I wasn't much help and ever since then I can't stop thinking about chairs.

This book shares the same sentiment I think,


I really enjoy reading collections like this but they are typically something that is out of my personal budget/ price range thanks local library, especially for being aminute read.
I really appreciate and respect the author and their work and all and if someone is an Artist as a job that's how they make money and noone should be taken advantage of etc etc so art cannot be free.

BUT I do appreciate above all when art is accessible to me and everyone else,
This is nothing to say about the artist, just that this is how things are set up to be in our current system I guess :/
Just thinking about this today, probably because I am trying to decide which books from a list to buy.
Maira Kalman does a lot of cool stuff, This book is like. Julie Andrews, singing “My Favorite Things, from The Sound of Music, which bears no obvious relationship to Maira Kalmans book:

sitelink youtube. com/watchvo

Then again, since this song, obviously referenced in Kalmans title, is about fighting back the darkness, and ones fears maybe it fits!

Heres some of it from her website:

sitelink mairakalman. com/books/adul

Kalmans quirky, lovely book sort of meanders around to explore how the objects she loves pertain to her growing upand shes still “growing up”especially her growing up in a particular place.
She tells of that growing up, illustrating it with her lovely, intimate watercolors, and then reveals that storys relationship to the objects she has chosen for aexhibit she curated from the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum in NYC, chosen from their collection.
Then she shows you more stuff she collects and/or likes, And what is the rationale for her aesthetic approach

“Everything is part of everything, We live, we blunder. Love invites us. ”

What kinds of things does Kalman like Old leather bowling shoes, buttons, list of names in Part I of Fyodor Dostoevskys The Idiot, dolls, Abraham Lincolns pocket watch, tickets, stubs.
She once won an auction for a pair of Arturo Toscannis pants!

She also quotes Neruda “An Ode to Things,” Wittgenstein, Darwin, Walter Benjamin, shes all over the place, thanks god.
Id follow her anywhere.
How much fun would it be to be invited to curate a collection at a museum This book is about Maira's adventure doing just that.
She took an entire year to curate a collection of items that made her gasp, Then she drew and painted them in her book, Granted, my standards for gasping are clearly different than hers but I love the way she tosses in personal stories like the one about her mother being rescued from drowning by her grandfather and his beard.
The accompanying picture she painted seemed a bit more like a fairy tale than reality, but it was charming anyway, Glorious and wonderful. A pictorial, playful and personal book that swallows you up, Yay Every time I read a book by Maira Kalman, I want to invite the author over for tea and crumpets, Or maybe a glass of sherry, She sees the world in a way that most of us adults lose touch with as we drape ourselves in our seriousgrownupadult cloaks, And our lives are the sadder for it,

This picture book for adults contains paintings, photos, and wonderfully quirky text by the author, We surround ourselves with objects, but how often do we really look at them The author does just that in "this beautiful pictorial and narrative exploration of the significance of objects in our lives, drawn from her personal artifacts, recollections, and selections from the collection of the CooperHewitt, National Design Museum.
" An ode to the whimsy of collections, As an aspiring minimalist, I love a good decluttering and a purge now and again, That said, there are a few select items in my possession that mean a great deal to me and that bring a smile to me whenever I pass by them.
My paternal grandmother's measuring cup with the dent, My great aunt's silver teaspoons that are coincidentally engraved with my own matching initials, A silver bracelet that belonged to a close friend who passed away, Perusing this book gave me the same thrill as peeking into someone's fridge or touring their house to see what appeals to others, Which items do they choose to display What treasures adorn their bookcases or closets

"My Favorite Things" is a visual collection of items that artist Maira Kalman curated for an exhibit in the CooperHewitt National Design Museum in New York City as well as some of her own personal favourite things.
Interspersed with the drawings are handwritten notes about her family, as well as perfectly expressive quotes that enhance the sentiments the objects impart, "You can rely on sadness, Happiness, well that is a different story, "

"Go out and walk, That is the glory of life, "

"Before there were forks, there were spoons, The spoon can be used by a baby, by a person eating soup, Watching a person eat soup can break your heart, "

" what can you be certain of What is absolute The ground never stops shifting, " Maira Kalman's books and art make me feel rapturous, I'm just so glad to be on the same planet and even be the same species! as this artist who just gets it, I can't explain what it is she gets, But she does. She gets it. And then she explains it, And you get it too, And then you smile.

I bought two copies of this book, one for myself and one for a friend, When I gave it to her, she said glancing at the cover, "Thanks I'm sure my young kids will love it, "

So I had to explain, this is not a kids book, It's a picture book for grownups, Later that night, my friend emailed me, "I'm in bed but I can't go to sleep, I'm reading this book you gave me and I cannot put it down, It's your fault. "

Fault duly noted, .